Felis Pasgua

Every morning I have been waking up at 4am, sometimes even earlier like 2am or 3am to get ready for mass. In the islands, mass is said at 5am at every church on island (exept the Cathederal starts at 4am and 6am) nine days leading to Christmas. These are called "Aguinaldo" mass. For as long as I can remember, my family would pick one morning to cook and provide food for the hundreds that attend mass. We would have lots of goodies like fried rice, scrambled eggs, corned beef and cabbage saute, boiled eggs, ham, etc... This year, our parish priest (Pale Rey' Rosal) decided to make things easier on the community and that families no longer had to provide food for one entire morning. Instead, the parish leaders divided up groups of the parish (such as CCD students, Neocatechuminist, Altar Servers, Nino groups, etc). Ofcourse anyone else is welcome to come and attend.

I have been busy baking and bringing goodies from my kitchen to share with others! I enjoy baking! I have brought some sticky buns, bread, velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, banana bread, bananas, etc, etc, etc. Last night, I made some rosketi, YUMMY! I wish I had my camera. My camera broke several weeks ago, and I know what I am getting for Christmas!

Anyway, I just wanted to update and write about what's been going on lately.

I miss the holiday season in the mainland, I really missed the Black Friday sale after Thanksgiving! I really miss all the goodness and cheer of the holidays. Oh well, we should be thankful for what we have.

Merry Christmas to all! and Keep Christ in CHRISTmas.

Sticky Buns....

No, I am not talking about these "Sticky buns"

I am talking about these STICKY BUNS...
D*E*L*I*C*I*O*U*S

My camera is broken, so these photos are from the internet, but you can imagine the smell and

the aroma of these delicous morsels baking in the oven! YUMM-O!
My kids and I devoured two pans of sticky buns Sunday afternoon!
If you want to try and make it, here is the link to the recipe:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/RecipeDisplay?RID=25

I also made some dinner rolls! Yummy!

Tropical Storm Advisory

http://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc/warnings/wp2708.gif

from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Tiyan GuamTropical Depression 27W Moving Closer to Guam(the initial advisory was issued at 2 am CHST Thursday (11 am EST Wednesday)
A Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect for Guam.
A Tropical Storm Watch remains in effect for Rota.
At 5 am CHST (Chamarro Standard Time) Thursday (2 pm EST Wednesday), or 1900Z, the center of Tropical Depression 27W, visible on Guam WSR-88D Doppler radar, was located near latitude 12.3 degrees north and longitude 148.4 degrees east. This is about 260 miles east-southeast of Guam, 250 miles east-southeast of Rota, 265 miles southeast of Tinian, and 265 miles southeast of Saipan.
Tropical Depression 27W is moving west at 17 mph. This general motion is forecast to continue over the next 24 hours.
Maximum sustained winds are 30 mph. Tropical depression 27W is forecast to slowly intensify over the next 24 hours and may become a Tropical Storm late this afternoon or tonight.
The track graphic below is from the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) in Pearl Harbor Hawaii

updates

Hi folks... I apologize for not updating my blog, I have been doing alot of baking lately, especially since it is my auntie's novena for Santa Maria.... "BUT" the day we did the imu my camera broke!! I am thinking about getting another camera, but not too sure which one to get.... any ideas?

As I type this, I have cupcakes in the oven, and some island style coconut rum cakes waiting their turn to go in the oven.

Life has been good, but very busy. My work is so busy, but I love it anyway.

I also signed up for a gift swap this Christmas, I think it should be good!

Till next time again....

Underground Oven

Ti leaves from around the house are used to trap steam and help cook food faster. They are also used to wrap food, chicken laolao, pork laolao, etc.

The basalt rocks that were used to help cook the pig leg.

Banana leaves

This is the pit

Cooking food undergound. The dirt is all covered with the leaves.

The food is also wrapped in the same vegetation (banana, ti leaves).

Turkey Day!

Happy Turkey Day...
Today is THANKSGIVING!
For those of my readers that are from the mainland, we are one day ahead, and have already eaten our turkey!

Happy Turkey Day... to my beloved dad... We are always thinking of you!
In happy news...

My mom's brother Nick, got married at the Catholic Church today!
There is alot to be thankful for..

And most especially PARTY TONIGHT... which means, FOOD, FOOD and more FOOD!

Cacao

This is cacao from Saipan! It was displayed at one of the local vendors on the Saturday market last weekend. My grandmother also has some cacao plants, perhaps I will try and make chocolates before the end of the year.c

Banana galore

It is banana's galore again at home! I made another batch of banana cake this weekend! A total of 12 loaves! Ofcourse, when you live on an island, you must give your neighbors, your grandma, your sister/brother, etc!

Death

Our family pet passed away last week Wednesday. He was perfectly fine just minutes before. Kiku would usually come and greet me at the gate as I get home. He looked fine, and never could I or my family would have figured out that we were going to loose Kiku that night. I got home, he looked fine. I did my usual routine like check my backyard garden, and then the next thing I knew I was rushing Kiku to the veterinarian.

My children love animals. Kiku is a member of our family. He is a awesome dog. He plays with the kids and watches them out in the yard. I can't understand what happened. I can't understand why he left. I can't understand!

Claiming his remains at the vet the next day was terribly hard. Still going around the house and not seeing him is difficult too. Kiku is my husband's dog, and he was a really really good dog.

Kiku, we love and miss you boy! Say hi to my dad up in heaven for us.

One of those weeks..

We are super busy at work this week, well every week!

Question: If busy is the norm, then is super busy, super normal?!

LOL.. OMG, I can hardly see my desktop with all the paper work!

So stressed out!! I need to "out the stress!"

maybe I need a



Maybe...

