Quick Bytes..

BWFE post#1: Pinoy Salo-Salo!

What’s BWFE? That’s Birthday Week Food Extravaganza! Remember my post about my fantastic birthday week ages ago? I said that I would blog about the 5 foodie fests I’ve been to that week. Unfortunately, PayPerPost and ReviewMe snookered me into commercial blogging in my other blog. Really sorry guys! But if I tell you I made $140 from PayPerPost and $40 from ReviewMe, would you be happy for me? I hope so! LOL! =) So if you have a blog more than 90 days old, I suggest you start earning from them. ReviewMe is the easiest to get into, almost instantaneous approval of your blog if you meet the requirements. And after my shameless plugging, here’s BWFE part1!

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The first foodfest I’ve been to during my birthday week was my deceased paternal grandfather’s birthday celebration. His birthday was July 13 and we went home to Kidapawan, our hometown, on July 14. He’s already dead for 3-4 years now yet my paternal Lola always remember to have a little salo-salo on his birthday. This year my Lola was having second thoughts to celebrate Lolo’s birthday. However, a few days before July 13, Lolo appeared in her dreams. Lola shared that she thought Lolo appeared to remind her of his birthday salo-salo. Hehe! And thus, Labsie and I found ourselves going to Kidapawan with my parents on July 14. Here we are hamming it up at the backseat. Papa was driving and Mama was in the front passenger seat.

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It was an uneventful trip until we were about five minutes from our “ancestral” home. For the first time in more than a decade, our vehicle died in the middle of a one-lane road! And it was just before lunch so traffic was heavy. Boy, were the cars behind us pissed! LOL! So we all got out of the vehicle and pushed it towards the sidewalk. Mind you, it was nearly noon so it was very hot! Mama and me were under the umbrella most of the time while Papa and Labsie sweated it out. Here are my parents (Mama with umbrella of course, hehe) trying to figure out what went wrong with the engine, lol!

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After nearly 30 minutes under the sizzling sun without progress in resolving the engine trouble, I asked permission to go ahead to Lola’s house. I hate the noontime sun and I couldn’t take the heat any longer! So Mama and I rode a tricycle to Lola’s house. Papa and Labsie were left behind to fix the vehicle. After 15 minutes of arriving at Lola’s, the two men arrived, the vehicle apparently fixed. And so Lolo’s birthday salo-salo was on! Here’s the centerpiece, I admit it’s meager than our usual handaan fare. There is no lechon (roasted pig) which is the norm; according to Lola, she’s saving the pig for Christmas. Yesss!!! =)
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In lieu of the roasted pig, we have the roasted chicken or litson manok at the foreground (above pic). We had about 6 viands all in all, and they were all cooked by Lola and my aunts in their appetizing Ilocano way. Mmmm, my saliva’s starting to drool just thinking of the salo-salo food! =) Below are the pics of the freshly grilled milkfish or sinugbang bangus (left) and the super yummy kilayin (right). I don’t know what’s the English for kilayin but it’s like a savory stew consisting of pork slices, green peas, pork liver cuts and some pork entrails. Delicioso! Below the two pics is the photo of the beef spareribs cooked the Solito way, hehe! Another certified lip-smacking goody coz Labsie finished nearly 10 pieces of it. Glutton! Joke lang labs, I understand coz the ribs were really scrumptious. Thus its very prominent photo, lol! The ribs were very soft and tasty inside, crunchy and still tasty outside.. Mmmm, I can almost taste it! =)

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Not seen in the pictures are the roasted goat meat and papait, an Ilocano delicacy consisting of goat entrails and bile. The word “pait” means bitter and it is the bile that gives it the bitter taste. This dish might sound yucky but the way my Lola cooks it, you wouldn’t even know you’re eating entrails. Sigh.. Lola is such a very good cook! If only I can live with her and learn the secrets of the Ilocano’s art of cooking, heaven! The following photos are pictures of people having their fill of Lola’s gustatory delights, hehe =)


