Feasting to welcome 2012

As always, we open the year with lots of food, fun and family. It has been (MY) our tradition to hold our Xmas party (although we had a good one Dec. 25th as we were all present and accounted for) on January 1st...because I know there are no lame excuses about having to be with an in law or out law....and that we can bring out our prayers and wishes for what we hope for in the coming months of the new year.
It has always been private..because ...it should.
But food wise.....hmm, we try to keep traditions alive. Food comes in form of Spanish fiesta party fare, the ubiquitous Cocido Espanol(puchero, pochero whatever one wants to call the dish) that boasts of a strip of pork belly, a small chicken and beef shank with the marrow staring out at you, some sliced chorizo de bilbao and then a medley of vegetables from cabbage, potatoes and carrots with the addition of garbanzos. Add to that a side of roasted eggplant salad, redolent with garlic, onions and olive oil (which I used to burn my fingers with stove top till I see the skins blacken and shrivel then the light bulb lit and I now use the danged broiler), a sauteed in garlic, spanish style tomato sauce (which should really be dumped into the broth). Daughter Bambi has gotten this down pat.
Truly a celebration of Plenty.
Then I ambition to make lengua with mushroom sauce and a Paella Valenciana complete with sea food, chicken , pork, chorizo and pinoy saffron with toppings of boiled eggs, green peas and pimiento strips. Two dishes I had to learn or rather teach myself to make otherwise....Cafe Babareeba would never be in my budget and all the others I have tasted are nowhere near authentic. Kylie has nailed the Filipino fruit salad to an anticipated wait each time we push her to make it. I bought a Virginia Ham over the summer...I massacred the first one I ever got from my Virginia cousin, so this time I hope I cook it right...making it almost hamonado with the pineapple juice and brown sugar might do the trick.
So far, that's the plan, let me see what happens next. abangan ang susunod na kabanata.

Primanti Brothers maridel vs food

So after watching so many food shows on tv, here I was at the Primanti Brothers restaurant, filled to capacity due to the ballgame. No plates, just heavy duty wax paper for their 2nd most famous item on the menu (beer being number one), the heart attack cheese steak served on thick challah type bread with a vinegar based cole slaw and lots of fresh fries all piled up into the sandwich and a picture of the guy in Man vs Food hanging on the wall. Ok, so how does one eat this contraption? I ate the first half without a problem but tackling the second half was easier, took out the fries and the other half of the bread, there! But I was so stuffed that i was reeling...tums anyone?
I have to admit it was pretty good but......Chicago's Italian Beef still rocks, and maybe Max's of Chicago's gyros layered over cheese and burger on a giant bun still wins the award of heart attack burger.

A bit of Sandwich

I always heard of Sandwich from daughter in law Dawn as she has been there with Anamite and kids for a few years in a row. So I finally took the trek to Sandwich, getting lost along the way with that stupid GPS, aughh.

Sandwich is a little town like most little towns with history. Old buildings and historic homes mingling with the new ugly box like homes. The Sandwich Fair is held in a dedicated fairground structure, that i gathered from the mini railroad that went around and around, plus the barn type permanent buildings interspersed with gaudily loud food booths.
But it is the food that was the draw for me. Huge mobile food booths with steaks grilling right in front of you with the accoutrement of onions, peppers, mushrooms, cheese along side the steaks, brats, dogs, ribs, corn dogs etc. My mouth watered with every wafting scent of the different fair ground foodstuff. There were corndogs, waffles, mini donuts from a mini fryer dropper, funnel cakes, elephant ears dusted with powdered sugar, cinnamon and other mouthwatering dusts. You name it, it was there. Interestingly enough, no Chinese or Asian food booth, no spring rolls, rangoons, noodles.

My top faves? It was my first time to have an apple dumpling. There was this one dedicated booth for Hot Apple Dumplings, topped with vanilla icing and a slathering of caramel sauce, piping hot from the convection oven that continuously baked the dumplings. The pie pastry was a bit gooey with a taste of cinnamon, but the apple was perfectly round, peeled, scored, must be granny smith as it held its form and had a tartish sweet taste. Along with the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce, it was one of the best Americana food I have had in ages.