Anyway, I made banana bread again this morning! My kitchen is like banana central! OMG, I have so much banana, banana bread, banana cake, fried banana, maybe I will make some banana shakes tomorrow morning, should be healthy! Any ideas? Some people do banana shake with Orange Juice, some make shakes with milk.. which do you prefer?

I am a member of the foodie blog roll, and I saw one of the other members post an idea of swapping gifts for Christmas..... I think this would be fun! I usually have readers visit my blog every now and then from around the world!

Would any of you be interested in a Christmas Swap? If so, email me your name, and mailing address to: rayrian@aol.com

I will swap names and email them out to those that respond. The limit would be set at $30, higher if you like. This would make it easier for folks to exchange gifts from around the world!

I know for me, I would much prefer a gift for my kids, from around the world, small things like stocking stuffers, etc.

Deadline to respond to this would be Monday, November 24. Let's all spread the Christmas cheer!!

Something's Fishy

I have been craving some really good "DEEP FRIED FISH".

I went to the market and bought some fresh reef fish, went home, cleaned it up and then fried it!

Without a deep fryer, I can't say that I deep fried it. I like my fish crispy on the outside and really tender on the inside!

There is just something fishy about fish!!!

But this fishy...was good!!

Hot rice, spicy hot finadeni', some kimchee and I was having a really good lunch

Friday Lunch....

Today's lunch was at Cappricciossa! I always love eating at Cappricciossa!
The service is always consistently good.

Lunch with my Mom,
Auntie Brenda and the Governor of the CNMI!

Auntie Brenda and Governor Fitial

This is one of the best pumpkin pie's on island!
Here is the critic side of this food blog: sometimes I get a pumpkin pie with fresh crust and sometimes the crust is a bit soggy. Either way, it is still yummy.

This is the dessert I mentioned in a previous blog, "Fritori'.

Meat sauce spaghetti. This is the special lunch, so it came with garlic bread. However, I prefer my usual order of seafood spaghetti!

Rosemary Chicken

Ceasar Salad

CHEESE....WOOOHOOO.....

From left to right: My darling mom "Ki" and my loving Auntie Brenda

From left to right: Uncle Bill and myself. We were trying to make silly faces!
I think Uncle Bill wins the prize on this one! LOL

From left to right: Myself, First Lady Josie Fitial, and Uncle Bill

Well, it turned out to be a really good lunch! I always love going to Cappricciossa, and this time the food was great, the company was even better and I got to eat two desserts in one sitting!!! (Fritori and pumpkin pie!)
woohoo.. I am a happy camper!

On a side note: Weight Watchers, here I come! LOL

Lunch on Thursday

Raymond and I went to Diamond Chinese Restaurant for lunch on Thursday. I go there for two reasons:
1) The food is served lightning fast,
2) The service is good
3) Lunch is ridiculously cheap! $4/lunch order includes soup and rice!
4) I had to refill my gumball machines that are located inside the restaurant.
(Wow, that is 4 reasons!)

Crabmeat corn soup

Crispy fried chicken wings (something about the way the texture is of these chicken wings, I think they use corn starch instead of flour, or something because the texture is very light!)
Sweet and sour pork

Beef Brocolli

Veterans Day Dinner

We had Veteran's Day dinner at my house!! YEAH!! But, before I begin blogging about the dinner we had, I want to first, SALUTE all you veterans! Thank you so much for serving our country, and the freedom we currently enjoy today!

And to the veteran in our family: My brother Lawrence! Hat's off to you brah!

***NOTE: For some reason, blogger is not allowing me to fix the layout of my photos! I hope thay you can make sense of reversing the photos from first to last and last to first!

Uncle Bill and Auntie Brenda....

My hubby and I, OMG, all this eating is making me fat!!

My sister is on the bottom right, in her patriotic shirt, which is fitting for Veteran's Day!

Home made cream puffs! The filling was coconut cream!

This is my brother (the Veteran) and my sister Tina.

Okay, now here is the dinner.. Have you ever had clam soup with pumpkin tips? Not sure, how many people cook with pumpkin tips, I know in my culture we do! It is actually yummmmmmmmmyy, especially if cooked with coconut milk. The usual accompanionment for pumpkin tips for locals (Chamorro/Refaluwash) would usually be pumpkin tips with coconut milk and some sort of seafood such as shrimp, fish, crab, clams, etc. Something about seafood broth, coconut milk and pumpkin tips... This is the best comfort food ever!! But then again, anything cooked in coconut milk rocks!!!

For some reason, blogger will not allow me to fix the orders of these photos. The soup pot above is supposed to be the last photo. Anyway, above is the hokikai clam/surf clam they are from Japan and are imported to Saipan, they also cost lik $9.50 a pound! But, they are worth it and delicious! The photo below are the pumkin tips, they need to be cleaned, which is peeling off the rough edges on the leaves and on the stem, it is hard and time consuming, but delicious to eat!

Fire grilled eggplants..........if you never had fire grilled eggplants, you are missing out! These are so delicious and the roasted smokey flavor is so strong, it just kind of warms your heart! Yummy! (Well the barbecue grill was busy with all the ribs, so I learned a trick from my aunt, that you can actually fire grill the eggplants on a gas burner! Neat! I have certainly been eating more fire grilled eggplants after being able to grill it on my handy dandy portable gas stove grill!

I did not take all the photos of the food we had, but my mom made some really delicious chamorro style shrimp vegetable tempuras! I think my mom makes the best shrimp tempuras on the island!! they are yummy......... I have some left over batter a home, so I will definately make more tonight and take photos... I can't wait to go home and fry them, they are yummy!

Lots of food, always too much to eat!