My Favorite Recipes: Meet Elsa Aspenwall, Colfax

Elsa Aspenwall with ingredients for fresh lumpier (Philippine spring rolls) and egg rolls.

Elsa Aspenwall and her family have lived in Colfax six years and owned the Hilltop Trailer Park for 10.

Elsa (Malabanan) grew up in the southern part of the Philippines in Luzon, Laguna Province, near Manila. After high school, she studied nursing in Manila and earned her bachelor of science in nursing. She returns regularly to the Philippines to visit her family there.

After working as an emergency room nurse for several years in the Philippines, she moved to Saudi Arabia and met her husband, Steve, there.

Steve graduated from high school in Pompano Beach, Fla., and joined the Navy. After 20 years, he retired as a chief petty officer. He thought he would like to work in California, but he was hired as an operations specialist by a company to work in Saudi Arabia. The low-paying job was a stepping stone to better jobs, and he was hired by another company to continue working there.

Elsa and Steve married in Saudi Arabia. They enjoyed diving, camping on the beach and fishing, and Steve brought home all sorts of food, including fin fish, squid and octopus. They found that Saudis do not enjoy water sports.

When their son Christopher was young, he enjoyed playing soccer with other children, beach life and British schools. British school was quite challenging. He was able to take judo and swimming, too.

Alcohol is not allowed in Saudi Arabia, and women, even non-Saudi and non-Muslim women, wear long black gowns, called abaya, and veils. Saudi women wear a veil that only shows their eyes. The religious police, Matawa, watched for people not obeying the religious laws, and they strike people with canes if they are not “suitably dressed.”

Steve was in a grocery store one time, and a British woman near him was not “properly” covered. The Matawa told him to make his wife cover up. He had to explain that the lady was not his wife.

Steve thinks that life there was simple if you just follow the rules. Other than that, the locals like to talk about families and drink tea. There is no mixing between men and women, so social functions are strange to other cultures.

Following the rules can be a little tricky. Steve was stopped by police, who thought he must be doing something wrong to be driving with an Asian woman in the car. As soon as he produced papers indicating they were married, the police sent them on their way. Christopher was born in the Philippines, and Steve had to get formal permission to bring Elsa and their son back to Saudi Arabia.

Steve was invited to a Muslim wedding. Attending were 400 men and the groom, but no bride. After the ceremony the bride went with the women and the groom celebrated with the men.

Elsa and Steve still have their clothing from Saudi Arabia, including Steve’s “man dress” and head covering.

The emergency rooms in Saudi Arabia were pretty typical of such hospital facilities in other places, with a few exceptions. An older man was brought in with symptoms that were surely caused by a drug overdose. The family would give no information, and the staff had little ability to treat him without knowing the drug or drugs.

Drugs are illegal in Saudi Arabia, and the family honor was more important than the man’s life.

People marry within their own tribes, with many marriages between cousins, and genetic problems were common. The government is advising people to marry no nearer than third cousins, reducing the chances of birth defects. Unmarried women who became pregnant were particularly shunned, as if this condition happened without any assistance.

The Aspenwall’s adapted to living in a culture very different than their own and made many friends in the sizable community of foreign workers there. The pay was very good, and it was easy to save money, pay off debts and make plans for the future. For Steve, it was difficult to learn how to do technical writing, but he was then able to write manuals in clear, simplified English. The task was to take complicated writing and make it clear and direct.

Elsa serves fresh lumpia with a chili sauce. Lumpia consists of an egg wrapper, resembling a rich crepe, then a lettuce cup, filled with a mixture of chicken, pork, shrimp and vegetable filling and rolled like a taco or burrito. Her egg rolls are made of ground beef and seasoning with finely chopped vegetables, wrapped in spring roll wrappers (Elsa makes her own), deep-fried and served with a soy sauce-flavored dipping sauce.

These traditional dishes from the Philippines make clear the cultural roots in Asian, particularly Chinese, cooking. The use of vegetables and the spices echo the Asian background.

Elsa is a talented orchid grower, and the plants are placed in windowsills around their home. The purple orchid in her kitchen window is heavily laden with blooms and absolutely lavish.

From the Philippines to you, Elsa shares these delicious recipes.

Recipes:

Fresh Lumpia

1/2 pound pork, cut in thin strips (can use chicken)

1/2 cup shrimp, shelled and deveined

1/2 cup sweet potato, cubed

1 cup bean sprouts, finely chopped

1/2 cup green beans, finely sliced

1/2 cup carrots, finely sliced

1/2 cup celery, finely sliced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 medium onion, sliced

cooking oil

lettuce leaves (iceberg works well)

1/2 cup peanuts, crushed

Egg wrappers:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 whole eggs, beaten

1 1/4 cups milk

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

Sauce:

1 cup brown sugar

4 cups water

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 pork bullion cube

dash of salt

1 clove garlic, crushed

4 Tablespoons cornstarch, diluted with 1/2 cup water

To make lumpia:

Heat cooking oil, saute crushed garlic and onion till they are browned. Add all of the vegetables, pork, shrimp, chicken and add seasonings. Sauté until meats are done.

Soft wrappers:

Combine beaten eggs and milk. Add salt, vegetable oil and flour. Mix thoroughly. In a non-stick pan, lightly grease with oil or butter. Pour wrapper mixture into the heated pan, distributing mixture evenly. Use a thin layer, like a crepe. Keep wrappers warm while making more wrappers.

Lumpia Sauce:

In a sauce pan, bring water to a boil. Add pork buollion cube, brown sugar, soy sauce and dash of salt. Add diluted cornstarch. Cook until sauce is thickened.

Egg Rolls

1 pound ground beef or pork or mixture

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

2 1/2 cups finely chopped carrots

2 1/2 cups finely chopped celery

1 whole egg

Egg roll wrappers

Over medium heat in a skillet, cook pork/beef, garlic and onion powder until no pink remains. Set aside. Add the carrots and celery to the skillet, then the egg, and mix the ingredients thoroughly. Add the meat mixture.

To assemble, put one Tablespoon of the meat/vegetable mixture in a wrapper and roll. Deep fry at 375 degrees F. Serve with an Asian chili sauce.