So, how was your Mother's Day gastronomic celebration yesterday? Whether it was a family gathering at home or a socially-distant eat out at a favorite restaurant, as long as we all pay tribute to our Mothers in our own ways, it's always a meaningful celebration.
Ours was just a simple family gathering of four and we prepared what we can think of days or even hours before. It was a mix of meat and seafoods as well as vegetables with pasta, salads and desserts for the finale!
How about some fried chicken, grilled bangus belly and fish barbecue resting on some turbo-broiled hash browns?
These would go well with a sili-mansi-toyo dip or that big batch of kimchi (which I forgot to take a solo pic), beside the cake on the main photo above.
More seafood, in the form of the simple Linusgusan nga Pasayan or Halabos na Hipon. This is basically shrimps cooked in water and salt or some use clear soda for an added sweetness to the shrimps.
After noticing that we sort of lacked some vegetables, an on the spot Chicken Chopsuey was simmering in the pan. Good thing we have vegetables in fridge especially the cauliflower that we bought online for only PhP 130/ kilo. With chicken, carrots and bellpeppers, it was one deliciously healthy on the spot dish.
A challenge to cook on the spot, this baked "shell" pasta still is a pretty simple dish to make. Just saute ground meat with veggies then add tomato sauce. Season it according to taste, or add some cream.
Mix with your favorite pasta, place in a microwave safe container, then top with more sauce, meat and veggies. I love spreading some Pimiento Cheez Whiz or any cheese spread, since it melts and tastes better.
This is how the "shell" pasta looks like, thanks to this pasta and fruits salad. Using some canned fruit cocktail and the usual mayonnaise, cream and condensed milk combo, this salad is just one easy to make, delicious dessert.
If it looks experimental, it really was one! This smorgasbord dessert consists of buko pandan flavored gelatin which I made into "buko" strips, Ube flavored violet gelatin cubes, store-bought macapuno balls and cheese cubes.
And just to maximize this experiment to its fullest, I used mango-flavored condensed creamer - how about that! In the end, this became an instant halo-halo with the ingredients and ice mold into one!
Speaking of gelatin, this was supposed to be a Crema de Fruta but with the unavailability of a high quality clear gelatin, it sort of became a mixed fruits float. With layers of Graham and egg-enriched cream sauce, this was a dessert with a tamed sweetness but full of flavor.
Capping off the celebration is a simple cake which is an all time best seller in our town. With a delicious chiffon based and a yummy caramel icing, they say is made with boiled condensed milk in can, this was a perfect finale for this year's Mother's Day celebration.
Happy Mother's Day!