Lola, Papa (both facing the camera) and an uncle ready to dig in the feast!
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Papa, Labsie and an aunt; the feast has begun! =)
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More aunts (they’re the ones who cooked!) and the uncle from photo #1
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My cousins and Labsie eating in the living room. There’s no photos of me coz I’m the unofficial photographer. Sigh.. Here ends my rather longish first post for the BWFE series. I hope you enjoyed the Filipino food pics guys! I adore Filipino food and I will always promote it =) If you’re not into Filipino food, stay tuned for BWFE post#2, it’s all about European delights. YUM!

a fishy story

This is what I recently made for dinner. Cute huh?? Hehe! This is what you call FOOD ART, or so I say :p Anyway this one is made of SUTCHI fillet with fries and small  vegetables for its body parts. If you love the soft meat of fish fillets in classy restaurants and you wanna replicate it in your own home, buy SUTCHI fish. This is a hush-hush secret of chefs and I only knew of this early this year. It's quite affordable and the meat is, ummm, so soft! =) We buy our SUTCHI from MAKRO stores. It's in fillet form already and frozen. Try it now and have a taste of fishy heaven, hehe!

Birthday Week Food Extravaganza!

Last July 18 I celebrated my 26th (wahhh) birthday but the celebration did not start and end on that day. In fact, the birthday foodfest started last July 14 in Kidapawan and ended last July 22 still in Kidapawan. But, there were foodfests in Davao in-between those days too, yeah! =) Of course these foodfests are NOT solely because of my birthday. The one in July 14 was my paternal grandfather’s birthday (July 13) celebration albeit he’s already dead for 3-4 years now. Yeah, weird huh? Just watch out for my full post on this and you’ll understand why my paternal Lola decided to have a typical Pinoy handaan for him. Here's Lola with my father beside her and the small feast. No lechon for the first time! LOL

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The one in July 21 and 22 was my maternal grandmother’s 75th birthday celebration. Her birthday was July 19, just next to mine, and we typically combine our celebrations to save money on my parents’ part. But, often, my relatives forget it’s my birthday too, hehe! It’s ok though, my maternal Lola totally deserve all the adulation she receives during these times as she single-handedly raised her 10 children (!!!) when my maternal grandfather died. My Lola is a strong woman but you wouldn’t know it if you see her coz she’s very small, frail and looks meek as a mouse =) There she is (in red) with her sisters: 

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In between the Kidapawan foodfests were my and Labsie’s 93rd Monthsary celebration in a new European café called The Farm (July 17), my mini-birthday dinner at home (only two viands that’s why it’s called mini! hehe) on July 18, and my dinner-out birthday celebration in Zakoya Japanese Buffet (July 19). That’s three straight days of pigging out!!! But, hell, it’s my birthday! Time to let go of my strict diet. Hahaha! ;p Here are sneak peeks of my gastronomic adventures last week –-

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Watch out next week for my 5-part Birthday Week posts. All of the things I mentioned above will have their own FULL posts with lots of pictures and some videos =) I’m really excited to do this coz it’s the first time I truly enjoyed my birthday without any worries that I’ll be late for school the next day, that I have to study for exams (coz often, its prelims week on my birthday, sigh), that I have to treat my classmates and friends, etc, etc. I’m very glad that I made the decision to NOT take the medical board exam this August. Coz if I will take it, I’m sure I would be buried in books during my birthday. I would worry endlessly of time “wasted” while pigging out and will not enjoy my birthday week at all. I would have missed Lola’s 75th birthday and hanging out with my not-so-little cousins. Most of them were in college already! Migod, time flew so fast! While I was busy in medical school and 24-hour duties, the kids I loved were growing up. I’m just so happy that I was able to reconnect with them. Thank you Lord! And thank you also for giving me parents who understood my need to rest and regroup before taking the medical board exam. Hehe! HAPPY ME! =)

TINOMOK ba kamo??

