It’s been several weeks since my very first attempt at a vlog but I managed to edit and post the second one! It’s shorter than the first one because I didn’t have as much content to film because I was busy with my day job to work on art projects but I’m on vacation this week so hopefully I’ll be able to film something fun.
This vlog is different in that it is not consecutive days of the week but mostly a few days out of each week over the span of a couple of weeks as I prepared for an Etsy shop update and a small Halloween event.
I signed up for the local cosplay Halloween event last minute and wasn’t really sure how it was going to go with the whole pandemic thing going on. It was actually pretty safe, everyone wearing a mask or in full costume. In the portion I filmed there weren’t a lot of people yet because I’m still not sure how having random people in a video work. I blurred the faces that were in focus during the shots I did have though. Overall it was a good turnout with some AMAZING costumes people had been working on for 2020 cons that never happened.
The person in the Pikachu costume is my boyfriend Alex. He went around to every booth to greet the other artists, take pictures, and play with the kids who absolutely LOVED the Pikachu costume! One kid did keep yelling at him to go back in his pokeball though…
My studio is a hot mess in this video pretty much 100% of the time. I wish I could have a cleaner more aesthetic place like some of the vlogs I love to watch but with the house still under construction a lot more things than there should be are crammed in here. I barely have room to move around in here! (>_<) But I’m not going to let it stop me from doing my thing!
For those who want the recipe that was in the video for Filipino Adobo, here it is. The recipe is made for a single person for a couple of meals since this was for me when I was in college a long time ago in a galaxy far away… but it can scale to whatever you need it it.
Filipino Adobo
Ingredients:
- 1lb of pork country style ribs (can also do chicken, cook time will be less)
- 1/4 cup of vinegar
- 1 clove of garlic or 1 tbsp
- 4 tbsp of soy sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- In one pot combine meat chopped into cubes and fill pot til it just covers all the meat.
2. Add the vinegar and soy sauce and let it boil down until meat is tender. DO NOT STIR. If you do the vinegar reacts and it will taste different.
3. As it boils, skim off the foamy cooked stuff on top but carefully so as not to disturb and stir.
Side note: I actually looked up what that stuff was called and this is what I found: “During cooking at high heat, some of that water comes back out of the meat and with the water is a small amount of sarcoplasmic protein. At high temperatures that protein denatures and assumes a foamy, frothy appearance,” Sindelar explains. Source: Wisconsin State Journal
4. When meat is tender (you can stick a fork through it) you can turn off the stove and drain out the remaining liquid. Let it drain in a strainer for a few minutes to dry a little so there’s less scary oil and water crackling battling in the next step. If the liquid completely evaporated or is almost all gone but your meat is still not tender just add more water and continue to boil. Don’t overboil or the meat cubes will fall apart and be shredded meat and can kind of dry out when you fry it in the next step like what happened in the video.
5. Heat some vegetable oil in a large pan or wok and then toss the meat in to turn it from boiled meat cubes to tasty slightly crispy fried adobo! At this stage you’re NOT COOKING the meat, you’re trying to kind of sear the outside so don’t fry it too long. While you’re doing this, about halfway through add the garlic and fry the meat in it. This step is usually only a few minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
Tip #1: This goes great with garlic fried rice if you love lots of garlic but plain white rice is also just as good if you’ve had enough garlic. Add some tomatoes to your dish and yum! In the video I added avocado because we had some.
Tip #2: When the meat is getting tender in step 4, you can taste it to see if you like the flavor. Some people find they may have been a bit heavy handed with the vinegar. You can add some sugar to counter this or if you want a sweeter adobo rather than a saltier savory one. Honestly, Filipino has a certain preference for how they like their adobo so after making this a few times, you’ll find out the little tweaks you want to make to it to make it what you like.
Tip #3: Not sure this is actually a tip but I’ve been told that a lot of people who aren’t used to filipino or asian food smells in general might find the smell of boiling vinegar and soy sauce offensive… so if you or someone in your home is sensitive to unusual smells, have the fan ready or a window open because the boiling stage can take a few hours depending on how much meat and what type you’re working with.
Tip #4: When choosing meat, I find choosing meat the has some fat marbled in it are best options to keep the dish from coming out too dry. I used pork but if you decide to do chicken, I’d recommend going to the dark meat because it will be less likely to dry out. Just make sure you also keep in mind that chicken takes less time to cook than pork.
I’m not a cooking expert and as you can see in the video it’s not always perfect but hopefully this little recipe will be a good starting point for you!
I hope you guys enjoy the vlog and see you in the next one!
