On the First Day of Christmas...
I've just returned from my son Will's Christmas chorale performance... and what a lovely way to get into the holiday spirit. The singers are organized into six groups: Men's Choir, Treble Choir, Men's and Women's Acapella Octets, Chamber Singers and Concert Choir. Will sings in both the Men's Choir and the Concert Choir.

Tonight's program included an array of Christmas favorites, as well as several classical pieces sung in Latin, selections from Fiddler on the Roof, and a rendition of 'Danny Boy' by the Men's Choir that left not a dry eye in the house. The performance ended with a beautiful benediction in which all the singers joined hands to form a circle around the audience as they sang 'May the Lord Bless and Keep You'.

Rene and his mother Jovita accompanied me to the performance, and thanks to Rene's diligent efforts, we managed to get the whole thing on videotape. After the concert, there was a pleasant chill in the evening air, and I came home to the warmth and sparkle of my holiday decorations. And just like that... it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.
12:02 AM PST Permalink |

Getting into the Christmas Spirit
Every December, whether sooner or later, I eventually get into the Christmas spirit. Depending upon how busy or distracted I am, some years it takes me longer than others. This is one of those years. I usually like to get my modest Christmas decorations up on Thanksgiving weekend, but this year, I didn't get around to it until last night. And although, amazingly, I'm completely finished with my Christmas shopping and have mailed all my out-of-town gifts already, even that hasn't quite filled me with the holiday spirit.

But one thing that's sure to do the trick is my son Willl's Christmas Chorale Concert tomorrow night. He sings in a 15-member Men's Choir, and a 72-member Concert Choir, with a performance by the Chamber Singers in between. They always put on a lovely show, and the singers all look so elegant in their gowns and tuxedos.

And tonight, as I admire the basket of brightly wrapped gifts and the twinkling garland that now surrounds my bookshelf, I think I feel it starting it already.
12:03 AM PST Permalink |

Desigining a Table Setting for My 'American Adobo' Filipino Dinner
For my 'American Adobo' Filipino dinner, I want the table setting to be very colorful and tropical. From dinners past, I already have several items, including some flat, woven bamboo baskets and placemats, several wooden serving bowls, and lots of little generic dishes for condiments and small servings. And I think my basic white everyday dishes will make up the rest. However, as always, it's fun to go poking around in my local thrift shops in search of interesting additions to my repertoire.
12:02 AM PST Permalink |

A Little Background Info on 'American Adobo'
The tagline on the box of my 'American Adobo' DVD goes, "Sex is the appetizer. Love is the main course. Friendship is the dessert." Sounds like a food film to me. Directed by Laurice Guillen, American Adobo follows a cast of diverse Filipino characters as they gather to enjoy meals together over the course of a year in New York City. The players include Cherry Pie Picache (love that name!) as Tere, a 40-something accountant in search of true romance; Christopher DeLeon as Mike, a married-with-children editor, struggling with the woes of domestic life; Ricky Davao as Gerry, a gay man grappling with the dilemma of 'coming out' to his mother; Dina Bonnevie as Marissa, a loose-lipped socialite married to a philandering playboy; and Paolo Montalban as the womanizing Raul.

Never having seen the film, after a long day in the kitchen, I'm looking forward to spending a couple of hours getting to know these five characters and comparing my Filipino food with the dishes featured in the film.
04:32 PM PST Permalink |

A Little Background on Filipino History and Culture
Throughout the busy month of December, I will be writing a lengthy article on the rich history and culture of the Philippines and posting it in this very spot. In the interim however, ThingsAsian already features an excellent article: Land of Wonders, Philippines by Ee Lin Wan.
12:37 AM PST Permalink |

Tracking Down Exotic Ingredients for My 'American Adobo' Dinner
Specialty ingredients for my 'American Adobo' Filipino dinner include Tamarind paste or powder, Jicama Root, Oyster Sauce, Chili Garlic Sauce, Patis, Cinnamon, Pastry Crust, Palm or Rice Vinegar, Coconut Milk, Sesame Seeds, Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce, Bay Leaf, Chorizo, and Hearts of Palm.

