Just got back from the motherland!
Oh boy, cean doesn’t seem to like it…
Family reunion (and a xmas party) hosted by my Tita Pronie
From top to bottom, left to right:
Chicken lollipop – deep-fried chicken wings
Pancit bihon w/ squid – rice vermicelli w/ squid instead of chicken or pork
Lumpiang sariwa – fresh spring rolls
Pork barbeque
Tokwa’t baboy – deep-fried beancurd and pork w/ soy sauce & vinegar
Chop suey – mixed vegetable dish
Escabeche – fish in a kinda sweet & sour sauce but pinoy style
Halabos na sugpo – prawn cooked w/ salt and from its own juice (no water at all)
Sinaing na tambakol – yellowfin tuna simmered w/ sun-dried kamias & pork fat (just like my sinaing na tulingan)
Steamed lapu-lapu or sea bass
Kalderetang baka – beef stew
Lumpiang shanghai – minced pork roll
Inihaw na tilapia – broiled tilapia over live charcoal
Lechon – roasted pig
Our humble xmas dinner
From top to bottom, left to right:
Lumpiang shanghai – minced pork roll
Humba – braised pork
Pancit mike soup – flat, wide noodles normally cooked dry
Spaghetti – a bit hot & spicy
Ampalaya con carne – sauteed bitter gourd & pork
Fiesta ham (no Chinese ham can compare to our local fiesta ham)
Sinigang na isda – sour fish soup
Fruit salad
Cassava cake
Another salu-salo hosted by my cousin Maribeth
From top to bottom, left to right (mostly prepared by Maribeth herself):
Deep-fried maya-maya or snapper (marinated in salt, pepper, celery & calamansi)
Lechong kawali – boiled then deep-fried pork belly
Chicken & pork adobo – meat cooked w/ soy sauce, bay leaf & vinegar (prepared by Tita Pronie)
Fried galunggong or mackerel scad
Dinuguan – pork stew flavored w/ pork blood spiked with pepper, garlic & vinegar
Home-made pizza
Baked tahong or mussels (most requested from my cousin Betito)
Sauteed alamang or shrimp paste
Boiled aubergine w/ unripe mangoes & tomatoes
Paksiw na pata – pig’s knuckles simmered w/ soy sauce, dried banana blossoms & vinegar
Steamed okra
Fruit juice
Need i say more?
whoops! that’s mike of LAFANG (host of LP5) giving me a present… xmas away from home a decade ago.
Lasang Pinoy 5. Click here for the round up.
My father, a farmer in his hometown before working his way to becoming an accountant, definitely influenced my cooking in a lot of ways than I thought. My siblings and I were raised in a backyard full of fruit trees and vegetable garden. We spent weekends and the summer breaks running around with ducks, chickens, goats and pigs. I had wonderful memories of gathering eggs, butchering chickens, selling vegetables and the sweet aroma of preserved fruits. But my love for art led me to a degree in Architecture. Just few months after getting my license, I went abroad and lived independently at age 23. Definitely no maid, no cook, and a totally different food culture. Along the way I met lots of friends and spent what seemed a lifetime learning new tricks and recipes.
Now living in Auckland, I am a work-from-home mum who juggles time between work, fun and family - in pursuit of work-life balance. No matter how busy I am, I love the idea of cooking for my family. My blog chronicles home cooking greatly influenced by life outside my home country from Southeast Asia to Beijing and Auckland. And most of the time, being busy also means easy (sometimes quick), affordable meals.
Isky, paano lutuin ang pancit luglog soup? Interesting!
Teenager ka pa lang ata sa picture ah! At si Mike, black knight na pala dati pa? Hehehe!
karen, my mistake hehehe homesick pa yata ako e. it’s pancit mike soup. luto ng sister ko. yaan mo check ko kung pano nya niluto.
ngek! nene pa ko nyan…
my god iska whats all these food?
there are 2 foods here which I dont know..
halabos na sugpo, sinaing na tambakol
ano yan pls explain
may mackarel kasi ako ikaw ulit naisip ko
hi sha! yan na i tried to explain the above especially halabos na sugpo at sinaing na tambakol. d pa tapos at susundo muna ako sa school so pls bear w/ me.
awww ba’t hindi nag enjoy si cean??? tahan na.
iska, thank you for all these photos! inggitius ako. i’ve been racking my old brain for the word for prawns ayan na nga sugpo! heehee Ķulyanin na me.
ang sasarap naman ng handa, where will i ever find tulingan and tambakol? thanks to you and sha i will substitute mackerel (tang-ging-gue? tanigue?) am making your sinaing RIGHT NOW with frozen kamias… will it work? i think so!!! thanks iska.
speaking of kamias… I went to one flat.. and I saw dry shredded kamias galing sa atin.
tambakol waiting waiting.
hirap laking Cebuana hahaha
Happy New Year, Iska! What a feast!! A spread like that would make me sad to leave too. I know exactly how cean feels
man, iska, this is absolute torture. i come here expecting to see one pic, maybe two, o sige three! and what do i see? tablesful of food, food, food!!! namiss ko tuloy ang mga kamag-anak ko na matagal ko nang hindi namimiss hahahaha!!!
wow! i remember this tree… j4 days… hahaha! happy new year sister! sarap lahat!!
hi stel! i hope d na uli masunog ang sinaing na tulingan mo
sha, ang swerte mo naman may kamias na dyan sa athens. kelan kaya magkakaron d2 sa beijing? hmmm…
JMom & stef, cean did enjoy back home. lalo na w/ his lolo & lola. ako ang nag enjoy ng husto sa kadamihan ng food hahaha at minsan lang ako nagluto hehehe
ces, correction. J1 po yang xmas tree na yan
ay oo nga! sori po! cno ba nasa j4? hehe….