Hello All,
This week I wanted to talk about Thanksgiving since it’s next week. This time I wanted to cover my experience in America and then I’ll write about Thanksgiving in the Philippines. My family celebrates Thanksgiving and Christmas together mainly because we’re spread out and we all have our different schedules so we’ve made Thanksgiving our ‘all holiday meet up day’. That way, even if you can’t make the celebration in San Angelo or Dallas or wherever we plan to go, everyone tries to make it to the Thanksgiving meet up (which as I’ve mentioned, I have yet to attend).Hello All!
When my family
celebrates in general, we have food and we usually drink. In the mornings of
the celebration usually the women are cooking unless we’re using the grill,
then my brother-in-law, dad, uncle(s), or aunt are the ones cooking on that. We
have a variety of dishes but my family always includes at least one or two
pizzas for my one uncle who doesn’t eat the food we make unless it’s steak.
At first, when I
started to bring my boyfriend around the family, my parents and my aunt freaked
out and would make him a separate dish so that he wouldn’t have to eat the food
that was made for ‘us’. My boyfriend, however, likes to eat crab and is willing
to try the dishes as long as they’re not very intense smelling or have onions
in them. I tell my family to skip the ‘what’s in it’ description and I also
warn him about it because I want him to try it without thinking about it. I’ve
learned that many people don’t eat certain foods because they think about it
and they don’t try it. Basically, they’re judging it before they give it a
chance and I told my boyfriend that he can’t be like that if we’re going to be
together.
I don’t mind if he
doesn’t like the food after he tries it. Generally, I tell him
to try it three times at separate occasions and if he doesn’t like it, then
fine! However, he can’t simply look at it and say that he’s not going to eat it
because of what’s in the food or what it looks like or how it smells so I’m
glad that I got him to adjust to at least trying the foods.
If we’re not using
the grill or killing a goat or chicken or pig (whatever it may be) then my
brother-in-law and my job is to run the errands. If my sister(s) or mom are missing
an ingredient or we need ice or sodas one of us goes and gets those items.
Other than that, in the morning, while the food is being made, me and my
brother-in-law are usually watching T.V to pass the time.
Now, if we’re using
the grill then the situation is different! This also applies to when we have a
goat, chicken, or pig to kill. Now that I don’t live with my parents I’m not
usually around early enough for this process but when there is an animal to
kill my dad, brother-in-law, and uncle(s) are the ones to kill it (Not butcher
it. What we do is make the process quick. We respect the animal, we’re not
heathens).
Up to a week prior
of the celebration we go and buy a goat, pig, or chicken off of a farmer and
take care of it until it’s time for us to eat it. Next time we kill an animal
I’ll take notes and post it for you all but at the moment I can’t quite
remember the whole process besides that we take care of it and kill it quick.
When we have a chicken we usually use the blood and let it drip into a pot of
uncooked rice and let it set in there to flavor the rice. Not everyone eats it
but I think it’s good once it’s cooked. This dish is called dinadaraan
Normally, we buy a
baby up to a young goat. We don’t usually go for the older goats and we don’t
always get adults because it depends on the amount of people that are showing
up. The dishes we tend to make are
Goat: sinigang* (IL), kaldareta(IL), pinapaitan(IL), and kilawin
(IL)(lightly cooked)
*Sinigang means sour soup and can be made with any meat including shrimp
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| Goat: Kaldereta |
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| Goat: Pinapaitan |
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| Pork: Kilawin |
Chicken: tinola (Tag/IL), pinakbekan (Igorat), and dinadaraan/dinuguan(IL/Tag)
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| Chicken: Dinardaraan |
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| Chicken: Tinola |
Pig: sinigang ng baboy and lechon
The Image for Lechon messed with the coding of my post so I'll show you all a picture through my video instead.
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| Pork Dish Sinigang na baboy |
We also have cassava cake or bibingka and lumpia.
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| Lumpia |
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| Cassava Cake |
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| Bibingka |
Alcohol wise we tend to drink whiskey, rum, scotch, rye,
gin, and beer.
The Beer selection usually consist of Corona and Dos Equis.
Sometimes, there’s a craft beer of some sort.
Now that you all
have read/seen what my family does for Thanksgiving, the next post will consist
of what my boyfriend’s family makes as well as their traditions. I also asked
my brother-in-law for some help because he is also white and he added a few
bits of information to what they do. I’ll make sure to take pictures of the
food they make this year and share the recipes (as well as share the same info
from my thanksgiving party).
I also want to point out that most of the dishes are Ilocano dishes as well as an Igorat dish that Ilocano speaking people know as that word.
Generally, my family
celebrates this way for every holiday. Our main focus is to meet up, have a
good time, have good food, and drink, then deal with the hangover the next
morning. If you’re Filipino and want to share what foods you eat on
Thanksgiving please do! Also, if you can, please share the recipe with me as
well so I can post the picture and the info!
Thank you for tuning in
with me this week, tune in a few days to read about the generic Thanksgiving my boyfriend’s family and my brother-in-law’s
family have. See you soon!
DJ/Cho/Nar
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