Forgive me, fellow bloggers for being absent on WordPress. It’s been 8 days since my last reading.
Tuesday last week, I had a wisdom tooth taken out. Tuesday was my day off. I switched my Saturday off to Wednesday because I didn’t want to go to work with swollen cheek after the dental work. It was a busy day too as it was Thanksgiving Day eve. I cooked a few dishes, (my specialties) , Pancit Malabon ( seafood -based noodle dish ) and lumpia ( meat eggroll wrap ) . We used to cook all the dishes and desserts, but this time , we bought 2 dishes and cakes from our favorite Filipino restaurant and bakeshop ( Red Ribbon Bakeshop, a franchise of a popular bakeshop in the Philippines ). Funny thing is, with all that food on the table, I could only eat cakes and canned Campbell chicken noodle soup. Then I worked Friday , Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, with 2 hours of overtime, everyday ( worked from12:30 PM to 11 PM. ). Guys, it’s the holidays. Production of our dairy products is at its maximum.
As per my own tradition, I’m showing pics of our Thanksgiving spread. ( I notice that each year that passes, our holiday fare is getting simpler and less fussy. )
I cooked the Pancit Malabon . Malabon is a fishing town near the capital city Manila. It makes sense that the dish’s ingredients are seafoods ( shrimp, squid, smoked fish ) . The one on the left is Caldereta ( stewed beef )
That’s lumpia ( meat eggroll wrap )…. there’s also ham and the fried chicken from the restaurant. The fried chicken is the best fried chicken, ever. We have been trying to guess the secret spice in the chicken…. my mother thinks there’s a Seven-spice in it, and celery powder.
Lechon de carajay ( lechon kawali , roasted pork ) . The gravy is in the bottle and it’s liver sauce. You can also see the chocolate cake.
The dish above we call Laing ( pronounced lah- ing ) doesn’t look appetizing, but it’s actually my family’s favorite dish. It’s taro leaves with shrimp, garlic, onion, and ginger and cooked in coconut milk. We bought it from the same Filipino restaurant.
Above pic are desserts. There’s a tray of an assorted Filipino sweets like espasol, biko, pichi-pichi, etc. bought from the Filipino supermarket, Seafood City.
There’s banana loaf, ube cake ( purple yam cake ) , chocolate cake, and Sans Rival. Sans Rival and Ube cake are common cakes one will find in a Filipino bakeshop.
According to Wikipedia, Sans Rival ( meaning without rival ,pronounced San Reeval ) is a Filipino dessert, origin is Philippines, and is made up of layers of buttercream, meringue, and chopped cashews. Guys, it’s sooooo delicious. Foodies who love to bake should try this.
Ham/macaroni salad
Fruit Salad
Cassava cake and ube jam. ( purple yam) Ube ( pronounced oo- beh ) is as Filipino as apple pie is to Americans. I think Filipinos are the only ones that eat ube. There’s ube ice cream, cake, jam, candy, pie, ube bread filling, pastries…. geez, everything is colored purple.
Red Ribbon Bakeshop is where we buy the cakes. Those are the common cakes one can find in a Filipino bakeshop.. Brazo de Mercedes, Sans Rival, Mocha Cake, Ube Cake, mango cake, etc. Not shown here are ensaimadas, empanadas, taisans, fruitcakes , etc. Maybe there’s a Red Ribbon franchise in your neighborhood ? Or Goldilocks ? If there’s one in the neighborhood, go buy some of their cakes ( especially mango cake from Red Ribbon )
Ok, this is all for now. Have a great holiday, folks, and stay green. Bye ! !
A
Am a Molecular Microbiology student, love to read books, and I play the violin. 
dreamsending
renxkyoko
renxkyoko's space 
Posted by soiba on November 29, 2017 at 12:28 pm
Everything looks delicious 😀
Ugh I’m hungry again (sigh)
Posted by renxkyoko on November 29, 2017 at 3:47 pm
Ugh ! You can just imagine poor moi eating canned Campbell soup in front of all that food.
Posted by soiba on November 29, 2017 at 3:50 pm
Oh my that’s a pity!!!
