Ginataang Puso ng Saging

Just wanted to post real quick before bed! 

Brian and I were in this absolutely tiny but stuffed to the ceiling with items Asian store and we were in search of Jackfruit in brine, not in syrup. The guy at the counter said they sell out of it very fast, so just have to keep checking back in, but also said banana blossom were a good substitute. Brian and I bought two cans and read up on what banana blossoms are. I figured they wouldn't be good in my BBQ sauce like pulled pork like I do with the jackfruit. They really don't have much a flavor of their own but their texture is way better in a soup or in this recipe: Ginataang Puso ng Saging  (I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO SAY IT BUT IT WAS DELICIOUS!) 

The recipe and description came from this website:

http://panlasangpinoy.com/2011/05/17/ginataang-puso-ng-saging/

Ginataang Puso ng Saging are banana blossoms cooked in coconut milk (or coconut cream). “Ginataan” is a Filipino term which means to cook in coconut milk or coconut cream. “Puso ng Saging”, on the otherhand, literally means Banana heart. We all know that the banana tree has no heart. The banana heart are banana blossoms. These is a bud or flower that will become banana (fruits) later on.

I didn't follow the recipe on this page SUPER close because my grandma taught me well and I have a great knack for just throwing the right amounts in and taste testing along the way! All we did was sauté garlic (I use like half a bunch of garlic at once so like minimum of 6 individual cloves - LOVE IT) and a whole red onion in some Rice Bran oil (by far my favorite oil so far - I really want to try sesame oil forsautéed  veggies soon though, but its sooo expensive - I'm waiting to find a good deal on it). Then you add the drained and rinsed banana blossoms - just have to remove part of the stems but they are soft from the brine so it was easy to peel with your fingers. We cooked that for 2 mins added a splash of white vinegar, freshly ground peppercorns, and garlic powder. Next we put in a HUGE banana chili (big green chili) and we had to cut it into two big pieces because it wouldn't fit in the pot whole. And this was SERIOUSLY the biggest chili I have ever seen, and the chilies here in Australia have such a sweet kick to them. So unlike North American peppers. Even the guy at the checkout counter at my favorite farmers market store near campus was from Vietnam said the peppers from home would burn your mouth off, but Australian peppers sweetness still surprises him 21 years later! ha Next we added Coconut milk. Coconut milk in a can was very interesting! It looked like curdled water and had a think layer of waxy cream on top. A quick google search later and this is normal! haha We boiled the liquid down so it was a little creamier and then poured the concoction over those pasta noodles that are slightly thicker than fettuccine noodles. Even though the recipe called for pouring it over rice. We ate this with a bottle of Moscato! My favorite wine, and to our suprise the brand we choose was 10% alcohol when all the others at the store were 5%, a fun  fact we did not know until half the bottle was gone! :D And We enjoyed this amazing dinner on the night of our 6 years of dating anniversary, June 26th! <3

We made this again the next night because I had another can of coconut cream (which is essential the exact same from coconut milk, but had a much thicker cream/curdled layer at the top and so I didn't use any of the liquid in the second round of Ginataang Puso ng Saging. We also decided to add half of a yellow bell pepper (I really wanted an orange pepper to compliment the green banana chili, but the farmers market stand didn't have any left, but the yellow turned out to be just as tasty). Next we added sautéed mushrooms, a lot more ground peppercorns, more vinegar, a splash of cooking wine and a splash of dried mustard. We reduced the liquid a little more, because we weren't as starving as the night before and had more patience! And now I am hooked! This dish was done within 20mins and it was soooo filling and I can't stop thinking of variations of how to change it up; for example, asparagus will be AMAZING with it, we can add soy sour cream to make it a little more creamier if we like. We can always put it over rice like the recipe originally called for, but I am such a pasta girl haha, you can add any sort of bell peppers, broccoli and a little carrot would be delicious also! OH my brain is all excited with possibilities now! I LOVE BEING ABLE TO COOK AGAIN!! Not that I couldn't cook at the dorms, but we ALWAYS ended up wanting to cook when someone else was hungry also and we had to use all of our roommates things since we only brought one pan with us. HA Thank god that this new apartment came decently stocked with the essentials! Minus a blender and I am really regretting not having room in our luggage for The Bullet! that little guy could mix anything in a hurry!! :) I'll manage for a little longer! 

Here is a picture of our Anniversary dinner:

LOOK AT THAT PEPPER!! THATS ONLY HALF OF IT AND IT TOOK UP MOST OF THE BOWL!! :) DELICIOUS! 

