Our maid was shocked when I asked her to chop up some garlic and onions.

MAID: " But Sir..our food for today is NILAGANG BAKA ( BEEF BROTH). YOU CANT USE THAT AS SAWSAWAN( Dips)

FLIM: " JUST DO AS YOU'RE TOLD."

After she did it. I took the garlic and fryed them on some oil. Then I added the onions. Once the nice aroma floated over my nostrils I then opened some tomato paste and poured the contents on it and poured some olive oil and some italian seasoning. Then i took some of the beef and fried it and added some water and dash of salt.

And presto I made PUTCHERO.

The reason for her confusion is that I didnt tell her to make PUTCHERO. I told her to make NILAGANG BAKA ( beef stew) But i had PUTCHERO in mind all along.

When I asked her to do putchero she cooked it differently.She didnt stew it and she went directly to frying the beef. AND IT TASTED AWFULLY BAD! PUTCHERO is a dish that was designed to be created from left overs of the BEEF STEW.NOT MADE ALL AND BY ITSELF!

Once I put it on my plate. It smelled and tasted so good!

CECILE:" WHY DIDNT YOU JUST ASK HER TO DO PUTCHERO INSTEAD? "

FLIM: " She wont do it in the proper way. I ASKED HER TO DO IT TWICE AND SHE SCREWED IT UP EVERY SINGLE TIME! "
The maid is not a bad cook. She is actually good. But its just one of the dishes that she can't seem to get right. And she always has this finishing panache of adding ginger. She adds GINGER ON EVERY THING SHE SERVES US! SOMETIMES SHE PUTS GINGER EVEN ON SALADS! When we're lucky, it comes out exotic and strange and sometimes its just plain revolting.But I find it cool that she wants to personalize her cooking style and I guess the GINGER is her special period at the end of every meal.

She even personalized GERRY'S SPECIALLY MARINATED CHICKEN! I never thought that he could do TEX AVERY CARTOON IMPRESSIONS but that he did when he saw a rod full of lemon leaves and some ginger inside the ass of his chicken.

And as much as I tell her to lay off the ginger she doesnt.The same way that she does not follow the proper procedure of making PUTCHERO.Thats why I just asked her to stew the beef. The rest was up to me