FAMILY FOOD TRIP

February 6, 2011

It's the last week of my Balikbayan Aunties stay here in the Philippines, and Mom thought about doing a farewell/goodbye party for her sisters. At first, the option was a dinner or lunch gathering to be held in some restaurant but I was able to convince my mom to just do it here at home. I told my mom that she doesn't have to burden herself with the cooking since we can always ask the househelp to do most of the cooking. (My mom can just take on a supervisory role) and I can buy the rest of the food in nearby restaurants.

Fortunately for me, my sister decided to contribute a dish or two for the party (we'll get into that later)


STEAMED CRABS



We are quite fortunate that the local wet market is only a couple of blocks aways from our home. And more fortunate is that sometimes the vendors would agree to deliver the fresh food right to our doorstep ......... such is the case for the crabs and prawns that we have on that particular day.

Our family usually prefers the crabs steamed (though the ones fried in garlic is not so bad either) with a little vinegar-garlic-soy sauce mixture as dipping sauce.

FRIED JUMBO PRAWNS



Prawns around 9 to 10 inches long, marinated in a soy sauce and garlic concoction, then deep fried in oil ...... Personally, I prefer the ones that half in length as the meat has a more firm smooth bite to it. These big prawns tend to have a grainy texture. (probably because the prawns are way too mature already)

BEEF KALDERETA



Just your average beef dish cooked using those "instant kaldereta powder mixes" one buys in the local grocery........ I don't know if our househelp was in a rush or what, but I felt that the beef could have been simmered a little longer in the pot as some of the meat were still a little tough to chew on. (and no, we didn't use a pressure cooker)

COUNTRY NOODLES Pansit Malabon



I used to frequent the Pansit Malabon from DOLOR's, but somehow thru the years, the quality for their pansit took a deep dive. I now prefer buying them at either "Pansit na taga Malabon" outlets or at Country Noodles.

THAI VEGGIE SPRING ROLL



I brought this all-veggie spring rolls at this thai inspired resto in Banawe street, quezon city. The name of the resto is MUANG THAI...... better ask for some extra servings of their sweet--sour dipping sauce because that is what will really bring out the best in the dish.
SALAD



This is one of the contribution of my sister and I forgot to ask her whats it called ...... actually my sister was a little secretive as to how she makes her dishes. (not that I could copy them in the first place). This salad basically has the usual lettuce, sliced cherry tomatoes and some tofu cubes (which everybody initially thought were cheese). The real winner of course was the dressing for the salad. At first I thought it was similar to those used in Ceasar salads, but this dressing had a nice smokey, meaty flavour (pretty much like adobo)

When I asked her what the dressing is called, she just said its a sesame dressing.

BAKED SALMON



Now you may think I'm a little biased in favor of my sister when it comes to her cooking. But truth to tell, I'm not and she knows I will tell it like it is when I don't like a particular dish. In the case of this salmon dish ....... well she can consider me as her number one fan. The meat is almost melt-in-your-mouth (almost because the fish had a particularly long resting time travelling from her house to ours) and the garlic-mayo mixture which comprises the crust is just uber delicious. (well, I think its just garlic and mayo but my sis is keeping mum on the ingredients she used)

As you can see from the pic, some of my relatives already gotten to the dish before i had the chance to take a picture. hahahaha

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I also brought some assorted sushi rolls from TOK-YU Japanese Restaurant along Panay avenue, but for some strange reason I forgot to take a picture of it.