Rough Groove

Trip up north, 2

Despite being in a far place I still went to Jollibee to dine. Most of my sit down lunch, dinner and breakfasts were at this food chain. Well, one reason maybe that its fast. More than familiar, one can be assured that the food one ate is not contaminated. Anyway, not all naman were at this restaurant. Hmmm, let me see…

- burger at a burger joint

- Cindy’s in Cauayan*

- bought a couple of sandwiches at a store and ate lunch at the bus, and

- Pansit Cabagan (yummy!) at Solano in Nueva Vizcaya

*Cindy’s was once a popular food chain that can usually be found in Metro Manila. I still remember more than a few years back that they were even advertising on TV. But Jollibee and McDonalds really made headway that, alas, I’ve also found this fastfood chain in North and South Luzon.

In Cauayan City, Isabela, I had most of my food at Jollibee. Tried their new offering of crispy bangus (milkfish) belly…

…and a side macaroni salad that is reminiscent to that of Wendy’s (a copy cat?). While at Solano, I can’t resist but taste their special Pansit Cabagan, a famous noodle dish from Cabagan, Isabela. I searched for the Vietnamese stall that offered authentic Vietnamese noodles and french bread sandwiches but I was told that the Viet who managed it (originally, boat people who seeked asylum in the country before) already went back to their country.

A weekend at Baguio, 3

Other than the ubiquitous strawberries (when I went there, these were just big, plump, red and sweet) there are other food and delicacies that one can find in the public market: different fresh vegetables, fruits like longgan (imported), the usual oranges and apples, mangoes, passion fruit. There are also pasalubongs like sundot kulangot, different fruit jellies and jams, biscuits and other sweets, strawberry wine…

Strawberries are available at around P70 per kilo and were just delicious.

As for passion fruits, I prefer those that are sold in the city which are sweet. The first time I’ve tasted these were when I was still a child back in Cebu and there was a small variety of this fruit that grows just outside the house which was semi sweet to bland in taste. The second time, was in Tupi, South Cotabato, under the foothills of Mt. Matutum during a beetle collecting trip and these were yellow in color but very sour.

One of the strangest delicacies, and one that have always caught my attention ever since I’ve been to this city but have not tried it was the strangely called food stuff sundot kulangot, literally, pick (?) on booger! It doesn’t really take a genius to know why. Encased in bamboo strips in groups of 9 - 10 small round pieces like the size of marbles, one opens it into half and with one’s pinkie (if the other fingers are just too big), you pick on the “booger.”

These are really small and bite sized kalamay, a native delicacy that’s made of sweetened sticky rice with coconut milk. These are sold for around P25 per bundle.

Noche Buena

Well, despite being just here in Makati, a noche buena feast of ice cream, chocolate cake from Cheesecake Etc., ham from the company, stir fried rice noodles (with shrimps, veggies, shiitake and chicken) and shanghai lumpia from Luk Yuen, a 1.5 liter of Coke Light, Black Forest Selecta ice cream (as inspired from Red Ribbon), a slab of liempo (roasted pork) from Andok’s just made the crossover celebration complete.

Misa de Gallo

Misa de Gallo, or Mass of the Rooster officially kicked off the Christmas season in the country last Friday, 16 December. For nine days, called the novena, Catholics wake up early than usual and brave the nippy cold to hear mass. Originally a practice in Mexico, it was extended to the Philippines in the 16th century not out of tradition but for practical reasons: the dawn masses were timed very early so that the farmers during those time can fit it in their schedules as during the day, they’ll be busy with farm work. While this are dawn masses, the Tagalogs call it Simbang Gabi, literally night mass.

When we were still children, we used to accompany my lola (grandmother) and mother to these masses, oftentimes, because of the cold water, would just wash our faces instead of shower. After, we would then buy puto (unground steamed sticky rice with ginger) to be dipped in sugar (my fave) or paired with sweet ripe mangoes and thick tsokolate, made from tablea, medallion shaped bitter chocolate made from pure cocoa.

Last Friday, I set my alarm clock at 0300H in time to take photos of the misa de gallo. Never mind if I had just less than three hours of sleep but I got to have material for my ongoing series at my photoblog, binary silver which already is starting.

The day before Friday, I was thinking of a church to goto for the start of the traditional misa de gallo. I was thinking of:

- the Manila Cathedral and San Agustin in Intramuros (just too far)
- San Sebastian and Malate (again, it entails two - three rides and so out of the way)
- a friend suggested Paco but its just like the churches mentioned above

Then it dawned on me, why not the Guadalupe church that I’ve always wanted to visit? I’ve read much about this old, Spanish era, church located at a hill overlooking Makati that was the Augustinian order’s main house and monastery. It was built between 1601 and 1630 under the patronage of Nuestra Senora dela Gratia but then changed to Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. And so I went. Its really a small and quaint edifice but imposing because of its elevation and wonderful architecture. The facade is bedecked with christmas lights and already, there were people inside waiting for the mass that was to start supposedly on 0400H. As the time progressed, more people came that it got full and people just stayed outside.

Compared with what we have in Talisay, Cebu, dawn mass delicacies in Luzon are usually with puto bumbong (some spell it bungbong or bungbung) and bibingka. I took these photos just at the church gate.

This strange looking contraption is a steamer for the puto bumbong. The sticky rice flour mixture is placed inside the bamboo atop a steamer. The cloth around the wood is used so that it can be handled like placing the mixture or retrieving the puto.

Bibingka sa galapong (rice cake made of sticky rice flour), another misa de gallo fare that is always found with the puto bumbong. What I do like with the rice cakes here is that it has salted red eggs and in this case, it even have ham slices.

Cebu last week…, 1

I’m already back in Makati and looking back at some of my activities at Cebu last week:

Dodong, Gerard, Jerome, Rodney, Louie (I’m above him), Popoy, Johnny and Poking.

Matias a.k.a. Johnny Tabasa, III birthday
It was a reunion of sorts, albeit, few, but it has been quite sometime that my classmates, close friends in highschool batch ‘91 in Don Bosco Technical High School (now Don Bosco Technology Center) in Punta Princesa met during Johnny’s birthday, Saturday, 29 October. Over bottles of beer, pulutan (bar chow) of kaldereta (goat stew), lechon (roast pig), balbacua (pork knuckles stew?) and chocolate cake, we talked about the fun times, asking the whereabouts of our classmates, and just reminiscing old times. But in the company of married men, talk just drifted to their family problems and wives. Well, maybe its always like that?

Anet chat
Last Wednesday, when I arrived at home from SM, my brothers and cousins were congregating at the computer. Apparently, my cousin Janet (her nick’s Anet) who is a nurse in Kent, UK, was online and they were chatting via Yahoo messenger via webcam. She’s infanticipating her second child.

Food, food, food
Friday and I requested my mother for crabs, shells and sinugbang baboy (grilled pork) as I really missed this. So, just before I left home for the airport, I was voraciously consuming these homecooked meals.

Blue crabs are my favorite compared to the alimango (mud crabs). Their tastier but can only be found in deeper waters compared to their coastline cousins. While these are not too fat and quite small in size, their still delicious.

Aninikad (its a kind of shell), to eat this one, a skewer is used to get at the flesh. Another yummy dish.

Sinugbang baboy, when properly marinated, and grilled over hotcoals, it just fills the stomach and senses.

Fresh lumpia, except for this one, I ate this during the 1st of November. Cooked vegetables, heart of palm and meat wrapped with a soft tortilla and then doused with garlic sauce. I especially like the lumpia of Cebu since it uses this kind of sauce compared to those in Manila where peanut sauce is used instead.