Thanksgiving Dinner All Day, Everyday

Well, it's nearly the end of what was a long and relaxing Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend.  Lots of turkey was eaten on that special Thursday at two different households no less, and the day before had me eating turkey & all the fixings at a Thanksgiving Office Luncheon, while the Tuesday prior saw my 4-year-old partake in a Thanksgiving feast with blended classes with Turkey/Cheesestick Roll-Ups being the main food attraction. To round out the weekend of the Turkey, I insisted that My Little Family of four partake in our own Thanksgiving Feast for Sunday Dinner in the hope of sharing our appreciation of one another in the surroundings of our own home, our own table, our own little family.  But just to recap all that was consumed in the past few days of celebration, I shall summarize with bullet points:

At my In-Laws' meal, with a crowd of  7 adults & 2 children at a sit-down late lunch/early dinner around 1 table:

• Grilled Turkey: Super juicy, flavorful, and with a hint of hickory smokiness, compliments of slowly grilling on the coals for 4 hours.  Inventive way to put a twist on traditional roasted turkey!
• MIL's Broccoli Casserole: Delicious!  I had more than 1 serving spoonful.  I think I have the recipe, but I shall ask my MIL for permission to post lest I lose favor in their household ;)
• MIL's Mashed Potatoes: Elena's favorite, and I'm also a fan considering how fluffy and smooth they are.  My brother-in-law had a hand at whipping up the goodness this year (like the pun intended?)
• Usual Turkey accompaniments: cranberry sauce, gravy, dressing ~ all delicious
• Dessert: Delish Pumpkin pie, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies ~ all homemade by Grandma Maryann (my MIL), except the yummy pumpkin cheesecake from Costco that my parents sent over with us as a gift to the In-Laws.  All sweet and delectable to round out the meal.

At my Tito Ding & Tita Marlene's meal, er I mean, buffet, with a crowd of um, I don't know, 30-40 people, all of whom are relatives near & far, with the Titas (Aunts) & Female Cousins keeping watch over the buffet and sharing gossip in the Dining Room, the Titos & Male Cousins watching football in the family room, and we "younger" cousins hanging out in the living room laughing and joking around with one another:

• Darren's Herbed-up Turkey, possibly brined:  Delicious, juicy, browned to perfection in the oven.
• Tita Marlene's Lumpia (Fried Eggrolls):  I live for these rolls of absolute savory goodness!  I don't have the recipe, but just know that the combo of carrots, green beans, bean sprouts, shrimp, ground pork, with the perfect amount of seasonings all rolled up in a lumpia wrapper and fried to golden goodness is out of this world! She's famous for them!
• Tita Marlene's Pancit:  Another dish she is known for.  The Filipino national noodle dish, symbolizing long life.  In our family, we live for and love Tita's pancit, as it's just the welcome accompaniment to our mound of rice and other food delights
• Tita Marlene's Tofu, Shrimp, & Chinese Celery stir-fry.  So good, so salty in a good way, so flavorful!
• Tito Ding's Pandesal (aka: Pan de Sal):  He's known for these dinner rolls of goodness, a secret family recipe passed down from my grandfather.  So delish with honey baked ham wedged in the middle, or with a slice of sharp cheese, or just a pat of butter.  When Tito comes to parties with a large paper grocery bag, you know something delicious is inside waiting to be snatched up!
• Wines from Alejos Cellars & Coppola Winery:  Tondi Bolkan Merlot, Pinay Muscato, Pastel Port Wine, & Coppola Wines!  How awesome it is to have relatives in the wine business!  And how awesome that they are available online and now locally in Illinois at Prestige Liquors in Countryside!
• Tita Lelet's organic veggie dishes:  This year, Tita shared a kale & carrot stir-fry as well as a spaghetti squash and sauteed tofu crumble on top.  So delish!  I love the veggie offerings Tita Lelet makes, as it brings something unique to the Our Filipino Buffet.
• My cousin, Mia (aka: Irene, Ate Gay, Ate Ge, Ge, etc.): Gingered Cranberry & Apricot Sauce, with just the right amount of spiciness, tartness, & sweetness all thickened together into a jammy-like condiment.  And for dessert, she made a cranberry & orange sponge bread.  Delightful with a cup of tea or coffee...Great ending to a fabulous feast.  Though the eating never really ends in our family :)
• And aside from the delectable dishes on the communal Thanksgiving buffet table, there was of course dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, the cranberry orange bread mentioned above, fruit salad, coffee...you name it, it was probably at the feast at my Relatives'!

