Cooking in exile

Some people were born with an instinct for cooking, like my Tita Gigi who can cook just about anything and make it taste SO GOOD (hotdogs! kare-kare! sinigang!), my Auntie Nita with her delightful Hokkien meals (i.e. fried lumpias, sweet & sour pork, and the like), or Turtle, for whom baking is a birthright (we're a fan of her scones, Shepherd's pies, brownies).

Unlike them, I wasn't born clasping a spatula in my hand. In the kitchen, I've always had to exert a little more effort and practice a bit more caution. But I can't be kept away: cooking is everyday magic- you mix different ingredients of various compositions over low/medium/high heat, and, voila, those things fuse and become a plate of something! These days, post-Sem2 deadlines, I find myself poring over cooking blogs like my favorite, Casa Veneracion, and selecting recipes to try. The things I'm planning to make will be nothing fancy. Just simple, healthy stuff.

Sem 2 Meals
One of the best gifts of leaving home and living on my own is that it forced me to cook. No more just imagining how to make recipes work; living alone forced me to move beyond epic cooking failures (the horror of charcoal-ed kropeks) and just try again. This sem, my kitchen experiences have involved figuring out ways to vary cooking a specific ingredient, how to incorporate cupboard items to not let them go to waste, and how to appropriate local products/ choose substitutes.

In the spirit of documenting some cooking milestones of the sem, I made...

1. Chicken adobo -- nothing that will change anyone's world by any means, but edible! Edible and decent enough to tide me through bouts of homesickness.
2. Sinigang -- let me emphasize that Filipino dishes are very intimidating. I remember trying out sinigang in Japan and it was just too bland! Since I didn't want to waste the mixes I brought in KL, I decided to give it another try. It wasn't as hard as I thought, whew. Being able to produce not bad bowls of sinigang and adobo amounts to personal feats to me.
3. Ginataang tilapia w/ chili -- memorable because it taught me the how tos of cooking with gata and chili

4. Curry Chicken, Malaysian-style -- what I will make in the Philippines when I start missing Malaysia (it's bound to happen, it is)
5. Steamed fish, resto-style-- the most important part being, I learned how to make a steamer work. It sounds dumb that I had no clue how to steamer work so thankgod, I learned. Cooking steamed fish is like hitting two goals in one: learning to steam and finding healthier ways of preparing food.
6. Korean pea sprouts-- cooking for one is indeed an approach and pea sprouts are especially appropriate for this purpose.

Cooking is tiring. At some point (the whole of May), I released myself from the burden of prepping meals to have time to read for and write my papers. Now that I'm relatively deadline-free, it's back to the kitchen, folks.

I probably save half the amount I spend when I buy, so that's great for my limited budget. But the most important reason to cook is so I end up like a Murakami character (kidding! haha! his protagonists always cook); the most important thing is that cooking lets me eat healthier. One can only eat the same hawker-plied foods (or fastfoods) a few times in one month.

On to more cooking adventures and going after those kitchen aspirations! =)

cupboard inventory

Love is a grilled cheese sandwich, layered with different kinds of cheeses and butter. It's an exotic Mexican burger (with a name you already forgot) given a Pinoy twist (with pandesal) stuffed with chorizo and beans, an ingredient bought and cooked the first time. There I guess, love makes you dare. 

But also, love is planning the week's meal, a somewhat elaborate go/grow/glow breakfast, that surprise dinner you may/ may not botch up. Love is scrambled eggs, fritata, canned tuna, caramel popcorn. Love is never getting tired of  rinsing rice, at least thrice, and sticking to that 1:2 rice & water ratio.

Hawker treats #1

Soy Duck, Roti Jala, and Salted Veggies

Cheap duck rice -- one of those guilty pleasures I love having when I'm away from the Philippines. My housemate, Swan, took me to her favorite duck rice place -- a hawker area where you can get Chinese and Indian food. But the revelation was the salted veggies -- hangsarap! It's soft and just very lightly salted. Couture Foodie describes the dish as "melt in your mouth." I think it may be just an accurate description of the surprise this dish was.