Posted by AGE on November 29, 2017 at 12:44 pm
It looks like you are in the Philippines! I’m feeling hungry 🙂
Posted by renxkyoko on November 29, 2017 at 3:08 pm
Yup. They are all Filipino dishes. I’m even including the ham . Even the salads are Filipino salads, like the fruit salad with nata de coco and palm fruits, lol. Traditionally, there should be a turkey, right ? But it seems not one in the family likes turkey ( I don’t ) .
Posted by Mona on November 29, 2017 at 1:00 pm
Except the cakes, fruit and the fried chicken I know none of this food but it all looks so delicious. 😍😍
Posted by renxkyoko on November 29, 2017 at 3:44 pm
They do, Mona. Party fare delicious !
Posted by Mel & Suan on November 29, 2017 at 1:05 pm
OMG the crispy pork looks delish!
Posted by renxkyoko on November 29, 2017 at 3:22 pm
OMG, the skin ! LOL Heart attack ! but it’s so crunchy !
Posted by Mel & Suan on November 29, 2017 at 3:24 pm
Never mind the heart attack. Will think about it later! Munch munch… LOL.
Posted by gardeninacity on November 29, 2017 at 2:06 pm
Yum!
Posted by renxkyoko on November 29, 2017 at 3:25 pm
Double Yum ! ( although I didn’t get to eat the main dishes because of my wisdom tooth surgery , aaargh ! But I know how they taste ! ) Alas, I can only salivate .
Posted by Raj Krishna on November 29, 2017 at 3:56 pm
Delicious.
Posted by renxkyoko on December 1, 2017 at 12:18 am
Yum !
Posted by gserpent on November 29, 2017 at 4:22 pm
My dad was in the Air Force and I grew up on Clark Air Base. I miss Filipino food so much. My favorite was Lumpia and fried banana. 😋
Posted by renxkyoko on December 1, 2017 at 12:21 am
Skewered fried saba banana, right ? Saba is a different species of the banana family . Im sure you’ve eaten turron. It’s banana wrapped in lumpia wrapper.. Oh, wow, Clark ! So, were you there when the volcano erupted ? I think it was in 1991 .
Posted by gserpent on December 1, 2017 at 12:46 am
No. I heard about the volcano. I was there in the 70’s as a child. I’m giving my age away. Lol. Yes, skewered fried Saba banana. I also love mango. I tell my daughter there is only one thing better than a mango, 2 mangos. 😄
Posted by renxkyoko on December 1, 2017 at 5:15 am
Philippine mangoes are the best. The mangos that we buy here in the US are the round green to red colored variety. First time I tasted these mangos, they tasted different , like medicine,although Mexico has started growing the Philippine variety, which they call Philippine mango, product of Mexico. lol
Posted by gserpent on December 1, 2017 at 11:05 am
I feel the same way about the Mangoes here in the US, they are just not the same. I have tried the Mangoes you are referring too. They are good, but not quite as good as the Philippine mangoes. Although I will buy and eat any variety of mango I can get my hands on. lol
Posted by raistlin0903 on November 29, 2017 at 5:54 pm
It all looks amazing to say the least. I just ate my evening dinner, but I’m getting hungry again lol 😂
Posted by renxkyoko on December 1, 2017 at 12:25 am
One of these days I may just post some recipes. But you live in Sweden, right ? I’m not sure you’ll find some of the ingredients over there. By the way, Raistlin, have you watched RWBY yet ?
Posted by raistlin0903 on December 1, 2017 at 5:58 am
I live close to Sweden, but not in Sweden 😊 I live in Holland (or the Netherlands as it is also called😀).
Nope unfortunately not yet. I probably won’t get around to it anymore this year, as I’m currently in the middle of quite a few other shows (in fact way too many other shows😂).
Posted by Jay on November 29, 2017 at 9:17 pm
Hope you’re feeling better and that you were up to enjoying it.
Posted by renxkyoko on November 30, 2017 at 11:56 pm
Got to eat some left-overs on Sunday, 3 days after. The first to go were the freid chicken and the noodles.
Posted by joey on November 29, 2017 at 10:27 pm
It all looks phenomenal and I’m glad I have a big dinner waiting for me! lol Yummy, yummy pics!
Posted by renxkyoko on November 30, 2017 at 11:54 pm
Part 2 on Christmas Day !
