KNB - Katas ng Blogging

I am hosting a Filipino Christmas party this Saturday...

From KNB

and I have been busy preparing for that. Good thing I have these early Christmas gifts: kitchen helpers -- which are KNBs.

I signed up for google adsense in 2006(? can't remember exactly when) and more frequently have been receiving my "blogger's compensation" in the past years. I used the previous ones for personal wants (a trip to Splashtown, etc.). (I also, at some point, signed up for kontera.) This time I thought...why not get things for my kitchen since the money is a fruit of my foodblogging hobby (In other words, katas ng blogging)?

So I did...

You can very well tell that I am a big fan of slow cooking. Well, there is another reason why I got more slowcookers when I already have a 6-qt and a 2-qt. As I was thinking of preparing several main entrees for the Filipino Christmas party I am hosting this Saturday, I wanted to have a means to keep them warm after preparing ahead (before guests arrive). Actually, I have cooked and frozen some of them since last week, and I plan to just start thawing and keeping them warm by morning of Saturday. I looked at chafing dishes and boy! Aren't they super expensive???? Beautiful and pleasing to the eyes were those that ranged $300+, and the ordinary looking ones were in the $40++, so I opted for slowcookers. The digital one I got from walmart at $30 (and may I say elegant). Plus I don't have to look for fuel to keep the food warm. Just plug them in. Well, I plan to use my countertop space (I have a lot if I keep it tidied up!) and my several outlets (I have them every 2 feet, as I requested to hubby to make them available for all my small kitchen appliances when he was building my kitchen). So my plan is to line up the dishes on the countertop and use the dining table solely for eating our food. The slowcookers are a good solution. I might have to borrow my friend's and my MIL's for some more entrees.

I have had an irrational fear (aka, phobia) of pressure cookers because I always imagine they would explode in front of my face. (Oh please don't lecture me about how easy it is to use, because, despite my phobia, I perfectly understand the scientific principles, aka physics, of pressure cooking. Maybe the same knowledge is responsible for my phobia...knowing if my kids topple this while on high pressure, they might end up with wrecked and severely burned face. Hence, I should never leave this alone while I am using it!) My Nanay used to own one, with the old-fashioned metal sitting on top regulating the pressure inside. I still remember our maid rushing to the sink to run cold water over it to quickly lower the pressure before she would open it. I was always afraid she was not intelligent enough to use the thing and was just thankful she never got injured. Well, after several years, the gasket gave up and my Nanay was never able to get a replacement. So it primarily served then as a thick-gauged stockpot. It was so heavy I was not sure whether the make was aluminum with something else, but it was not shiny as my stainless steel is.

I got this Fagor pressure cooker from amazon.com (I am a great customer of amazon).
I would have wanted to get the 10-qt pressure cooker so I could also do canning in it but it was so pricey my KNB will not be able to cover the cost! This 8-qt was $90 and just the right size for most of my cooking anyway. I finally summoned up the courage to get one because of my plan to serve lengua with mushroom sauce, and as stel had a post about how to peel the lengua, I thought I would need one! And she was right on that!!! It was sooo much easier to peel (not to mention so fast to cook to tenderness) the beef tongue. Why Fagor? Well, I googled the best pressure cooker reviews, and this had very good reviews, plus they had stainless steel ones! (They have cheaper aluminum ones too, but I have this irrational fear again that aluminum just might not be able to withstand the pressure). I made sure I watched to DVD first before I used it. Gives me security during my first try. Now that I have actually used it and have successfully overcome my phobia, I guess I will have more experimental cooking using the pressure cooker...more to blog about in the future.

And yeah, from now on, I will purchase kitchen gadgets, tools, etc. with my blogger's comp.