Roti Jala is plain soft pancake-like rolled bread dipped in curry. Stumbled upon it while walking around the Central Market area (and it only set me back by about PhP24!). Hello, Kuala Lumpur. :)  

Butterscotch Peanut Butter Bar, Coffeebreak

Surprisingly good, all PhP50 of it.

Coffeebreak, I sense the start of a sweet relationship.

We weren't expecting much. After one bite,

Me: "Wow. Peanut butter tastes like one you eat from the jar, with a spoon,  in one sitting." (nibble, nibble)

Last Row Traveler (chomp, chomp): "On top of newly-baked butterscotch."

The Vigan diet

My bestfriend Froi has probably been to Vigan about 8 times. Yet, when someone asks him to go, he still finds it hard to say no. I may have caught the bug. Found myself in Vigan for the second time this year, which was perfectly fine because what kind of non-life loving person would turn down second servings of Vigan food?  

Empanada from the plaza -- the stall my foodie friend Turtle recommends is the one called EVELYN'S. Apparently, Evelyn's is already an institution. We saw heaps upon heaps of empanadas (Php30/each) leaving their tiny stall. When it was our turn, the empanadas proved they were indeed worth waiting for. 

Another must-try empanadas are the ones from Irene's (Php35). Their shop is located at Calle Crisologo. 

What's in a Vigan empanada: egg, Ilokano longganisa, grated papaya, all wrapped in a deep fried rice flour and dunked in Ilokano vinegar. 

Tip: If you're having some empanadas, grab some okoys (around Php30), too.

*slobber, slobber*
Photo from Gail's Footprints

Bagnet -- much love has been written about the bagnet. And why wouldn't people do so: it's crunchy on the outside and oh-so-amazingly soft and chewy to the bite. Anj (the new Ilocos convert) and I tried a serving at Cafe Leona, at Php235/plate, a good enough serving for 2 hungry girls.

Admission: we were so in want of food and the bagnet served before us looked so yummy, we forgot to take our own photos. 

Another thing about Cafe Leona's - the servers are pretty funny and ready for some laughs. Chat them up when they're not too busy. 

Tidbit: bagnet is like bacon, it tastes good with everything. Expect to have it in your kare-kare,  rice, even pizza. But please, that's not for you to think you don't have to order it separately. That's just so you can have as much of it as you can while you're in its homebase. 

Tick off your vegetable roll call from the "Bahay Kubo":
Who's there, who isn't?

Pinakbet, Vigan-style has your talongs, sigarillas, sitaw, okra, kamatis, atbp., but the bettest of them all is the bagnet thrown in!

A plate at Tummy Talk set us back around Php100-120. Good enough for two.

Where else to have it: Cafe Leona's, Grandpa's Inn

Melt-in-your-mouth bibingkas at Calle Liberation is something Froi and I discovered while we were aimlessly wandering around town.** Lo and behold, a lovely manang was cooking some rice cakes. At Php5/piece, they're even yummier than the pre-packed ones. They're crunchy on the outside and all soft and bursting with coconuts on the inside. It's a glorious mix of salty and sweet.

**We were gawking at the other beautiful houses, unrestored and some in alarming conditions. It's the hope that the entire town proper could be converted into a heritage site. Why just focus on one street? The other houses are just as beautiful.  


Other food to try:

• Miki at Tummy Talk - comforting, with bagnet bits (isn't it great how everything has bagnet here?).  Try the miki-all-you-can for meryenda. That's Php40 for all you can have miki bowl between 2-5pm. 
• Sans rival and coffee at Grandpa's Inn. The perfect tea time Vigan-style consists of really good sans rival (Php60/slice) and an equally affordable cup of brewed local coffee at Grandpa's quaint inn. How good Grandpa's Inn's sans rival is best attested by the fact that the cafe always runs out.  One serving is usually not enough and Granpa's servings are not small at all. Go there early afternoon if you wanna try it, which is around the time it gets delivered. 
• Vigan longganisa. Garlicky, perfect with garlic rice. 
• Okoy 
• Tsokolate batirol

Right about now, I'm craving for some bagnet and sans rival. Someone tipped me about an Ilocano eatery at Maginhawa. Keeping my expectations real (but hoping for some really good pinakbet). More days of these cravings and I may soon find myself there.

