What da heck?

Scott woke me up asking if I was ok because I was turned away from him and all the way to the edge of the bed. I had been having a really strange dream….

It started off in 1978. I was Elaine Benes riding in a bus in a big city. My friend Bob was driving the bus, and he looked like a young Bobby De Niro. I just happened to have Bob’s 2018 cell phone for some reason, so I texted him to let him know that he was driving the bus! And that he looked like somebody famous (You talking to me?). Then I was at a co-worker’s baby shower in their studio apartment. The space was small and lined with closed circuit cameras. I took out some Visine while the guests were in the other room and sprayed all of the camera lenses (there were a lot of them) to disable them. I guess this also disabled the lights because the room went dim and the next thing I knew, I was putting a 3-4 month smiling baby girl into a carrier in the front seat of my car like no big deal. We were driving off when Scott woke me up…

Zombie Birthday

David turned 11 last month and it was a crazy time. He had wanted a bounce house and we envisioned 20 rowdy boys playing Zombie Tag in the backyard running off the perpetual energy that boys seem to have. It was not to be though because of the rain. We had to adjust things a bit and move things indoors... with all those energetic boys! So we decided to get gross with the food and go all out zombie with decorations too.

The food was my favorite. I found quite a few goodies online. I made feetloaf (in this case, it was really just a footloaf) and zombie entrails...

Filipino Food to Cook this Fall

Recently I heard Amy Besa on Splendid Table discussing native Filipino food and how Filipinos made tamales (bubuto) using rice and banana leaves instead of corn and corn husks. I was very surprised to hear of this because while I knew about some history of the Philippines and have eaten many lumpia rolls and cassava cakes in my lifetime, and I have Besa’s book, but I did not know about the Mexican influences in PI. The first Spanish settlers were Mexicans. Wow! I grow banana trees in my yard, but I have not successfully grown bananas yet. This past summer, my mom’s cousin was at her house gathering her banana leaves in order to make those wonderful rice treats for us. I was intrigued, but not exactly stoked about using my leaves for sweet treats. Now I know I must be making some sweet and savory rice merienda (snacks) with the banana leaves while I can!

Three dishes/methods:

• adobo – braise with vinegar
• sinigan – soured broth (citris)
• kinilaw  - PI version of ceviche

Some recipes:

Cassava Suman (Filipino rice cake (kakanin)) https://panlasangpinoy.com/2013/05/10/cassava-suman-recipe/

Filipino Tamales https://www.kawalingpinoy.com/filipino-tamales/