Dawn and Anamite told me the Pork Chop place was a must. The lines were long at Fay's but moving fast. Around and back were charcoal grills that were filled from end to end with huge thick pork chops, and the other side had grilled chicken just being flipped over (imagine your barbecue griller but in gigantic proportions) by eager young Caucasian boys, must be generations of them going through this summer ritual as a rite of passage working the grills for this destination Pork Chop stop. Undaunted by the long line, $12 got me a combo of a pork chop and quarter chicken, a small drink (coffee of course) and sides like the ubiquitous sliced bread, cole slaw, baked beans , applesauce and cottage cheese. Augh ...saan ang kanin at banana ketchup? Sa uulitin nga...magdadala ako. Of course, the food was good, chicken moist, pork chops just right, not raw. Wish it had a thicker layer of fat, sometimes lean pork chops can be too much....But these were finger licking good. My inner oink wanted to get ribs and totally stuffed potatoes but, this was it.

Until I saw the home made pies made by the Christian Church ladies, berry, apple and peach. Going back was the promise. Until doing so, later after walking off the over eating tummy, berry pies were gone, suddenly, pie was not that interesting anymore.

After the tractor pull show in the grandstand area, of which another short blog dedicated to this is next, found the Rollin Pin Bakery mobile that bragged of the Wisconsin State Fair staple, Chocolate Eclairs and Whipped Cream Puffs. And of course, Maridel had to have these. And man, were they good although I could've enjoyed the eclair better slightly thawed more. But understandable that with that home made custard, and in the quantities they were selling, these had to keep frozen. The whipped cream cream puff was already overkill but I did have many bites till I almost burst like the puff.

I need to plan the next fair better. Eat slowly and gradually. Spend the whole day there instead of the few hours. And of course, lose 4 pounds before going to the fair.Advice to all, it is a must to go to the Sandwich Fair at least once (or twice or all the time as this man, who probably belongs to one of the founding families of Sandwich boasted of not having missed the fair since he was 8 and he sure looks like he was a bit over 80). Oh and I did forget to mention all the other exhibits, antiques, competitions, livestock and fair rides...I overwhelmed myself with the food.

Julie and Julia

I missed watching this when it came out on the big screen. But watching it on TV wasn't bad. I enjoyed Meryl Streep's rendition of Julia Child and the passion of this blogger who challenged herself to cooking everything in Child's cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It got me thinking. So maybe I won't kill myself with trying all the recipes within one year, but I want to challenge myself to cooking everything in the Kulinarya cookbook collaborated by a group of gourmets and great imaginative cooks who decided to try a book of Filipino dishes to as close as standards as it can get. With the Pinoy penchant for tweaking and pinching this and that and adding this and that and secret this and that, plus our remembered memories of various food palates challenged by what we eat on a daily basis....hmmmmm.

Of course, I have to push myself to start. hahaha that would be the challenge in itself. So I may start tomorrow or next week and then blog it. Remember, I was known to be a good cook, but the mistake was not learning the kitchen food. Regrets weigh me down when I could have learned the secrets of mang Lucio and mang Emo, and I was lucky enough to have the baking recipes of Rolling Pin written down and usable, including secrets of mang Ernesto for his Vienna Cake icing. But truth is, tamad lang ako. i was known for spaghetti sauce, lasagna, Turkey and trimmings, etc. But I had to learn to make lengua and paella and still struggle with the perfect pancits.

Time will tell. Here I go again.

Holidays

Wow, that came too fast, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's eve and New Year's day. Suddenly it's 2010.
And the eating was non-stop. We did all traditionals although maybe I will try other stuff next year...the only changes made were the lengua done with tomato sauce estofada style instead of the cream of mushrooms, no long noodle, just ravioli.
Let's see, ham and pork loin rib roast for Xmas eve, Prime Roast Beef bone-in for Xmas day with the accoutrement mashed potatoes etc. and Yule Log (Buche de Noel) from the MACC. Migay turned 26 and disappeared as usual. But January 1st was Cocido with the eggplant side, Lengua and Paella and Kylie's signature fruit salad. Kudos to Sam for the much improved leche flan, )probably because he used the correct llanera .
All in all, a good time was had by all. And another year begins.