What the heck is tinomok?? Well, I also asked that question to our waiter in Gerry’s Grill (in Gaisano Mall) and he said it is one of their special dishes. In fact, in their menu it was proudly written that tinomok was reviewed by a prestigious food magazine and was given a thumbs-up sign. To quote the menu: "A bit like laing, only better.This is good. it was featured in a magazine." Nice! =)

Above (at left) is an UNappetizing picture of tinomok which does not do justice to its deliciousness! Looks like a mishmash of something green eh? Gakk! I’m really sorry but that’s what I get for forgetting the 5mp digicam and just using labsie’s fonecam. To top it off, the interiors in Gerry’s Grill are dim, very nice for dates but not good in taking pics, tsk! But as u can see at right, there's a GREAT photo of tinomok with the white gata sauce and silis clearly shown , yum! *drooling saliva*
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It was our second time in Gerry’s Grill. The first time was with my family and we ordered most of the house specialties (grilled sizzling squid, crispy pata, beef casserole [beef, cheese, mashed potato & garlic, yum!] and sizzling sisig) pictured at left and they didn’t disappoint! All were heavenly and were gone in less than 30min, no thanks to the 4 guys with me and mama! =) Anyhow, labsie and I decided to order something different this time, something adventurous. Thus, we ordered tinomok which in their menu looked like green gabi leaves rolled into “balls” and drizzled with ginataan sauce. Mmm, I love gata! I thought it may be laing just served exotically. However the waiter refuted this and said that the gabi leaves were actually a covering for the meatball mixture inside. Ooh meat! (see the first pics above) That decided labsie to order it though I was still a bit apprehensive, what if we won’t like it?? There goes P150 down the drain, tsk! To be sure we still had viands if we won’t like tinomok, we ordered chopsuey (vegetables, yum!) and chicken kebabs. We also told the waiter to make our tinomok not so spicy coz I hate hot stuff. After 15-30min (we actually finished reading a local daily!) the food arrived. Here's the chopsuey (my dim pix at left and great pix at right, notice how similar they look!) --

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I egged on labsie to take the first bite of tinomok and his face contorted! My heart sank, it’s not good but labsie suddenly laughed and spoonfed me a bite. Mmmmmm good! It was truly gabi + meat + unknown veggies with gata, kinda like laing but not hot. The tinomok was demolished in 15min! And even up to now, we still have dreams of going back to Gerry’s Grill and ordering it. The chopsuey was also delicious, the vegetables crispy and there were lots of seafood and meat mixed in. It was at par with Ahfat’s chopsuey =) The chicken kebabs, however, were just so-so.  The chicken cubes were tender and succulent but for the price, it was not worth it. I could probably make a more savoury one at a cheaper price, tsk! It was interspersed with chunky onions, bell peppers and some button mushrooms. After the eye-opening dinner (or should I say stomach-opening-to-tinomok dinner?), labsie and I were all big smiles. We were satiated and very happy to discover a new pinoy foodie find. Welcome to our hearts tinomok! =)

my papa, the cook =)

This post is dedicated to my father who is celebrating his 47th birthday today. Happy birthday Pa!

      
My father is the “founder” cook in our little family. The truth is he was the one who taught my mother how to cook when they were newly married. Funny huh? My mother grew up in a household with maids and servant boys so she never learned how to do household chores until she was in college. And right after she finished college, she got married. Domestic goddess she definitely was not (at the start, but NOW is a different story). Anyway, Papa taught her Ilocano dishes that his mother (my paternal grandma) taught him. Most were vegetable viands like pinakbet and law-oy. Stuff that I never ate, ever! Google its ingredients and you’ll know why I won’t eat it, hehe! Like me, papa never measures his ingredients. We just throw it all in the pot or pan, let it cook, and it would come out savory and tasty. That’s talent, my father would always say, and that I was the one who got it in our family. Hurray for me! =)
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One of Papa’s favorite fish dish is panga cooked adobo-style. That’s stewed fish head in the simplest English terms I could find, hehe! This is very healthy as there’s no oil coz no sautéing is needed. Perfect for Papa who is a borderline hypertensive. Tsk! Anyway, here are the ingredients:

Salt and pepper to taste
Soy sauce and vinegar to taste
FRESH tuna heads, cleaned (see pics below; my, what BIG eyes they have!)

