Eat's take 3 at Bluejay Coffee and Deli

I was given the chance to taste test the best treats Bluejay Coffee and Deli has to offer (halfway) this summer. With three of the cafe's best sellers to taste test, bloggers and members of the print media were accommodated by Miss Arlene Juantong, cafe owner, and Miss JoAnne Pijuan, Marketing and PR Consultant, at the cafe's newest branch at the Amigo Plaza mall.

At regular intervals, three summer drinks and desserts were served as we chatted and shared insights not only about the food and drinks at Bluejay but on almost all topics under the sun.

First in line was one of their best selling smoothie, banana-strawberry. "Its low fat by the way "; Miss Arlene emphasized. I’m no stranger to this drink since it was among the first drinks I had at Bluejay. That time being a first timer, I was enticed by its being one of the best sellers. Since then I knew why it was such. One can actually taste the freshness of the bananas and ingredients as they sip the smoothie. Though I wish they'd garnish it with fresh fruits (thinly sliced of course) for those candy sprinkles make it more fancy rather than classy.

Served next was my favorite among the three, baked ice cream brownie. From the way it was presented to how it actually tasted, it was a sure winner. This fudge brownie ala mode used Arce vanilla ice cream rolled in crushed chocolate cookies - a good treat on its own. Having it together with the brownie made it even more delectable as the vanilla ice cream tastes a perfect with the fudgy brownie. By the way, Bluejay is the exclusive distributor of Arce Dairy Products in Iloilo.

And last but certainly not the least was their own version of a coffee jelly drink - Siam Pearl Jelly. It has more than just coffee jelly, for it has tapioca pearls, white chocolate sprinkles and a scoop of Arce chocolate ice cream. The "base" was made of Bluejay's original concoction: iced coffee mudslide and espresso. To enjoy this drink, one has to mix this concoction, after it was it skillfully prepared, in order to fully appreciate the taste and the combination of flavours this concoction has to offer. Though I wished the ice was much finer than the one we had that time.

It was indeed a satisfying afternoon of discoveries (and rediscoveries) at Bluejay Coffee and Deli.

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

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 (

Easy Century Tuna Recipes

If you're looking for simple, easy and delicious Century Tuna recipes online, congratulations, you've found it right here! How about spicy tuna sisig or tuna sinigang ? Maybe stir fried tuna with pickles or just yang chow fried rice . I love Century Tuna from its flakes in oil variety, the spicier the better, but when I discovered the versatility of its solid variant, it became an obsession. At first I was just into the usual tested recipes; pasta and sandwich filling, but then it got simpler – I just eat it straight from the can! Usually with a piece of bread or an apple. I just add a few drops of vinegar to spice it up a bit. Then came the experiments. Yup I got tired of that habit that one day, I decided to test my skills in the kitchen. Serendipity, you might call it yet most of them turned into good recipes that I have shared now and then. Satisfying my Palabok cravings had me experiment on this recipe on the spot. With Century Tuna in lieu of the usu

A native delicacy called Inday-inday

Now you may ask, what is Inday-Inday ? It's another repetitive-feminine named native delicacy that is made from rice like its more popular sister - baye-baye . While the latter is has its own original flavor and make, inday-inday is actually a combination of two well loved native delicacies - muasi ( palitaw ) and bukayo . But the muasi portion is not the the usual palitaw recipe for the it's more firm and gummy (I don't know the English term for kid-ol ). Actually its more like a hardened kutsinta and this makes it more to my liking since I'm not really fond of muasi in the first place. And its not quite easy to find inday-inday in the market today, though I've seen and tried it in Sabor Ilonggo stalls but their's is more like suman latik for the based is ibos -like. Ibos is malagkit rice boiled in gata which is called suman in Tagalog. Despite the uncertainty for its nomenclature (I've read that inday-inday is just plain pal

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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