Valentine's Day 2019 at Days Hotel Iloilo

Desserts always come first at The Promenade at Days Hotel Iloilo - that's at least for me. And the best time of the year to really indulge in all the sweetness it has to offer is Valentine!

The annual Valentine Dinner Buffet "Romantic Interlude" is no doubt among the top Valentine gastronomic events in the city during Hearts' Day. With its wide selection of food - hors d'oeuvres, soups & breads, organic salad bar, sushi & sashimi, pasta & pizza, entrees, carving station and, of course - desserts!

And where to start on these desserts? The Heart-shaped Nutella and Strawberry French macarons proved to be the most eye-catching and simply indulgent.

My personal favorite in the past few years - chocolate dipped fresh strawberries. Lost count how many I had tonight...

Towering above the rest was chou à la crème display. Commonly referred to as cream puffs, it came in chocolate (Nutella!) and strawberry variants too!

How about these little triple chocolate cupcakes - chocolate cake, chocolate frosting and Cadbury bites on top! Oh Cadbury! Oh Cadbury!

From this angle, it may look like a chocolate roll but it's actually triangular following the shape of the popular Swiss chocolate bar - Toblerone!

Going a bit light - let's have some Hershey's chocolate dipped cookies and M&M's butterscotch bars. Both bite-size but still very indulgent to the last crumb.

Strawberries are really the fruit of Hearts' Day and I can't say no to this Valentine Trifle - layers of sponge cake, fruits, custard and more!

Milk Chocolate, hazelnuts (both whole and crushed) and wafer - it must be Ferrer Rocher! And it's a whole cake too!

How about some nougat, peanuts, caramel and chocolate - you guessed it right! Have some Snickers cheesecake!

It may be plain looking and not photogenic but underneath are layers of rolled crepes with mango filling - Crepes Samurai! Another personal favorite of mine...

Still with the sweet things in life, how about some Mango Baked Custard?

But you can balance all these indulgent desserts with some fresh fruits - pineapple, watermelon, papaya, melon and bananas among others

Here's a rundown of these delectable desserts once again...

And here are the rest rest of the gastronomic indulgence we experienced tonight...

Assorted breads and spreads that come with the soup

Baked oysters galore!

Salad station - whether make your own or prepared, the fruits and vegetables are all organic!

There's a pizza station as well as a pasta station where you can mix and match you favorite pasta with the sauce and toppings you like - always Bolognese for me!

Going Spanish - how about soem Seafood Paella?

Just some dose of vegetables

Have some seafood casserole too!

To pork or not to pork?

And some ox tongue too!

Sashimi in the house!!!!

And lots and lots of sushi!

And make room for some roast beef for the finale!

Another Valentine's Day has come and gone but all the delectable food are etched in our gastronomic memories as we go on to continue the next 12 months leading to another Hearts' Day in 2020!

Now you know where to celebrate that very special day...

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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