Luau Time

For Bambi's graduation party it will be a luau. What is a Luau? For many of us, we see a roasted pig (but the hawaiianos roast it underground), lots of pineapple and spam. Hahaha. So we will have lechon, the ubiquitous Filipino fiesta feasting food, macaroni salad with pineapple (chicken or tuna? with pickled relish and a bit of this and that, spicy chicken wings (from a Korean grocery)two kids of fruit salad courtesy of Kylie, pineapple upside down cake, mango and strawberry trifle cake, lots of fruit and veggies. Wanted to do a spam sushi but don't have time. Wanted to do this and that but ultimately, we'll just go with the flow, including a chinese pancit. remember, hawaii is a melting pot of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and so many other little ethnicities. we'll see how it goes.

Cakes That I Have Known part 1

Cakes that I have known. I have more when I randomly remember but this is part 1.
I think back of all the wedding cakes that I have designed back when I worked for Gloria Y. Nichols of the Rolling Pin, aka mom . She was cake maker to the presidents and Manila's then elite 500, and cake maker to the cake bakers. So I treaded carefully and followed her path.
The last two big cakes I made before leaving home for good were those of Irene Marcos married to Greggy Araneta and Martin Nievera to Pops.
I remember asking Patty Araneta to allow me to re-design the family cake stand which was a two tiered masterpiece of hand carved antique gold leaf church pillar used in all the weddings. I added a third tier chosen from their vast collection of antique pieces. The cake had more than 10,000 tiny flowers, tulle, ribbon and leaves in ecru. It flew in its own airplane to Sarrat and we set it up at 4 in the morning. I remember riding the shuttle to the reception site watching so many women and children tying white crepe paper flowers on bouganvilla plants which had pink flowers instead of the white ones promised by Gen Ver to the bride.
Martin's cake was simple but full of orchids . Traditional white boxes with pound cake tied with ribbon and tiny flowers were the giveaways. If I remember rightly, the theme was pink and lavender. I could be wrong because it's been too long ago.
I did a lot of designing personalized cakes then. Now? I have to be careful because I no longer have a staff of 30 to make the tiny flowers, to plaster cast and paint specialized cupids, brides and grooms to make an entourage on sprawling cakes. I now have to do everything on my own which is why I now do stacked cakes. I still have to work on the new styles like fondant cakes, but I still believe a good meringue butter cream and a great combination of cakes and fillings make for a beautiful centerpiece and practical dessert cake.
Mom made the personal birthday cakes of Ferdinand Marcos, he would thank everyone for the many cakes he got on his birthdays but had the pound cake birthday cakes designed by mom and sent by Mayor Bagatsing (whose entire family's cakes were made by Rolling Pin) brought to the private quarters for him and the family to eat.
She also did the cakes of Presidents Garcia, Magsaysay and Macapagal. In fact, she made the wedding cake of Gloria Macapagal to Mike Arroyo. Come to think of it, she also made the cake of Susan Roces to Fernando Poe. Can't forget it cuz I thought it was crazy to have Xmas day as a wedding date. Oh well.
My only claim to fame to date is making the wedding cake of Congressman Mark Kirk. Oh, and a Tiffany colored wedding cake made to look like stacks of beribboned tiffany gift boxes with that particular robin's egg colored hues.

Oldie Blog Post

Food is the fabric of our lives part 1

Have you ever wondered what happens when you sit at the table with a new group of people? date? first meal at your potential girl or guy friends home?



Sweat it out because where we are concerned, how you eat the food, join the conversation and hold yourself up to burns and what not will be the measure of how long you'll last with the person you're with.

Like an initiation of sorts.
Can you take me eating with my bare hands? Uncle Bing too.
Can you stomach foods you probably have never eaten much less heard about till now?
oh my goodness, all that yelling, screaming and please pass the this and that.

hey you, give me that.
aughhh eating pasta with rice. scuse me, that's pancit and rice, needs be.
was that spaghetti with adobo beside it?
what it that thing? cow tongue, cow or pig feet, tail????
hey osso bucco is what??? so kari kare should be a cinch to eat. what? peanut in it? hey, what about mole? so don't say you can't handle it.

