Why Christmas Eve and not Christmas Day? This is because Catholics attend a midnight mass on Christmas Eve to welcome the day Christ was born. Families heard mass together for this special day, and the big meal came before that.

In the old days when my mother was responsible for the Noche Buena meal, we had to have her chicken gallantina or relleno. She did the de-boning of the native chicken herself, a skill she learned from her mother. This skill was also handed down to a sister and a cousin, who was only a few years old when he first saw my mother doing it. The chicken had to be marinated while the meat stuffing prepared. Any left-over stuffing was rolled into a log and wrapped in the “sinsal” and cheesecloth for embotido. The chicken would be stuffed, sewn up then wrapped in cheesecloth which was also sewed up to keep the chicken all tight. This was then boiled for hours until the tough native chicken was tender.

We also had pochero, a stew made with various meats boiled and sauteed in a tomato sauce. The broth from this dish was saved for fideos, a soup made with angel hair pasta. This particular soup always reminded us of our grandmother, my Lola Blanca, this was her dish. I remember it from years past, with that “bahay guya” and unhatched eggs sliced in with it. It’s a rich, satisfying soup, perfect for those cold December nights of years past.

My father was in charge of the ham. Weeks before Christmas, he’d buy the ham from the same Chinese deli in Quiapo his side of the family got their ham for years, and it would hang in the kitchen until it was unwrapped days before Christmas. He would soak it for a day or two, changing the water twice daily. Then it would be ready for the cooking in my grandmother’s old, heavy stainless steel laundry basin which was cleaned mercilessly in preparation for its change of role.

Boiled for hours until most of the salt is gone, the water in the ham would still have to be changed several times to get it right. The last boiling was done with several other ingredients to flavor the ham. All of this was done in our backyard, over a wood fire. After they determined it was ready, the skin would be peeled off and the ham would then change hands. This time, it went to my mother who prepared the fat on the topside, scoring it into a diamond pattern, putting the brown sugar and then searing it with a heated and ancient cast-iron syansi with a long handle. Pineapple, cherries and cloves would then be decorate the top and off the ham went again into the oven for a final, quick roast. The whole painstaking process was a joy to watch, and the effort produced a great ham unlike any you can find today.

I loved how the best china, silverware and linens were brought out for the occasion. There was nothing better than to sit at that table groaning with all the good food and the sounds of a family gathering. The food and its preparation just brought us all together as a family and now partaking was only a pleasant experience.

Over the years, there’d be a rotation of other entrees, salads and desserts: a large fish with mayonnaise, mechado, morcon, paella, macaroni salad, fruit salad, potato salad, jalea ube, macapuno, leche flan, pabo embuchado, stuffed turkey, roast pork loin and others I cannot recall right now. We all had a hand in preparing the meals, it was such a joy to just sit and watch my grandmother and parents. I cannot recall the stories my mother told us as she was working, but I remember she always explained things, teaching us her secrets while laughing and enjoying herself.

These were the essentials that made Christmas Noche Buena a traditional one for my family. It wasn’t just the food – it was the bonds of family, from past generations to the next one, that made all the difference. I can only hope the next generations can recall Christmases past just as happily as I do now.

And please, it’s not a savage practice of uncivilized people. It’s an art you have to learn.  Besides, it’s fun! I mean… it really is. No Pinoy picnic would be the same if they handed you a silver spoon, fork and knife. Besides, you tend to lose all sense of inhibition when you’re sitting fully-clothed on a creekbed with graceful bamboo leaves swaying  over you and the bamboo table you’re eating from virtually floating over the gentle, streaming water.  Not to worry, the guys would have tied it down to something. The food is staying on the table….but not for long.

Not only is it fun, but eating with your hands takes a lot of skill. You don’t just moosh things in your palms and shove them into your mouth. Actually, you only use your fingers when eating with your hands. Oh gee, that sounds sooo NOT right…but it’s true!  You pick up your food using your fingertips and scoop it up, not in your palms, but on the very tips of your fingers.

The ultimate in skill is eating a whole fried or grilled fish (yes, with the head on) with rice and other dishes one-handed….with no problem separating the flesh from the bones mind you.   If that isn’t what you call skill, I don’t know what is..

See….you have to keep one hand clean so you can use the serving spoons for the other dishes on the table….or do something else like pick up the abaniko (Filipino leaf fans) and drive away the flies hovering around attempting to share your food….or some other things youneed to do at picnics in the Philippines.

Here’s the Christmas turkey our family had for Christmas this year.   Everyone looks forward to having it on Christmas surpassing the more traditional ham that would take days to prepare.  So, I’ll keep making this until something new catches our fancy.

