All is quiet...on New Year's Day

We all slept until 10 am!!!! Then after crawling sluggishly out of bed and hastily fixing ourselves, we went over to my parents house for New Year's Day Lunch. It was strange not having both of my siblings there. It was just my sis and her two boys. My bro and his two boys weren't able to make it, so it wasn't as lively as it could have been. My bro makes really good mongo by the way. So, my parents kept it simple this New Year's. My mom made a turkey with gravy and stuffing (not pictured) and per my request, good ole mom made Pork Estofado (pork braised in soy sauce, vinegar and sugar) with dried Lily blossoms. She hasn't made this in a really long time so it meant a lot to me that she made this dish. It's basically the same ingredients as adobo. Look at that pork fat! Oh yeahhhh...
BBQ beef skewers...Some were burnt, I mean caramelized!

I ended up eating the BBQ beef leftovers a few days later (since I was still enjoying the pork estofado) with rice, red leaf lettuce and kojuchang. Kind of like bbq beef lettuce wraps.

Traditionally, my mom makes arroz caldo but she didn't make it this year. She also usually makes miswa noodle soup with meatballs. Again, M.I.A. this year. However, she didn't forget to make Palitao! This is a glutinous rice dessert. You boil the rice balls (uh, that sounded kind of funny), wait 'til they float and roll them in sugar and grated coconut. Because my parents are old school, I know that bought a fresh coconut and grated that damn thing themselves on their little coconut grater stool. Even though the sesame seeds were missing, these tasted just as good! They're better warm rather than cold. You can't really keep leftovers of these because fresh grated coconut spoils quickly!

Round things are said to bring good luck, hence the Palitao. My mom also buys grapes and oranges and wears something polka dotted because the round dots represent money or prosperity. I have a vintage photo of my mom in a terno dancing in her town's fiesta. She was a young teacher in the early 60's and still single. Her terno, compared to the other women who had traditional floral, beaded, sequined or lace patterns was quite different. The terno had a huge polka dot pattern throughout the entire dress, even on the butterfly sleeves. I'll have to post that one day. It's quite a striking image to see such a nontraditional pattern on a very traditional dress.

I didn't take a photo of it, but my dad also bought Queso de Bola (aka, Edam Cheese) which is also something they haven't done in a long time! He served it with red grapes and crackers. It was a pretty mellow day and after a few hours, we packed up our "take home" boxes of leftovers and went home to just relax even more.