We’ve been meaning to share what we do inside Casa Ruffolo Cucina.
We love to cook and to eat. We take comfort in homemade dishes and desserts. We have been fortunate to have grown in homes where cooking and eating are inseparable thus making us diligent cooks and voracious eaters.
Jeff was born to Italian parents whose forefathers migrated to the United States of America. He grew up in a family where eating is a serious issue, where spaghetti sauce and meatballs take hours and hours of cooking and all types of cheese are made available for every family member to partake of.
In the Philippines, where Cris grew up, no one celebrates his or her birthday without a feast consisting of pansit, lechon, and a smorgasbord of mouthwatering pork dishes that will shoot up your cholesterol level to atmospheric heights.
At the Casa Ruffolo Cucina, we bring you dishes that we, Jeff and Cris, learned over time. We will also share dishes from our respective families’ treasure chest of recipes. In between all these, we will also present our modern creations and dishes we made up because… we are exhausted parents of three children below the age of three.
We believe that homecooking is not just about saving money; it’s about bringing together family members around the table for a meal that was created with love and hard work. These are values that we’d like to impart to our children. We want to create wonderful memories surrounded by food so they will know that no matter what happens – even when they leave Mom and Dad’s nest – there is always that table of dishes ready for them… with advanced notice of course.
For this maiden post, we share to you Cris’ citrus-ginger jar, best as an early morning drink and as soothing hot drink when you happen to have cough and cold.
- Thinly slice lemons, oranges, and ginger. For this recipe, we used a cookie jar because that was the only empty jar we have at the house (and I grew tired of making cookies!). You can use a 16 oz jar with lid but you won't have much room to mix all the ingredients stated above.
- Arrange the lemon, orange, and ginger slices by layer and then add a few spoonfuls of honey. Basically, you'll do this: lemon --> orange --> ginger --> spoonfuls of honey and then repeat until all your ingredients are happily situated inside the jar.
- Screw the lid tightly and put it in the refrigerator overnight. Some would recommend eight to 12 hours. I just like to let it sit overnight to allow the flavors to infuse well.
- To make a hot drink: Just add two to three teaspoons to a mug of warm water. I love to drink this in the morning! I only drink coffee once in a blue moon so this is my everyday drink warding off the bugs. But if you happen to catch the pesky cold especially this winter season, a mug of this is a soothing aid too! Enjoy!
- To make a cold drink: Add two or three teaspoons to a glass of water with ice. My other favorite is adding three teaspoons of this concoction to a beer mug (yes! a beer mug) and then add 1/3 orange juice, 1/3 lemonade, and 1/3 sparkling water. Oh heavens!
- On ginger: If you want your drink to be more spicy, you can choose to add more ginger.
- You can also add turmeric powder for extra flavor.
