Pilipino breakpast

Today is Canada Labour Day!

Wikipedia definition of Labour or labor may refer to:

- Work of any kind
A Labour Day is an annual holiday celebrated all over the world that resulted from efforts of the labour union movement, to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers.

I don't think very many people really care how Labour Day came about. All they care about is that it's the last cottage weekend for the summer. When I think of cottage weekends I remember waking up to the smell of wet trees, fog, lake water, sand, and the first cup of coffee of the day. Now if I was at a cottage with Filipinos, for breakfast, we'd be eating fried rice (with last night's left over steamed rice), fried eggs, and the most important dish of all.... longanisa (long-ga-nee-sa)! Longanisa is a filipino sausage. It kind of looks like mini chorizo's but we cook it differently. Some might even say it tastes like a sweet chorizo as well.

Here's how ya make it!

First of all, you buy longanisa raw and frozen. You cook it in a pan with about 3/4's of an inch of water. You let it boil flipping the sausages every so often to make sure it's evenly cooked. The water will eventually evaporate. Once the water evaporates, you can.. if you want.. add a bit of oil to the pan so that the sausages don't stick. But just so you know, it's impossible to end up with a pan that doesn't have burnt longanisa remnants stuck to the bottom of your pan. But don't fear!!! There is a way to get it off. I'll explain in a bit. So, now that the water has evaporated and you've added a bit of oil, you can now cook the sausages so that they are browned on the outside and juicy in the inside. WARNING: If you try piercing the sausages with a fork, you better be wearing something to protect yourself from being splattered with scolding hot oil and sausage juices. Believe me, I know this from experience!

When your sausages are browned to your liking (my mom loves it burnt), remove them from the pan and put the left over steamed rice in the pan to make fried rice! Now you can start scraping all of the succulent burnt sausage pieces at the bottom of the pan and mix it with the rice! Jesus I'm drooling on my laptop.

Cook a fried egg and YOU'RE DONE!! Voila... a Filipino breakfast.. or "BreakPast hhhuuhhh".
Next time I'm in Birmingham UK, I'm going to Chinatown to see if they sell these bad boys. I'd love to cook this for my in-laws.