Slumber Party

My side of family came over to celebrate my bday...yup the celebration continues. Ate Ji and Kevin, Andrea, Chris and Jaidin all came over for dinner and actually spent the night except for Kevin. I was so thrilled that they are here. It's always so much fun. Not to mention, they brought lots of goodies with them. Ahhh, they can come over anytime *grin*...Here's Andrea loving all of the goodies that Ate brought for us. haha!..

We also decided to prepare all filipino food. Jon was in charge of the chicken (which he prepared ahead of time because he has an appointment with his brother). Ate was in charge of the kare-kare and lumpia, I was in charge of the dessert and Andrea was the Sous Chef. We hired Kevin and Chris to watch the boys while we prepared the food in the kitchen. I'm posting the recipes so I can remember it for next time.

Lumpia

1 pack of ground beef
1 pack of ground pork1 pound of shrimp
1 can of water chestnut
1 shallots
4 cloves garlic
2 carrots
1 Egg
salt and pepper
lumpia wrapper
Oil for frying

Chopped in the food processor the shallots, garlic, carrots and chestnuts. Combine the meat and the shrimp on a big bowl then add all the chopped ingredients. Add the egg and salt and pepper and mix together. Then put a tablespoon of the mixture in the lumpia wrapper (roll thinly to ensure that the meat are cooked evenly) Serve right away. This is very easy to make but it is just time consuming.

Kare-kare

2 pack of Oxtail
Onion
Garlic
Long beans
Bok Choi
Eggplant
Kare-kare mix
2 Beef Bullion
3 table spoon peanut butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

Boil Oxtail for 4 hours or until tender. Wash the oxtail to remove excess fat. Boil another set of water, add the oxtail and beef bullion for few minutes. On a separate bowl, combine the kare-kare mix and peanut butter on a 1 cup of water until dissolve. Add the rest of the ingredient to the pot of oxtail then add the kare-kare and peanut butter mixture. Mix it all together and let it simmer for 15-30 minutes. Best to serve when its still hot.

Sauteed Shrimp paste

Oil
Garlic
Onions
Shrimp paste

Sauteed the onions and garlic until translucent then add shrimp paste. Cook for couple minutes and ready to serve with Kare-kare.

Jon's Fried Chicken

1 pack of chicken wings (from Costco), cleaned and cut
Vegetable oil for frying
Garlic salt
Salt and Pepper
Flour

After he clean and cut the chicken wings in pieces, he marinated it with garlic salt and pepper. He then prepared the flour with salt and pepper in a zip lock. When ready to fry, I put the chicken in the bag of flour mix and then deep fry for 10 minutes, one batch at a time. This is so easy to make and so yummy.

As for dessert, I baked Biko, it didn't turn out as I like. An Auntie once told me how to make it so I tried to do it that way (probably not the best thing to rely on memory). For future reference though, this is the recipe I will follow: (http://www.cookingcache.com/)

Biko Recipe

2 cups malagkit (sticky rice)
3/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 cups diluted coconut milk
1/8 lb butter
1 egg, beaten

Grate and squeeze out milk from 2 coconuts, save 3/4 cup of the first milk squeezed out ( this is called Kakang gata ... will be used for topping). Dilute the rest of the coconut milk to make 3 1/2 cups. Boil the rice and coconut milk in a heavy pot stirring constantly to keep from burning. When the rice is done and almost dry, lower the heat and add the sugar and butter. Mix well and set aside. When cool, add the egg. Spread the mixture in a well buttered Pyrex dish (7 1/2x11 3/4x1 3/4") and bake in preheated 300°F oven for 20 minutes.

Prepare topping
1 can condensed milk
3/4 cup rich coconut milk
2-3 Tbsp flour

Combine all the topping ingredients in a heavy saucepan and cook over low heat stirring constantly until thick (about 15 minutes). Pour over rice mixture in dish. Increase the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until top is brown (about 15 minutes).

We had an excellent dinner and everyone was here, I could never been any happier. Here's a picture of Jaidin playing with Tyler's toys...what a goof ball! Then cake time...

I also got a nice present from Jaidin...a big hug, a sweater and a scarf.

I wish to have more days like this!