Had anything good to eat lately? Do share. 

How to travel without leaving

Have a well-curated brunch...

Of a cooking show that whisks you away,

Laura Calder's French Cooking at Home on AFC

Recipe that caught the imagination: Seared Sirloin with Blue Cheese and Cream Sauce

Thinking of doing a version using pork chop and goat cheese.

and Pasta with Crushed Pistachio and Pine Nuts

Still thinking how to localize this. 

+ of a reading material that brings you to another locale,

Article of choice: "Made in Sweden," about multiculti (yes, that's a word used in the magazine) chef Marcus Samuelsson. He and Adam Sachs took me around Stockholm, brought me to a place that serves the worst pizza but has great vibe -- noisy and fun, crowded with locals chugging beer, turned to a Champions League soccer final on TV. 

Samuelsson on finding his way back: 

"...growing up I knew very early that, to go where I wanted in life, I needed to leave this place. Now, I've traveled and I've figured out how to write a love letter to Goterborg. I'm comfortable with my Swedish side now."

Samuelsson on having always been different:

"When you're a kid you don't know how to process that off-ness. Now I'm at a point where I want to celebrate it."

Really, isn't coming home the main point of traveling, be it to yourself or, more literally, to your first point of origin? In this case, Samuelsson does both. The love letter he speaks of here is the first restaurant he's building in Göterborg after having achieved success in North America.

+ of food that seals the deal.

The day's menu: Seafood Lo Mein (bihon) and Salmon

Treat your palate to something different. 
Crucial here is preparing a meal  from a cuisine that's foreign to you (like Pad Thai or Mexican Burritos) or giving an everyday meal a different spin. In our home, bihon is usually garnished with pork & liver. This time around, it was cooked with shrimp and broccoli and then served with salmon. 

What's your version of "traveling without leaving?"

27 Hours in Baguio

 

Turtle and I have been dying to get away from Manila and visit Lira. We were initially planning to do a Baguio-La Union weekender, but because we had to come back to Manila on Sunday (today), we just voted on doing a full day in Baguio instead.
0300:            departure from Victory Terminal in Cubao
0300-0400:   annoyed passengers sitting behind and in front of us by giggling about silly things, like how the PMS-ing monster reared its ugly head this week; karma strikes back - made us feel icky over a high-school looking couple who must have thought their two reclining seats were a motel room. 
0400-0500:   Mine, asleep// Got jolted awake by the driving, looked out the windows, saw it moving and silently thanked the heavens we were in a bus off to somewhere. #happyplace
0500-0800:   REM-ed// Woke up a bit; thought Mine covered in malong was a giant potsim. Or a moving hotdog. Texted Lira we're already at the Marcos Highway
0800-0900:  last hour for sleeping; arrival in Baguio. It's been 3 years! Lira arrives, wee!
0900-1100:  readying our bearings; coffee; fried bananas; early chika galore. 
1100-1200:  paid some bills at SM Baguio (which doesn't look new anymore - and it has always looked new.)
1200-1330:  Volante - reason enough to take a quick trip to Baguio, methinks.

1. Shrimp Salad - fresh veggies and the vinaigrette dressing was heavenly; Volante knows what to do with seafood.
2. Tuna Sardines Pizza - in the throes of disappointment (yes, ma-drama) over the Smoked Salmon Pizza not being available, we settled for Sardines. Didn't disappoint for the sardines melted with the cheese in the pizza.
3. Pesto Pasta - this one, with meat or meatless, is a classic favorite! There must be something in the basil and nuts in Baguio that makes it really good.
4. Brewed Coffee - strong and really cheap (around Php28). Can we have a Volante branch in Manila, please.
5. Warm Lemongrass Tea - smelled like something that can calm a troubled spirit (and tummy).                  

1330-1430:   some ukay hunting
1430-1630:  Mt. Cloud/ Hill Station 
A recently-renovated complex that houses the North Haven Spa, Mt. Cloud Bookstore, Hill Station restaurant, and Casa Vallejo boutique hotel. Says a local with impish giggling, "there used to be rumors that the place was haunted. That's why my mom is hesitant to try the massage." Absolutely no spirit sightings that day, though there's a Game of Thrones event being planned by Santi of Mt. Cloud. Our Turtle thinks this is an exciting idea. We might be back for that event. 

