Good E-Ve-Ning!
Stage 1 of Thanksgiving Simbulan Style, 2004, has just ended...
Since my brothers were running late, and my father was indeed taking my aunt and uncle of a sight-seeing tour of DC, I went ahead and manned the kitchen for a while getting the rest of the meal together. I made the stuffing - sort of an improvised cornbread version with lots of butter. I took the whole chicken out of the fridge so that it would not be so cold once it hit the hot oil - they were going to deep fry that instead, whole. I cleaned dishes, cooking utensils, etc. -For being food service people, my parents seem to ignore the rules for cross-contamination when it comes to the home environment. "Why are you slicing the ham with the knife you just cut the raw chicken with!?!?" -Thankfully, I had washed enough of the "used" utensils in order to supply a fresh and sanitary supply for the continuing meal preparations. -I get anal that way. Must be that Alton Brown influence!
My sister-in-law ended up making a Turkey at home earlier which turned out very tasty and not at all dry. She improvised a Mediterranean seasoning mixture for it - lots of herbs, lemon, etc. And I have to say, I was quite impressed with her results since she normally tends to over-cook and over-season everything... on purpose. -It's what she's used to.
My brother, Mike, had to gerry-rig some hangers in order to fry up the whole chicken since the turkey holder was too big for the job. Thankfully, we had enough oil in the house in order for him to deep fry the chicken. -And, that was some pretty good chicken!
The mashed potatoes were laden with sour cream and butter. My mom had apparently improvised with the yams. They tasted good, but we all thought something was different. She didn't want them too sweet this year, and she wanted an extra creaminess to them. She was short on cream, so she substituted a can of coconut milk and added some chopped apples. Very interesting, but very good variation. In fact, when I took my first spoonful, I thought it tasted like ginitan which is Filipino dessert "stew" made with coconut milk and various root vegetables. Well, she did cut down on the sugar, but with the coconut milk, who knows what the fat content turned out to be. But we all know fat grams don't count on Thanksgiving anyway.
Then my Dad walked through the door.... with about 30 live crabs he had bought at Fisherman's Wharf downtown. Big blues! So, we kept the flame going outside from the deep-frying and he divided the crabs among two big pots and got them cooked.
There was a "mystery pie" sitting on the counter. It looked like pecan pie, but it didn't have a crust. Once I took a bite, I thought it was sweet potato pie. Then the bell went off in my father's head. He had bought and cooked a store bought sweet potato casserole.
The pies I brought started being consumed. The cherry pie is good, but the Chocolate Pecan Pie... WOW! It's basically a chocolate chess/custard pie with pecans. Very good, and sinfully rich. Of course, I've had a slice and a half already.
In short, there was plenty of food on the table. And there is still plent of food on the table. I just had one generous plates-worth so far, but I know I'm going to graze off and on over the next couple of hours. -At least have another slice of pie... gently warmed.. with some vanilla ice cream...
Oh, and is the tradition with Simbulan family gatherings, there were lots of pictures taken. I'll see which ones I can get to post here tonight. We'll see.
Oh, and my niece, Alyssa, likes me today. She won't let me hold her, but she's been giving me little kisses - besitos - all evening.
