Yesterday my family and I have gathered together to make our first set of pastelles. I decided to share this experience on my blog because my family is part of my motivation in cooking. As Christmas is approaching, the Spirit of it is in the air. The aroma of the pastelles everyone is making now. Even preparing for making the black cake, ginger beer, sorrel and sweet bread. I love the spirit of Christmas and the joy it brings in my heart.
Pastelle making is a family tradition pass down from generation to generation in my family. I am the next in line to take over and bring the other hands in the family to help. It is hard work to make pastelle. You cannot make it alone because it has a lot of preparation, patience and time consuming in making this delightful dish. Therefore, everyone in my family know their responsibilities such as one tie the pastelle while another press. Sometimes we stay up until morning in making pastelles and cleaning up after because of the amount we make. We do not only think of ourselves but those around us. We share with other family members, friends even to our neighbours. This is what fulfill our Christmas when we share. Generally, we share with all the food we make during the Christmas season.
I love to see the togetherness when there is full of laughter, joy and parang playing during our pastelle making. This fills my heart with enthusiasm as I feel the love in the air. To me, this is part of my Christmas. Christmas is a joyous time. It is not only about the gifts under the tree but the true gift you can ever get is LIFE, FAMILY TOGETHERNESS, SHARING and THE BIRTH OF CHRIST JESUS. These are the true meaning of Christmas to me.
The Process of making Pastelles
(This is the order we went through. I linked the pictures on Pinterest which gives details on what we did.)