1. Apple Pie - in a dream I had last week, I was having a pie up in the mountains. The Hill Station Apple Pie had sweet apples and very tasty crust. It did not taste foreign to my native tongue. Yes, it lived up to the dream. If only it had more of the bread on top, it would be perfection.
2. Lemon Caramel squares - according to Turtle, judging by the zest real lemons were used. 
3. Death by Chocolate - thick fudgy chocolate drenched in sweet vanilla ice cream. :D

1630-1830:  Lovely Bones at Lira's
Glad we watched it together. The film dealt with a very heavy issue (child murder/ rape). The treatment of the film was superb, though. We enjoyed it and were traumatized, yes, at the same time. Fun. :p
1830-2030:  late snack with some brownies/ magical bonding with Tita Luchie. Let the LOLs commence. 
2030-2300:  Chaya's (I don't remember ever being this hungry/ happy/ really giggly!) 
They prepare your food from scratch, so prepare to really wait if the other tables are full. It must have taken them more than 40mins to serve our meals. Yes, everything was inhaled in a rush. 

1. Complimentary Japanese Salad - very aesthetically presented, the mixture of tulips, baby onion, cucumber and red radish was a win! Plus, it's free.
2. Japanese Seafood Hot Pot - the soup was very, very clean on the palate, add in the salmon, shrimp, squid thrown in.While eating, I thought I was transported back to Fukui.  
3. Tofu Salad - soft tofu was reaaally good. Must try next time: beef salad.   
4. Mixed Tempura - a tower of vegetable and shrimp tempura. The pumpkin flowers and leaves were heavenly. 
5. Complimentary Strawberry Ice Cream w/ Monggo - could have been better if we had the Green Tea variant. Nevertheless, this sweet ending was a welcome treat.

2300-0030:  Gilligan's 

• A round of San Miguel Apple beer, sisig, Mango cake. 
• Weird night: we got some complimentary San Mig Lemon beer, a note written on tissue paper by Two Amateur Dudes, and, due to a flux earlier that night, a slice of Blueberry cheesecake and a tap from Guy Seated at the Bar.
• The Edralin's played a mixed set of songs from the 70s and the 80s. 
• More silliness, laughter, surprising moments (white-faced dude), and naps on the table.

Some lines/ phrases from that night:

"Nag-dancing na ako!"

"Reggae of the world"

"May iba pa bang halo to?"

"Secret admirers"

"Ako yung nagpabigay ng Blueberry cheesecake."

"Sino ka?"

""Naririnig ko pero hindi ko naiintindihan."

"Super bionic hearing powers"

0030-0200:   Ayuyang attempt/ last one for the road at Session 
The set at Ayuyang was over by the time we got there. Decided to drop by Volante one last time. Asked ourselves that all-important question, "Should we have waffles?" My tummy begged not to, just this once. Settled for a cup of hot chocolate and warm lemongrass tea.
0200-0630:   instead of heading back, we caught some decent sleep at Lira's attic. #goodchoice
0800-1400:   goodbye, Baguio/ see you soon, Lira! Traveled back to Manila.


Of course, some things were left off. But oh the things you can do/ eat/ say/ think/ laugh about in a day!

Hey Foodventurer!

“Good food makes people happy,” sabi ng title character sa pelikulang Chef of South Polar. Mapa-Antarctica man ang paroroonan, mapa-Japan, o mapa-Timog Silangang Asya, sino ang ayaw sa pagkaing masarap? At bilang bibiyahe ka, isama mo na ang iyong masuwerteng panlasa sa paglilibot at makabuluhang paglalakbay. :)

Here's a rundown of things you might want to eat, with some descriptions thrown in:

Chiang Mai

1. Crispy catfish (Yam Pla Duk Foo) - very light, airy, crispy batter of flour and minced hito, usually served with green mango salad (YUM).

