incessant rambling

ever wonder why pinoys leave the last piece of food on the table? apparently it is an asian influence on our dining etiquette. to celebrate blog action day 2011 that celebrates food, i'm posting some quirky pinoy food habits that most of us don't even notice we do. i don't pretend to be the emily post of pinoy food decorum but it is often prudent to understand the practices in sharing food with pinoys. 1. Unang Pasalubong - this tradition is sadly lost in the present generation. when a guest is invited for the first time to a meal or dinner in a pinoy home, it is customary to bring a gift, preferably food, specifically fruits or dessert. bawal magdala ng tupperware para take out (yes, some people actually bring containers to bring food with them!) 2. Plastic na Ngiti - hosts MUST always appear smiling and gracious in front of guests even when they are literally grabbing their hair in the kitchen screaming at the maids to get things out to the dining area. Gue...

any filipino worth to be called that knows what adobo means. we tout it as our national dish, and to those that barely know the history of adobo, it is actually a spanish term that refers to sauce, marinade or seasoning. interestingly, adobo is just a name that spaniards used to baptize a method practiced by our filipino forefathers in cooking their meats in vinegar and salt. 2/5 adobo flakes, postrio - too dry. could have used some adobo sauce or oil and spiced up a bit with a chili undertone. 4/5 adobo kangkong, kuls kitchen - the sauce was too runny and the only reason why i deducted 1 point is because adobo should have meat. the filipino adobo was born out of practical reasons. considering that there is no refrigeration and means to preserve food in the humid and hot weather, cooking in vinegar inhibits the growth of bacteria and allow huge quantities of the meat to be cooked and stored longer for later use. 4/5 adobo na manok sa gata, melting pot - the ingenious use of guav...

double pesto with shrimp - ila puti, cebu city - could have used more parmessan cheese there are still people who look at me oddly when i head out to have a meal by myself. more so when i pose, spread, fluff and arrange the dishes around my table (and sometimes, on the neighboring table) before i whip out my camera for some food porn. that's what you get if your second biggest passion in photography revolves around food. oh it hurts the wallet as you go around looking for new dishes to interpret, food doesn't come that cheap in cebu anymore and i've turned down a couple of invites to write positively glowing PR reviews for a couple of restaurants. i've said it before, and i've said it again - i can very well afford to pay for my own meal. i just want the freedom to say "eeet suuuucks" if and when a dish doesn't live up to my limited taste. i'm digressing from the topic. food photography is akin to porn. at least from my standpoint. ...

don't ask why but i ended up in this looney crazy new-dress-a-day blog about a lady on a mission: 365 dresses in 365 days at $365 dollars. something like the julie julia project. brilliant, simply brilliant concepts. i am still waiting for that shred of inspiration that will take me to blogosphere celebrity status. as it is, i'm just enjoying this for myself and have gathered a few followers - not counting the chinese and russian blog spammers who jam my comment and chat boxes with offer to sell anything and everything from erection pills to nuclear warheads - both designed to end in a HUGE explosion. hint, if you aren't following my blog then click on that link on the right side, yes the one that says you're selling your soul to this blogger. weeeellll well well, enough of the rambling and back to the original subject of this entry: 365 days etc. there was one entry that curiously published a cake recipe alongside the usual deconstruction of a horrid outfi...

i wanted to treat myself to a nice lunch after a night of constantly checking out the freezer. no, i wasn't having multiple midnight, pre-dawn cravings. i was thawing out the freezer that has turned into solid ice and at the risk of flooding my kitchen table, i had to set my alarm at 2am, 4am and 6am. talk about domesticated. so there i am, still rolling around in bed at 1030am when i should be heading to church. it took me another 15 minutes thinking where i'd like to have lunch before i got the energy to pick myself up and head out the door. i wanted meat and i wanted something local. i was thinking of heading to bop bernie's for a thick slab of pork steak. bop was closed when i got there and i spent another 3 minutes sitting in my car pondering where i can go next. around the corner is apurado's and the fried chicken and pork barbeque should be a good enough substitute. open. yes. parking. no. well, they do have parking except that half the lot is submerged in wat...

