4th of July Feast by Chef Sonnie Jay
Posted on July 6, 2012 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink.
My cousin Reuel’s wife Sonnie Jay, who is a trained chef in Norway, prepared a scrumptious feast for us on the 4th of July. I think this had to be the fanciest prepared meal I’ve had all year.
Sonnie Jay made ceviche with mangoes, ginger, and bass. I don’t really eat ceviche so I didn’t have any, but mom and Jenni both said it was very good. She prepared it the night before so the fish cooked in lemon juice overnight.
She also made glazed whole carrots and steamed asparagus.
The pork chops, which marinated overnight, were the most flavorful pork chops I’d ever had. I didn’t really get to eat much of it for dinner that night because I was still full from stuffing my face at Abuelo’s, but I had some for lunch the next day at work. It was even delicious microwaved. So delicious that it made me wish I could go back in time and eat two whole pork chops at dinner the night before.
Sonnie Jay also made a couple of dessert dishes, the first of which was a fruit merengue made with fruits that mom already had. Sonnie Jay was actually going to make whipped cream from scratch until she realized that mom bought pre-made whipped cream. Way to ruin it for the rest of us, mom! LOL.
The second dessert she was leche flan. It’s the Filipino version of the popular Mexican dessert. Mom didn’t have vanilla extract, so Sonnie Jay improvised by using lemon zest. She couldn’t flip it over because the glass baking dish was too big and we didn’t have anything large enough to transfer it to, but the flan turned out with perfect consistency. No bubbles or air pockets. It was dense and delicious. The lemon flavor actually worked well and gave the flan an unexpected twist. Possibly the best flan I’ve ever had, hands down.
Later that night, Brian, Reuel, and Sonnie Jay tried their hand at flying dad’s foam RC plane. Having spent some time flying RC planes with dad on this trip, Reuel was starting to get the hang of it. Sonnie Jay, on the other hand, crashed the plane several times. LOL.
When it got dark, we had an excellent view of the fireworks that everyone was blowing up. The fireworks were going off all around us, in Derby, Haysville, Mulvane, Rose Hill, Wichita, etc. We had 360 degree views. Well, almost. Mom and dad’s house and the trees beyond their house were kind of in the way. There were fireworks everywhere you looked, though. We got to enjoy watching everyone else’s fireworks and didn’t have to buy any of our own. It worked out perfect! Looking forward to doing the same thing again next. Hopefully, Sonnie Jay and Reuel can come visit again. It won’t be the same without her delicious food.
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