Chances are that you won't last if you are a picky non adventurous eater. we gauge friendships and how they last at the dinner table.
I already ate....LAME!!!!
I am allergic to......hmmmm, good excuse, but....NOT.
Try it at least once is what I say.
really Mrs. A, that chocolate soup tastes funny....hahahahah food fit for the cannibal in me.
You are what you eat...hey pigs...how baboy the pig. what? pork chops and ribs again?
you're lucky you aren't in the I want to marry your daughter phase....balut for sure, hey sam, you still have to eat that balut.
crabs? barbaric. yes, you only know crabs legs. dainty pincers and all. we eat the whole thing. watch kylie anamite and bambi dissect the poor thing inch by inch. makes me so proud. butter????euuuaw. gimme vinegar, garlic and lotsa rice. and please, use your hands only... more later.

Xmas eve and Xmas Night dinners Standing Rib Roast MS

So here's another round of eating for the holidays.
Dawn picked up Xmas eve as always because we are all too tired to cook, just want to eat and crash being up all night working the ovens and cakes, cookies and coffeecakes for the past ten years. Turkey and ham with mashed potatoes were just right.
Xmas day started out with longaniza and sinangag, garlic fried rice with fried eggs, totally filipino.
A quick trip to the movies for a breather.
Then dinner at the Bells. An 8 rib standing rib roast which was cooked really right, kudos to Bambi who always faces these challeneges to add to her repertoire. A caper and anchovy pasta, twice baked potatoes, the green bean casserole and Sam's made from scratch Caesar salad.
Something the two brothers weren't about to miss.
It makes me thankful to the Lord for times like these, seeing kids, grandkids and immediate family gathered round a table eating, jokes, food and would you believe, not that much drink save a few bottles of red wine?

By the way, prime rib is a standing rib roast but from PRIME USDA beef, eveyrthing else is a standing rib roast. An olive oil based tapenade smeared all over the roast and set to age overnight in the cooler, and a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes to sear the meat and 325 till it is done does the trick. Congratulations to Bambi for pulling it off.

New Year's Day 2008 MS

It didn't help that we were all sick over the few days before (and after) Jan 1st.
Hope it doesn't mean anything for the year, but then again, what's cough colds and flu compared to Kylie's in 2006 and mine in 2007? This is a cake walk.

Having had to work a few hours at Mrs. A's also cut back my cooking time.
Exhange gifts and eats were at the Bell's, just a week after the scrumptious Roast beef dinner for Xmas.

This time, the ubiquitous paella and lengua plus Kylie's Filipino fruit salad joined Bambi's turkey(courtesy of JB) and mashed potatoes, and a really tasty cocido, pork, beef, chicken and chorizo with garbanzos, potatoes, carrots and tomatoes with the eggplant salad side dish. The spaghetti was a great dish to add for kids and folks alike.
Bambi made a birthday cake for Migay whose 24th birthday fizzled as she was down with the flu with a bad dose of coughing and hacking.
It was a banana cake with fresh bana filling and our winnetka buttercream.
Poor Miggie, we always forget her brithday cake, and we own what? a bakery??? oh oops.
I vow next year I won't forget.

Hope everyone had a fun day on January 1st, I know I did, seeing and being with all the people, (kids, grandkids, sis, mom, les, close friends allowed into our intimate circle) I love in the same room, laughing talking and being there just fills my heart with so much love. This is what I am thankful to the Lord for. And this is what makes me look forward to each and every New Year.

