Good Friday

If I haven't mentioned it already, I decided for Lent that I was going to give up rice. Anyone who knows me knows that as an Asian, I LOVE my rice! I knew it would be a challenge, but I really wanted to test my will power and determination, while understanding my purpose, which is to indentify with all that Christ had to suffer for our sins and to free my mind of the constant desire to chase after "material" and indulgent things life has to offer.

You may choose to believe it or not, but I haven't had rice in almost 2 months now...



It's pretty miraculous to say the least and my pride is beaming especially since temptations are all around me everyday haha. With that I knew the only way for me to get through these 40+ days while still in control of my sanity was to simply find a replacement. Simply?? haha It so much easier said than done. I started out by just completely going "cold turkey", then the cravings got worse so I replaced it with bread--complete failure. Then, I moved on to oatmeal, which normally I eat sweet and usually only for breakfast but have learned many peculiar yet delicious ways to eat it savory. It's quite an accomplishment and an eye-opener, but nevertheless it failed to keep my mind off of rice! I was so desperate for something to eat with my "ulam" aka Filipino entrees, that I went ahead and I did some research and found out that in a lot of Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine they eat what is called Bulgur, or cracked whole wheat. What rice is to us Asians, bulgur is to them. I decided to give it a try and to my surprise, I THINK I might actually have fallen in love harder for bulgur more so than rice *gasp*. I know it's a disgrace, but bulgur is just so naturally tasty and so delicious. In addition to that, bulgur being wheat, is only 100 calories per cup, is high in complex carbohydrates, and full of FIBER! (woohoo! haha)

I bought both fine bulgur, which resembles couscous in consistency as well as Medium bulgur, which is a lot closer to how rice would look. Bulgur has become very common in health and vegetarian diets. I recommend anyone, whether you want to get healthier or if you just want to try something new and delicious, JUST TRY IT! :)

Simple Good Friday Meal 

My brother Marlon decided to whip up some Penne with Spinach Sauce, a recipe by the gorgeous Giada De Laurenttis. To say it was delicious would be an understatement :)

If you'd like the recipe, just click HERE 

Sidenote: instead of the 3 garlic cloves the recipe calls for, we only used 2. 3 would've been tooo much garlic flavor!

On the side, I prepared a simple Warm Bulgur Salad with fresh veggies and a pinch of lime juice. (can be served cold too!)

-1 C Bulgur
-1 1/2 C boiling water
-2 tomatoes diced
-1 orange bell pepper diced
-salt & pepper

To cook: poor boiling water over bulgur and let sit for 10-15 minutes until bulgur is fluffy.

Toss in vegetables, season w/ salt & pepper and squeeze juice from 1 Calamansi or lime :)









My dad just steamed some medium sized shrimp for protein.


Then it was Bon Appetit! :)