Party like a local

Several weeks ago we were down at Gab Gab beach when a family of locals who were set up at the pavilion near us came over and invited us to eat with them. We chatted and ate with them and visited for a while before our kids were ready to go back to our spot and play in the water. Off and on during the day we chatted and before we all left for the evening they asked us to exchange phone numbers so they could invite us over to their home any time they had a big family gathering or party. It isn't unusual here for a local family to "adopt" a military family to share in their family parties and such. This family is also retired military, so they love sharing their culture with other military people here.  Last week they called to invite us to a big party they were throwing for two of their grand children, one who was turning three and the other who was graduating high school. 

They live way down on the complete opposite end of the island than us, so it's a bit of a drive down there, but it's very pretty and less populated than our northern area. Their home is beautiful and sits on a fabulous piece of property atop a hill overlooking the jungle and mountains to one direction, a waterfall in another direction, and the ocean from yet another direction. Here are some pictures of their view. In the first one the waterfall is hidden out there in the jungle. You can see it in person but my iphone isn't good enough to see it in the photo.

 Out there you can see the ocean off in the distance.

We had no idea how serious a party this was, they went all out! There were at least ten tables set up just for food, then tents and chairs and tables for guests. There was a wall with a huge vinyl poster they had printed with the birthday boy's picture on it along with the Transformers logo and a happy birthday message. Underneath that was no less than two dozen new in the box Transformers toys that I assume were his presents from family. I'm pretty sure that three year old now has a complete set of Transformers! Next to that was a much larger vinyl poster they had made with the graduate's senior picture on it, his school logo and class year, along with some childhood photos of him printed on it. His graduation gown hung next to that as well. It was quite the set up. 

While we waited to eat the kids had a blast running around outside and playing. Caleb loves the outdoors and to have such a huge new area to explore he was in heaven! 

We learned that much like Portugal, some homes here have two kitchens as well. The "pretty kitchen" inside that no one really uses, and the outdoor kitchen where the cooking and mess really happens. People were all over the place helping and cooking. I just stood back and took it all in, hoping to learn a thing or two! They kept offering me bites of what they were cooking, which was sometimes a good thing and sometimes a bad depending on if I liked it or not. When it was all done and set up I ran and snapped some pictures of the food before they gave the blessing and people started dishing up. There were a couple tables I didn't get pictures of and I missed the two dessert tables, yes I said TWO dessert tables! They had all kinds of typical local dishes, as well as some less common local foods as well. 

Here is one of the pigs roasting in the oven, they showed me before they took it out.

 The back left dish is made with local eels from the river near their home. The front center is chicken cooked in coconut milk and made with pumpkin leaves.

 All kinds of crabs!

 Fish on the right and my favorite finadene sauce in the pink bowl.

 The pig all ready to cut in to.

 So many types of kelaguan. Chicken, crab, blue crab, local deer, and shrimp kelaugen here, shrimp is delicious and reminds me of ceviche in a way. All kelaguen is "cooked" using an acidic lemon powder sold all over the island. So the meat is cooked in the acidic juices, instead of being heated.

 Shrimp fritters.

 Ham and pancit.

We put some red rice and titiyas (like a soft, puffy sweet bread tortilla of sorts) on a plate for Caleb and since Shelby ran out of room on his plate he threw two lumpia on Caleb's plate. Caleb went straight for the lumpia when we set the plate down and I didn't expect he would like them so much after tasting them. I was wrong. He tore them up! He literally ate the majority of BOTH lumpia and Shelby didn't get any! 

As we ate the sun started to set in the west, over the mountains and looked like this...

Which also lit up the sky to the east over the ocean to look like this...

Both directions it was a beautiful scene as we stuffed ourselves silly. Shelby had to work a mid shift that night and it was close to an hour drive back home, so we had to eat and run so he could get back to change and prep for work in time. It was a great opportunity and wonderful experience, there really are some awesome and generous people on this island.