At the Sunday Dinner at Home with My Little Family:

• Oven Roasted Turkey: Alex simply seasoned dear turkey with olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, poultry seasoning mix, and stuffed it with aromatics such as quartered onion, freshly squeezed lemon, with the lemon halved thrown into the bird (sorry for the visual), and about 6 cloves of gently crushed garlic.  Cooked to perfection on convection oven mode for about 3-1/2 hours.
• Yukon Gold Garlic Mashed Potatoes:  Elena, Katrina, & I whip these up with pats of butter, skim milk, a splash of chicken broth, salt, pepper, and a spoonful or two of light sour cream for extra fluffiness.

• Fresh Cranberry Sauce:  I make this more special with some orange zest, freshly squeezed orange, 1 cinnamon stick, some water & sugar , boil 'til bubbly & cranberries all pop & Voila!
• For lack of time: I made boxed cornbread stuffing but add dried cranberries in the boil of water, chicken broth, & butter, and I admit I typically like this shortcut more than some gourmet attempts at stuffing/dressing. It did the trick...

After all the meals over this past holiday weekend were eaten up, I am so very thankful to have such a large loving immediate & extended & extensive family who know how and love to cook and share such goodness with one another!  We shared our togetherness with one another, whether it was at a semi-formal dinner table with a delicious sit-down meal,  a succulent buffet table with relatives milling around three different rooms conversing, laughing, & eventually picking names for Secret Santa, or My Little Family's Table of 4, where Elena was thankful for her Little Sister, Mommy,  Daddy, our Christmas Tree, and her Child of the Week designation at School, Katrina was thankful for lotion to soothe her itchy skin, Alex was thankful for his beautiful Girlies & Gal in his life, and good stable job, and life itself, and I so thankful for all of the above and then some, and this opportunity I share with you every so often about the adventures in eating I experience.  For all this and more, I am truly thankful!

Good Food...Good Friends...Good Times!

This past weekend, I had the chance to partake in some needed grown-up time with some dear college friends.  An historic football game was played at Wrigley Field (yes, the grand old baseball field) between our alma mater, Northwestern & its Wildcats vs. the Fighting Illini from U of I.   And although I was unable to cheer on the Wildcats at the Friendly Confines despite their sad defeat, I was able to make it out later that evening with my fellow Wildcat Husband and meet up with some of our Wildcat Friends, some of whom live in the City and one of whom took a flight in for the game and a "playdate" of sorts with us Chicago-based friends.  So after Facebook messages, texting, 3-way-calling on our cells during my Girlies ballet class in the suburbs, most of the morning's communications were to find a last minute dinner reservation.  And it finally was decided that our playdate would take place at 8pm at Gemini Bistro in Lincoln Park.

I live for dinner dates with friends, and I especially love when I get to partake in mini-reunions with the NU Crew, so I was very much looking forward to the evening ahead.  And to make things even neater, Alex & I were headed into the City, a place I love, to a nice restaurant to eat, an activity I love to do. The whole evening did not disappoint. Wine bottles of Tomero Malbec (yum!) immediately came to the table in conjunction with someone's (ahem) 7&7 cocktail, and my dear friend's order of a Coffee & Bailey's~Oh, Catherine! This was definitely going to be a fun evening...The menu selections were also wide and offered something for everyone's palate.  Here's a look at what we lovely ladies decided upon to entice our palates with forkfuls of deliciousness:

