Posts by seigfredtristan:
Lumpia is Spring Rolls is Popiah is Lunpia is the same what?
January 23rd, 2012
I am trying really hard not to talk about Spring rolls the way a decent website talks about Spring rolls. But for once, I will try to act like a clickety-clacking typewriter void of a bell when it comes to the rightmost part of the page. If you’re a bit confused, then you were born after the year 2000 when typewriters cried dry tears after their ribbons were left to dehydrate. In the end, what’s left of them is their space bars…. which actually amounts to nothing (but a lot of spaces).
Let’s do it Plain Jane!
Spring rolls originated from China. Don’t you dare stop reading. Because spring rolls did not originate from Vietnam. Most that I read said that it originated from the province of Fujian, China where they call them Popiah or Lunpia. Filipinos were one of the first non-chinese people that were exposed to Spring Rolls because most of the Chinese delegation that migrated to our country came from the province of Fujian. So we are like, sons of the spring rolls. You dig? Alrighty then.
Spring rolls in Filipino is called Lumpia.
Spring rolls in Indonesia is Lumpia.
Spring rolls in China is Popiah.
Spring rolls in Malaysia is Popiah.
Spring rolls in other parts of China is Lunpia.
Spring rolls in Filipino is called Lumpia.
Spring rolls in Vietnam, I can’t read or write. So click this if you are really interested in Vietnamese spring rolls which I assure is just another kind of Lumpia.
I have to put those in separate lines because if they were in a paragraph they double the boredom of the explanation.
Ok, what else do you want to know about Lumpia?
Springs rolls were called spring rolls because they are famous with the Chinese during New Year where it is Spring in the mainland.
You know what, I hate this. I was expecting that there is a really awesome, Po-and-Mulan-like-legend about Spring rolls. Or even about the Filipino Lumpia. Instead, all I got where these boring stories about how some people wrap red ribbons all over spring rolls during new year. I mean, where are all the sword fightings and the kung-fu legends who were supposed to kill an army of samurai warriors with a single spring roll as a weapon?
I will avenge how the boring stories of culinary history killed the supposed to be full of awesomeness legend of the almighty crunch.
I will return.
Prepare for the legend of Lumpia…
Kung Hei Fat Choi!!!!!!
2011, A year that was for Filipino Food or wasn’t Part 2
January 16th, 2012
So what else did I do before myfilipinokitchen jumped to its premature death around the middle of 2011?
I talked about sex.
Press play father.
It all started with the question, “Do Aphrodisiacs in the Philippines really work?” And then thoughts about procreation erected from there. Apart from everyone’s knowing, I even wrote to Doctor Holmes (A Filipino sexpert) to answer this for us but to no avail she’s busy helping couples who have problems while on a washing machine.
After that, it built up the discussion to Filipino Street Foods (as many consider innards to be aphrodisiacs) which included intestines, liver, heart and most organs that end up in a stick. If you are not a believer, I suggest you go through with them and see how it boosts your elements. Elements? What in the world do elements even mean? Is this an infomercial of some sort?
And then the discussion halted to an abrupt end when the genius in me jumped to the topic of Filipino Celebrations where I suggested dishes for big occasions to which the article culminated to people bashing the daylights out of me because I left out Lumpia to where I promised on the grave of my dead husband-and-wife Hamsters, Schlamoo and Baxter that I will make a series about Lumpia. So I got excited. This is Lumpia. This is the quintessential Filipino party food. It took me 3 months to research how Lumpia came about – its beginnings, variation, international reputation and kung-fu origins. So from June to October, I stopped writing to prepare for a masterpiece… that didn’t came about.
Double Facepalm.
Can somebody stop that offensive music and all that talk about sex please?
Because of the obsession to make the perfect Lumpia series that I stopped writing. I don’t want to go into details but because there were no regular articles from the helm, writers stopped writing. It didn’t only affect this site, it affected all my writing gigs. Seriously, I can’t figure out why it shattered everything that I was doing.
Weird man.
I need to know what happened that’s why I’m writing back. To see where all those lost articles went to, catch them one by one and post them here.
I’m back to zero this 2012. Back to zero in a year when the world is supposed to end.
2011, a review of the year that was of Filipino Food part 1
January 15th, 2012
Or a year that wasn’t. As far as I can remember this website died around June last year.
I would like to blame the Lumpia series that started the whole mess leaving me in a comatose state but I am the one who plunged a blunt butcher’s knife into my own skull. I still blame the Lumpia series though. And by the way, thank you to those who came looking for me and asking me why myfilipinokitchen.com has not been updated especially that person who sent an email with a question mark as a subject and a content that only says – “Are you dead?” I appreciate and acknowledge your concern for the wellbeing of both the site and myself. Currently, I am writing from another world. I am still waiting for my soul to be dragged back to the kitchen where my lifeless flesh has been hanged like honey-cured ham. Ain’t that sweet?
So what in the freaking world happened last year?
By January, I finished writing about Filipino-Spanish stews. Click on this link to see where it all started 2 years ago. I can’t forget the thing because whenever we find ourselves in a conversation about this website with virtually anyone, my wife will not fail to say, “There was this one time that we ate Tomato-based stews for a week because my husband wants to write about Filipino-Spanish food in his website. It was a tomatoey torture.” And I say delicious at that.
The year also started with new authors writing for myfilipinokitchen. Click this to see the reckoning. Allow me to do an Oscar speech for a moment:
I would like to thank Joy Trebillo Babich for writing about Filipino Food in Filipino. Sure you raised up a resistance with your use of our national language but then “pakialam nila?” or where we just simply tell them – whatever?!
