Hello, Hivers and Silver Bloggers!
Yesterday, we went shopping for the Christmas Eve dinner. This year, we decided not to make Hallacas. And so far, this December, I haven't eaten the first one. Hallacas, although delicious, are not the best choice for someone who wants to control their blood sugar levels. So instead, my son suggested we make some pork ribs. He wants to make them from a recipe he learned from some of his college buddies. So we went to the Chinese market in town to buy some Asian ingredients my son wanted for the recipe.
And luckily, we got all the ingredients he wanted to marinate the ribs. We bought Miso, a fermented soybean paste.
And a spicy sauce of beans, soy sauce, and a few other ingredients for the ribs.
So tonight, my son will be the chef. And I will be in charge of making the salad, which will be the traditional chicken salad that we are used to eating here in Venezuela at Christmas time.
When we left the market, my son took us to an Asian sweet treats bakery in the area with the idea that we would try Boba Tea. I hadn't been in the area for a while and hadn't been to that bakery before, but my son did. So the place must have been in business for at least a couple of years, and I didn't even know it existed. Where the bakery is now there used to be a Chinese market much smaller than the one we visited.
The bakery is small but has a great variety of Asian sweets. I would have loved to try a few, but we went with the idea of having Boba Tea, which was already sweet.
We still browsed around to see what they had for sweets.
There was a variety of Chinese buns. And some Japanese puddings that looked yummy.
And a Japanese cheesecake that immediately caught my husband's attention, who loves cheesecakes. And he couldn't help but crave the mini version of it, so we bought a box with three mini cheesecakes.
We bought the Boba Tea. I didn't want the traditional one with milk but one they had on the menu with strawberries and yogurt, but it wasn't available, so I ended up having one with Maracuya juice and coconut jelly. Have you tried Boba Tea?
Boba tea is a beverage invented in Taiwan. The traditional version is a tea with milk and tapioca 'pearls. But now they make them in many flavors with tapioca pearls as well.
I found them a bit expensive. Each tea cost 7 dollars and to be honest, they weren't bad but I didn't love them. The mini cheesecakes were tastier and I liked that they were not too sweet.
We had a good time and from there we went to the supermarket to buy the ribs and what we needed for Christmas Eve dinner.
And right now as I write I'm getting some things ready for Christmas Eve dinner.
My friend S insisted on lending me a slow cooker to make the ribs. That's the good thing about having friends who love to cook, they always have good tips and tricks to make your life easier in the kitchen. So the ribs will be in the slow cooker for the rest of the night to get them tender. And before dinner, we will bake them for an hour with the marinade that my son will take care of with his Asian recipe. So as I write this the racks of ribs are in the pot.
So around here, the Nochebuena shopping is almost done. Except for the pan de jamón, another Venezuelan Christmas tradition that we will buy early in the morning.
And you, are you ready to celebrate Christmas Eve?
I wish all Hivers and Silver Bloggers a Happy Holidays! And to those celebrating Christmas, as we do, have a joyful and Merry Christmas!
May the joy and peace of Christmas fill your homes 🎄😄
Thank you for reading.
All images and writing are my own unless otherwise stated.
© CoquiCoin
December 24, 2023
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