Food shared with the people that you love makes the experience even more worthwhile. During celebrations of life, may it be a wedding, graduation party or perhaps a birthday celebration, no matter where you are, lots of food items will be served on the table. Sharing a gastronomic experience with your loved ones makes every moment even more beautiful because you get to experience a meager portion of life together and when you look back one day, you'll get to remember the experience you shared with them.
Just recently, we celebrated another year in my grandmother's life and I will be sharing more of what occurred during the celebration on my next blog post. Since it was her 80th birthday, my family decided to throw her a simple party where in guests will get to enjoy a gastronomic experience worth remembering. It was somehow a typical Filipino feast but my mother decided to cook some dishes that weren't usually served during Filipino celebrations.
My mother was the main chef of the event. Well, she isn't a professional chef but she definitely learned from my uncle (her brother) who is an international sous chef at an international cruise ship. However, I could attest that my mother's dishes are truly mouthwatering. Her dishes also are a manifestation of her love because I know she gave all her effort and poured her heart and soul into it. She actually spent hours, well even days, preparing for all the meals with the help of other relatives. I did not get the chance to assist her in the kitchen because she did not want me to mess things up so I decided to help in preparing the decorations for the event. Now, I would like to share my mother's dishes that she heartily prepared for my grandmother's birthday celebration so that you will have a glimpse of the dishes that we serve during special occasions.
The Gastronomic Experience
Rice and Puso
We Filipinos definitely love rice! It's a staple in every meal and it definitely makes the gastronomic experience even more worthwhile. Alongside with the rice, is the traditional puso or known as hanging rice. It's white rice wrapped with palm leaves and is steamed.
Pork Menudo
This is a popular Filipino dish made with a variety of vegetables like potato and carrots. For my mother's recipe, she added some mushroom slices to add more flavor into it. I didn't get to taste this dish since I do not eat pork anymore but the visitors and other family members indeed loved the taste.
Black Pepper Shrimp
We Filipinos truly love seafood but I guess it does not apply to everyone because I personally prefer chicken. But this dish of my mother would surely blow anyone away because according to my cousin it has the perfect blend of sweet and spicy.
Beef Steak
This dish is also known as Bistek and it is a beef dish made with a unique blend of flavors such as sweet, salty, and sour. Prior to blending all the flavors in together with the sliced onions, the sliced beef are marinated in soy sauce, calamansi, and some salt and pepper. This used to be my favorite dish during celebrations but sadly I do not eat beef anymore.
Chicken Cordon Bleu
This dish is not a traditional Filipino dish but nowadays most Filipinos serve this during celebrations. Based on my online research, this dish originated from France and it is made by wrapping chicken around ham and cheese. Absolutely, my favorite. I thought adding cheese to the dish would make it taste terrible but it sure added in a lot of flavor.
Buffalo Chicken Wings
Nowadays, Filipinos enjoy eating unlimited chicken wings at different food places and we truly enjoy buffalo chicken wings together with rice. This is a perfect appetizer or perhaps a main dish depending on what floats your boat. This is actually an American cuisine and my mother decided to add this to the table because my cousins love this and so do I.
Pork Lumpia
You can never go wrong with Lumpia! This dish is like a staple in every celebration. This dish is made with a wrapper and inside is ground pork with some mixed vegetables like chopped onion, minced carrots, and some green onions. I personally prefer the version without ground pork. This is somehow similar to spring rolls and it tastes so delicious.
Pancit Guisado
These noodles are definitely a must during celebrations of life because we believe that this symbolizes long life. This dish is made with noodles and, pork or chicken, and a variety of vegetables. Most Filipinos all enjoy this with rice because we love carbohydrates!
Sweet and Sour Fish
My mother, as someone who is diligent in the kitchen, decided to create a variety of dishes with some fish because you'll never know, you might have a guest that is pescatarian and most of my grandmother's friends also prefer eating fish. Adding more flavors to the usual fried fish makes the dish even more mouthwatering. I could finish two cups of rice just by eating sweet and sour fish.
Lechon and Crabs
As per research, Lechon was actually derived from a Spanish word which means roasted suckling pig. This is another staple during Filipino celebrations because people absolutely love this and I used to as well. Since most of the Filipino families are big, we could usually finish one whole Lechon in just a single celebration but if not then we usually chop it and store it in our freezers so we could fry or cook it with some sauce in the next days. If you're into seafoods, my mother also made some crabs and mixed in some sweet and spicy sauce.
My grandmother's birthday celebration truly had our hearts and stomachs full. Every dish was a reflection of a daughter's love to her mother. I hope you enjoyed reading through my post as I shared to you what we typically serve during celebrations in a Filipino household. I described each dish based on my own perspective and I know we all have different preferences.
Prior to eating our hearts out, we usually bless the food which we are about to receive. This is usually led by a family member or a friend of the celebrant. During this moment, we share our prayers of gratitude for the bountiful blessings in front of us.
How about you? What dishes are typically served during celebrations at home? Would love to hear from you!
lifewithera is a 22-year old, college senior, an aspiring yogi, a furmom, and a wanderer, who writes stories about her personal life, mental health, fitness, travel, and just anything and everything her heart wants to speak. If you want to get to know her more, then you can connect with her through various social media platforms.
