FOOD- GLORIOUS FOOD

Good Monday Morning! Friday was one of those much needed "US days." The kids and I went into the "city" (aka Toronto) and enjoyed a day of real live "GLEE" with the first ever Canadian Show Choir Championship. We had a blast and the choirs were ahhhhhmaaaaazing! Our personal favorite was Wexford Glee. In fact, they must have been REALLY good because on Saturday they were crowned Champions! Hunk met us picked us up for lunch and we enjoyed a lovely lunch at a Japanese restaurant in town. YUMMY.

Speaking of food.... this was another big thing that we learned to blend in our first few weeks as a family. Anyone who knows our family KNOWS that we love to eat and having a multicultural family means eating lots of different types of food! Who can pass that down?

Southern comfort food!

                                                   
I was raised in the South on good ol' southern foods like grits and collard greens and rutabagas. My family also has a strong Lebanese background so I learned to make kibbe, grape leaves and baklava from one of the best cooks around, my mom. Having married into a wonderful Italian-Polish family the first time, Mom (Theresa) coached me in things like Spaghetti with Clams , Brachiole, and Italian wedding cookies as well as pork and sauerkraut. I love to eat AND I love to cook. My culinary resume is quite extensive, however the one genre that I have always had difficulty in mastering has been Asian. My family always loved my stir-fry although I would describe it as a soggy mix of veggies and protein over sticky rice! NOT at all what you get a your neighborhood Chinese food take out joint!

I am still amazed at God's humor in matching Hunk and I up in the culinary realm of our life. I mean if ever I were kitchen challenged, Asian would be it!  So the first week we were all under one roof I made seven days of "American (Canadian) fare." I think our menu was something like: fried chicken, meat loaf, pork chops, spaghetti, beef stew, hot dogs...you get the picture! By week two I could see in my new family's eyes a longing for their accustomed Asian cuisine. My hands began to sweat as I thought of the prospect of cooking in a wok. In fact I didn't own a pan larger than my frying pan! How on earth was I going to make Pancit, or Adobo in a frying pan?

Filipino breakfast

                                                      
Saturday morning rolled around and Hunk and I went down stairs before the kids woke up. He opened the freezer, took out 2 packages of pink sausages in a cryo wrap and some frozen dried sticks of meat. Then he got out the rice cooker and began to prepare rice. What? Rice for breakfast or had we slept through breakfast? In my mind rice was for dinner. I had never even contemplated rice for breakfast! But I decided to wait for this breakfast masterpiece, as Hunk called it, before I passed judgement. Next he put the sausages in a frying pan with water and began to boil them and then eventually fry them until they were a glazed perfection. Once the sausages were cooked, my Hunk made some fried eggs (I DO NOT eat fried eggs!)  and put the delicious smelling food on our kitchen table. Now here comes the real clincher....in a separate bowl he poured a generous amount of vinegar and then set the ketchup beside it on the table with the food. Okay my friends...vinegar and ketchup for breakfast? I was skeptical, very, very skeptical.

I made our two cups of tea, green for hunk and "regular" for me and sat down to my first ever Filipino breakfast. Not knowing what to do with all the food I watched Hunk for a brief minute before I dove in. He took the longanisa (pink sausages) and dipped drenched it in vinegar. Then he mated it with a fork full of rice and down the hatch it all went! He did it once, twice, a hundred times and I finally decided to try it. I have one word....GLORIOUS! That first bite was a magical blending of sweet and sour and the rice added the right amount of  "bulk." It was divine. I was in love (with Hunk and the food!)

Chicken Adobo aka: Adobo Manuk

                                         
That next week I decided to try and surprise my Prince with Chicken Adobo. I had heard Nanay (his mother) talk about Adobo and how it was an easy dish to make. hunk went to work that morning not knowing what awaited him that night! I heard the squeal at the door before it even opened. His nose gave the surprise away! I had never tasted adobo before so I had no benchmark, but Hunk said it was awesomely good. There were no leftovers!


Kare Kare



Filipino Corned Beef

                 


I have become brave over the years and have mastered a few other dishes. Things like Kare Kare and Filipino Corned Beef  hash and most recently Ginger Garlic Oysters and Coconut Curry Shrimp are frequently on our table.
                                                 


Customs, food, parenting techniques, it's all a part of putting it all together. We've done well and that wok I spoke of has become a well loved addition to my kitchen. The ingredients that get tossed in that huge pan are a lot like the lives in our family....all different and distinct but the end product is always beautiful and delicious!