[FHCB] I'll be Home for Christmas

Christmas. A season of giving. A day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. A day where families get together and have a wonderful time. For us Filipinos, Christmas is the time where we spend the midnight (Christmas eve) eating with our loved ones and spend the rest of the day with them, be it parties, karaoke, shopping, etcetera.

For me, it was different.

I spent my Christmas eve preparing foods for the traditional midnight meal and also for this forum event, while my mom is taking care of my sister at the hospital during her last cycle of chemotherapy.

Some of you may wonder “Why the hell did you left your family at the hospital and spent your Christmas eve on someone else’s house?” My answer is simple – I want to, at least, give a gift to my sister for Christmas; or get a T-shirt for myself. Anyways, my family gets to taste my own cooking once they get back home, so I considered it a gift to both of them as well.

C'mon. Play it. I know you want to.

(Link, with video.)

For this particular dish, I used:
Ingredients:
½ kg Spaghetti
½ bottle Banana Catsup
½ kg Tomato sauce (1 big pouch weights 1 kg)
½ cup Tomato Paste
½ bulb Garlic, minced
1/4 kg Fiesta Ham
175g Corned Beef
Brown Sugar
2 small sized Onion, diced
Cheddar Cheese
2 tbsp Salt
36 ounces Water (about 1 liter)
4 tbsp Cooking Oil

Link, with a picture of what it should look like.

For this particular dish, I used:
3 slices, white loaf bread, outer skin trimmed
6 strips of cooked ham
6 strips cheddar cheese
2 eggs, beaten {since the damn bread sucked the beaten egg #1)
1cup bread crumbs
cooking oil

Flatten each using slice of bread using the palm of your hand. In a big platter lay a flattened bread. Spread some honey, arrange 2 strips of ham and 2 strips of cheese at one side and roll. Apply some pressure for a few seconds to hold and maintain the roll in shape. Deep the roll in the beaten egg then in the bread crumbs, ensure that the bread is uniformly coated with egg and bread crumbs. Repeat process on the remaining slices of bread, keep aside. Heat generous amount of oil in a big frying pan until it start to smoke, set the stove to moderate to low heat. Carefully place each roll with the seam at the bottom in the frying pan, fry for 1 to 1/2 minutes or until just browned and constantly flipping to maintain uniform cooking. When done remove from pan and drain oil in kitchen paper towels. To serve cut the roll in half crosswise and arrange in a platter.

Link, with ENGLISH (engelsk) instructions.

For this particular dish, I used:

Ingredients for 1st stage – Risengrød:

1 1/4 cup water
1 cup malagkit rice (the kind of rice they use on puto, a filipino rice cake)
1 liter cup milk

Ingredients for 2nd stage – Ris a la mande:
1 1/2 cup cream
3 tablespoon confectioners sugar
4 teaspoon pure almond extract

For the Cherry Sauce:
15 oz can Cherries in heavy syrup
1 tablespoon cornstarch
water


Place water and rice in a medium cooking pot, cover with a lid and simmer for 2 minutes. Add milk and vanilla sugar and simmer over low heat for 40-45 minutes. Stir often to make sure the milk does not burn, especially the last 30 minutes. You may have to turn the heat all the way down as low as your stove will allow and cover with a lid for the last 15 minutes.

Place in Tupperware and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Once mixture is completely cooled remove from refrigerator and break it up with a spoon. In a small bowl add whipping cream, confectioners sugar and almond extract. Beat with a handheld mixer until you see tracks from beaters in the cream. Add half of the whipping cream to rice mixture and combine well with a spoon, add remaining whipping cream in small increments. The final texture should be creamy and easily mixed with the spoon. Place covered in refrigerator until ready to serve.

To blanch almonds. Place almonds in a small dish and pour boiling water over to cover. Let sit in water for 1 minute, drain and rinse with cold water. Pat dry and slip the skins off. I usually blanch two almonds in case I have trouble with one. Before serving Ris a la mande, place one blanched almond in mixture and stir well to hide almond.

In a small dish mix together the cornstarch and some water to form the thickening agent. In a small saucepan bring cherry and syrup to a simmer. Add the cornstarch/water mixture to cherries a little at the time, stirring until syrup starts to thicken. Simmer for 1 minute and remove from heat.

Serve Ris a la mande cold with the warm cherry sauce on top.

(Yes. That's right. Whipping a cream using a fork two forks.)

In other parts of the world and the seas near them, many overseas workers work hard for their families. They oftentimes work during holidays and do extensive overtimes for their families in the Philippines to rise up from poverty and to be financially secured. After months of contractual work, however, they wish to be back home to their families especially in time for holidays or once-in-a-lifetime events like the debut of their daughter and such. During the Christmas season, some of them will be spending Christmas on foreign lands (or seas). But then, some will be lucky enough to have their contract to end before Christmas; making them work hard, be relieved and say “I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS…”

Spaghetti. It It is served on almost every occasion that involves families or kids. Since I was a kid, I always see a plate of spaghetti on our table every Christmas. Even though it may not have gigantic meatballs as what an Italian spaghetti have, it still a reason for some to go home for Christmas; not only because of its distinct sweet taste, but also because of it being enjoyed during those memorable family gatherings. For a man of the sea like me, it is fulfilling to feel the happiness while eating and spending some quality time with your loved ones whom you haven’t seen for such a long time.

Ham-and-cheese Rolls. Every time there was an event at college (where I graduated from), there was this one kiosk that I always visit for the sake of buying one thing: a Ham-and-Cheese roll. For some, it is just a pair of ham and cheese covered with a slice of bread. But for a person whose college is far from the nearest rural civilization, this can be one of his favorite foods.

Ris a la Mande. The main reason why I chose to include this dish is that I wanted my family to have a taste of what I have eaten during some parties while I was on Training onboard a Danish-based workplace. Since this dish is sweet, I considered it as a dessert.

One april afternoon, our cook prepared this dish on a party. While I was eating a rice-and-almond pudding (Ris A la Mande) al fresco, our Danish captain saw this on the buffet table and asked “Is it Christmas Already?”. The cook said “No. Why, captain?”. The captain replied “Because this is what we eat during Christmas Day. Hahahah! ”. Amazed by this fact, I asked the cook about the name and the ingredients of the dish. I did some research, and I found out that the dish is meant to be served with a whole almond. Whoever finds the almond wins a gift. I said to myself that I want this to be part of our family meal on a Christmas day, once I get home.

Whether you eat holiday foods or not, or even if the foods are not of your own cooking, what matters most is that you spend the holiday season with your loved ones. It may vary on how each people spend their holidays (be it Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.), but we always wish for one thing: to spread the love of our creator to others.