When Spouse was carving the turkey, 3 sets of hungry little boys’ eyes were carefully watching him.  Soon as a piece of the skin came off, it went straight to my 4-year old  nephew’s mouth.  He had turkey for lunch and turkey yet again for dinner.

Recipe to follow…

Christmas is for kids.  Before I got married, I’d splurge on Christmas dinner and decor but never on gifts.  In fact, I’d recycle corporate gifts I got and give them to the little ones just so they had another present to rip open.  Eldest Sister’s Youngest Daughter was the best kid to give a gift.  No matter what it was, she would be happy as a clam when she opened that present.  Her tiny eyes always popped wide open and her joyous exclamations were always the happiest and loudest.  That was the  best part of Christmas always.

But the Christmas dinner, which is actually Christmas Day lunch,  has to be special because my family loves to gather round the table to eat and talk – usually about food still!  Last year on Christmas Eve, Third Sister and I were in the kitchen making our cooking plans for the Christmas lunch we always celebrated at our parents and she got so excited about the turkey she actually convinced me we HAD to do it right away.  It was almost midnight so we got started to prepare the bird that was by then defrosted and sitting in the refrigerator.  I regret not taking a photo of that bird.  I recently saw a turkey featured in some local newspaper and it was a far cry from the beauty my sister and I took home to Mama last year.  It was browned more  evenly than I ever made it – another set of eyes watching the bird does make a difference!

Yes, there was no sleep for us that night.  But what a lovely turkey breakfast we brought to Mama the next day!  It certainly wasn’t our usual thing but oh we had a great time!  The turkey was almost all gone before lunch when Eldest Sister arrived with her kids.  We made a lot of dressing to go with the bird and they got to sample some of that at least.  She brought lechon from Cebu and some other foods she cooked. Eldest Sister is a really good cook.

I’m looking forward to Christmas this year.   I’m just a Christmas person I guess.  My decorating is all done and I’m sitting here next to the Spouse with the Christmas tree all shiny and bright and cheerful.

I’m looking forward to Christmas next year even more.  We welcomed  a new addition to the family this year.   Eldest Nephew got married in October and now we have an Eldest Niece-in-Law,  our very first.  Next year, they’ll have a baby by the time Christmas comes so we’ll have the Eldest Grand Nephew or Niece.  Again, our very first and the first of his generation.  The cycle of life continues for our family.

Merry Christmas and may your tribe increase!

then it was a green cake.

I have this theory about kids, give them what they want  now (if they’re not your kids) because you can’t afford what they want in just a few years.  For now, Youngest Nephew is happy with a Chinese-made, battery operated helicopter with lights, moving rotors, and sounds.  Cheap.  His older brother is happy with a real flashlight, “like a security guard’s” and a step trashcan – I got him both for his birthday last September.  He was happy.

Back to the cakes.  The first cake is a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  It’s a very basic recipe, very simply iced so I put these sugar decors I got from Goldilocks bakeshop previously.  It’s not perfect but when you light the candles on that cake, any 3-year old will be so happy, the imperfections won’t matter.

The second cake is a Mr. Bean car cake.  It’s supposed to be a Austin mini, complete with the padlock (badlock as my nephews call it, “to keep the bad men out”).  Youngest Nephew and his older brother aren’t the only ones in our family crazy about Mr. Bean, so is Spouse and Eldest Brother-in-Law.  This car cake was a big hit I have to say.

When the nephew told me about the green cake wish, I immediately thought of making this.  That was a couple of weeks before the birthday so I made plans, none of which I did.  I settled for a butter cake recipe, never tested but easy enough.  Then a couple of days before the birthday, I had the cakes sitting in my refrigerator and I didn’t start on it. I was stressing over it.  All I thought then was thank goodness I didn’t let on with the nephew about my plans because he was going to be soooo disappointed.   Spouse eventually told me it didn’t matter if the cake was not perfect.  He said so long as it vaguely resembled a car, any 3 and 4-year old will be happy…unlike their 40-something OC aunt I might add.  That made it easier for me to do the task.  It took time but it got done.  I started decorating the cake the morning of the  birthday, at 1:00 am.  I crawled out of bed wide awake with images of ways and tricks for decorating the cake.  So I worked like those little elves working for the shoemaker and was done in a couple of hours.

It’s not perfect.  But for a very non-artistic person’s efforts, it’s not half-bad.  My talents are not artistic at all, they lay somewhere else.  I’ll tell you where when I find out.

