Photography homework continues…even at breakfast.
Closed aperture
Open aperture.
Most importantly in the AM – Coffee!
We had a big spread at breakfast.
Scrambled eggs, bacon…
Fresh grated cheddar to top…
Breakfast potatoes with onion, red pepper, and fresh parsley.
Per the usual, I had a wee bit of everything. OJ to drink.
I had an almond twist my sister made with the leftover puff pastry and almond paste from our Galette des Rois from yesterday. It was quite tasty and a nice use of leftovers (though we do have about a half can of the almond paste left…hmm…maybe we’ll make cookies?)
I enjoyed some of these strangy, airy brown rice chips my fam got from Costco. This stuff is addicting! I noshed on these whilst researching charities for my Online Bake Sale for Haiti (we’re still looking for bakers and the attention of some potential bidders).
After getting some good work done on the bake sale, I was called downstairs to take some photos of the prep work for our Filipino feast – food to celebrate my mom and hubby’s b-days.
My sister rolled up some lumpia (Filipino spring/egg rolls)
Then she got started on dessert – sweet rice! A family favorite. This dish is basically made with a sticky dessert rice, brown sugar, and coconut milk. Mmm…
I just had to taste test. ;)
a little extra sauce on top.

My mom was halfway done cooking some pancit (like a Filipino rice noodle stir fry) when my camera battery died.
Luckily, I had my ninja camera on backup!
Taste test for the chef (moi! ok mostly my mom…lol)
Cover and cook through.
Sauce for the lumpia
Pan frying the lumpia
And lunch is ready! (and my camera battery was charged up with enough juice to wrap up our eats).
Our mini Filipino celebration feast. These are some dishes served at Filipino parties.
Gotta have rice.
My family is experimenting with a sticky Japanese rice. I think I like the Jasmine better. I like sticky rice, but in my sushi and sweet rice.
Delicious Pancit with a medley of meats and veggies.
Golden brown lumpia.
Sweet rice!
Round #1
Round #2
Hubby and Dad decided to have leftover Galette des Rois for dessert. Dad found the bean and became king for the day! First order of business – order tea!
I had sweet rice for dessert. Nom-alicious!
Blueberry tea with honey whilst hanging out with my parents, fixing jewelry, talking, digesting…
Then, I headed upstairs to work on the Online Bake Sale for Haiti. I spent a few hours compiling names, updating my Excel (which I geekily used with concatenation formulas to create HTML for my blog post), and emailing.
After staring at my computer screen for probably too long, I headed downstairs for a snack-y dinner.
My Dad made some grilled cheese sammies with harvarti and whole grain mustard. I traded in half of my whole wheat version for half of Dad’s pumpernickel. Piece of pickle on the side…gotta love that tanginess!
It’s not every day you’ve got homemade pancit laying around, so I made sure to have a small serving of it, too.
What else but sweet rice for dessert? Served with a little skim milk on the side and heated just slightly in the micro.
Helloooooooooooo dessert!
Ok, so it’s not the most photogenic, but I assure you, it’s delicious! It’s vegan and gluten-free, too since it’s made with coconut milk and rice!
Online Bake Sale for Haiti Update
Just a quick note to say, Wow! How amazing is this community of bloggers?! As of tonight I have 29 bakers signed up and a few others who have indicated interest. I really think that by pulling our forces together, we’re going to be able to raise some great money for Haiti (via the Red Cross)!
I’m currently looking for any companies interested in matching our final donation total, if any are interested.
And, of course, we’re still looking for bakers and looking to gain interest from potential bidders. I’m posting the list of goodies that will be available for bidding on Wednesday, Jan 27, 2010 early (as I get them) so you can go ahead and start eyeing your selection. I already have a couple picked out I’d like to bid on!
Click here to learn more about the Online Bake Sale for Haiti. You can get code at the previous link if you’d like to add the Bake Sale banner image to your side bar.
Thanks to everyone for your support and for helping spread the word!