Here’s my next entry for Lasang Pinoy - Street Food.
“Ok, dear Pinoy food bloggers, blog about your favorite streetfood - it may be something you ate outside school when you were young, or maybe even streetfood forbidden you as a kid. It may be your favorite snack while on the road, driving around the metropolis or on the way to the provinces during holidays. Or maybe the streetfood you eat during merienda (morning or afternoon snacks), or on the way home from the daily grind.”
No problem.
This weekend, I drove up to Vegas for Ate Gigi’s house warming. My dad ordered this yummy spread from his favorite Filipino restaurant. The priest from Christ the King dropped by about 15 minutes before our scheduled blessing. Apparently, he’s running late for another house blessing - so he did us first. He sprinkled holy water everywhere - on the dog, the TV, the couch, the food, the kitchen, everything.
Father Jerry couldn’t join us for food - but he wanted to sample a little bit of everything. He wanted to try the lumpia. We put a take-away plate together with these addictive rolls, pansit, bbq and rice.
Lumpia is the easiest food to introduce people to Filipino cuisine. I remember having school and skating friends over for meals at my old house in Diamond Bar. These fried egg rolls were a hit with just about everybody.
According to my dad, my mom has a decent recipe for lumpia. However, it’s for them easier to buy frozen lumpia from Green Hills and fry it up for company. I prefer the pork-filled lumpia over the vegetable offerings. The veggie lumpia has too much of a vinegar bite for my palate.
Lumpia is a street food for me because it’s so portable. Before my afternoon skating practices, my mom would warm-up some rolls and have me eat them during the car ride. During my college years, my dad would cook up a storm of Filipino food - enough for a couple weeks - before he headed back to LA. I’d fry up some lumpia before class. I’d munch on them on my way to the lecture. Sometimes, I even snacked on some during my professor’s talk….I had to cut it out because a crispy lumpia roll is a noisy one.
I remember finding a Goldilocks stand at Six Flags Marine World. Goldilocks is a Filipino-American bakery/restuarant. But at Marine World - it labeled it’s offerings as “Asian” cusines. I got an order of lumpia and walked around the park with my favorite street food.
We also had bbq-on-a-stick at the house blessing party in Vegas. Bbq chicken on a stick is my runner-up for Pinoy street food. It’s smoky to the point of charred and oh so good! I love knawing on that stick and stripping off the tender chicken.
On my last visit to the Philippines, I remember bbq chicken on stick being a regular dish at family gatherings. Instead of being anchored to a table and plate, I could mingle with different pockets of family members and carry my meal on a stick.
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