(Photo source: wikipedia)

2. Pad Thai- going to Thailand and not having Pad Thai merits a sin of omission, i.e. "Hindi ka nag-Pad Thai? Hindi ka talaga nanggaling ng Thailand! Nagsinungaling ka lang. :p"

3. Shrimp Paste Rice (Khao khluk kapi) - rice stir-fried with shrimp paste, served with sweetened pork and vegetables.

This plate was from a hawker across the Thammasat University in Bangkok

4. Oyster patties - oyster and egg omelette; can be bought off the street.

5. Fish cakes (Thot man pla krai) or Shrimp cakes (Tod Mun Goong) - I don't think we can have it this herby, healthy and just really yummy, except in Thailand

(Photo source: wikipedia)

6. Chiang Mai sausage (Sai Ua) - always rears its fatty head in the menu, so might as well try it. Masarap naman, make sure you have this with the sauces – vinegar/ patis dips (kung ano man ang iyong dig). I bet this goes well with beer.

(Photo source: wikipedia)

7. Chiang mai chicharon - Another popular Chiang Mai product. The Chiang Mai variant seems less oilier than its Pinoy brother.
8. Northern Thai Noodles (Chiang Mai Noodles/ Khao Soi) - a blend of sour coconut curry, boiled and fried noodles, topped with pickled mustard greens, chili sauce, mung bean sprouts, lime, and shallots. Coriander and cumin spices, borrowed from Burmese and Indian cuisine, give this a non-Thai twist. Other spellings: "Kao soy" or "Kow soi"

(Photo source: wikipedia)

9. Cha Yen/ Charon – strongly brewed black tea, sweetened with sugar and condensed milk(ooops, milk means bawal – well you can always watch your friends enjoy this. May cold at hot version. :D)

10. San Miguel Beer. Singha. Oh yeah. :D

HaNoi

Be warned about the food servings (for growing boys, girls, and boygirls!)

1. Spring Rolls – have both the fried and fresh variants.
   We tried this resto called “Smile Restaurant,” at the street across the Fine Arts Museum. Smile is a not-for-profit center that trains disadvantaged kids. Ang sarap ng fried spring rolls; it did not taste oily at all.

2. Pho with thick noodles, Vietnamese pansit, etc. around the Temple of Literature - this area is literally teeming with Pho houses.We randomly chose one that's on the left side of the Temple. Here's the modest feast:

Your Pho could come with different-sized noodles. The fat and flat noodles is gooood!

3. Skewered meat/ seafood in sugarcane - how I imagine this dish would taste like: grilled seafood/meat with hints of juicy, succulent sugarcane.

4. Sugarcane juice- Perfect for long walks; with lime. (I miss, miss, miss this. Drink glassES for me! :p)

5. Pulled sandwich - Sweet and peppery. Similar to a hero sandwich, with shredded and caramelized meat, toasted with onions and herbs.

6. Eel with vermicelli - I really have no words to describe it, other than to say I have never tasted anything like it // that it's really, really, really good. The dry one, where the soup is on a separate bowl, is actually better. See photo below:

7. This dessert (they're really balls of happiness disguised as sticky white 3-dimensional dots):

8. Iced coffee with yoghurt - sounds strange, but it works. Kung hindi pwede dahil lactose intolerant, opt for the espresso servings of coffee.

Laos

• Have a meal by the Mekong.
• Try those restos on the other side, the ones near the narrower river, like Tamarind Restaurant, where we had these:
  

• Those rolls wrapped in leaves (that plate on the upper left of the lower photos), the Lao version of the roll without the wrap, is a MUST-TRY. Prepare for the heavenly peanut sauce they use in the Lao rolls!
• We had this sampler plate at the Tamarind Resto. There's a hawker stall that sells this roll on the main road, where the night market is. May dalawang ateng nagbabantay. They're only there between 3-5pm, I think.
• Compared to other SEA food we tried, Lao cuisine is more garlicky. 
• At night, try the hawker stalls at the food alley. Opens at the same time the night market does (Th Sisivangvong, I think). There are plenty of grilled dishes (fish caught from the Mekong), Lao dishes, etc.
• Have a cuppa Lao coffee. If you're lactose intolerant, remember to ask them not to put milk. ;)

Enjoy your trip! Mag-uwi ka ng maraming-maraming kwento. =)