So I got a huge surprise when we opened our car door to show the kids what was in there, and they both screamed, “Mr. Bean car!!” – I have to say, it was all worth it.  Even when they were disappointed that the cookie wheels came off because they were trying to make it move, I was delighted.  They didn’t even think the car was a cake!

When it finally sank in that it was a cake, they very gingerly put their little fingers to that buttercream frosting and made a happy mess of it.

Recipes to follow…

Here’s the round-up for Lasang Pinoy’s 20^th Edition for the month of August titled, “Binalot – All Wrapped Up!” Thank you to everyone who took time off from their busy lives and sent in a contribution for this LP edition. We covered appetizers to dessert like we all planned it! I hope LP followers will enjoy this round-up as much as the host did.

From Cia in New York City where she writes her blog called, Writing With My Mouth Full, we have two entries featuring delectable Philippine-inspired fish dishes with a twist. She uses herbs like basil, rosemary and thyme not normally used in traditional Philippine cooking, a definite must-try for cooking enthusiasts. Her first entry is Pinangat na Isda or Bluefish in Tomatoes cooked the French-binalot way, en Papilotte or wrapped in paper.

Her next featured dish is Ginataang Isda or Fish in Coconut Milk wrapped in banana leaves. The fish is cooked with not only the usual garlic, onions and chili but also basil, cilantro and parsley. Can you imagine all those flavors in your Ginataang Isda? I can and I think we’re having this on our dinner table soon.

And from another Filipino food blogger writing from the Philippines, Mark of No Special Effects here’s the luscious-looking “La Pinay” . It’s a chocolate crepe filled with delectable mangoes slathered with everyone’s favorite bread-spread and more, Nutella. It’s served over more mangoes and topped with mango ice cream. It’s a beautiful wrapped dessert that will make you forget any diet you’re currently on.

Despite her very busy schedule in China, Lasang Pinoy pioneer Iska Montero of Iskandals comes up with every Pinoy’s favorite appetizer, Lumpiang Shanghai. We all have our different recipes for this meat spring roll but Iska has gone one step further and features her own way of wrapping it. You have to check it out. It’s priceless with the step-by-step photographs.

And from the US Midwest, Filipino Food Lovers blog author Robert has been busy wrapping his fish in newspaper! It’s a very novel way to cook and serve Paksiw na Isda. Curious? Go then, see what Robert’s been up to…

From the opposite side of the Atlantic, Celia of English Patis has come up with a great recipe for Lumpiang Sariwa or Fresh Spring Rolls. She includes the wrapper recipe with some tips to make it even better. This is probably the best recipe I’ve seen online and will have to try it myself.

Philippine-based Anne of Kitchen Conjugations prepares Laing, a national favorite every Filipino in every corner of the world has probably endeavored to reproduce. Laing is a spicy stew of taro leaves with coconut milk which Anne presents all wrapped up and looking hot!

Marvin of Burnt Lumpia in California came up with a great turon idea that’s bound to be a hit. It’s a Banana Foster wrapped in banana leaves, flambed and served with macapuno ice cream. Just roll that idea around in your head a minute…great idea, don’t you think? I was hoping someone would do a turon recipe and this one exceeded all expectations.

From California we move on to Cavite where Kai of the Bucaio blog writes from, we have the Pinoy gourmet breakfast item Kasilyo, more commonly called Kesong Puti. The freshly made cheese is wrapped in fresh banana leaves. Kai also gives great suggestions for incorporating this local cheese to various recipes.

Kaoko, also in the Philippines, writes from her blog called Kitchen Cow. In my opinion, this is one of the most visually-stimulating Filipino food blogs around. For this Binalot edition, she shares with us her family’s recipe for Lumpiang Shanghai.

Kaoko came up with still another spring roll recipe for us just before we published. You’ll be glad she did because this is another very popular Filipino dish to those who are familiar with Philippine cuisine. It’s Lumpiang Prito or Vegetable Lumpia. This is wrapped in thin lumpia wrappers and deep-fried to a crisp. This version is thinner than usual, making it an even crisper roll.

As host of LP20, I felt obliged to come up with more than one binalot recipe just because I’m anal and for fear no one was going to participate. I should have known better. Pinoys are reliable and this LP round-up proves it. My contributions are: Ginataang Tilapia Wrapped in Bok Choy Leaves, the Bicolano dish simply called Binalot, Muruecos and Suman sa Ibos.

Please excuse me for being so predictable and boring but I’ve always wanted to say: “It’s a wrap!” – and chances are, it’s a banana leaf!

