Alright so yesterday I woke up needing serious birthday party food ideas for my nephew’s Pinoy-themed bash. Needed stuff for like 20 people that wasn’t gonna make me sweat bullets all day. Grabbed my notebook and hit the market first thing.
Started in the meat section, ’cause you gotta have Chicken Adobo, right? Found drumsticks and thighs on sale, tossed like 3 kilos into the cart. While there, saw pork belly – bingo, perfect for Pork Barbecue skewers. Grabbed bamboo sticks too. Already felt like progress.
Next stop, veggie aisle. Needed mountains of cabbage and carrots for pancit. Found those weird slippery bihon noodles nearby too. Grabbed bell peppers and onions – basically the holy trinity for every Filipino dish, felt like. Oh, and garlic! Bought like 4 whole bulbs, no shame.
Saw some nice tilapia at the fish counter. Instantly thought Fish Lumpia would be killer. More carrots for this? Fine, doubled up. Grabbed lumpia wrappers from the freezer section later. Now stuff was piling up… cart getting heavy.
Dessert panic hit near checkout. Wanted Buko Pandan Salad but couldn’t find gulaman powder. Settled on making simple leche flan instead. Snatched:
- Like 10 eggs
- 2 cans condensed milk
- 1 can evaporated milk
- Bag of white sugar
HUGE mistake: Forgot vanilla extract! Had to run back inside while everyone glared. Found one tiny bottle hiding. Cost way more than it should’ve. Annoying.
Got home, kitchen looked like a bomb hit it. First mission: Adobo. Chopped garlic (so much garlic!), threw chicken in the big pot with soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves, peppercorns. Let it simmer forever. Smelled amazing, took pics for later.
While that cooked, tackled pancit. Soaked noodles, chopped all those veggies. Like, endless chopping. Stir-fried chicken bits, then dumped in cabbage/carrots. Tossed noodles with soy sauce and shrimp powder. Tasted alright – needed more pepper. Fixed it.
Afternoon turned into assembly line madness. Cubed fish for lumpia filling, mashed it with onions, carrots, seasonings. Wrapping lumpia takes forever! Managed like 50 tiny rolls before my fingers gave up. Fried them later – crispy perfection.
Marinated pork belly strips in this sweet-ish mix – soy sauce, ketchup, Sprite, garlic. Skewered them all. Barbecue smell drove everyone nuts while grilling.
Dessert crunch time: Cooked sugar for flan until amber, poured into tins. Whisked eggs + milks + that expensive vanilla. Strained it carefully. Water bath in the oven for nearly an hour. Prayed it wouldn’t crack.
Party time! Had zero time for store-bought pastel nonsense. Spread everything out buffet-style:
- Huge tray of Adobo – shiny brown and falling-off-the-bone tender
- Mountain of pancit – colorful and slurp-worthy
- Heaps of golden-brown fish lumpia with sweet chili dip
- Stacks of sticky-sweet Pork BBQ skewers
- Big bowl of white rice (duh)
- Pretty flans chilling on the side
Tasted way better than my stressed-out kitchen meltdown suggested. Everyone just kept grabbing more BBQ sticks. Flans? Smooth as silk, no cracks. Massive win. Stuff disappeared crazy fast.
Lessons? Make lumpia the day before, no exceptions. And BUY VANILLA EARLIER! Next time maybe tries halo-halo if I find ube ice cream.