Shrimp and mango Spring Rolls

Conversation  with  girl friends these days are starting to get frustrating. Why?  Most talks tend to revolve around weighing scales , diet plans and something green .No, not that green. I'm talking about broccolis, beans, cucumbers, salads and like.  Not my favorite subjects, I tell you. I'm starting to miss the days when gushy girl talk  about Romnick Sarmento and his  I'll make-you- choke- on- your- own- spit gaze, are muffled over truck loads of chicirya and drums of soda. He was the Philippine's  Heart throb ( dub-dob dub-dob) of his time .   Used  to be the coolest guy on Earth, or so I believed . I young then ,with face full of zits and got no cable TV. That was long before I laid my eyes on Top Gun and Aviator glasses and Tom Cruise. Where did the years gone by ?

I invited few  girlfriends for lunch last month. Before talks and tips about how to shred unwanted pounds could even start, I whisk a some freshly deep fried spring rolls under their noses.  Served with a good dose of low-fat-not dip,  it was gone in a brisk.  LDL , 24 '' dream waistline and dietary restraints all thrown out of the window. Women, are just diabolical creatures, aren't we?

Shrimp Lumpia ala Emily

500 g, raw shrimp, peeled, divined and chopped coarsely

Marinade:  2 cloves of garlic finely  minced, 1 tsp.

grated ginger root, 1/2 tsp. sesame oil, 1 tsp light soy sauce,

2 tablespoon cornstarch

1 big mango, stone remove, flesh cubed or sliced, your call.

salt and pepper

1 small egg beaten

Spring roll wrapper, Oil for deep frying

Cooking Instructions:

Mix raw shrimp and the marinade mixture  ( exept cornstarch) together  Refrigerated for about 30 minutes. Before wrapping, season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle cornstarch.

Place spring roll wrapper on a work surface. Brush edges with beaten egg. Place about a tablespoon of  marinated shrimp and about 2 tablespoon of cubed/sliced mango. Form filling into a log, fold the lower edge of the wrapper over the filling. Fold the left and the right edges like an envelop. Roll up tightly. Repeat until shrimp filling and mangoes are used up.

Heat oil in deep fryer/ wok or pan. Deep fry spring rolls until golden brown. Serve piping hot and with  your favourite sauce. Like Garlic Aioli or sweet-chili Mayo dips.

  

Perfect finger food. Worth every damn calorie!

HoneyMOOing in Langkawi

It might be too late to start talking about honeymoon. After all , the Spoon and her Favorite Fork a.k.a  FF, has been married for almost 8 years now.  Yay! 12 years together and praise Batman, we manage to overcome that 7 year itch and  stay smitten and remain in love.  When you wake up next to each other after a night of snoring and drooling, breath smelling nothing like roses and still gaze at each other like you just slept next to Brangelina , then you my friend ,  finally found your one true love. Somebody who stays with you, accepts you, your morning breath, unshaven and unwaxed extremities , long-gone va-va-voom figure and all other extra baggages that goes with it. Now, if that ain't that love, then I don't know what is!

Our wedding was a relatively quiet event  and to make sure that we do remember the day,   we try to make each anniversary, special.  This year, we decided to spend it in Asia! I have been dreaming of this holiday for months.I might as well thank those travel brochures for that. You know  those picturesque beaches graced by  couple  in crisp-white drabs   frozen  in honeymoon-ey, euphoric  moment? Travel advertisement couldn't get any better than that! 

It could make any woman dreamy,  wish to go on a holiday and search for her guy in white too. Though not necessarily in that order.  Don't you wish you are that girl , who's trying to sell that: I'm sooo in love     and  on a puurfect holiday aaand got this hunk who could lift me without distending his carotid artery? I once wished  that too!  But I also know, my hunk could not carry bride me without slipping a disc or busting a blood vessel.  But, I did fancy seeing him in this crisp, white top and pants. So few days before the trip, I bought him this perfect  holiday outfit .Long sleeve shirt and too tight-for-comfort -pants to show of his bulk-y ass.

''I am NOT wearing that! It looks uncomfortable and hot!'' says my practical and fashionable hunk-not guy.  Puff! There goes my mental holiday picture.No Kodak moment for the Babbling Spoon, thank you very much!  Yet, as the plane landed in the Langkawi, an archipelago made up of 99 islands in Malaysia, the heat and the humidity welcomed me like punch in the face . My  pores opened and started poring like leaky pipes. This is one of those rare  moments that I'm glad, I listened to my husband.

We did not have that commercial- like, couple in love picture. On the contrary, on most photos we looked deep fried , sweaty and dehydrated! But we did have a blast!. Pristine beaches offering endless dose of sea, sun and sand,  lush flora and fauna ,boasting an untouched jungle beneath with  creatures big and small, winged, clawed, fanged  and all,  paddy fields and grass grazing, mooo-ing, poo-ing Buffalos, abundant mangroves , rivers and cascading waterfalls,  towering limestone cliffs and mountains.  Then, there's the foods! Ooh so delicious foods. Harvest of the sea, so fresh you say practically shake hands or  tentacles with your lunch/ dinner before they take their last plunge into the sizzling woks. Lastly, the romantic sunsets and equally beautiful sunshine, that could make any one who witness it, gloriously happy.

The best part is, although  Langkawi is  one of the  favourite vacation destinations in Malaysia, it is less crowded  than Boracay, Bali or Phuket and  other major tourist hubs in Asia. Less tourist, less traffic and less garbage, making this place a cleaner, quieter holiday alternative. No, I am not paid to say that.