Settling for 2nd choices today

Today was another sort of mini reunion with high school and college classmates. I took the responsibility of planning the EATinerary and it was consistent; my first choices all ended in vain, one way or the other, had to settle for the 2nd "best".

First it should have been Peppy Thai for lunch. But after looking for the place beforehand hand minutes earlier before our supposed meeting, I didn’t find it. There were no signages or tarpaulins in the supposed location so I concluded that its April 1 opening might have been moved.

So, Afriques was the obvious choice also being the in the vicinity. We cannot deviate from the agreed location for two of my classmates were just “escaping” from work that time.

We had pizza and pasta. The usual creamy carbonara, a spicy tomato based sausage and sardine pasta named Matador and Afrique’s Special pizza. Despite the acclaim this restaurant has, I still haven’t had spectacular orders in my past visits. Maybe I made the “wrong” orders or it just doesn’t fit my taste. But that ox tongue with cream sauce ordered in the table next to ours looked very tempting. Maybe another visit will do. (Just as soon as April Fool’s is over with my camera)

After saying goodbyes, the remaining ones wanted dessert. Where else but Dulgies! I was day dreaming of 5 cakes for the three of us but it became a nightmare. Dulgies was closed for renovation!

And until now I kept on wondering why I brought them to Green Mango. Our supposed dessert turned out to be pancit palabok and halo-halo. I got the latter after not being impressed with the former. But I felt “vindicated” when both of them said the pancit was not good. Bland despite it looks and smells good. And their halo halo? I wished we just went to Chowking instead!

We just walked around the vicinity to burn the calories. I planned on capping the day with some gigantic burgers at Perri Todd’s or sandwiches and desserts at Bluejay but neither of them wanted to travel far so we just settled for Coffeebreak Valeria.

It was a twin order for cheesecake fraps and green tea frap without cream for me. And we had oatmeal cookies too. This was my 5th consecutive green tea frap order that I felt like drinking water so to speak. My favorite smoothie, Pineapple Pleasure, could have been a good ice breaker. An hour after we said our goodbyes hoping to meet again.

It was a let down from the start, knowing that I cannot take photos but coupled with having to settle for 2nd choice of restos plus not having good orders would complete the recipe for a disastrous ending.

But it did not! For it wasn‘t the food, neither the place nor having a picture less blog entry that was important.

It was the presence of each one; with stories to tell, infos to share or just being right there. It was really an unforgettable day!

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(These are just recycled photos from my previous visits)

Fruits from the grocery

These packs of cut up fruits were bought from SM Delgado's grocery. Got enticed by their color and luckily, they were as good as they looked, especially the papaya. Each was just less than Php 22, really a bargain!

Ultimate Ilonggo Favorite: KBL Kadyos, Baboy, Langka

K.B.L. or Kadyos, Baboy, Langka is the ultimate favorite dish of most Ilonggos. It is also one of the most missed native dishes as kadyos and the souring ingredient, batwan , are hard to find when outside of the Ilonggo region. Basically, it is boiled/stewed pork dish owing its "deliciousness" to the combination of the soft and tender pork, the tamed sourness of batwan and the malinamnam na sabaw . One of the "secrets" of the malinamnamn na sabaw , is the fact that the pork, whether just the plain meat or pata (hocks) are first grilled or broiled. This gives the broth a rather smoky taste that makes it more appetizing.. Learn how to make the Ilonggo dish KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, at Langka) with the recipe below. Ingredients 1 kilo Pata (pork hocks) or pork cubes, GRILLED and sliced into bite size pieces 1 unripe Jack fruit, cubed 2 cups pigeon pea (kadyos) 6-8 pieces batwan fruit (or tamarind powder) 1 piece pork broth cube (

An Ilonggo favorite - Valenciana

Found in almost all occasions like fiesta, birthdays, reunions and others, Ilonggos really love valenciana because most if not all have grown accustomed of having it in special gatherings at home. A complete " go, grow and glow " dish because it has the carbohydrates, protein and vitamins and minerals in just one spoonful, Valenciana is really an " occasional dish ". Here's the recipe for Valenciana

Batwan

Ilonggos know batwan or batuan by heart as the fruit is almost endemic to the Western Visayas. Its scientific name is Garcinia binucao, derived from the Tagalog name for the fruit, binukaw. It is a large green fruit with large seeds and its a favorite souring ingredient in most Ilonggo dishes especially KBL or kadyos, baboy, langka and the Ilonggo-style paksiw known as "pinamalhan". It is characterized by a tamed sourness compared to tamarind and kamias . The fruit is sold by pieces or kilo in wet markets and even big grocery stores. Batwan is the preferred souring ingredients for the Ilonggo favorite- KBL. The photo shows boiled batwan with skin and without skin (right) A favorite riddle when we were young - "Among the many fruits in the forest, but one (batuan) is the best. What is it?"

Takway

The gabi (taro) is just one of those plants which is edible from "roots to tops". The most popular of which is the tuber part which is used in a variety of dishes and mostly in combination with coconut milk. Its leaves, of course, is the main ingredient of a Bicol specialty, laing . It is dried then chopped and sauteed with other ingredients including, again, coconut milk. Then there is takway . The local term for its tendrils/runner, that part which is torn between being a stem or a root for it neither grows upwards nor downwards - it grows sideways . Scraped off of its outer skin, takway is often a key ingredient in vegetable dishes like laswa and the gabi tuber with coconut milk and local snails know as bago-ngon . It is also popular when cooked adobo style with guinamos , the local bago-ong . It is very popular in the region that even big supermarkets sell takway in style - cleaned and plastic wrapped in styro with some additions to make it easier to prepare.

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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