Also before I say goodnight, I was soooooooo excited that I passed my first semester of vet school that I forgot to tell you all that my WONDERFUL Granny Winfield made me the most beautiful pillow case! And it arrived the very morning I got my grades! Once you see the picture you will understand why it was soooo fitting! 

COWS!! Granny - you know me way to well! I love me some cows, they are totally just big dogs - THAT WILL STEP AND POO ON YOU!! <3 hahahahaha

And Congratulations to Aunt Butchie on 25 years with the Salem Post Office! I hope you enjoy your retirement, but I know you aren't going to slow down! Those grand-babies are sure to keep you busy! 

I love and miss everyone and feel free to leave me comments! If you are interested in my new address my parents or my grandma has it, and they also have an email for me OR tell my parents that you would like me to email when I have a chance and they can forward me your contact info. I am NOT the best responder to emails, but I am on break so maybe I will be better at it ;) 

If you are a random reader interested in anything vet school, Australia, or Murdoch related I encourage your questions and will do my best to answer them!  :)

And goodnight - I wrote way longer than planned! :D

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

After the LONGEST two weeks of stressing and hair falling out! I can proudly say that I have PASSED my first semester of Vet School!

This is how I felt throughout anatomy!!!!

I got a PASS in Anatomy (a 57%) which is between 50-59%

In Physiology I got a 60% so I got a CREDIT (60-69%)

And this is how I feel about that: except that it was like 20 hours PER DAY for the entire week before each exam to the loss of everything else.

AND JUST FOR YOU HEIDI - (BIRDS)

In Biochemistry I got a Distinction and was just shy of a HIGH distinction by 2%! Grr I got a 78%. 

I also passed Veterinary Professional life which is just 50 points worth of reflections on what guest speakers talked about or interesting articles we read, or if we go to any outside workshops that the special interest groups hold. Its just a pass/fail course

AND THIS IS HOW I FEEL NOW: especially after finals and moving and cleaning and dog walking... I can relax knowing I passed!

I SURVIVED!!

OH MY GOSH I TRIED TO POST THIS DAYS AGO!! SO SORRY I DIDN'T REALIZE UPLOAD FAILED!!

I finally made it to the end of the semester, and its about time I get back to blogging! I have missed communicating and felt so guilty I couldn't update more often, but I know I had to study and I wish I could have crammed more knowledge into my brain. My finals were pretty tough except biochemistry which I am so happy to be done with forever! haha Well I can't say I passed for sure until my grades come out on Friday (two weeks for grading is KILLING ME), but I know biochem is fine its anatomy that I am truly the most worried about. The exam and lab practical were a lot harder than I anticipated and I hope somehow I made it through. The cool thing Murdoch does, is that if you get a final grade of between 45-49% then you are offered a supplemental final exam in the hopes of getting you to that pass mark. Everyone should have been notified by now if they have to sit a supp, and I haven't gotten any emails; so, this means that I either passed all my classes OR I failed WORSE than 45%. I'm hopping for a pass! Also the veterinary program has higher standards for fails in that they only allow you to fail one class within a years grouping. That means only ONE class out of both semester 1 and semester 2 of year one and same for year two. Also if you fail one unit then your whole timetable for graduation gets thrown off and you have to join the graduation year below you. I REALLY do NOT want that to happen!! In the end this semester was tougher than expected, but a good challenge and now I know how much time and effort I need to put in, in the following semesters to conquer vet school. Brian and I are fitting in well with Australian life and trying to get a hang of the laid-back lifestyle when life in kenosha felt like a non-stop blur of commotion. Even my favorite Wisconsin farmer town of River Falls wasn't THIS laid back! :) 

Onto the next bit of news:

Sadly, Brian and I did NOT get to go see David Attenborough on June 14 because he had an emergency pacemaker put in a week before his Australian tour and his doctors advised against him flying for 27 hours a week after the procedure. However, THANKFULLY he will be grace us with his presence on Wednesday, July 24th!! I am so excited and here is the description of the show:

"Due to unprecedented demand, Sir David Attenborough is revisiting Australia to again appear live on stage in his not-to-be-missed tour of Sir David Attenborough - A Life on Earth.

Sir David Attenborough is arguably the world's best-known natural history film-maker, a much loved naturalist and broadcaster whose career has spanned nearly six decades. He is the quintessential intrepid traveller, sometimes changing continents mid-sentence.

Sir David Attenborough - A Life on Earth will again take audiences on an incredible journey through his extraordinary life, his untold stories, the evolution of filming techniques and his passion for bringing us closer to nature."

