Saturday, November 22, 2008

Thanksgiving in the Philippines

This year I will be attempting the prepare a Thanksgiving dinner here. This will be the first time that I have done this by myself (usually I get to play second fiddle to my mother with my father stepping in to carve and my grandmother making the gravy). I am sticking to very traditional with a few exceptions:

1. I am not making cranberry sauce. I don't eat it, most invited to my dinner do not eat it (I will be the only American--the rest are Filipino with a few that have lived in the states). Also I am not sure how easy it would be to even find cranberries here.

2. I am not making sweet potatoes. I don't eat them. Therefore, everyone must suffer.

3. Instead of spinach or green beans, I may do corn. People here like corn.

I am a little worried about the pumpkin pie. I was easily able to find canned pumpkin here (woo hoo!) but I think that pumpkin pie might be something one has to grow up eating. If I had never eaten it and someone presented me with an orange pie and told me, "it's a pie made of squash and it is really yummy", I would not want it. So we'll see how many takers there are. I am also thinking about buying canned whipped cream (the shame!!) only because with the humidity here I have found that when I make it fresh it falls quickly. Never mind. I cannot bring myself to buy canned whipped cream.

I also am using a simpler version of the stuffing with pretty much just sausage, bread cubes, onions, and celery all seasoned. I got the recipe from a friend's mom. There is no sage or the like so I am hoping it will appeal to a wider palate.

On a random note, turkey is REALLY easy to find here. Just about every grocery has frozen turkeys. Although I know there are fresh in some places, I want a few things to be simple. That and my oven is kinda small.

9 comments:

jonnifer said...

Good luck, it should be fun! Why not just make the pie and see if they like it? I admit, it is an odd concept, like drinking the secretions of a cow, but it could be interesting to see their reactions.

Unknown said...

This will be our 9th Thanksgiving in the Philippines, and we have celebrated every year. Our kids are in school, and there is no Thanksgiving break (obviously), so we celebrate on the Saturday after the real Thanksgiving day.

For our turkey, we send it to a Lechonero and have it roasted on the pit, and it's great!

In the past, my wife has always bought canned pumpkin to make pumpkin pie, but this year we are experimenting with using local squash to make the pie. She is making one today and we'll see how it turns out.

We usually invite other Americans to come to our house and celebrate Thanksgiving with us here in Davao. It's always a fun day.

Good luck with your meal!

Amberly said...

I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of pumpkin anything... never have been. But, any culture that throws beans on top of ice cream & calls it dessert can definitely handle a slice of pumpkin pie!!

Akilez said...

The Philippines doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving only in North America that Thanksgiving is celebrated.
Because there were no Pilgrims landed in the Philippines but only Ferdinand Magellan.

Filipinos should celebrate Magellan's day (kidding).

Pumpkin pie is not eaten in the Philippines. We don't like those kind of cake we prefer. Crepes sold by street vendors especially in Cebu.

The Philippine Turkey is very tasty because lots of farmers used Organic feeds for their skinny Turkey a lot of them are dark meat though not sure why.

Andrew's Daddies said...

Welcome back. Nagiisip ako sa sarili ko, saan ng babae 'yun.
Malapit na, pupunta kami sa philippines..Excited ako dahil may bagong bahay doon (nasa antipolo). Nagaaral pa ako ng tagalog (ako ay maputi sa litrato ko).
Good luck on your Thanksgiving Dinner, Make sure you still do the pancit and maybe some fresh lumpia for sides :) YUMMY

Unknown said...

Yum! I agree with the lumpia on the side. Or as an hors d'oeuvre. Delish. What is pancit? It sounds familiar.
I'm doing turkey burgers seasoned with stuffing spices and bread crumbs with sweet potato fries, a salad with pear, glazed pecans, and blue cheese, and cherry pie for dessert. It's non-traditional, but captures the flavors and I cannot wait! Oh... and a veggie patty for my burger. My version is vegan save for the blue cheese.

kikas_head said...

Bwah! Andrew's Daddies!!! Did you write that yourself??? I had to have someone translate! I have been here two years and I understand more tagalog then I can speak and can speak more than I can write and I can hardly read it. I could only recognize about five or so words. I suck. Maybe it is time to break out my Rosetta Stone again! You put me to shame!

No one really ate the pie. I still have half a pie in the fridge.

Andrew's Daddies said...

LOL..Yes, I wrote it myself and I am sure I made many grammar mistakes...My partner tells me, when I speak tagalog, he understands what I mean but it's not always correct tense or there may be a better word to use. But thanks so much for the motiviation to continue

Anonymous said...

Christine, PANCIT is a Filipino noodle dish. There are many Filipino noodle dishes to choose from. Google will provide you the links to their recipes. Here are some terms you can look up:
pancit
pancit luglug
pancit malabon

There are also many types of Filipino noodles too. The grocery stores will introduce you to many of them.