Seared Scallops

Steak Frites

Mussels Fra Diavolo

During dinner, I enjoyed my tender morsels of spicy mussels that melted in my mouth with just the right amount of heat to help me savor the taste of it all. And that delicious garlic crouton helped soak up the savory broth that drenched the mussels in much flavor. Scallops were seared to perfection, Filet Mignon shared the spotlight with delicious Frites, crunchy Coconut Shrimp made it way into one's tummy, and eventually sweetly sugared Creme Brulee & decadent Chocolate Fudge Cake topped off a delightful meal together. We all caught up with one another's lives regarding new cars and/or homes bought, newsworthy items, innovative marketing strategies, our sassy & sweet Girlies, and the mating habits of fruit flies, yes, fruit flies~all wonderful topics that provided us food for thought.  In addition to such fun conversation, friends watched me get more and more talkative and outgoing as the 7&7 quickly disappeared and the wine continued to flow, and we all thoroughly enjoyed each other's company.  I wish all of the NU Crew from 1835 Hinman & beyond were present to partake in such a fun evening of good food, good friends, and most definitely good times...I can't wait til next time where we all meet again when our busy schedules align perfectly to have another grown-up playdate.  Cheers to my dear friends from your faithful & foodie pal, Madonna...and these days a.k.a Nom Nom Nom Mom!  Much love!

The Happiest Place on Earth...for a Foodie

Hello, Audience!  Sorry I've been MIA for the past week, but in that time my family and I headed down to Orlando, FL for some warm weather, sunshine, R&R, & most importantly the Girlies' 1st trip to Disney World!  It was a great time had by all, and to see the smiles and joy on Elena & Katrina's faces as they met nearly all of the Disney Princesses and Disney characters was absolutely unforgettable!  We were only down there for about 4 days and toured only Epcot and the Magic Kingdom, but in the end I was exhausted, but already wanting to "go" back for more.

And...to make things so much more fulfilling and delicious in the Happiest Place on Earth, look what we had the pleasure of running into while spending a day at Epcot:

The 15th Annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival 2010 was taking place and filling the bellies of thousands upon thousands of tourists who flocked there this gorgeous November.  There was quite a number of food stalls lining the World Showcase's walkway enticing each visitor with lovely aromas that made each person's mouth water, tummies rumble with hunger, and pockets empty in record numbers.  The menus at every food stall offered up tapas-like gourmet samplings of the specific country and cuisine represented.   And what did I partake in sampling, you might be asking??  I'm actually kind of embarrassed to admit that I DID NOT really sample any of the cuisines...Not because I didn't want to...Hello, it's me here...Nom Nom Nom Mom...But we were essentially at Epcot to have an "authentic" Norwegian buffet meal at the Royal Akershus Banquet Hall to meet the Disney Princesses with our very own Princess Elena & Princess Katrina in tow.  In the end, I wish I had more opportunity and room in my tummy to sample the worldly cuisines being offered along the World Showcase, as such would most likely have been just as delicious if not more than what was being served by the Royals.  But because I was already well aware of my more than girlish figure around the tiny-waisted Princesses, I refrained from consuming in additional international delights or samplings of  "Beers Around the World"...Next time, I will be sure to keep my stomach empty while my Royal Girlies lunch with the Princesses, so that I can indulge in the yumminess awaiting me outside of Akershus...Til next year's Epcot International Food & Wine Festival 2011...Here's to royally good nom nom nom-ing in the Happiest Place on Earth from my family to yours!

Birthday Celebration = Oodles of Noodles

Today is my brother, Robert's birthday!  Typically, I would make a phone call to him to greet him on the day of his birth, as he's usually found in sunny California.  But for nearly the past month, my brother has graced us with his presence with an extended visit back "home" to Chicago.  As a result of this, we've had the opportunity to hang out, eat home-cooked meals at Mom & Dad's house, and tonight celebrate his birthday.  My parents wanted to take Robert out for dinner at a local restaurant in my neck of the woods called Bonfire.  It's a reliable and tasty Greek-owned restaurant that specializes in grilled meats, seafood, pastas, Greek dishes such as saganaki ~flaming cheese~Opa! and an overall good dining experience!  Now, typically, if we had celebrated Robert's birthday at home Filipino-style, there most definitely would be the requisite platter of Pancit, long noodles gently stir-fried with veggies, chicken, shrimp, chinese sausage, and shredded pork for a quick description.  Pancit is THE birthday dish, as it symbolizes long life in the form of the long rice noodle.  A birthday just isn't quite a birthday if there isn't pancit on the table...Well, seeing as to how we had dined at Bonfire, a non-Filipino restaurant nor home, some improvisation was in order.  So after perusing the menu, my Mom & Dad settled on the Garlic Shrimp Sorrentini, which was basically "long" linguini pasta dressed in luxurious olive oil, aromatic garlic, parsley, shrimp and grated parmesan.  It wasn't long rice noodles dressed in a soy sauce/citrus broth with fresh veggies and savory meats, but it was noodles nonetheless, long in nature, and delicious throughout.   And to accentuate the celebration of life, my Girlies insisted on Spaghetti from the Kid's Menu, so they knew the appropriate dish to order, since that's how we Filipinos roll~ha!  So in effect, tonight's restaurant-style celebration of Robert's charmed life to date also celebrated the long life ahead of him and the long life of good eats to come!  And to make things even more delightful, really good wine and dessert also filled the table, Robert's belly, and his birthday feast!  Happy Birthday, Dear Kuya Robert, Happy Birthday to You!!

