Happy New Year to One and All!

It's been a privilege for me to have met you all here in blogosphere. It's always been my wish to have new beginnings in 2005. Good health is what I wish for all of you who have become my friends.

May we all wish for worldwide peace and harmony next year!!

'hope to see you all next year, same place!

Lechon Paksiw

Okey, it is "leftover time". Just a few days before Christmas, our family went to a Filipino Community Christmas party. It is common to expect a lechon in gatherings like this with the lechon still presented in whole. However, with the size of the attendees, it was worth having the lechon chopped into serving pieces to expedite the cue or to leave decent pieces for the people at the end of the line. The head and the hocks were something we set aside because they were too much to worry about in terms of presentation, etc.

At the end of the night, no one was willing to take these parts home. I guess it is either they are so "pigged out"(pardon me) or for some, they are are just confessed "don't-know-how-to-cook" beings. Of course I took them home. Little do they know that these are the most coveted parts of a lechon back in the Philippines. I cooked these parts the next day and froze them, making sure that they are packed into serving sizes good for 4.

Ingredients:

Hocks chopped into small piesces.

Head

1/3 cup of soy sauce

2 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped

about 10 pieces of peppercorns

5 bay leaves

1/3 cup of vinegar

5 tbsp of sugar

1 bottle of Mang Tomas All Purpose Sauce

2 cups of water

In a huge saucepan, put everything in and cover. Bring to a boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until pork is tender. Usually for the head, I let it get cooked first until you can actually separate the flesh from the skull. Slice the fleshy parts and put them back in the pot, discarding the bones and skull. Adjust taste as soon as pork is tender.

Naomi Parmesan Rounds

(Naomi's Parmesan Rounds)

This was meant to be part of our Noche Buena but I ran out of snacks to feed the hungry mouths so I had to serve this earlier than planned. One of my favorites and hey it's not too late to prepare for New Year's Eve. Two thumbs up from me. My boss' wife shared this recipe to me a couple of years ago.

Ingredients:

1 bag of sliced brown breadbutter

1 (250) package of cream cheese, at room temperature

1/4 cup buttter melted

200 gms of cooked shrimps (or crabmeat)finely chopped

1/4 cup of mayonnaise6 green onions, finely chopped

Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Using a 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch round cutter (or a jigger), cut circles from each slice of bread, butter one side of each circle. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Broil until lightly toated under a preheated broiler. Turn the broil unbuttered side. Transfer to rack and cool.

Combine cream cheese, butter, shrimp meat (or crabmeat), mayonnaise and green onions in a large bowl. Spread about one heaping teaspoon of mixture over buttered side of bread. Dip into parmesan Cheese.Arrange rounds on baking sheet and broil until bubbly and golden. Makes about 60 rounds.

Tip: You can freeze these too if you prepared a lot.

To freeze, place on cookie sheet and place in freezer until firm. Transfer to freezer bag or contaner and broil when needed.

This is a hit and I guarantee that your visitors will remember you forever.

Tokwa at Baboy

Pork and Deep Fried Tofu. Not exactly a healthy appetizer to start with but hey, 'tis the season to indulge. Filipinos (or my family's tradition anyway)usually wait for midnight to have dinner on Christmas Eve. Being used to having dinner around 6 pm, our tummies were grumbling and could not stand the wait. I had a few leftover pork slices from the parties weve been to and I put them in the freezer for situations like this one. I knew the stores were going to be closed before 6pm on the 24th so I made sure that I bought what I needed. I anticipated that one of these days, I can use some tofu and so I bought the fried ones already.

Tokwa't baboy goes well with any drink. We call it pulutan in the Philippines. It was a hit amongst my family and my friend.

Preparing this required the least effort on my part. The pork slices were already boiled so I just had to reheat them. The Tofu came in, deep fried already and so I just reheated them in the pan, sliced. With about 2/3 cup of soy sauce, 1/3 cup of vinegar, thinly sliced onions, 2 tbsp of sugar and some slices of chili mixed in a bowl, I added the pork slices and the tofu ones they were warm.

I served it with gusto.

We got wasted!

...and slumbering away! See you tomorrow if I'm sober by then!

Noche Buena

Yes, this was a table for four. Well, actually for five. My friend who is also on his own this Christmas, away from his family brought his presents for my kids. The instant invite. He had a couple of sip and decided to take my kids to the movies while me and my husband did some errands before our "Noche Buena". When we got back, apparently he decided to go home. Quite a damper for a moment but maybe, he really wanted to leave us alone or maybe he wanted to spend the eve on his own. Anyhow, we had fun.

To non-Filipinos, we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with lots of foodn and booze. We call it the Noche Buena. I must say Christmas Eve is more important than Christmas day itself. My office mates and I compared notes and I found out that in North America, Christmas is celebrated on Christmas Day itself. For us, gifts are opened on Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas and A

Happy and Prosperous

New Year to you all!!!

(Parol courtesy of Manong Mannurat)

Shrimp Foo Yong

This is to the Filipinos nothing but a torta. The only difference is, I wasn’t used to adding gravy on my torta in the the Philippines. I used ketchup. Things have definitely changed. This is something we often order from our favorite Chinese restaurant. Here we go.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp of olive oil
3 eggs
2 tbsp of flour
Salt to taste
½ lb of small cooked shrimps
½ medium onion, coarsely chopped
¼ lb of bean sprouts
1 tbsp of finely chopped green onions for topping

Beat the eggs in a big bowl. Add the flour and mix well with the beaten egg. Add a dash of salt. Mix all the rest of the ingredients.

