Purple Velvet

Believe or not, I am a filipina. I was born here in the states, and my Tagalog is equivalent to that of a 5 year old. Ok, maybe a 3/4 year old, but you get the picture. I grew up eating mongo, pancit, adobo, and of course, ube. Ube, is a purple yam, and is a staple in Filipino cuisine that can be prepared as part of a savory or sweet dish. It can be found in glass jars drenched in syrup, in the frozen food section, or you can find it fresh at any Asian grocery store. Ube ice cream is one my favorites. Sometimes for merienda, it is scooped into a pan de leche roll. YUM! I thought, why not an ube cupcake? Here goes ...

Turkey Day 2009

Traveling back to back made me really appreciate Thanksgiving this year. Friends, family and some good ole home cooked food - I couldn't have asked for anything more. We had the traditional trimmings: a whole roasted turkey, stuffing and baked yams along with pancit lug-lug, lumpia, biko and babinka. Let the battle against Holiday weight begin..


Turkey Treatment: Butter, garlic, paprika, rosemary


This is my annual Apple, Cranberry, Sausage Stuffing


Jason made these. Soo good. Four red yams and olive oil at 355 for about an hour. Rotate every 20 minutes.


Pancit Lug-Lug (Palabok): Pork, shrimps, tofu, atschuete, hard boiled eggs, rice stick noodles, fried garlic, lemon juice


Lumpia: pastry wrapper, pork, carrots, cheese, waterchestnut, ham, shrimps


Babinka*: granulated sugar, milk, sharp cheddar, mochiko


Biko*: Black rice, coconut milk, dark brown sugar, banana leaves

*My mom made me swear to NOT publish these recipes. You can find dozens of them online - they just won't be as magical.

Being Filipino

When I was younger I always wanted to eat 'normal' food. We never really ate out. My mom and dad would always make our lunches and we brought food with us wherever we went. While other kids were eating McDonald Happy Meals, we were eating pan de leche with ube, Skyflakes instead of Ritz Crackers. When I went to college, I was overwhelmed with all the other food possibilities: Thai, Vietnamese, American, Indian, Korean. Now in my late twenties, I've come back to my roots and cook in as often as I can. Sometimes though, when I need a comforting meal, nothing tops my mother's food. She might not be good at cooking 'normal food' like spaghetti (which is just as well, because I love my spaghetti), but she can cook Filipino dishes like no other. Eating her food is such a nostalgic experience. For the last few years I've been trying to emulate her cooking technique. I have everything down, but my end product is never exactly the same as hers. I think this is what I love about cooking - each dish is individual and unique.

Today with had broiled eggplant cooked in sort of omelet. (I asked her what this dish is called - she has no idea. But ask any Filipino and they will probably know what exactly you are talking). Pork adobo with green string beans and okra. And a side of tomatoes and bagoong. SOooooo goooood... For dessert she had avocado, milk and sugar. I opted for mais-queso ice cream. Yummm

Gobble Gobble

This year we have a whole lot to be thankful for Obama-Biden, Kate Nash (no relation to Steve Nash) and Vampire Weekend. In celebration of all our blessings we had an equally awesome Thanksgiving dinner - courtesy of yours truly, oh yeah - and the older brother. Side Note, I damn near cut my finger off!! Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!

Without further ado, onto our featured presentation - TURKEY DAY 2008 ... Starring ...

Turkey


Apple, Cranberry, Sausage Stuffing

Bacon Sauteed Green Beans

Turon

Pumpkin Pie Cheescake


Turkey Day 2008 Step-by-Step

Turkey Treatment
1 10lb butterball turkey (defrosted for 5 days)
4 tablespoons butter, melted
10 cloves garlic, minced
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Rinse turkey with warm water and pat dry with paper towels
3. Stuff turkey
4. Rub turkey with garlic butter
5. Bake turkey in an oven bag on top of roasting rack for 2.5 hours
**Use the juices in the bag as gravy

Stuffing
1 Dutch Crunch Roll, cubed
1 White Sourdough Roll, cubed
1 package of Aidell's Portabello Mushroom Sausage, removed from casing and chopped
1 cup yellow onion, chopped
1 golden delicious apple, chopped
2 teaspoons ground sage
2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cooked turkey liver, minced
3/4 cup celery, chopped
3/4 cups dried cranberries
1/3 cup freshed parsley, minced
3/4 cup Swanson chicken stock, low sodium, no msg
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1. Preheat oven to 350 and bake cubed bread for 5 minutes
2. Brown sausage and onion in large skillet
3. Add celery, sage, thyme and rosemary to skillet
4. In seperate bowl mix toasted bread, skillet mixture, apple, cranberry, liver, parsley, chicken stock, and butter
5. Spoon into turkey cavity

Green Beans
5 bacon strips
1 16 oz bag of frozen green beans
1. Cook bacon strips in a large skillet
2. Add green beans

Turon
Lumpia wrappers
Cooking bananas
Jackfruit
Dark brown sugar
Sorry this recipe isn't available

Cheesecake
2 8oz packages of Lucerne cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 brown free range organic eggs
1/2 cup canned Libby's 100% pure pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon Trader Joe's pumpkin spice
1 9" premade graham cracker crust
1. Mix and blend cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl
2. Blend in one egg at a time
3. Scoop 1 cup of the batter and spread onto bottom of graham cracker crust
4. Blend in pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice to remaining batter mix
5. Scoop the rest of the batter onto graham cracker crust
6. Preheat and back pie at 325F for 40 mins
7. Cool and refrigerate for 3 hours