Here's to trying your hand at serving up some Pancit or Long Life Noodles at the next Birthday Celebration coming your way!  Cheers!

The Perfect Sunday

Daylight savings time has come, as it's our duty to fall back, gain an hour of sleep (unless you're a parent of small children, so no gain here), enjoy the slowness of the hours going by this particular Sunday, get some laundry done and put away, enjoy the kids learning to ride their bikes, enjoy a beautiful Autumn afternoon at the neighborhood park, enjoy some conversation with the wonderful neighbors on our trek home, enjoy the sounds of silent Little Girlies sleeping well before their normal night owl bedtimes after having a fun afternoon and eating some yummy garlic mashed potatoes as part of their dinner requests, enjoy the sound of Hubby doing the routine Sunday chore of taking out the trash for Monday pick-up, and enjoy the background sound of a replay episode of The Next Iron Chef...And it's not even 6:30pm yet!  To celebrate such a great day, this is how I did it:

I'm in a heavenly state right now as I write this and take small tastes of one of my favorite ice creams from a brand that has been so good to so many for so long!  What a perfect Sunday!  I hope yours was too!

Tutti, Mangia! Mangia bene!

I don't even know if what I wrote in this post's title is correct.  I'm not Italian after all.  But for tonight's dinner, my family was "Italian."  Well, actually, 3/4 of my little family has Italian heritage in them, so I suppose I was really the only one who was Italian for the 1st time this evening.  Anyway, back to business.  Just as the title suggests and translates, tonight's dinner was all about eating together and eating well.  And I think with the happenstance of the day, with the help of a cooking cousin and a selfless cousin, such made it possible.  I was rather excited in making tonight's dinner as the ingredients were not really planned out.  I had made my way into the office today to work on a project that needed to get done, and it so happened that my cousin ~ Irene/Ge/Mia/Nurse~whatever she's going by these days was there working the day too.  And even better, she brought goodies, both sweet and savory.  So as the day goes by I had one of her sweet treats, a peanut butter chocolate muffin, as a rich mid-morning snack!   So yummy!  And as the work afternoon came to a close, she pops out a small container of homemade Arrabbiata sauce!  This is not at all unlike my cousin to come bearing edible goodies.  She is constantly cooking & baking, even when she doesn't have the time to do so.  It's her passion, and she also shares her gourmet efforts with us...That, and she probably makes us her guinea pigs when wanting to test out a new dish or treat.  I say bring it on! And bring extras for later ;)  So, back to the Arrabbiata sauce.  When she asked who wanted to try the saucy sauce for dinner, I actually deferred it to my other cousin in the office, Darren.  But after thinking about it, and the fact that we had earlier been talking about some chicken-veggie-asiago sausages I had recently bought from Trader Joe's (surprise!) to make for dinner, Darren was kind enough to pass on the homemade sauce to me to try tonight.  So thank you to my dear cousins for "paying it forward" so to speak letting me be the lucky recipient this time around!  Okay, so I leave the office with sauce in hand, sausages at home waiting to be cooked, but nothing in between to accompany the two.  So off to Costco I go at this point, and as much as I wanted to avoid it on a Saturday afternoon at the height of free samples time, I took on the challenge of finding the perfect partner to the Arrabbiata sauce and the chicken-veggie-asiago sausages.  Since I also wanted to get a container of Pita Pal Pearl Couscous that I also recently blogged about in an earlier post, I headed straight to the refrigerated section.  I was on a mission, so all the Holiday decor, toys, free samples, and cute little girl clothes did not thwart my efforts of heading to the refrigerated section ASAP.  Once there, I found the couscous, and like it was meant to be I also found Monterey Pasta Company's Spinach & Cheese Ravioli!  BINGO!  There were other pasta selections too, but I opted for the spinach & cheese since I thought it would be something the Girlies & the Hubby would all be good with when it hit their tastebuds.  And after one quick detour to restock on a couple of jars of Nutella (Mmmmmm, Nutella! Perhaps a future blog on this itself...), I was out of Costco in a mere 15 minutes!  Isn't that kind of unheard of?  So I headed home, hugged  & kissed the Girlies & Hubby hello and started pan grilling the chicken-veggie-asiago sausages, heated up a mild and reliable store-bought jarred pasta sauce,  placed the nearly cooked sausages in the now heated sauce to simmer some more, boiled up the ravioli, and heated the Arrabbiata sauce...or as Alex eventually monikered it, the Arrabbi-HOT-ta sauce, as it was HOT, but a deliciously good savory HOT.  Gee, my cousin is talented and I thank her for sharing her passion of cooking with us, with me tonight.  Next mission:  Get the Arrabbiata sauce recipe from her.   In the end, we all enjoyed our plates of Italy ~ the Girls with mildly sauced Ravioli and sausage, with sides of baby carrots and apples, and glasses of milk, while Alex and I enjoyed our ravioli doused in the Arrabbi-HOT-ta sauce, with sides of arugula salad, apples, and glasses of water just to keep it extra healthy and natural.  It definitely was a delicious night of eating together, and eating well, Italian-style!

