Filipino Style Summer Feast

Our hosts and anniversary celebrants, Don and Enya Schoonmaker

I invited the JW Marriott's executive chef, Andrew Voss, to a friend's parent's 35th wedding anniversary barbecue in their home in Greenville, Michigan, around thirty minutes north of Grand Rapids. Chef Andrew is a newbie when it comes to Filipino get together's but I was very confident that this experience would be an eye opener to the world of Filipino cuisine and Filipino style summer party.

To say that Mama Enya, as her kids call her dearly, is a good cook is an understatement. Petite in stature with a constant smile in her face, she whips out dishes in her home kitchen more fitting a hotel banquet
chef. With the help of her kids and close friends, they started the cooking routine on Friday evening for the feast on Saturday afternoon. They cut vegetables, prepped ingredients, marinated, washed, grilled, sauteed, baked and deep fried every possible living thing to perfection. By the time we arrived at their house at 5PM (two hours late which is okay by Filipino standards), the kitchen was spotless but food items just kept magically appearing out of nowhere and landing in front of us. Chef Andrew, welcome to the Filipino style food gathering.

After gorging ourselves for two hours, and when we thought there was nothing left to taste, the modern ice crusher came out along with an array of fruits, beans and flan for the piece de resistance, halo-halo! By then, even the crushed ice was tasty, despite the bloating sensation chef Andrew and I shared. Wow, was it a delicious culinary affair! And you know what, instead of going out afterwards, chef Andrew and I stayed home, fully content that we found culinary nirvana.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, Mama Enya also served American meatballs, pasta salad, Bosnian bread and other non-Filipino dishes. Now that's what I call a feast!

Tahong (mussels)

Caldereta (beef stew with vegetables)

Hipon (shrimp in tomato sauce and 7-up)

Pancit (Chinese-Filipino style noodles)

Manok (filipino style bbq)

Lumpia (fried pork egg rolls)

Sinigang na baboy (pork sour soup - my favorite soup)

Filipino Spaghetti (cooked with banana ketchup
and tomato paste)

Pancit Canton (Cantonese style noodles)

Vegetables in a vinegar marinade

BBQ Chicken

Pork bbq on a stick and bbq Ribs (classic street food in the Philippines)

Close up of bbq pork ribs

Menudo (Spanish influenced stew with pork, vegetables in tomato sauce)

Ginisang sitaw (sauteed green beans with ground beef)

Pinakbet Bataan (vegetable stew)

Adobong Pusit (squid with soy sauce, vinegar and squid ink)

Fried Fish (aka stinky fish in English)

Suman (rice pudding wrapped in banana leaves)

Bibingka (another form of rice pudding - this is incredible!)

Suman version 2

Casasava Cake

Leche Flan (another one of my favorites)

Banana Fritters

American style sapin-sapin (layered jello)

Kutsinta (brown rice cake with coconut - another favorite)

Puto (rice muffins)

Halo-Halo ingredients

Halo-Halo with leche flan (just right before I mixed it all up)

Bingo "Mafia" Ladies - a typical sight at filipino parties.
This is an all day affair!

Mama Enya is quite the gardener

Sunset at the lake