I would also like to thank our resident chef, Chef Mike Santiago. Chef, this site is not worthy of you but you showed us mightily that our readers are definitely worthy of a good Filipino grub. Thank you so much for reminding myself and other bloggers how to construct a recipe to which I fail miserably by bombarding my recipes with words that oftentimes confuse mothers whose only aim is to find simple recipe instructions… instead they find useless banter between “slice 3 tomatoes” and “sautee onions” and multitude of “really really really” added to every line.
I would also like to thank Jennifer Leonard with her superb potato salad recipe and who came all the way from California to Melbourne, Australia just to talk to me face to face about Filipino food (I would like to think so). Thank you for giving us the oppotunity to meet your “disapproving husband” and for sharing to us your family roots and what it feels like to be a Filipino who grew up outside of the Philippines.
Thank you very much guys.
And after two years of untangling web addresses, broken links, flashy, annoyingly popping and useless ads, lies, sometimes unreliable wiki information and self-glorifying content in the internet, I have finally finished the History of Filipino food with American influence and Japanese influence swept in the month of April. What a year finished in a quarter! (Maybe this is the reason why I stopped writing.)
I would like to finish this all in one post and get to the time when that blunt butcher’s knife landed in my skull around June but I am trying to shorten articles here in the site. So for now, I’ll have to end this so you will come back tomorrow and see the year’s aborted end.
And thank you to you too, dear reader for reading this. You are the reason why this blog is alive and I have to end this before I start with cliches and whatnots that will make you throw your computer (or your mobile) in revolt.
Ciao Siopao!
I’m not ready yet.
October 10th, 2011
One of my many banes when I’m writing an article here in the site is that I do so much research, I get obsessed by it.
I want to write about Lumpia but something stronger is stopping me to talk about it. I want to know more about the roll of almighty crunchiness before I crack it open for you guys. I think there is something more than what’s inside the roll. I have a few ideas but it doesn’t read delicious yet. This is also what stops me from posting frequently in the site. If an article is not ready, myfilipinokitchen.com will remain quiet.
The other day, Lei asked me, why don’t you talk about all the food that we’ve been cooking for the last 5 days? To which I uttered my usual reply; myfilipinokitchen is not ready for additions of foreign food yet. This website is not about me and my adventures (although, it does reflect it quite a bit) but about Filipino food. That’s why if there is no Filipino food kick, this website will fail to produce content. And that’s what happened for the last 2 months. Alright I’ll stop now before this gets boring. No more dramas. We want don’t want no drama drama.
So for the lack of an article to post yet, I will follow what the lady of the house suggested. Here are the foods that a Filipino family eats, whenever they are not ready for some Filipino yet.
And pardon me, these images were just taken with our humble iPhone. If you are an Apple fanboy, treat this as a tribute.
MONDAY
Prawn and Chickpea Stew and Cucumber and Avocado Salad
TUESDAY
5 Spice Fish with Crushed Potatoes and Leek Soup
WEDNESDAY
Cucumber and Feta Salad and Kibbeh with Minted Yogurt
and that comes with
Mackerel Marinated in Pomegranate and Eggplant and Cherry Tomato Salad
THURSDAY
Salmon in Miso Marinade and Shiitake Stir-fry
and on the side
Thai Noodle Salad
If you are asking what’s for Friday… I think we had a dozen burgers.
I hope you guys enjoyed this filler while I dig more about Lumpia. And I’m still looking for my writing powers if I ever had any.
Enjoy the week ahead and happy cooking! Thanks Steve!
Mixed up Lumpia Thoughts
October 5th, 2011
Aside from the silly subliminal thought that Lumpia is a a symbol for a human male’s genitalia, I don’t have special memories about it. Well aside from it being an ideal first date food.
If I never found out about Shanghai Lumpia (or Lumpiang Shanghai to be proper), I would have never liked Lumpia. What’s flashing at the top of my head whenever I think about Lumpia is a very oily and very gummy pastry, soggy and chewy almost-bamboo bamboo shoot filling and some green stuff that I don’t even know. In terms of Lumpia, my formidable years formed an ugly picture of it.
Until I met my wife in the form of a Lumpia Shanghai Goddess. It’s always the woman that changes a man you see. Yup, more than 20 years of ignoring the mighty cylinder of awesome crunchness. I pity myself. Now, I learned how to appreciate, cook and love Lumpia because her family makes it perfectly right. Not oily, not gummy, no soggy or weird feelings (see fillings).
So I decided to share their family recipe with you guys. I suppose, I partly own it now since I am a part of their family. They also make a mean Papaitan (Bitter Soup) but that can wait.
But first I want to take you on the journey of knowing what the Filipino Lumpia is aside from being a source of greed and envy during Filipino parties. Where does it come from, how did the wrapper meet the filling, and how many wars has it caused in the world. I heard they used them as currency before. It could have been the most rolled thing other than weed.
My childhood reflects exactly the attitude of most Filipinos toward their cuisine. I didn’t really bother myself to know more about Lumpia. I was just satisfied in saying no to it and I never really took the extra step to know where in the world it came from or how it ended up in my plate. I was just happy to ignore it. And it carries on when you go outside the Philippines. When it becomes OK to ignore your own food.
Well… what can you do about it?
If you have any ideas about the origin of Lumpia though, please, feel free to tell us about it and save other readers of some fictitious origin story that I will tell them next time.
(Argh. I hate it. I lost my writing powers.)