Pizza

I enjoy pizza but only when it's hot and fresh from the oven. Years ago, we'd drive to south side Connie's and bring guests over for their pizzas, until they started popping up everywhere and we lost interest. Just like Pizzeria Uno now it's everywhere. Lou Malnati's was another favorite and then Giordano's and gino's East (because they take IMS Trade) only after I got over the gaak factor when I saw a vat of pizza sauce fall onto their matting during Taste of Chicago and they scooped it out again back into the auuurgh vat. Took me a long long long long time to try them again. But they do ahve good pizza. Tonnelli's and JP MCCarthy's are dreams of the past as both wonderful places have closed down (JP is still around but not like when it was still JP who run it).
My dream pizza comes from memories of old D'Marks back home, and Cucina Italiana. Every now and then I do get a whiff of that long imagined taste left lingering in my memory's taste buds. So I try searching for that particular pizza. Sliced mozzarella with basil and tomatoes, maybe a bit of olive or sardines or anchovies....

Last night was pizza thursday night dinner. Baker Rigo made me 6 full 16" fresh pizza dough. Kylie stretched it and started making 1/2 sheet pizzas. Her first had sliced mozzarella with italian sausage I browned, pepperoni, shredded pizza cheese, and i snipped basil onto it. Parts of it had mushrooms, some had black olives, some had all components. The next pizza had a garlic and olive oil base before the cheese slices, sliced plum tomatoes with basil(ok a margherita). And the pizza sauce was dei fratelli , used sparingly.

It was a pizza orgy as we all wanted a bit of this and that. Nothing beats fresh pizza dough! So we might do this again and start adding more adventurous toppings (I didn't want to bring out my artichokes, anchovies and whatnots) as I wanted us to start with the basics. Even the kids ate the pizzas specially made for them. Who would think that all of us with our picky tastes could have a slice of whatever we want on the same pizza
Of course, there was the chunky meat sauce served with cavatappi and ziti combined as the other dish. I forgot the salad but we were too into the pizza to care.

And today, at work, we had the last piece of dough with just onions, tomatoes, pizza sauce and cheese, oh and lotsa pepperoni. Still as good as the night before!
With all the trepidation I had in doing pizza at home other than the fast food stuff, 450 degrees and 15 minutes does the trick for a bubbly golden pizza. Amazing.

Comfort Food and cook books

Different weather, different comfort food. Last night I made guisadong monggo with fried pork chops. I never cooked monggo back home, but here, wow, i get to tweak monggo with spinach, smoked pork chops , salt pork at times. I keep reading and re-reading the Maya Mix and Match cookbooks that have weekly menus with our regular Filipino viands and wonder when I will actually cook some of them. In my mind's kitchen I already tweaked most of them. I read about Kulinarya, and am hoping to get someone to buy it for me, but the good old standards I have that are dogeared and worn out are Enriqueta David Perez' cook book (I remember meeting her at one time or another with GYN), Pat Dayrit's Cookbook and of course, Nora Daza's Cooking with Nora and the repro Galing Galing. I hunger for these cook books but find no time to really work on each dish, oh wait, that's what Thursday night dinners are for. Mechado is the next dish. Am still looking for the perfect adobo but have had success with some of the tweaked recipes. Sent the cocido recipe to my BFF Beng V.

But I miss the Mamonluk noodles and siopao during rainy days, and shudder at the thought of crispy pata clogging my arteries but longing for it, tapsilog is just a road trip away. Haven't had kare-kare since auntie porse left, but will find time to get this on the table really soon. Dinuguan is a favorite and have had many versions, am too queasy to cook my own. Palabok, luglug or malabon, whatever, I like them all, but cannot seem to cook these with Mama Sita. Until the next hunger pang and food epiphany, eat well and hearty, as I look forward to seing what is on the potluck table of tomorrow's pinoy party!

migay at 25

parttime vampire, 4 of 5, lotsa pride for things rainbow, menguito streak even in this netherworld, Ligaya Maria (hey, Ligay is the right name, not our ever present Maria) turned 25 on December 31st. years ago, doctora divina gracia while dancing with les in the delivery room, told me to hurry up and give birth because she was partying that night. and out she came. and into my arms being the only kid in the nursery while the fireworks exploded in the rooftops of rich chinese merchants abounding Banawe. Migz earned a day off, and boy did she party!

another year

as i have always said, from thanksgiving to xmas day, we are never complete because of one or another kid being with an in-law. so January 1st, is my day, our xmas, our gift giving and our tradition.
the Sam and Bambi bells have hosted this event for us since we left forest knoll, and for this we are grateful. cocido, paella, lengua, turkey, baked potato salad (dawn) spinach dip (zebeda) fruit salad (Kylie) assorted chips and dips, drinks, banana cake, leche flan (Bambi) and a ravioli selection (new this year!) stuffed all of us silly. We had standing rib roast for xmas dinner and turkey and ham for xmas eve at the dawn anamas. Jb and Zeb provided the turkey I put in an apple sage brine.

this is our first new year's day without GYN. She, who started this tradition when we were back home. patty and i hosted cake and balloons for the neighborhood slum kids each January 1st. as the word grew, kids lined up in front of our green gate at mariano marcos in san juan as early as 5am hoping to come into our enclave and partake of refreshments, each one scrubbed clean in worn and hand me down clothes, but eager to be inside the "Nichols" residence. as the crowds grew, so did the fare, cake, soft drinks, balloons, games. Then there was Anamite hosting, followed by JB, Bambi and Migay, and this time, the kids from when we started were still there but with their own kids. I can imagine the sense of loss of tradition they felt when mom left Manila for good. Gone was the thrill of having a once a year festivity most specially for these kids who had nothing the whole year and looked forward to a Rolling Pin cake and the toys and games we provided.
So for our US born Kylie, and those who have been added to our growing family, this is why January 1st is important to me and Patty.
As we eat ourselves indecently gluttonously each January 1st, is is really part of the ritual asking for plenty on the table for the whole year. Prayers are said and thank yous and what we look forward tos are verbalized (but we passed this year because it is a private family matter and there were others there and we would have felt like goldfish in a bowl with them cooing "how cute" and listening to our deepest thoughts and petitions)
new year's day looks back at the past, and looks forward to the new year and what it may bring, in hopes that good health and prosperity for all is our most important prayer, we remember our lost loved ones with a moment of silence and then the new year's feasting begins. as i swing back and forth with various verbal tenses, i realize the errors and know my teachers would be rolling their eyes, but hey, this is rambling from my mind's kitchen.