   
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1. Mix all ingredients in a large pot and add to water to cover--

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2. Boil for 5min then simmer until cooked--

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3. Served piping hot with rice and enjoy! =)

tempura-han

Yes, this is the tempura-han. It's basically a sidewalk in the end of Rizal Boulevard near the pier that comes alive after 4pm. Rizal Boulevard is Dumaguete City's premier street fronting the sea and turns into a nightspot at night. It is lined with hotels and restaurants at one side, and by the sea in the other. During the afternoon, tempura vendors setup their "stores" at their staked spots as seen above. They put plastic chairs (the ones without back serve as tables), cooking paraphernalia and voila! They are now ready to vend the P1 per piece tempura, and sometimes they have softdrinks and beer to accompany it.

The "table" and the tempura. I forgot to take pictures until I nearly finished it, lol! As you can see the tempura is pretty big, unlike the ones sold in malls. But the best part of the Dumaguete tradition is the view. I already said this place is seaside.. and guess what?? It is also the side where the sun sets! I smell wonderful seaspray, I hear waves lapping, I watch the turmoil of the seas and ships and Siquijor Island.. and the most wonderful of all, I get to see the spectacular sunset! =)

Siquijor Island, a ship, and the sunset. The perfect end to a day of hard work in SUMC's Surgery Department.. At the cost of only P20! =)

pata & soba

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Last March 16, our beloved progressive city of Davao celebrated its 69th anniversary. Unfortunately, it rained that day which turned off some people in going out. But not my family! They all went out, leaving me behind and in-charge of our house. I was also tasked to cook for dinner and this is what my entry is all about -- a step-by-step guide of the delish dinner I prepared! Yes, boys and girls, I can cook! And quite well, too. Must be the Ilocano and Chinese blood in my veins. And the delish dinner I served? Crispy Pata and our all-time fave side dish, Yakisoba!
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First we start with Yakisoba which is very easy to prepare in this instant-loving world. Just buy Nissin's Yakisoba noodle pack and follow the cooking directions at the back of the package (boil noodles, drain, add sauces). It is available in 4 flavors: Savory Beef, Spicy Chicken, Seafood, Soyomansi. Spicy Chicken is our fave coz of the zing it provides, HOT! As for the Crispy Pata, buy the appropriate pork meat part (go ask your mom coz I'm ignorant on this! my mom does the market stuff) and make sure the meat is fresh, devoid of hair and cysts.
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1. In a large pot, put the meat with enough water to cover it.

2. Place the pot on high flame until boiling then simmer for 15min.

3. Pour off the boiled oily water. Add enough tap water, salt and pepper to taste. Pierce the meat several times in different places. This will help make the meat flavorful especially if it's thick.

4. Place the pot on high flame again until boiling then simmer until meat is tender (usually about 45min). Remove the meat and place on a Turbo Broiler. Below is the resultant broth. Note how oily it is! Ughh!

<-- oily broth! think of the fats that we missed to eat :p

turbo broiler -->

5. Place the Turbo Broiler on GRILL setting for 30min. Make sure that the meat's skin is facing up. You will hear popping sounds as the skin is becoming crispy. Yum!

6. After grilling, turn the meat over (skin facing down). Place on BROIL setting for another 30min. There will still be popping sounds and more oil will drip down. Bye-bye cholesterol!

7. After broiling, turn the meat over again (skin facing up). Place in BROIL setting for 15-30min, depending on how crunchy and how brown (more brown = nearly burnt!) the skin looks. Hehe! As I always say, being a great cook is a talent. You cook by gut instincts, not by following directions to the letter. So have fun and experiment!

8. Chop the yummy crispy pata into bite-size pieces (don't eat too much while chopping! your hands will be oily & u might accidentally chop your hands!) and serve with yakisoba on the side. Voila! A delish dinner with so much less cholesterol!

See how CRISPY and super duper YUMMY it looks! And it's definitely healthier than the usual crispy pata that is cooked by frying. Instead of removing the oil, they're adding more! It's a heart attack waiting to happen, gakkk!
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