There are a myriad ways of preparing Filipino foods and a favorite is wrapping in leaves. The dish is referred to as “binalot” and while it usually means picnic lunches, Philippine cuisine does have a thousand and one recipes that uses this technique of food preparation. It gives you a peek into the Filipino’s practical nature, ingenuity, creativity and propensity to have fun – wherever and whenever.

As in most Southeast Asian countries, the most commonly used leaf is the banana leaf. The banana leaf is huge and has this thin, waxy outer layer that makes it perfect for wrapping even the sauciest of dishes. Another commonly used leaf are coconut leaves, folded and woven into all kinds of shapes and sizes.

But Filipinos don’t stop at leaves. There’s fresh bamboo cylinders, then there’s crepes and wonton wrappers which are both an influence of the Chinese population in the Philippines. Whether the wraps are thrown on the grill over hot, live coals, or perhaps boiled or steamed, the wraps leaves its own distinct aromas and flavors to the dishes encased within. The experience of unwrapping while all the steamy goodness and aromas fill your nostrils is definitely half the fun.

The possibilities are just endless and instincts tell me there are more wraps out there being used for binalot recipes than we know of. It’s probably as many as the 7,100 islands of our modest archipelago in the South China Sea and the Pacific.

Perhaps you’d like to feature the technique of folding and wrapping, that will definitely be interesting to readers from all over. Or maybe you have the best recipe for lumpia wrappers or your very own Philippine-inspired wrapped concoction using your own wrapper idea, that’s certainly welcome.

Whichever you choose to write about in your blog or someone else’s blog (this one included), Lasang Pinoy only requires that you submit your entries to the current host or the Lasang Pinoy team with your name, blog name and the link to your entry. For quick identification, title your emails, LP20: Binalot, and please use the icon shown here on your blog entries. As always, our icon for this month was creatively designed by Iska Montero and Mike Mina – maraming, maraming salamat! Thanks to everyone at Lasang Pinoy for your support too!

For this August edition, entries will be accepted starting today through the 1st of August 2007. Unless the host gets all wrapped up in some unforeseen circumstances, we hope to release the round-up within the first week of August…then we’ll call it a wrap!

Let’s get rolling and wrapping!

Eurobake has been around a very long time. This bakeshop made its name with two well-known products: Inipit and Malolos Ensaymada. Even when they didn’t have a Metro Manila outlet, people braved the horrific traffic and flocked to the nearby province of Bulacan for these two goodies. Are they worth it? Absolutely.

An uncle on my mother’s side married a Bulakenya and she introduced the family a long time ago to this shop’s goodies. Like every good daughter-in-law, she brought my Lola Blanca a regular stash every so often.

Spouse and I were there the other week and managed to rack up quite a bill. I just meant to get the Inipit but they also had Cashew Tarts, the Pastillas de Leche made with carabao milk and the Turrones de Casuy in the small, unbranded white tin can that it always came in…and then there was the Malolos Ensaymada. Did you know they now sell Sasa Vinegar? Well…I got a bottle of that too….and some other things.

Then of course, this week…off we went again. I hauled my two little nephews and my mom with us…with the excuse of going to the garden centers nearby. I did too! But this week I was good. I just got another box of the Inipit that the little ones love and call little cakes…and yes, another Malolos Ensaymada…love those ensaymadas that I didn’t have to bake myself in the sweltering heat of the kitchen!

We are so lucky to have these ladies bringing us fresh produce 6 days a week at our place. They come all the way from another province about an hour’s drive from where we live. They have a bicycle cart with a large colorful umbrella strapped onto it and peddle vegetables, meats, fish and seafood – actually anything you want that can be found at a wet market. But they don’t just peddle, they have their regulars and unless you’re a regular, they won’t bother to ring your bell or even pass your street.

My mother has been a regular and very loyal customer for years now so they obliged her and started dropping by at our place. Well, not at first. For all my food needs until a couple of months ago, I would still have to go to the SM Mall about a 10-minute snail’s pace drive from our house. But when they did stop by and I started ordering pork, beef, native sausages and even batik dresses for the summer from them, they came by more often – almost everyday in fact.

They are sisters-in-law and live in the same family compound in Nueva Ecija. They invited Spouse and I to come visit them at fiesta time at the end of May. They have a compound outside the main town they said, with a little brook at the back of the property with plenty of mango trees. I think there’s no turning that invitation down, especially since I’ve never been to that province before. Spouse and I are really looking forward to do that.
They have been serving our neighborhood for about 6-7 years now and have gotten to know a lot of the neighbors. They are also a great source of news – nothing nasty of course, they are always nice. But you do get the skinny on what house in the neighborhood is for sale and all that. In the Philippines, very few people seem to be willing to put out a sign on their yard when a house is for sale.

