It was time for the annual Christmas postluck by TC's dance troupe.
It's always a fun occasion with excellent food and gift exchanges for the kids (the young ones, the tweens, and the teenagers/young adults) and the parents (us, the adults)...
Even though the donning of ugly sweaters was encouraged, I ended up wearing a Grinch shirt ($7.50 from Walmart!) while Bert wore the same striped velour sweater from last year. Like me, TC wore a shirt (a green one with a gingerbread man with a broken leg, "Oh Snap!"). So, no ugly sweater contest this year.
The food came in waves. This was part of the first wave. One of the parents brought in salmon. I'm not sure what the topping was, bt it was mayo based. There might have been some furikake sprinkled in there too.
The next dish was brought by the president of the company. This was also salmon, but topped with a panko and parsley topped honey mustard glaze. This was so good that I'm going to make it this year for the family Christmas gathering.
The Executive Director brought salad with ginger soy dressing. Not seen was a bag of La Choy fried chow mein noodles as the crunchy topping. I was happy to see a healthy offering. In past years, it's been mainly fried foods with hardly anything green in sight. It was different this year though, but in a good way!
Pancit Palabok:
A surprisingly small tray of fried salt and pepper wings. Actually, there were very few fried foods this year unlike past years. This was a welcome change! There was also no rice!
Fried something. I think this was fish. I didn't like it.
The vegetable platter we brought from Costco to ensure that was at least one vegetable dish. The dip was peppercorn ranch, which I wasn't expecting. Ranch is fine, but the peppercorns were a bit too strong.
One of the dads brought in this huuuuge bigingka made by his co-worker (I just may order one from him for a future party). Notice some pieces are missing? Well, he and his wife and daughter in law "sampled" it before it got here, ha ha! I would have done the same thing! This is a sticky rice dessert cooked on a banana leaf. The edges were so nice and crisply caramelized, like the way my mom used to make it.
One of the mom's (whose husband is a chef) made a variation of her creamy pasta. This time it was with penne noodles, yellow peppers, spinach, and bacon! This was everyone's favorite that night (at least until the arroz caldo showed up!).
Some of the younger kids (early 20's are kids to me, okay! ha ha!) brought in rolled tacos from one of the 'Berto's joints...
along with carne asada fries which the kids (tweens and teens) attacked!
One of the dishes from the second wave of food was brought in by one of the dancers who is a budding chef. Only 19 years old, she is currently in culinary school. This was her version of noodle salad using chapchae noodles and seasoning but with chicken, shrimp, red bell pepper, yellow tomatoes, and asparagus. This was one of my favorite dishes that night besides that creamy pasta.
Another person brought in these grilled pork ribs which were fantastic!
My little sampler plate...
Bert's plate with the rolled taco...
One of the latecomers brought in "siomai" - a pork filled dumpling. I didn't like these because the texture of the meat was too "dense" and felt wierd for me. There was a vinegar soy dipping sauce but I passed on that. The older Filipino folks totally went for this!
The same young chef who brought in the noodle salad also brought in some pastries. These were macarons, but without the filling. Just the halves. Red velvet and green tea flavor. The macaron halves were too thin and a bit too chewy. No puffiness at all. Maybe she meant for them to be that way. Another person brought in some Filipino cheese rolls (brioche bread topped with sugar and butter and filled with cream cheese).
My dessert sampler - the macaron halve cookies, a small edged piece of bibingka, and a mini citrus cupcake with candied ginger and lemon zest (also made by the teen chef).
And even as the night went on, more people showed up with more food! Here we have broccoli beef and Filipino style spaghetti (with hotdogs). I was full by point so I didn't try any of the later items except...
for the arroz caldo which elicited oohs and aahs from everyone. One of the grandmas made this and it came with all the fixings!
Arroz caldo fixings: fresh calamansi, hard boiled eggs, fried garlic, and sliced green onions. I was surprised to see the hard boiled eggs and calamansi. At least for me, the only toppings I use for my version of arroz caldo are the fried garlic and the green onions. I like the addition of calamansi and boiled eggs though. It makes the rice porridge more substantial.
The grandma used bone in chicken pieces. I made sure to get the pieces without bones
So much good food!
The same grandma also brought it kutsinta (a steamed rice cake covered with coconut). She steams hers in a rectangular pan and then cuts it into strips. My mom uses molds so hers are round. Later before we left for the night, I was practically "forced" to bring some home by the lady! Can't say no, right?
The bibingka towards the end of the night. You can see the fruit jels in the plastic container (we brought that for the kids) and my semi-mangled red velvet cake (I used a fun baking mold for this). I sprinkled powdered sugar on top before leaving the house, but it melted where it was covered with plastic.
The gifts for the white elephant gift exchange.
TC got this from her secret Santa. OMG, I haven't smelled it yet! I can't believe she got this. Someone got the Justin Bieber singing toothbrush (as a joke) along with a Selena Gomez poster.
For the adults, many fun gifts were exchanged such as a set of four serving dishes, a covered casserole dish with the creamy pasta within, wine openers, a chafing dish. There were also gifts that no one wanted to trade for, such as the shakeweight (we got rid of that useless thing!), a table top candle set, and yes, the return of the dreaded muumuu! I remember getting this back in 2009, then I regifted it the next year. It became a tradition to get rid of it! This year, one of the mom's ended up with it!
The most hilarious gift of all was this set of nasty gifts. The guy who bought it had to tell the kids to look away....Behold, the "Paint a Pecker" set (you can paint a "stiffy") and Fetish Anal Beads with Whip. I wonder where he got these from? Ha ha!
This was a blurry picture because I was laughing when I snapped it, but this is the whip with the textured beads. Omg, my butt is clenching in fear just thinking of this. The lady who got it was so embarassed but she couldn't stop laughing. This was so gross!
Hopefully you guys won't get a gift like this for Christmas! Or maybe you do want one! Different stroke right? But seriously, I was hoping that the little kids wouldn't see it! Hey mommy, what's that thing?
Previous potlucks:
2011
2010
2008
2007
2 comments:
We had ours yesterday! It's very international and always great. Everything looks good here too!
Yay! I look forward to the party every year..
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