i was seven (or eight?) when i moved to bacolod city for studies and stayed with my cousins for two years. sundays usually start with mass then going back to the house for brunch. and brunch is not complete without crumbled skinless chorizo mixed with fried rice and egg. the sweet-spicy-garlicky-fiery-red bits of pork and meat fried to a carcinogenic-black-toast is one thing that i truly relish as that part of my childhood. breakfast today at offroads as i have to get the car cleaned (it resembles a black leopard with white dusty spots) and looking forward to the rain that inadvertently fall EVERY time i get the dang car washed. oh well, ordered myself skinless chorizo breakfast and for a moment, with every mouthful, smiled like a kid.

who would have expected to find bulgogi in a dessert place? postrio is known for its coffee and dessert selection that it was a surprise to find out they offer meals, sandwiches and other assorted eats that are not of the sweet or caffeinated kind. the dish is flavorful enough though it was too oily. the usual bulgogi dishes i've had use radish chunks to absorb most of the oil coming from the beef slices. on the positive side, this one had carrot slices that livened the otherwise brown dish, shiitake mushroom for that pungent smoky after taste and i am almost certain they had ox tongue chunks that got mixed with the beef slices. lengua is always a favorite and its strong flavors lent a fullness to every bite. yummy. do i recommend it? yes, just make sure you scoop out the oil. i love mixing the salty-sweet-gingery sauce with the hot steaming rice that came along with the dish. a perfect bite: stewed carrots, tender beef chunks, ox tongue and shiitake mushrooms on top of rice. the c...

on our way to badian, everyone had a craving for the fresh ice cream from molave milk station. while everyone lined up for their creamy treat i spied a pack of bucayo on the shelf and ordered one. bucayo is a sweet and nutty treat that reminds me of days when i used to run the streets with friends and sought shelter from the sweltering heat of the sun in sari-sari stores where we used our 10 cent baon to buy these treats. never mind that it was probably the cause of oh-so-many toothaches way before sweet words caused heartaches. made from shredded mature coconut meat that is slowly cooked in a syrup made of brown sugar and water, the concoction is allowed to cool and harden before they're cut up into small bite sized pieces. i happily munched away my sweet childhood memories. --next-- heading back to the parking lot after the morning mass, ron darted across the street to get a package of masareal from manong . considering that is simply a mashed up mixture of ground boiled peanu...

it was past twelve noon and red was craving for food. we had our stomachs set on teriyaki boy as it recently opened it doors in Ayala Cebu but the line outside waiting to get a seat made us do an about face and troop instead to Harbour city for chinese dimsum. Dimsum Galore! i resisted (very badly i think...) to pick on the dimsum that ron and red ordered from carts that waiters wheel around the restaurant. three types of carts go around: fried food, steamed samples and dessert cups. you can also get rice toppings from any of the cart and choose from pork, chicken and beef. everything is priced at Php 40 per serving, the service is fast, easy and convenient as you can pick out your food from the carts without having to wait for orders to be served. morsels and pieces of the delicious selection disappeared quickly as they worked on the food like piranhas on a frenzy. all along i twiddled my thumb as i resisted the temptation to dig in. you see, i ordered the combination hotpot that has ...

Weight loser that is. Got myself into a wager to lose ten pounds in a month's time (tick tock). okay make that 27 days from now (tick tock). i'm still figuring out how to do that while contemplating the reality that i can't have my food binge. i hate you boneless crispy pata cutlets (Kuls Kitchen) goodbye Spicy Thai Chiken Wings! (Kuls Kitchen) begone you oh-so-delicious grape slush (Kuls Kitchen) if you're not on a diet, i suggest you head off to kul's kitchen in IT park and order these dishes. then come back here and tempt me with your experience. sigh.

Oriente Poliano (Orient of the Polos) chronicled the fantastic travels of the Polo family: the famous Marco, his father Niccolò, and uncle Maffeo. Their travels took them to the heart of Asia and beyond. What took them decades to do I was able to accomplish in one and half hours, walking, with a plate in one hand, and my nose following the aromatic trail to food bliss. The Cafe Marco buffet has steadily built a reputation as the best buffet in Cebu City with the most extensive food selection arranged in food stations serving chinese, japanese, barbecues and western dishes. Appetizers my food trip started with "west lake beef soup" from the chinese food station. a clear soup made from beef stock that curiously tasted like it came from a bouillon cube instead of hours boiling bits and pieces of beef meat and bones. i found it too salty for my liking although the chopped parsley created a decorative accent to the soup. next is a sampling of chinese siomai - take note that the on...

