Lazy Weekday Lunches of Filipino Food in Roosevelt Island

I owe it to myself and to my friends to share about these lazy weekday lunches that Roger Calvin would be hosting in his apartment in Roosevelt Island. These lunches started nearly 2 years ago, with some other friends who were visiting from California, and I happened to get myself invited. It was a start of a warm friendship with Roger, who has become one of my mentors, so to speak (I have not told him about it, but he certainly has provided me with wonderful insights on how to go about with the roads and byways that cover the path we all happen to call "life"). Roger Calvin has led a fascinating life himself, and has looked like he's got most from what life showered him. He's retired from full time worklife that included a movie career as a matinee idol, mixed with other endeavors when he relocated here in the US, and seems to be enjoying much of it, and would just be traveling back and forth to locations that fancies him. He, even shares me his ongoing projects to provide for the education of selected relatives he's got back in the Philippines, which is a typical Philippine story among immigrants who have found themselves here in this side of the globe.

These lunches I've had mainly because of his generosity include a lot of work coming mainly from the loving and caring hands of Roger who prefers to work on the tedious details of cooking. I've learned to cook myself, but I cook mainly for myself. He's one cook who just enjoys it, and shares tips to those who have open ears for such seemingly basic matters on this business about life and living. We would be getting together to meet up for some reason, and I'd find him prepared for a rich, sumptuous, lazy lunch that takes hours to finish (as we always have coffee or tea plus cake towards the end of the slow eating ritual).

Check the pictures, and see if you can identify what we've had so far beginning with the pictures from the introduction of this posting, during these lazy, long lunches. The most recent had been "baked chicken," which he did for at least 2 hours. I arrived nearly at 1pm one sunny, warm day, and he was still baking the chicken. I asked him how he went about baking the chicken (which was rather a silly question, come to think of it?!), and he said "just plain chicken legs, with some oil, no marinating needed, and just placing everything in a baking pan." He would then turn the chicken every now and then, while we were engaged in a conversation, and he would have the dripping melted fats smeared and poured all over the chicken parts. The idea is just to remove most of the fat, and have a grander way of eating chicken with much reduced fat.

We also had "turon" once, which is fried banana slices in crisp wraps, browned in some sort of a sugar syrup. The main tip he shared me about this is to make sure you drain really well the oil from the fried turon. This is actually dessert food, but which can be eaten right away by those who have a sweet tooth.

We had "lumpia" also one time, which I observed to be among the best known Filipino food items from most people I've met here in NYC. They rave about this. Roger lovingly makes his concoction for his lumpia, one by one. It's one tedious process of preparing the ground meat mixed with other ingredients that makes this "lumpia" the top choice among finger foods if ever one gets to be invited to a Filipino party.

One tip Roger willingly shares is his approach in spending time to boil for at least 20 minutes the chicken and other meat that he'd be using for his meals. He throws away the broth that most would typically be using for some purposes. The idea is to remove the remains of the blood that are still in the meat parts, such that this technique contributes to a more tastier dish when eaten. Roger gives emphasis on this, just to make the dish more delicious (though it can be time consuming to some). He dreads eating meat dishes from food places, as he knows for sure that the fast paced style of cooking allows no more time to properly drain blood from meats being used.

The humble "lugaw" or rice porridge once was offered me during one lazy lunch period with Roger. Again, he emphasized that he had to make sure that meat he's used has been properly drained with remnant, leftover blood (that's not removed even by washing the meat parts before cooking). I think this has made his porridge a wonderful delight to finish during that cold, winter lunch time at his apartment in Roosevelt Island. The lugaw that already has huge chicken slices in it, came with boiled eggs, deep fried garlic, bits of onion leaves, plus lemon slices (to squeeze over the lugaw) served on a separate platter.

He shares me his memories when he was still growing up with his huge family back in the Philippines, in Pampanga, a region known for its delicious regional food. I've always known Kapampangans as fastidious eaters, and they demand the best of ingredients when it comes to their cooking. They're also known for using exotic items found in their cuisine. I'll leave it up to you to research on these fascinating dishes that you may get to encounter one of these days, if you get yourself invited to a Filipino gathering. Filipino food, the type of which you'd readily have in food places here in NYC, look like Chinese dishes, with lots of influences coming from our Hispanic forbears, melded with what's available in area where the cooking's being done. It's typically very rich, and most would describe as "oily" or worst "fatty." Yet make no mistake about it, it's very lovingly done. Most of minute hours of daily Filipino life revolve around the ritual of cooking, eating, and planning what to eat the next meal time. Traditionally, we would have a full breakfast, a full lunch, a full dinner plus two snack periods (one in the morning before lunch, and one in the afternoon before dinner). It's always normal to have 2 or 3 varieties of dishes prepared plus rice (the Philippines being located in the heart of Asia). In fact, one major key or tip to foreigners who'd be leading over a group of Filipinos, is to manage their activities around food, eating, and the act of sharing around food (and they won't remain confounded on how to motivate Filipinos).