Party On, Wayne!

My family has hosted quite a few parties in our days.  But in my opinion, the best thing about a family party is not the actual party itself, but the time spent preparing for it.  This is the time when all the family members get together and do their part to prep for all the guests to arrive. Usually at my house, we have the uncles grilling and frying out back while relaxing and drinking some beers, the aunties in the kitchen cooking up a storm, and all the cousins hanging around the living room until one of the aunties or uncles calls one of them to help with moving tables, or setting up decorations or chafing dishes. This is a common scene at my house during party prep time:

Cousins lazing about. And this guy sitting on a preteen girl while she harasses my dog.

And oh, what a feast we made!

(Follow the jump for more feasty feastiness.)

Bunz Down Low

Sometimes, ya just need some bunz...

TastyBunz is one of the newer food trucks roaming the Vegas valley, and although they advertise themselves as a general "baked buns" truck, what they really are--and what they are really good at--is a filipino truck! Their menu is based on filipino siopao (pronounced "show-pow"), except they're baked, stuffed with things your lola would never dream of, and are so good your taste buds would slap you in da face if they could. Not only that, but they flavor their doughs with things like mushrooms, cilantro, cheese, and jalapeno. Dang, yo!

My favorite thing from Tasty Bunz? The Manny P taco. As in Manny Pacquiao, the Philippine National Hero! It's got shredded crispy pata, tomatoes, cilatro, onion, and a secret sauce that includes some kind of vinegar in a corn tortilla. It was so good my mom had to call up some aunties to tell them about it. 

Another bonus of Tasty Bunz is that they have TOTS!!! I'm a sucker for any kind of potato, but tots are by far one of the top 2 on my list. I mean, who doesn't love tots?? 

The picture above is a shot of the "Me Tots", which is basically like their version of  chili cheese tots. Me Tots are topped with secret sauce, bacon, cilantro, and a FRIED EGG. Not to mention they drizzled it with truffle oil. It's basically a super tasty heart attack in a box. However, paired with the bunz and the Manny P taco, I'd say I totally went overboard with my order. Next time around I will just stick with the regular truffle tater tots to go with my meal. MUCH more sensible, right? :D

Why so behind?? Ketchup!!

So let me confess: my relationship with food has never been a healthy one. As evident from this shortlived blog, food has been both my best friend and my worst enemy. But enough about that because what I really wanted to say right now is that I think I have food ADD. I get bored with "regular" flavors easily, and I always want something new to eat. This is to the point where sometimes my boyfriend and I will drive ridiculous distances--arguing the entire way, nonetheless--about where we can eat to satisfy my bored palate.

Ketchup is a prime example of this. I loathe ketchup. It's so boring! However, I do understand the cultural significance of ketchup in American cuisine. It's the go-to dipping sauce for a multitude of vegetables, side dishes, and pretty much anything else one may think goes well with it. I mean I've seen my haole cousin pour ketchup on his rice and adobo plate and eat it happily while my family watched in horror. But hey, whatever floats your boat, you know? 

I digress, every culture has a similar "sauce" like ketchup. I mean, I have seen this many an occasion at my household: 

"ALL PURPOSE SAUCE". WTF is so "all-purpose" about it?!

Don't get me wrong, it's actually really yummy and we use it as a dipping sauce for lechon (see below) but it's basically a murky, brown, mystery sauce that I'm pretty sure is made from liver (which I can't stomach the taste of). Mmm... lechon...

This is how we do pig.

I think what gets me with the ketchup is that it's just everywhere and I grew up with it so the flavor is just worn out on my palate. And yeah, I'll admit that I'll eat it with my fries if there's nothing else around. But even then, if I have some hot sauce I'll mix it in to add some bite. I mean, ketchup? Bleh. But spicy ketchup? Oooohhh. Me likey. That brings me to my latest discovery in "all purpose sauce" substitutes... 

Two words: Korean Ketchup.

And I WILL make this a thing.

What's in it? Well, I think the better question should be "What's in ketchup??"

But since you asked...

Ingredientes!

Gochujang + Garlic + Honey

For my free-measure version of this recipe, keep reading! 

(Who needs measuring tools anyway??)

Adventures in Late Night Fridge Digging

Quick thought (between prepping my office for a move, and applying to premed programs)...

Picking through the leftovers in my refrigerator and found the following:

Sinigang (filipino sour soup), baked sweet purple potatoes, giant roasted turkey leg..?

Took a piece of beef, some beef marrow and cabbage from the soup, threw in a piece of the potato and voila! Sour, sweet, meaty, savory, fatty yumminess. The turkey leg remained largely untouched. Maybe next time, turkey leg. Maybe next time.

I didn't take a photo, but I will post this for now. I'm so jealous of my dog.

Yeah, Sammie's got the life.