Desserts The best things are often called the sweetest things in life, it is not a wonder then that desserts cap a meal to sweeten the palate and wash away the heavy flavor of meat. This post is the last in a series of food review for Cafe Marco, Marco Polo. after a heavy main course, i made my way over to the dessert selection and got a few samples from the array of sweet lil' angels. if you're diabetic, i strongly suggest you stay away from this part of the buffet - the mere smell and sight of these sugar puffs is enough to induce an attack. -blueberry mousse cheesecake in a shot glass i don't like cakes, specially if they're the sponge or chiffon type. i don't crave for chocolates either unless they come in a balikbayan package. on the other hand, chocolate decadence is anything but airy or spongy and it is packed solid like a brownie - less the flour and more on chocolate. this is the only thing i went back for in the dessert spread. -chocolate decadence fruit b...

Main Course the least visited food station in any buffet is the salad section. not that there's anything wrong with eating your fill of leafy greens but buffets are meant for carnivores. meat chomping sessions rule this experience and the meats section usually have the most traffic. for a change, i decided for some fish before grabbing any meats and settled for a herb encrusted fish fillet in white sauce. i carefully laid out the fish on top of a lettuce leaf to give some color contrast. the slightly bitter taste of the lettuce complimented the creamy sauce and herbs that crusted the oh-so-tender fish meat. i was a tad disappointed that they didn't have any lamb kebabs that i loved in a previous visit to this buffet together with some mint jelly. i settled for roasted beef and had it done medium well. the meat was tender and succulent with just the right amount of salt, pepper and spices rubbed all over the roast. one can enjoy the meat in a plain manner or slather on gravy for...

"Shet kaaaaa!" "I haaayyyteeee you!" "Peste ka uy!" - you're a pest! that's just a sample of the less colorful offline messages i got when i logged on to yahoo messenger. apparently, this was caused by a recent post (hint: click to read) on my blog. i mean, why would a post about food pics suddenly cause such response from some of my readers? apparently, for some reason or another, people are stuck at home or at work with tummies rumbling at the sight of food in all it's edible glory. (click on "read more" for uh... you know... more of this post.) it's all said in jest though. if anything, i've accomplished part of my objective to replace Ace Durano as the underrated secretary of tourism. well, make it Cebu in particular. my private impersonal thoughts are apparently fodder for a growing list of people who end up in my site looking for sex, food, beaches, bitches (that's according to the site meter reports that catalog s...

...weight that is. the other day i recommended that tessie have her eyes checked, she is THAT certain that i lost weight. that of course was a joke, but it made me smile. the never ending battle of getting some baby fat, err okay, some adult fat is obviously working. the automatic assumption is that i've done drastic changes to my food foraging habits e.g. steamed tasteless disgusting chicken breasts, paper mush flavored tuna packed in water and tons of gas inducing camote (sweet potato tubers). it comes as a big surprise that i tell them that lechon kawali (crispy succulent deep friend pork cutlets) is a staple lunch hunt for me. or greasy fat dripping sweet humba on top of steaming hot rice. on the other hand, it SHOULDN'T be a surprise to know that moderation is the only thing that works when it comes to battling the bulging bulge. yesterday i absolutely refused an invitation by tonette to drop by alejandro's near Cebu Doctors for the artery plug called Crispy Pata (te...

story goes that alma moreno went to mc donalds and ordered adobo burger with cheese. she was promptly informed that mec donalds doesn't serve adobo as part of their menu. she of course insisted and sang the jingle of their commercial... " adobo-dobo chess chess, barger barger fleas fleas.. " uh, she must have been the voice coach of flash-in-the-pan-ty sexy dumb star alyssa alano who massacred the song "kiss me" with her own version - " keys me ". speaking of killing the english language, melanie marquez must have been a mass murderer with a number of quotable quotes that rivaled the vocabulary and depth of another english serial killer: erap estrada. melanie was invited to a tv show where she was asked if she really said " you are barking at the wrong dog! " to which she promptly answered: " hello, kay alma moreno kaya yun. " and before the hosts could stop themselves from falling off the chair, she quickly added " it's n...