 Cousin's Arrabbi-HOT-ta Sauce!  That's HOT! That's delish!

The Girlies Italian Night Plates!  Yum!

Elena & Katrina eating together & eating well :) Yay!

Cute as a Persian Cucumber!

I've come to the conclusion that I like cute things.  Even more specifically, I like cute foods ~ how they look, how they taste, how they make me feel...And it's all the better when the cuteness of the food is also appreciated by my Cute Family (biased opinion, I know...but true nonetheless :)  More about that later...Anyhoo, the cuteness of the food makes me feel cute too...seriously!  Food brings on specific feelings, emotions, & reactions: love, excitement, disgust at times, and in this particular scenario, when I am in the midst of the Persian Cucumber, I feel its cuteness and I in turn feel cute!  I know, I'm weird...but that's part of my charming cuteness too ~ ha!   So anyway, most recently added to my "Cute List" is the lesser known Persian Cucumber, what I have lovingly named the "Cute Cuke."  Rather petite in size  (I'd say about 6 inches in length at the most) as compared to the typically seen & eaten run of the mill cucumber, though slender and less seedy like the sophisticated seedless English cucumber, the Persian cuke is a yummy, refreshing, and healthy food.  I happened to have some sliced Persian cukes tonite with dinner, dressed with a splash of seasoned rice vinegar (I am loyal to the Trader Joe's brand), though they are just as tasty au naturel, where freshness can be tasted with every crunchy bite.  Growing up in a Filipino household, I often had cucumbers, known as pepino (also spelled "pipino"),  as a side dish to a hearty meal, and the dressing that often accompanied it was a sweet and sour mix of white vinegar, sugar, salt & pepper, where the sweetness was balanced with the sourness of the acidic vinegar.  I think one can also liken it to the Japanese sunomono or the Thai Cucumber salad that one might come across when indulging in the delights of such Asian cuisines.  Perhaps there are other versions of this cute cucumber salad in other cultures, but since I am of Filipino/Asian descent, I focus in on what is familiar to me.  Anyway, back to the Persian cucumber...There's something, aside from its cute look, that draws me in to prefer this particular cucumber.  Perhaps I feel more foodie-like or gourmet when I see them and eat them.  Perhaps I just appreciate how unique it is from the average cuke.  Perhaps I simply like it because it is cute.  Nevertheless, it's good eating.  And actually, as my 4-year, 9-month old (Elena's very particular about being exact about her age :) demonstrated at the dinner table, the bite size slices of the Persian cucumber are great for perfecting [butter] knife skills, as she practiced her dicing and mincing technique while sneaking healthy samples of the food, and since my picky eater thought the Persian Cucumber was good enough to try, taste, and eat, I think that is super cute!  I hope you come upon them, perhaps the next time you're shopping at Costco, so you can see for yourself how cute they really are, and how refreshing they taste.  Enjoy!