I already have cinnamon, a jar of chili garlic sauce, a bottle of oyster sauce, and a bottle of patis. Coconut milk is easy to find, as is sesame oil. I'd like to try to find some palm vinegar, but if it's not available locally, then rice wine vinegar, which I already have, is a recommended substitute. Fortunately, I feel confident that my favorite local Mexican grocery will serve me well for the tamarind, jicama, and chorizo, not to mention all the fresh fish and chicken. Rene recently bought a couple of small jicama roots at a Mexican market here in town and raved over how fresh and crunchy they were.

For those of you who wish to purchase any of the Asian specialty items I mentioned here, AsianFoodGrocer.com is an excellent online source.

08:55 AM PST Permalink |

A List of Ingredients for My 'American Adobo' Filipino Dinner
Specialty Ingredients:

Tamarind paste or powder, Jicama Root, Oyster Sauce, Chili Garlic Sauce, Patis, Cinnamon, Pastry Crust, Palm or Rice Vinegar, Coconut Milk, Sesame Seeds, Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce, Bay Leaf, Chorizo, Hearts of Palm,

Fresh Ingredients:

Chicken Breasts, Chicken Legs & Thighs, Ground Beef, Shrimp, Fresh White Fish, Whole Fish, Limes, Onions, Garlic, Carrots, Scallions, Potatoes, Jalapenos, Butter Lettuce, Vinegar, Ketchup, Ginger, Red & Green Peppers, Green Beans, Napa Cabbage, Bean Sprouts, Bok Choy, Rice.

Basics:

Eggs, Cornstarch, Flour, Cooking oil, Sugar, Brown Sugar, Salt & Pepper

12:06 AM PST Permalink |

Deciding on the Dishes for My 'American Adobo' Dinner & a Movie

Appetizer: Lumpia (Meat & Vegetable Wraps) & Empanada (Savory Tarts)
Soup: Sinigang (Tamarind Seafood Vegetable Soup)
Salad: Kinilaw (Spicy Fish Salad in Coconut Cream)
Main Course: Chicken Adobo (Vinegared Stew), Escabeche (Sweet & Sour), Stir-fry Vegetables and Garlic Rice
Dessert: Fresh Tropical Fruits with Coconut Sorbet

12:00 AM PST Permalink |

A Night to Remember
Last night, Rene and I attended a high-brow fundraiser for Queen of the Valley, our local hospital. We were there as guests of Camie Bianchi, one of my graphic design clients who is on the board of directors. As part of the festivities, she had commissioned me to design a set of place cards with mini bio's of 40 queens throughout history. The ten place settings at each of the 40 tables featured a different queen, to serve as an ice-breaker for strangers seated at the same table. It was definitely one of the most fun and fascinating research projects I've ever done.

The event was held at Silverado Country Club, beginning with a champagne reception and silent auction, mostly of coveted Napa Valley wines, followed by a live auction throughout the dinner, featuring jewelry, artwork, travel packages, and gourmet dinners. The bidding was quite spirited, with some items fetching upwards of $10,000. Of course, on my humble salary, I couldn't splurge on such grand luxuries, but it was certainly fun to be in the midst of it.

For a dinner party to accommodate 400 guests, the meal and service were fantastic. We were served Warm Stilton Tartlettes on Baby Greens with Violet Petals and Walnut Vinaigrette; Roasted Filet Mignon with Pancetta Lardons, Oven Baked Yukon Gold Potatoes and Bundled Grilled Vegetables, or Halibut Beurre Noir with Black Butter, Capers and Lemon, Garlic Mash and Bundled Vegetables; and for the vegetarians, Wild Mushroom Wellington. Dessert was a White Chocolate Trifle. Our host had ordered the beef for everyone at the table, and much to my delight, it was tender and grilled to medium rare perfection. The wines served with the meal were a buttery, well-rounded Silverado Vineyards Chardonnay and a velvety, aromatic Paoletti Estates Cabernet Sauvignon. An excellent pairing.

I had bought a new outfit for the occasion: a sexy black velvet halter gown and a new pair of dancing shoes. Rene wore a bright red cashmere blazer over a crimson shirt, black sweatervest and black wool gabardine trousers; and except for the auctioneer, he was the only guy in the place wearing red. After the bidding was over, there was a mass exodus of all the guests who obviously had to be up and at it early in the morning, so Rene and I had the dance floor practically to ourselves. It was great to be out and about in such fine style, and the whole evening was a delightful culmination to several weeks of hard work.