AHHHH I couldn't be more excited to see him! He even tops my new apartment (YES, thats how excited I am)

And that leads perfectly into how PERFECT our new place is! It is a cute little Hobbit Hole that is about 3/4 underground. According to our landlords Tim and Kimmie, it is the coolest place in summer and the warmest through their "winter". So this house is easily a 2 million dollar house that our landlords obtained just before it was condemned and they have put soooo much into it that I think it could sell for SOO much more now. I haven't seen it, but I can describe what Tim told me. The upstairs was like a crazy 6 bedroom house and he split it in half. He put up a hallway and now the front half is a three bedroom self contained apartment that now has a family of 4, I believe, and they are from Finland! Next Tim and Kimmie live in the back part of the top and from what I can see from where I do our laundry is that it is GORGEOUS!! Next we live in this little part of the basement, that had to be like a storage place or cellar type deal, but you would never be able to tell with how they renovated it! When you walk in the door you enter into our living room and then our kitchen is immediately next to that. Then there is a door off the kitchen to our bedroom, that has a queen size bed, a desk, two dressers and then our bathroom is off the bedroom. The shower is enclosed and so big compared to our dorm room shower! It has been so nice to cook and keep things clean! :) I have one week left on my contract at the dorms and I was going to go over today to clean, but instead did like 5 loads of laundry!!! Since the dorms cost 3 dollars to wash a load of laundry in the tiniest washing machine possible, we have been putting it off and I finally got it done! :) :) Nothing like clean clothes. Also on the plus side our landlord will be getting us our own washing machine off the driveway so we don't have to compete for the one in their backyard. AND we get two beagles to play with! Our landlord were watching Pixie and Punter for their friend Julie and now that the landlords are gone for 6 weeks on vacation visiting kimmie's parents in Japan and then Tim's parents in Ireland I believe, we get to walk the doggies on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays :) I love animal companionship! :D 

Well I think that is all I am going to endulge you with today! Enjoy some pictures! Including the Super Moon last night (July 23rd, 2013). It was the closest the moon will be to the earth for a few years and it was amazing to witness! I was so scared that with the storms yesterday that we would miss it, but NOPE I got to see it! :D

HEY MOMMY! Look how little my PJ drawer is! AND it has Brians PJs in there too!!!! HOW IMPRESSED ARE YOU???

SUPER MOON!!

Homemade pickled asparagus my mommy canned and shipped for me!! I couldn't leave them sealed anymore and they were DELICIOUS!! NUM NUM NUMS!

The table scarf my grandma cross-stitched for me and put the pretty lace on! It matches the pink flower picture above it. Seen in another photo! SOOO PRETTY!! THANKS GRANDMA!! 

Front door and living room with Fresh Fruit that Julie, the dogs' owner, brought for us as a surprise last night! THE BEST ORANGES EVER, also tiny limes, and a HUGE bag of lemons! :D 

 

 no bedroom or bathroom photos because all our laundry was sorted on the bed when I was taking photos! haha

The gate to the backyard

Miss Pixie greeting me with kisses and punter guarding from behind haha

The Jungle :)

washing machine, sink, freezers and dog food and treats hahah

This is just to the right of the washing machine

The pool and all my laundry besides the white towel! and you can see the bike the landlord says we can use :) just needs some air in tires and grease on the chain :)

Mr. Punter trying to get me to give him a treat, don't worry he got one earlier from me and Pixie is waiting to see if I give in!

The next few photos were how close I got to a quendas one day on campus. Normally they are nocturnal and don't let you get close unless you obviously have food (which I didn't cuz I was on my way to physio lab) These guys are THE cutest!! hahaha

 They are about the size of a 1 year old cat and remind me sooooo much of TingTing back home with their big bellies and how they run and hop are just like my baby kitty! :) Yes they look like a rat, but are WAAAAAY cuter! I swear! haha

one lone flower!

 I have more photos on my phone, but it doesn't want to sync with my ipad today so I will have to add them tomorrow and most likely have to hook phone up to Brians laptop and share them that way! 

And good job on surprising my parents for the birthdays!!! They really had NO idea!! hahaha :D

Love being Daddy's Little Girl!

Not much else makes my day like getting good Ole' Wisconsin postcards via snail mail from my daddy!  I have gotten at least 10 in the few short months I have been here to remind me of the holstein cows I am missing and that I will always be a wisconsinite! Even tho its not hard to forget when you meet other americans who say "You are obviously midwestern!" and when Aussies say, "You speak way to proper, where are you from in the states?" Apparently my annunciation of all syllables will forever keep me from blending in! :D 

I love you Daddy!! Start planning your visit here!! :)

This is one of my favorite postcards so far!! silly Mosquitos! :)