thirty minute mealsMS

I realized today that having such a hectic life, working 7 days a week almost always 10 hour days, with 5 kids and 5 grandkids to feed every Thursday, a daughter with boyfriend on Wednesdays plus grandson and son-in law, it takes a real super human effort to ge that meal done. Sometimes, I have time to prep the night before, more often than not, I am ambitious enough to think I can go to the store, get the fresh veggies and meats and get a meal done, that’s if I don’t hit traffic on the way home.
So I find the challenge of having a good meal done within 30 minutes a challenge. I sometimes pull it off. Tonight, I ambitioned buying the ingredients before coming home and to my shock it was seven . Kylie and Todd pulled in as I got home. Aurghhh. Usually, they come home at 8. And as I hurriedly got the rice pot going and the pork marinated in the char siu mix, the door bell rang and Bambi with Sam walked in. Horrors. But, hey, slice the meat, etc nuke the chinese broc, get the fishballs and tofu sliced, and there I was, stir frying my first chow mein dish ever and the charsiu merrily roasted in the oven and got a good last minute broil. Oh well, another day in the life.
I truthfully admitted to Anamite that having a lack of friends around, and the serious work schedule, even if I am strapped for time, I find comfort in cooking that meal, whether it’s a lazy corned beef rice (that’s the canned corned beef for those who don’t know that this is a staple in a Filipino cupboard) or something chicken with cream of mushroom kicked up a notch by turmeric and either spinach or artichokes or asparagus, even after baking 100 cookies, cooking a meal at home is strangely relaxing .

Need to cook cook cook MS

need to cook cook cook


cooking relaxes me. this week has flown so fast that i don't remember when i last cooked in the kitchen other than thursday night dinner.

went crazy at the supermarket, onions, shallots, asparagus, spinach, green onions, tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms etc. then i saw a big slab of brisket for 1.99 a pound..hmmm that will be thursday night dinner. i already put the chicken out for tonight's dinner. i also cooked bear creek soup but boiled broccoli with the water before the mix, then sauteed garlic onions to go with the handful of asparagus and mushrooms for our side. the chicken i just marinated in salt, pepper, soy sauce, garlic powder and lemon. into my trusty favorite cast iron pan, i stuck the pork chops for tomorrow night's dinner in the remaining marinade and added a bit more stuff in it.

i've been going to the chinese supermarket and the carniceria guzman almost daily to get fresh meats and veggie, haven't been in caputo's for a bit so i went with cherries on my mind. ended up with stuff, well, i've been forgetting the grand kids so i got cheese and bread for their favorite american cheese sandwich, grilled of course, and i have browned gorund beef in the fridge i can convert into spaghetti sauce or picadillo at a drop of a hat. so that's that.

Beef Brisket my space blog

Haven't really found a brisket recipe I truly like. Cousins Mabel and Sofie have given me theirs but the only thing I remember is to roast this overnight. I have been using all kinds of recipes but haven't gotten one I really like. so this time, onions, garlic, soysauce, bbq sauce and caldereta mix. Not bad but still....

Sauteed asparagus in garlic and butter, decent. Another lazy pasta, sauteed ground beef with garlic and onions poured bottled marinara with can of tomato sauce, threw in bay leaf and cooked this with egg noodles instead of penne.

I cannot remember what I did with the spaetzle, I did the preliminary saute with garlic onions and beef but threw in parsley flakes, bay leaf and fresh basil (from my poor dying plant) and cream of mushroom soup and out of code sour cream (we're still alive) then the spaetlze, really came out good, cannot remember if i threw in thyme or what. hmmmph.

DPI food show

Yes, so I now am baking cupcakes and cookies, but that inner caterer and foodie in me always appreciates going to DPI Midwest's one day food show featuring their many vendors and new accounts. Some old some new, and the one I use wasn't there. Still, so many dessert and cookie shops, all upscale, all wanting a piece of that elusive (to me) market.

Ham off the bone from a new company, loads of cheese from all over the world, from Irish to Italian to goat cheese, and Danish butters.
Didn't see my duck friends either, nor the pate group, or did I miss them?
Didn't meat up either (known as scoping out and stalking meat booths and grabbing as much as I can when all is said and done).

But my weakness has always been sauces and marinades, Asian and what nots.
More for personal use, of course but who knows? One day I will cater again, or create a menu for orders only catering using these. Or one day, do Kylie's wedding like I did Bambi's and maybe Migz will also want one for her own. And grandkids will definitely benefit from me should I still be up and running when they get married. Or graduate.

The meal after was excellent but after grazing like a cow in almost every booth, aughhh, couldn't eat as well as I wanted to. Thanks DPI Midwest, this makes up for not going to the National Restaurant Show this year.