A celebration of life

Today, 13th of July, I've turned 37 and I'm wearing it proudly like a badge. We made the celebration a day earlier to accommodate those who have work and school on a Monday. Its just a small and simple celebration in fact its just my family, my parents and siblings, my mother in law and my bayaw with his family and a few pamangkin. Their presence made my birthday complete.

As I have mentioned in my previous blog about our plans for this day. Well it didn't turn out the way we wanted it last Saturday. Instead we just went out for a grocery and some happy meals for the kids.

The following day which is a Sunday, I woke up early and proceeded to Balintawak Market tagging along our new house help. I bought a weeks meal menu list. The pata I used was pre ordered a few days ago from my Kuya so that I could enjoy a huge discount on it. Eventually, my kuya gave me two large whole fresh tuna. He said its his gift for my birthday. Each tuna weighs about 2 kilos. So I was really thinking what to do with it.

At around 10:00 am after an hour and a half at the market, I hurriedly cook my pata and clean the tuna I got from my kuya. Still pondering on what to do with it. Should I cook it with coconut cream?, steam it with fresh herbs?, grill it?, or simply make a ceviche out of it. Ceviche is the Latin American version of our "Kilawin". Some say the name Ceviche was coined from the Spanish word "Escabeche" which means to marinate or from the word Cebo, a name given to corvina fish commonly used in Panama or Peru as main ingredient for their Ceviche.

I was really bent on going for a Ceviche but on the other hand I'm also thinking of our kids and a my nephew and my niece. They should also enjoy a fish recipe that a Ceviche may not be appropriate for them because of its sourness and spiciness. Finally I decided to grill it. What better way of grilling it is to marinate it with soy sauce, white wine, some ginger and garlic, a dash of pepper and sugar, and finely chopped chili's.

I sliced both Tuna and make medallions out of it. I placed them all on a bowl and pour my mixture and let it marinade for 3 hours inside the ref. Also I prepared a sour cream dip for an added tangy taste. Listed are my ingredients for the Tuna Recipe.

2 fresh whole tuna (1.5 to 2 kilos each) cut into half inch thick slices.

1 cup of soy sauce

1 cup of white wine (Chinese cooking wine or rice wine will do)

Dry sweet Sheree wine can also be use

5 cloves of crushed garlic

2 red chili chopped finely

Sugar (add according to desired sweetness)

pepper

Preparation:

After slicing the tuna into half inch thick. Place them in a shallow bowl and pour in the marinade mixture. Let it stay inside a refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours. make sure to turn each slices a few times to evenly distribute the marinade. Grill them until a bit brown. Do not overcook them as they will become too flaky and may stick too much on your grill.

Dipping sauce:

2 box of Nestle all purpose cream

6 pieces kalamansi (juice extract)

pepper

dash of sugar (to balance the flavor)

finely chopped mint leaves

Pour 2 boxes of Nestle all purpose cream in a bowl. Add the kalamansi juice on it without stirring it. Let it stay for a while and you can notice the cream curdling up due to its reaction to the acid. After 10 minutes add the sugar and pepper and finely chopped fresh mint and stir it making sure the sugar is well dissolved. Place it inside the ref and just pull it out when you are about to serve the dish.

They enjoyed my tuna so much and ask me what kind of marinating mix I used. Also they find my dipping sauce just right for the tuna and perfect for the fried spring rolls my wife made. Its just a few hours of enjoyment, a few hours of laughter, of different stories to share, of eating and drinking. But to me that was one of the best birthday I ever had. They are all here, the people I held very very dear to my heart.