Valentine's Day

[sigh] I hate this holiday. As much as I am relieved that I don’t have to spend money on a girlfriend, I still want to. So Happy Valentine’s Day to all you lucky love birds out there. I hope that you all rot in hell!

I decided to do something selfish for myself. A little self-love if you will. –Not that you sicko. There were some lumpia wrappers in the freezer and I decided to use them. For those of you who don’t know, lumpia are Filipino egg rolls. They are my favorite thing to eat and I can’t get enough of them. So I whipped up a batch, ate my fill and froze the rest. Then for desert, I got some Blue Moon ice cream which my sister found at Martin’s. Unless you go to an ice cream shop, you can’t find Blue Moon around here. So this was a day of fatty indulgence… well at least more than usual.

Lumpia (My version)

2 boxes of Simex lumpia wrappers (found in Asian food stores)
2lbs ground beef or pork
½ - 1 head of cabbage
1med onion
1 or 2 medium potatoes
2 stalks of celery
1 carrot
2 or 3 green onions
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
1tbs ginger (option)
2tbs soy sauce
1 egg
2 beef cubes
1tbs pepper
oil for frying

Lumpia wrappers are rice based and are similar to rice paper. I recommend Simex brand but you can find others made in Thailand.

Chop cabbage, onion, green onions, and celery. Dice garlic, ginger. Grate potatoes, carrot, and beef cubes. Put them into the pot and slowly cook until limp. Add in soy sauce and pepper. While that is all slowly cooking, separate the lumpia wrappers. When done, allow the mixture to cool before mashing it together with the raw meat and egg. Spoon a heaping teaspoon into each wrapper and roll it up. Fry until golden brown.

Of course, you can increase or decrease the amount of each ingredient, and even add and subtract. Hell, when I was in Baguio, I got lumpia that had boiled egg and pineapple in it. (Blech.)