In a non-stick pan, heat the oil. Bring the heat to medium heat and pour the egg mixture making sure that it is spread evenly. Cover pan and cook for about 2 minutes. Flip the egg and cover the pan. Cook for another 2 minutes or until egg is cooked. Usually, I cook it a little longer to give the eggs a little crisp on the outside.

Top with gravy (my daughter’s little secret) and finely chopped green onions.

Pollock with Tomatoes and Hoisin Sauce

I've got one more party to go to before Christmas before I can officially say I am all partied out. I had two parties this weekend, back to back. After having lechon last Saturday and a lot of barbecue tonight, it was a little refreshing just looking at this recipe I prepared for Amiel, a reader of mine about a week ago.

This is really a very simple one.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of white fleshed, filleted fish (I used Alaskan Pollock)
2 tbsp of olive oil
1tsp of finely chopped ginger
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1/2 lb cherry tomatoes cut in half (or any other kind of tomatoes)
3 tbsp of hoisin sauce
lots of green onions, finely chopped

Steam the fish until cooked. Put in a serving plate and set aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add ginger and cook for 1/2 minute. Saute onions until translucent. Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are limp and juicy. Season with hoisin sauce. Add some salt if desired. Turn stove off. Mix in green onions.

Top steamed fish with the cooked tomatoes. Serve hot. Serves 4 to 5 people.

Chicken with Peanut Butter and Hoisin Sauce

I did say I was going to stay away from the computer for a few days but I can't just resist a reader's request for a fish or chicken recipe for the holidays. Here you go Amiel. I hope this will help. (I will post the fish recipe sometime this week). To my friends in blogosphere, I promise I will pay you a visit sometime these days.

2 tbsp of olive oil
about 1 lb of chicken, chopped in small pcs.
1 tsp of finely chopped ginger
1/2 cup of peanut butter
2 tbsp of Hoisin Sauce (found in most Chinese groceries)
1 tbsp of Lemon Juice or Calamansi Juice
2 tbsp of finely chopped green onions
soy sauce to taste

Heat oil in a pan. Add chicken and cook for about 10 minutes making sure that chicken does not go dry. If it does add about 2 tbsp of water every once in a while until chicken is cooked. Add ginger, peanut butter and Hoisin Sauce and lemon juice. Cover pan and cook for another 5 minutes stirring occasionally to make sure that the peanut sauce will not stick to the bottom of the pan. Add small amounts of water once in a while if needed. Season with soy sauce. Turn off stove and add green onions before serving. Chicken with Peanut Butter and Hoisin Sauce

Vegetables with Quail Eggs and Young Corn

I know, I know. I did say I was going to be out of commission for a while but I just can’t resist. I have a bunch of pictures and I can’t help but come up with one post for today. I must say that I’ve been very good at staying away from the blog world and really concentrating on my work (shh!). I blog hop during my breaktime (or should I tell that to the marines?).

Anyway, how about some canned quail eggs? Yes, I bought them from the Filipino store but these were imported from Thailand, cooked and shelled. Curiosity got the better of me again and so here I am blogging.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp of olive oil
1 pc of chinese sausage
½ of medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 carrot
2 stalks of celery
¼ lb of green beans
1 can of young corn
1 can of quail eggs
½ tsp of finely chopped garlic
1 tbsp of cornstarch dissolved in ½ cup of water
salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan. Cook sausage for about 2 minutes. Add onion and cook for 1 minute. Add carrots and cook for 1 minute. Add beans and celery and cook for another 1 minute. Add the quail eggs, young corn and finely chopped garlic. Season with salt. Pour cornstarch solution and cook for about 1 minute or until cornstarch is cooked. Serve hot.

In the meantime, I met another friend in blogosphere and you might want to visit her. She's friendly and I don't think she bites. (LOL)

Udon

Can you tell it's one of those instant udons on sale for half a buck? I managed to make this a healthy soup by throwing in some vegetables, imitation crab meat, an egg and just half of the seasoning that came with it. Mind you, I really stacked up to keep me sane during the season. The only thing I will have to make sure is to stack the fridge up with vegetables and eggs too. I have thought of not buying meat this month because I am pretty sure that before the end of this year, we'd be tired of our famous lechon.

The month has just started and already, I've been to the first Christmas Party for this year last Saturday. Next weekend, there will be another one, and the weekend after and the weeend after that weekend, until New Year's day. I must be one of those sane people in the office to file for days off after Christmas. You see, at the beginning of the year, we all file for our intended days off throughout the year. I am saving my few weeks for my travel to the Philippines next year and only took a week off this year. last summer, I made good use of my long weekends and went camping on Friday nights and broke camp on Sunday afternoons. Now everybody from the office is envying me and swear that they too will do the same this coming year.

Posts will be slow these coming days. In fact I might be out of commission. I have to sign off a lot of year end reports, making sure that all of our clients will know where they are before January 15 next year. I don't have much choice in this area. It's our butter.

Enjoy, everyone!!!

Ginger Beef with Onions and Black Bean Sauce

I love this recipe.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp of olive oil
1 lb of beef sliced as thin as possible
1 medium onions, coarsely chopped
2 thumb-sized ginger finely chopped
3 tbsp of black bean sauce
1 tsp of sesame oil
¼ cup of green onions
2 cups of bean sprouts
2 bunches of spinach

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Saute beef until brown. Set aside. In the same pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil. Saute onions for about half a minute. Add ginger and cook for about 1 minute. Add beef. Season with black bean sauce. Add sesame oil. Cook for another 1 minute. Add the green onions. Cook only for about 1 minute. Set Aside.

In a separate pan, cook the spinach without adding water and set aside. Cook bean sprouts for about 1 minute. Do not overcook.

Arrange spinach and bean sprouts on a serving plate. Add the cooked beef. Enjoy