"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
"Everything's better with bacon and red wine!"
"Life is a combination of magic and pasta."
"Pork fat rules!"
"If I must choose between healthy and tasty, I go for the second; having only one life to waste,
"You have to taste a culture to understand it."
"…there are more different sausages in Germany than there are breakfast foods in America, and if there is a bad one among them then I have never heard of it. They run in size from little fellows so small and pale and fragile that it seems a crime to eat them to vast and formidable pieces that look like shells for heavy artillery. And they run in flavor from the most delicate to the most raucous, and in texture from that of feathers caught in a cobweb to that of linoleum, and in shape from straight cylinders to lovely kinks and curlycues."
You met Benny in the previous post; now I'd like you to meet Sammy. Eggs Sammy, to be precise. Another of π restaurant's variant of the traditional Eggs Benedict, this one has salmon rather than bacon and is topped with a mustard sauce.
Traditional Eggs Benedict consist of two halves of an English muffin topped with ham or bacon, poached eggs, and Hollandaise sauce. π restaurant's version, which they call Eggs Benny, is traditional only up to the bacon. Whole 3-minute eggs, asparagus, and alfalfa sprouts make up the rest of the toppings.
Of course, one can't have a Filipino gift shop without food. The Manila Collectible Co. has gathered together a good array of food products from all over the Philippines. Dried fruit, jams and preserves, biscuits, chocolate, teas and infusions, coffee, fruit wines, vinegar—all made locally from local produce.
"charred beef, Asian greens, vegetables, roasted sesame dressing" – That was the simple description of the Kanji Beef salad in the menu of 9 Spoons, the 9th floor restaurant of The Bayleaf Intramuros. My husband was expecting small slivers of beef when he ordered it; imagine his surprised delight when he saw these three generous slices. And for only 390 pesos (less than US$9). We've had all-vegetable salads that were more expensive. I had to have a little bite, of course—the beef was tender and tasty, and the roasted sesame dressing was delicious!
I just discovered yummy new products from Gourmet Farms: lettuce and pesto chips—tasty, crunchy, all natural, no preservatives. Unfortunately, unlike their coffees, herbal teas, salad dressings and pasta sauces, these chips are not available in Metro Manila's markets; one has to go to the Country Store in their farm in Silang, Cavite to buy them. The only reason I got to try them out was because Gourmet Farms sponsored an event where they were given a kiosk to sell their products. I should have bought more.
An itinerant fruit vendor on the sidewalk outside the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish church was selling green mangoes, sampaloc (tamarind), and kamote (sweet potato). Green mangoes are sour and those who like them eat them with bagoong (fish or shrimp paste) or sea salt. Tamarind is also sour but it can be candied, and the fruit is also used for the soup base of one of our most popular dishes, sinigang. It was the tamarind that was selling for twenty pesos (less than 50 US cents) for half a kilo.
Manila has had a love affair with ramen since last year, with lots of new restaurants claiming to serve the perfect bowl popping up. My husband and I rarely follow food trends because we find it silly to waste time waiting in long queues (and also because foods that trend are usually not very healthy), but we do enjoy a good bowl of ramen every now and then. Since ramen with chasyu (grilled pork) and tamago (egg) looks similar no matter the flavor, this will be the first and probably the last photo of ramen I will post here. This particular bowl is from Nomama Artisanal Ramen, of which we'd heard quite a lot about. I found it disappointing—the broth was overpowering and the pork wasn't very tender. Sorry, Nomama, but I think that Ramen Bar's is much, much better.
Shelled, boiled then fried, or cooked adobo-style, salagubang (Phyllophaga – May or June bugs) is apparently considered a delicacy in some parts of the Philippines, notably Northern Luzon. These were brought to the office by a friend who hails from Abra, who explained that the beetles are only available once a year, in May, when they first emerge from the soil after their larval stage. I found a recipe for adobong salagubang in one of our dailies from a woman who grew up in Nueva Ecija in a household where salagubang was a staple. Adobo or fried, I don't think I will ever be able to try one. Can you?
Vendors outside the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish church selling peanuts, corn, dried fish, suman and kakanin (Filipino delicacies usually made out of sticky rice), and palabok (a rice noodle dish). I guess the church's rule against vendors isn't very strict.
Anthropologist Fernando Zialcita and Chef Gene Gonzalez's "Exploring Filipino Taste in Seven Courses" is always fascinating, even though we've gone through it several times. For the appetizer, we compared the flavors of Davao's Kinilaw na Tuna (fresh tuna with sea salt, radish, shallots, cucumber, coconut cream) and Mexico's Ceviche (with lime juice, orange juice, chili, ginger, garlic, onions, corn on the cob). What I like most about the program are the historical, cultural, and culinary anecdotes from Dr. Zialcita and Chef Gene. Although the food's pretty good, too.
The next time you eat Chinese dim sum dumplings, slow down and savor every bite. A lot of effort goes into making each small piece—from the finely minced filling to the delicate, translucent wrapper.
Of course, some folks would say that that takes away half of the fun of eating crispy pata.
One of the resorts on the Blue Lagoon side of Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte is the Kapuluan Vista Resort. Its designer used traditional nipa for the roof, and also used stone, wood and bamboo lavishly in its interiors.
Unfortunately, the beach right in front of Kapuluan Vista isn't very nice. It is narrow and rocky, the water is full of seaweeds, and Blue Lagoon is several hundred meters up the muddy road. The name of the resort is apt, though, with beautiful views of the small islands just offshore.
Though we didn't stay at Kapuluan Vista when we were in Pagudpud, someone had recommended their restaurant to us, so we decided to go there for lunch.
We were not disappointed. Kapuluan Vista has its own organic herb and vegetable garden, so we chose dishes which make full use of that fact. The lightly-seasoned fresh tuna ceviche was wonderful, the garden salad was a delightful combination of textures and flavors, and the tacos were buried under the crunchiest lettuce. There was one thing our friend forgot to tell us, though: the servings are huge! Since we also ordered empanadas, we ended up doggie-bagging more than half of our order.