A Sunday kind of food

It's Sunday, and I couldn't think of a better way to spend may day off other than cooking and doing the laundry. There's just this feeling of happiness that I enjoy when I get to do normal stuff at home, without the stress and pressure - a far cry from the other days of the week.

Nothing can be as comforting as imagining myself sipping on a bowl of my Yayay's (grandma's) Tinolang Manok. I consider myself the luckiest, because I grew up eating hearty meals cooked by my grandma. I can only wish that I have at least half of her culinary skills. But let's just say that I'm gifted with a good set of taste buds and abundance of appreciation for food. *wink, wink

So, today, I decided to pay homage to my grandma's Tinolang Manok. My version is one with butternut squash and pak choi which are locally available here in London. Back home, she would make this with kapayas (green papaya) and dahon it sili (chili pepper leaves). This dish is never complete without a **perfectly boiled rice - a staple food crop in our country. Yayay is always meticulous when it comes to the quality of rice that she brings to the table. Her favorite is the famous "64" rice, and since I'm miles away from our agricultural town, I prepared sushi rice - a perfect alternative. (Insider tip: **We have a way of measuring the amount of water to be mixed with the rice. No need for measuring cups. If you know it already, please leave a comment below. We need to make sure that the technique lives on!)

This bowl of chicken tinola transported me back to my childhood - the happiest time of my life and when anything green in the food was a villain.

This bowl of chicken tinola transported me back to my childhood - the happiest time of my life and when anything green in the food was a villain. Also, as a kid, I wasn't fond of clocks. I wonder now if that was because I just didn't care or maybe because I would always know when it was breakfast, lunch or dinner time anyway, just by the smell that was coming from our kitchen. Oh boy, how time went so quickly.

It was the usual gloomy day outside, but there was some sunshine in the kitchen today. There was sweetness from the aroma of sautéed ginger, garlic and onion and the fragrant scent of rice. The taste of soup felt like a warm embrace of home. Sundays don't get me down.