And now...back to designing the menu for my 'American Adobo' Filipino dinner.

03:38 AM PST Permalink |

Designing the 'American Adobo' Menu
For my 'American Adobo' Filipino Dinner, I will be serving the meal in courses, with a couple of appetizers first, followed by a soup and a salad, with two different entrees, plus rice and vegetables. I want to keep the dessert easy and simple, just fresh fruit and sorbet, because with all the recipes I plan to experiment with, we probably won't make it to dessert anyway.
09:20 AM PST Permalink |

Getting Acquainted with Filipino Cuisine
In my research of Filipino cuisine, I have discovered that it is influenced by many cultures, most notably Spanish, Indonesian, Malaysian, Chinese, and Muslim. So traditional dishes include such ethnically diverse ingredients as Southeast Asian patis (fish sauce), Spanish chorizo and linguica sausage, spicy chili peppers, and water buffalo cheese. Seafood is abundant, as are tropical fruits such as coconut, mango and banana. Cooking techniques are fresh and simple, with the most common being stir frying, stewing, and grilling. The most common Filipino dishes include Adobo, a savory vinegar sauce for chicken or pork commonly regarded as the national dish of the Philippines; Empanadas, pastries filled with meat and potatoes; Escabeche, whole fish in sweet and sour sauce, Lumpia, delicate pancakes filled with meats, seafoods and vegetables; Kinilaw, marinated raw fish; and Pancit, a popular noodle dish. Here is a link to an excellent overview of the history and flavors of Philippine food.

12:00 AM PST Permalink |

My Cookbooks
Much to my delight, I have discovered that three of my cookbooks contain dozens of recipes for traditional Filipino dishes. Last month, I bought a copy of 'Martin Yan's Asia', which features a whole chapter on the Philippines. My old stand-by, Corinne Trang's 'Essentials of Asian Cuisine' has a nice selection of Filipino basics, and even 'The Joy of Cooking' has quite a few, although they are not specifically listed as Filipino, so you have to look them up by the name of each individual dish rather than finding a heading for Filipino cuisine in the index.

Martin Yan's Asia contains recipes for such classic dishes as Adobo, Empanadas, Escabeche, Lumpia, Kinilaw, and Pancit. 'Essential's of Asian Cuisine' also features different versions of many of the same recipes. And just for variety, I can look most of them up in Joy of Cooking and find yet another interpretation of the same dishes.

So, with all those wonderful, classic Philippine recipes at my fingertips, looks like I'm good to go with my 'American Adobo' Philippine Dinner.
01:36 PM PST Permalink |

Looking for Filipino Recipes
In anticipation of my 'American Adobo' Filipino Dinner & a Movie, I have already begun perusing my cookbooks in search of recipes and have found that I have quite an abundance of recipes right here in on my own bookshelf. Last month, I added a lovely Asian cookbook by Martin Yan to my collection, which features quite a few tempting recipes from the Philippines. So unless I get curious about a particular dish and feel the need for further research, it seems I need look no further than my own kitchen for all the Filipino recipes I could possibly want.
12:19 AM PST Permalink |

My Filipino Cooking Experience
When it comes to Filipino food, I must admit that I am a neophyte. In fact, my experience with Filipino cuisine, culture and people is limited to a time years ago as a bartender at the Silverado Country Club in Napa, where many of the staff were of Filipino heritage. I found them to be friendly, gorgeous and very hard-working. Alas, the job was temporary, so I wasn't there long enough to get to know any of my Filipino co-workers beyond a first name basis, much less gain any insight into their food and culture. But it certainly looks like I'm finally going to get a crash course on Filipino culture and cuisine over the next few weeks.
12:05 AM PST Permalink |

December's Dinner & a Movie
Welcome to Dinner & a Movie for the month of December. To round out the year, I have chosen 'American Adobo', a Filipino-American film, with a menu of classic dishes from the Philippines to accompany it. Both are going to be quite a gamble, as I've never seen the movie, I've never been to the Philippines, and have never cooked, nor even tasted Filipino food. So this time, I am an absolute beginner. But given the tasty success of all the exotic meals I have prepared in the past seven months, I am confident that I will be able to put an authentic Filipino meal on the table. And American Adobo comes highly recommended.
10:10 AM PST Permalink |