How to make Potato Croquettes

Our balikbayan neice, Melissa saw our blog on potato croquettes and was anxious to help in the preparation of our favorite Christmas dish. It took only a few instructions and she already got the hang of it. Below is Melissa, expertly making the potato balls.

Here's how I make potato croquettes.

1. First, sautee the meat - I use lean ground pork - in garlic and onion. I also add mushroom and hotdogs, but it's really optional.

2. Boil the potatoes. Once soft, mash them. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.

3. Using your hand, get a handful of the mashed potato and flatten it. Put the meat inside and shape the potato into a ball (you can actually make different shapes, like egg-shaped or cylindrical-shaped). I also add cheese in the filling. Ensure that the filling is thoroughly covered. Make sure also that the meat is dry - leave behind the oily sauce. (Also, don't make the potato ball too big - I made the mistake of making humongous balls, and they turn into disaster when I fried them - each bursts open because of the weight, spilling the insides! )

4. Roll the ball into beaten eggs and breadcrumbs.

5. Deep fry until golden brown.

Presto! Delicious home-made croquettes! It's a bit crunchy on the outside but soft inside. The meat and cheese taste yummy with the hot mashed potato. No sauce requried. It's best eaten with wine and cheese.

I enjoyed our Traditional Kapampangan Food

One of the highlights of Christmas is the food served during noche buena and parties. During our Coronel Family Christmas reunion held last Dec 26, 2010, I enjoyed the potluck food served. The original plan was to have the food be catered. But we ended up bringing our own food contribution to the party. And it was good because the dishes were tastier and conforms to our traditional and original kapampangan taste. My favorite dish was the tidtad cooked by my cousin, Moro. The Callos of my Tita Bea was also yummy. The other dishes I enjoyed were the kinilaw and lengua.

In our case, we brought boneless bangus (inihaw by Pixie), There was also siomai contributed by my twin sis, Ate Lou and Ate Rose (ordered from Pampanga by cousin Alma). There were desserts like tibok-tibok (the Kapampangan version of maja blanca - made from carabao's milk and a dash of dayap juice), leche flan, blue berry and strawberry cheesecake and casava cake. Almost all the dishes were good. So we ended up taking home the left-overs.

The Dory Fish at ROC

Remember Dory in "Finding Nemo"? Yes, the large-eyed blue fish! It's one of the kid's favorite character in the movie. It's also the name of the favorite fish-dish of Geoffrey. (Note: the fish is not the blue-wide-eyed cute fish in Nemo - they only share the name ;)

In one restaurant at the UP Diliman Bahay ng Alumni, the Dory fish is a specialty. ROC, the abbreviation of Restaurant of Choice is one resto which serves good food.

In our most recent visit there, Geof and I ordered their Dory fish dishes. Geof ordered the Fish Florentine, while I ate the Pesce Parmigiana. Their menu describes the Fish Florentine as cream Dory, spinach cream, chefs veggies with steamed white rice, while Pesce Parmigiana as Dory fish, marinara sauce, cheese, chefs veggies with steamed white rice or buttered pasta. The fish was really good especially the sauce but the veggies are not well cooked. But over-all, we were both satisfied with our lunch date with Dory and the service at ROC.

ROC also serves other fish dishes like bangus and salmon and meat dishes. But the Dory fish is what makes ROC different from the other resto here at the Bahay ng Alumni.

Painting Mr. T

During the Family Day at Miriam Child Sudy Center, Geof tried his hand on painting a ceramic turtle which her mom named as Mr. T. From an immaculate white turtle, Mr. T was transformed into green and black colored turtle. It took Geof about less than an hour painting the turtle. This is another creative activity that kids should try.