Growing up, my mom usually prepared mashed potatoes, mushroom and asparagus as side dishes to go with the turkey. Instead of preparing mashed potatoes, I decided to use an ingredient that is associated with Thanksgiving just as much as turkey and pumpkin pie --sweet potatoes. I believe sweet potatoes are much more commonly used in Southern cooking. Being from California, these tubers were rarely included in my daily menu. Since these bright orange tubers are fairly cheap and readily available in Manila, I thought this would be a good time to try them in lieu of potatoes as I've only had sweet potatoes prepared in the form of chips or fries.
With the main course, lemon thyme Cornish game hen being a "daysaster," this side dish of roasted sweet potatoes, along with buttered sting beans, ended up being the main course.
Roasted sweet potatoes
Ingredients:
7 cups sweet potatoes, peeled, cut in 1-inch cubes
1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 cups coarsely chopped onions
1 tbsp butter, melted
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 F (163 C).
Place sweet potatoes in a shallow roasting pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
Drizzle with oil, salt and pepper, toss well to coat.
Bake for 30 min.
Add the onions, stirring well.
Preheat broiler.
Drizzle the sweet potatoe with butter, stirring to coat.
So it's was the fourth Thursday of November. Thanksgiving Day. I don't really know why but I've never been crazy about this holiday. For me, it just a sign that Christmas is coming. I never understood what the fuss was with turkey. I always thought, and still do, that it was just an oversized chicken in taste and texture. Needless to say, in all the years that I have been living outside the States, I have never celebrated Thanksgiving. I usually just bake myself a loaf of not-so-masochistic pumpkin bread every year. That's about the closest I get to celebrating this holiday.
The Kitchen Masochist's tiny oven.
This year, however, I decided to take on the masochistic feat of cooking a mini feast for myself. With my oven being so tiny, no 25-lb. (about 11 kg), Butterball turkey will fit into this sucker. As a matter of fact, the turkey is much heavier and bigger than my oven. Having no experience in roasting anything at all was also another factor to consider. So, the Kitchen Masochist ended up deciding on preparing Cornish game hen for Thanksgiving Day.
Lemon thyme Cornish game hen with string beans.
Lemon thyme Cornish game hen (recipe taken from Allrecipes)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp paprika
2 Cornish game hens
Directions:
In a bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Place hens on a rack in a shallow baking pan. Tuck wings under hen. Spoon half of butter sauce over hens. Bake, uncovered, at 425 (218 C) degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until juices run clear and a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees F, basting occasionally with remaining sauce.
So far so good, all juices running clear, no pink flesh.
Woo hoo!! Not too bad for my first attempt at roasting, I thought.
Still high (so to speak) from my small victory, I sat myself down and dove into this little mama to savor the fruits of my labor. I cut off a piece of white, juicy and moist breast meat and took the lovely, tempting piece of flesh into my mouth to savor all the melded flavors of lemon, thyme, garlic and butter.
BUT NO!! Instead, I feel my high coming down as I chewed on the meat. The nasty and indescribable texture and taste was unmistakably due to long storage in the freezer. It cancelled out all the flavors of butter, garlic, thyme and lemon. And no, it wasn't in my freezer for a long time. I purchased the hen a day before Thanksgiving Day at Metro Gaisano.
Disappointed and declaring the main course of my Thanksgiving dinner a Thanksgiving Daysaster, the little hen found her way into the garbage can. Thanksgiving dinner for the Kitchen Masochist ended up being a vegetarian dinner of string beans and roasted sweet potatoes.
Homesickness is a tricky feeling most expats deal with. It comes when you least expect it. Most of the time, the most innocuous things tend to trigger these feelings of homesickness. It could be something as mundane as a song or hearing that American twang I haven't heard in quite a while now. Or in my case, most of the time, food products from back home that I haven't seen in a long time. I left the States during the last few months of the Clinton administration. That's how long I've been away from home. I've pretty much adjusted to the way things are here in the Philippines. I haven't felt homesick in quite a while.
A simple, usual shopping trip to Metro Gaisano supermarket at Market! Market! in Global City, however, threw me off after seeing one of these few of the many products from home...
...liquid pectin, mac & cheese, and cream cheese. Yeah, I know, instant mac and cheese is not something to get really excited about. However, it brought me back to my college days when I was a poor student on a tight budget. Like most North American college students, I survived on this stuff! After not having seen it for a long time, the excitement of seeing something from your old life in a foreign country is orgasmic! I'm sure you fellow expats know what I'm talking about.
Yep, that's right, Guittard baking chips! It's that gourmet, San Francisco-based gourmet chocolate manufacturer. It beats Hershey's or Nestle baking chips by thousands of miles. I can see chocolate chip cookies in the not-so-distant future. Oh...think...like... next week here!
Being a long time expat, I'd like to help fellow expats, regardless of your country of origin, in pointing you to the right direction so you can get/prepare your fix of comfort foods you may crave from back home. I truly empathize with you when you crave or miss something from back home. Food is the easiest way to alleviate homesickness. Most of the time anyway.
Okay so..if you're new to the Philippines...you can find these items...
American expats:
Metro Gaisano Supermarket
Corn meal
Masa Harina
Libby's Pumpkin
grits- hurray for Southerners!
Smucker's PBJ
Mexican foodstuff (mostly El Paso and La Victoria brands.)
Betty Crocker and Pillsbury cake mixes
Reese's
Nestle Tollhouse chips
Guittard and Hershey's baking chips
Liquid and powdered pectin
Butterball 25 lb turkey
Sara Lee frozen cakes
Jalapeños (canned and bottled)
Land O'Lakes cheeses, butter and margarine
Blue Bonnet Margarine
Lender's Bagels
It's either this or locally produced bagels. The bagels produced here are nothing like the real
thing at all.
Rustan's Supermarket
Ben and Jerry's ice cream -something to rejoice in!
Haagen Dazs
Note to fellow Nth American expats who are new to the Philippines: DO NOT look for milk in the cold dairy section. Fresh milk is not available here as far as I know. Most of the milk in liquid form are UHT. Refrigeration is unnecessary and it has a one-year shelf life. You will find its taste very different from the one you're used to back home. Not necessarily bad. But very different. You have been warned. The milk section is usually found in the middle of the supermarket, usually along with the coffee section.
CANADIAN EXPATS:
All of these Canadian products mentioned are available ONLY at Metro Gaisano Supermarket as far as I know. Feel free to correct me here though.
Canadian style bacon - Earle's Delicatessen. They have an outlet in Metro.
AUSSIE and KIWI EXPATS:
Luckily for you, Australian and NZ products can be found in all major supermarkets of Metro Manila (mostly dairy products, pastas and wine), except for Vegemite and James Boag Lager. To save yourself from enduring the horrendous Manila traffic, your beloved beer and Vegemite are available at Metro Gaisano Supermarket and nowhere else. Don't bother going to SM and Rustan's Supermarkets looking for these two products.
Metro Gaisano Supermarket
What the hell does concentrated yeast extract taste like???
