Two full days. That’s how long it takes me and my 9 and 3 year old daughters to make approximately 400 Filipino egg rolls, otherwise known as lumpia. In this instance, we were making my family’s version of lumpia shanghai. In comparison to the typical Chinese egg roll, lumpia shanghai is smaller, thinner and the filling is comprised mostly of meat with little vegetable ingredients. They resemble little cigars. Light golden brown, meaty filling, packed with flavor. By far, these little egg rolls are my husband’s all-time favorite of Filipino food. They are addictive, as one of our friends described them.  Small enough to pop in your mouth and keep coming back for more without feeling guilty.  That is until you realize you’ve eaten a dozen or so!  I serve them with a sweet chili sauce. Of the 400, approximately 75%, has been consumed within the 1st few days.  Thankfully, I packed away some in the freezer so we could have some another time!  

This photo shoot was an after thought.  We had been so busy rolling the egg rolls and cooking them in the fryer that I almost forgot to take some photos!  As for the picture I chose above,  I like the focal point and the lighting isn’t too bad on the eggrolls themselves. I like that I was able to capture the golden color of the eggrolls… some of my other photos turned out too dark, or too yellow.  The lumpia comes across looking crisp and fresh.  After looking through the shots, my sister suggested that I stage it with a bowl or a drizzle of sweet chili sauce.  Yes, adding the bright orange to red sauce probably would have made for a nice accent.  A good suggestion for the future.  Needless to say, I needed to take the pics quick, as my models kept dwindling in number every time I walked away!