Apart from the convenience of having goods delivered to your doorstep the day after you order it, they also offer produce which you may have never tried before. There was this one shiny, silvery oddly-shaped fish called “sapatero” which I couldn’t remember ever having (mom said we’ve had it before though) and so I tried it and will order another batch for grilling. I’ll write about it another time and hopefully not forget to take photos.

One of my favorite things to order, aside from the garlic sausages are the cooked Rellenong Bangus (stuffed milkfish) they order from another lady in Nueva Ecija. It is just delicious and Spouse absolutely loves it. In fact, there was one time when I was away and the ladies came calling and Spouse took 2 large Rellenos – which I never would have taken! Between the two of us, we can finish up a whole medium-sized relleno in one sitting. So the two large stuffed fish was just too much for the two of us. I took it to my mom’s and she confirmed it tasted great. It also keeps very well in the freezer. As a matter of fact, I have one medium-sized relleno waiting to be eaten as I type this.

Ooops, gotta go…my doorbell’s ringing. That must be my ladies calling!

There was a blizzard in Colorado Springs when we held this American-style barbecue for the family in Bulacan a few days after Christmas. It was surreal to be sitting in the sun and enjoying a summer barbecue while the place we just came from a month and a half ago was in the middle of a back-to-back winter blizzard.

Back to the subject of this post, I always wondered what my family in the Philippines would think of an American-style barbecue with grilled burgers, salads, boiled corn and barbecued beef ribs. It’s very different from the barbecues we are used to with Inihaw na Bangus, Inihaw na Liempo, Skewered Pork Barbecue, etc. I got to try it on them last month and am happy to report that they loved it. Fortunately, the weather cooperated too…cloudy and just a tad windy so it wasn’t too hot for an al fresco lunch.

Spouse took care of the grilling aided by the brother-in-law and my Dad. Everyone pitched in to help. Eldest Sister brought some green-leaf lettuce and a tangy tuna dressing to go with it. She also brought her yummy pork barbecue that was the best I’ve ever had. I will try to get her recipe for the marinade….it’s just too good to not feature in a future post here.

My 20-year old niece and I prepared the Caesar’s Salad and it came out even better than what I did for this blog some months back. Her croutons were perfectly done. Youngest Sister did her tangy Garlic and Cheese Dip for the chips. It was so good someone even tried it on their burger instead of mayo….ohhh, it was delicious.

What I prepared was the Feta Burgers I had featured here before. We also did a Filipino Macaroni Salad, a Nilagang Manok (Boiled Chicken) with Green Beans, Potatoes and two different cabbages, Grilled Talakitok Fish (Trevally in English) which was meant for the parents who dug into the burgers instead. We had boiled corn which was sweet enough, but not quite New Jersey corn-sweet. And for the piece de resistance – the Steaks marinated in Cattlemen’s Authentic Smokehouse Barbecue Sauce. I stuck bottles of this barbecue sauce in several boxes, anticipating a barbecue just like this with my family.

I found some good quality barbecue steaks from the Monterey counter at SM City here in Marilao. They were very reasonably priced for the cut. It was odd-shaped, but it definitely was the T-bone with the loin still attached. The only thing Spouse noticed was the unevenness of the cuts, making it difficult to grill. I hope the butchers of Monterey Beef would take their craft more seriously. I also think since the company is owned by the established San Miguel Coproration, they certainly can afford to train their butchers better.

The burgers were the big hit of the day though. You should have seen my niece’s eyes when she first bit into her burger! This niece is very health conscious. When she was a kid, she was obsessed with those infomercials of products that would cut down the fat in your diet. Since the burgers were ground round (sirloin was sold out)  which I personally picked for its leanness, it passed all her picky standards. She also hates cheese (go figure!) and so we didn’t let on that the burgers had feta cheese buried in the patties before it was grilled. Oh, it was deliciously creamy with that melted feta cheese oozing through the burger!

For dessert we had a No-Bake White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake served with strong, hot mugs of Papua New Guinea coffee that my mom’s neighbor had given her for Christmas. A perfect ending to a perfect lunch with the family.

Spouse and I enjoyed ourselves immensely. It was our first barbecue for my family and it was a success. In fact, we did another barbecue just a few days ago with just my parents and Youngest Sister and her two boys. We’re now planning to make it a regular Saturday activity where anyone in the family who doesn’t have much to do that day, is invited to come.