Posted by Bebekoh on November 30, 2017 at 11:11 am
i don’t even need to read your entry. just seeing your pictures made me drool… in envy…. LOL!
Posted by renxkyoko on November 30, 2017 at 11:53 pm
Looking at my own pics….. Eh, I’m drooling too. LOL
Posted by arlene on November 30, 2017 at 11:23 am
I love that ube roll. There is a Red Ribbon there? There is one more cake that I like, the Red Ribbon mango cake. So glad to know you still serve Filipino dishes.
Posted by renxkyoko on November 30, 2017 at 11:51 pm
Goldilocks too, Tita Arlene ! But it’s farther away, whereas Red Ribbon is right inside the Filipino supermarket, Seafood City . ( including Chow King and tada, Jollibee ! ) There are 2 other bakeries in the area, like they’re all lumped together. Very convenient for us Pinoys !
Posted by arlene on December 1, 2017 at 12:40 am
Ang galing naman.
Posted by D K Powell on November 30, 2017 at 1:19 pm
My God this food looks delicious. But then again, I think I say that every year with your food posts! 😀
Posted by renxkyoko on November 30, 2017 at 11:51 pm
I know , lol !
Posted by TWWK on November 30, 2017 at 4:59 pm
Everything looks yummy!
Posted by renxkyoko on November 30, 2017 at 11:48 pm
You know what, they’re really yummy, TWWK ! Especially the noodles Pancit Malabon. I’ve finally found the right brand of noodles ! !
Posted by Peter Wells aka Countingducks on November 30, 2017 at 10:02 pm
I remember having a wisdom tooth or two out and it was quite a procedure ! As for the thanksgiving. We don’t celebrate it in the UK but I am in awe of your feast, which might be simpler than it used to be, though that’s hard to believe because it looks beyond delicious.
Posted by renxkyoko on November 30, 2017 at 11:45 pm
It was definitely simpler, wasn’t it ? Compared to years ago ? I’m sure you’ve seen the photos from years ago.
Posted by Peter Wells aka Countingducks on November 30, 2017 at 11:56 pm
It all looked super delicious anyway 😊
Posted by disperser on November 30, 2017 at 11:13 pm
Very clever doing dental work right before Thanksgiving . . . while everyone is passed out from eating too much, you can rifle through their wallets.
Happy belated Thanksgiving and hope for a speedy return to proper eating.
Posted by renxkyoko on November 30, 2017 at 11:44 pm
I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat anything. That was my second wisdom tooth. lol But there were a lot of left-overs , as usual. There were just 6 of us , after all . The fried chicken was gone by Sunday, and the noodles, too. That’s okay, I can just buy the fried chicken, and make the noodle dish again, no problem.
Posted by bookbuffoonery on December 2, 2017 at 5:56 pm
Oh my goodness! Can I come to your house for Thanksgiving? 😉 It all looks amazing!
Posted by YahariBento ( ^ v ') on December 3, 2017 at 8:37 pm
And I saw these pictures at night, how cruel. ^ w^)
Posted by Sarah Ferguson and Choppy on December 4, 2017 at 4:42 am
What a spread! Looks yummy!
Posted by wilsonagaba on December 7, 2017 at 10:08 pm
Wonderful!
Posted by Amielle on December 8, 2017 at 10:35 am
OMG filipino food!!! ❤
Posted by Ste J on December 8, 2017 at 12:24 pm
Every year I get more jealous over your Thansgiving spread, it look great and pancit is just heaven!
Posted by Teagan R. Geneviene on December 10, 2017 at 12:50 pm
What a spectacular meal. Amazing.
I don’t know how you were able to do anything at all after having a wisdom tooth removed! You’re brave. 🙂 But I know that some are simpler than others. I had all 4 removed at once, and they were just barely above the skin. That was an ordeal. But it was long ago — maybe they’ve improved how they do it too.
Thanks for sharing this lovely “spread” with us. Hugs.
Posted by thinapieee on December 17, 2017 at 11:05 am
Looks yummy!!!! Sarap nmn niyan 😋😋😋😋 i wanna try pancit malabon..
Posted by filipinoeasyrecipe on December 28, 2017 at 4:56 am
All of them looks fantastic!