Oh come on! There's always room for Jello!

For memorial day, i wanted to make a cool dessert to ring in the summer.  a few months back,  I was at my cousins par-tay and came across classic Filipino gelatin. it instantly took me back to my childhood with the first bite.  it was like acid touching my tongue and me craving more. after 3 servings of nostalgia, my greedy a*s waddled over to my aunts social circle.  now these particular aunts were not the ones that shared recipes willingly.  those aunties had come and gone for the day. and being the foodie i am, i had no qualms interrupting their poker hour to find out how to make this delicious treat. although i knew i probably would be getting nowhere, i asked anyways. i began with, "auntie? what is the name of this dessert?"  their answers were predictable and one in the same. in thick accents that only first born generation filipinos like me could truly understand, they shrugged,  "i dunno. u go ask your auntie ober dare", as they motioned at my other aunt with their nose and eyebrows, "it's her ees-specialty", my other aunt added, "wait, its so eazy sarah jeen, you just add a littol beet ob jelly-tun & creem. dat's all" and my response, "well, what kind of gelatin?  and 'how much cream?" i received a  rebuttal of looks for the added questions. and with wrinkled foreheads, and in an even slower polite rate,  they continued to appease me, "...just... add... a..... littol... beet...... ob...... creem", long pause, "...and... a... littol.... beet.... ob....jelly-tun", longer pause, "stur" as all of them simultaneously made the universal sign for stirring a pot in circles as if all were on the same wavelength.  "and dare u go!" excited to get their recipe across, "u cum ober sum thyme and watch us cook.  we gonna show u, kay?!"  frustrated, i went home, furiously searching the internet and found a few prospects.  the actual Filipino jello recipe is "cathedrals window" or "stain glassed jello" made famous by goldilocks bakery of the P.I. and looks like the pic above.

I decided to go with a recipe not so complicated.  it looked shay-sheik and much easier.  i present  this foto of red layered milk jello.........promising, yes i know.. and i thought, why not add a bit of the recipe from the original ones i looked up?  wouldn't hurt to give it a whirl......

when i came down to it, i did exactly what my aunts told me. i literally took "a little bit of this and a little bit of that" out of my cupboard and adapted it to my style of filipino jello as of that very moment.  and partly because i couldn't be bothered with reading the "directions" in it's full capacity.  this is how it came out below. i minus'd a few ingredients and added a few others that the recipe didn't exactly call for. whoops! guess this is where intuitive cooking doesn't go.  i asked my family if they  wanted to try it.  my husband laughed with, "oh hell no!"  my sons response, "no!  i'm good" but my brave little daughter did a drive-by swiping her fingers in the goop licking and smacking them,  only to run away before i could offer her a bowl.

so yeah, not what i fully expected with the inversion. but i had a funny feeling something went wrong when i added a layer of coconut milk.  sorta looks like intestines of an animal.  think i'll read the "directions" on the Jello box next time.  this ones a do over, for schnizzle.  i am making it again just because i can and i am fiend out for the real deal holyfield. sayonara suckas! too be continued......