Buko in English Coconut

After a long hike in Mt. Talamitam there is nothing good but to quench your thirst with anything that is cold and refreshing.

Gladly Kuya Rene, our guide, took as on a different route where we can actually buy some fresh coconut (Kuya Marcelino have harvested it earlier for those who wanted to buy some).

Picture muna sabi ni Rhose... (para san kaya ung bamboo?)

Ready... Set... INOM... This is the right way to drink Coco Juice from Coco Fruit.

The coco juice was rich but not too sweet and it was so refreshing, we ate the meat afterwards. :)

Heto na kami... Tuka! Tuka! Tuka!

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Charap, Charap, Charaptor Weekend!

I got swamped with work and I was unable to update my blog but here’s good one to fill your tummy up on weekends! Weekends are your cheat day! <drolling!>

I would like to start off sharing a Saturday after-shift food trip with my colleagues while I wait for my download to finish for a virtual machine I’m building for a client. Anyway, it was really a worthy P290 meat-all-you-can Saturday Lunch! Yes, you read it right! We ate Php 290.00 Yakiniku-all-you-can at Charaptor. Ang Charap talaga! I was with Lori, Golds, Norman, Neil, Boriz, and Maiah and enjoyed 2 tables of griller and plenty of meat on our plate. Their weekdays were priced below Php 400, 390 to be exact! <sabi nga nila swak na swak sa bulsa, mabubusog ka talaga, at masarap pa!>

Charaptor have various marinated meat you can select from. So Vegan and Vegetarians, you might want to skip this MEATscapade. They have Pork, Beef, Squid, Shrimp, Squid balls or Chicken balls, Fish, Gizzards (not Lizzards), and chicken. They also serve rice both white and fried. Plus are the side dish and refillable drinks <di na sila nagsi-server ang side dish>. They have coleslaw as side dish that day and it was really good. Drinks were served in pitchers which we got pineapple, orange, and iced tea.

               

Charaptor is located at 9752 Kamagong Corner Aranga Street, San Antonio, Makati City. It’s right in front of a gasoline station near a bank. Or if you see the Kamagong cor Sampaloc street, it’s the crossroad near the gasoline station.

You can reach them at 02 5423425 or +63 9275335243

You can check them at https://www.facebook.com/CharaptorBBQ

Kainan na!

Cheesy-Stuffed Burger

Let’s Make a Sandwich – Episode 5

Everyone loves burger, it may be a simply pan friend patty, grilled, or gourmet. I prefer something that will give twist on how you prepare your burger.

Let’s cook some oozing cheese out of your patty burger. Not the way it was ordinarily prepared but it tasted like your ordinary cheese burger.

Ingredients:

1 ¼ lb. ground beef (you can also use pork)

Salt

Pepper

1 small bulb onion (finely chopped or minced)

1 small carrot (finely chopped or minced)

2 parts garlic (crushed and finely chopped)

1 – 2 eggs

Quick melt Cheese 

2 – 4 pcs. Of bun

4 lettuce leaves

2 Tomato (sliced)

Direction:

1. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl except the cheese.
2. Form patties out of the mixture.
3. Take about table spoon full of cheese and stuff it in your patty. (you can also sandwich the cheese between 2 patties)
4. Fry until meat is cooked (watch out as the cheese might ooze out and might get burnt)
5. Pan toast your bun at your liking.
6. Place some lettuce, then your patty (apply mayonnaise if you wanted), and some sliced tomatoes.

You can now dig into your burger and enjoy the burst of stuffed cheese in every bite.

Enjoy and have a great - fun - cooking time!

Hotdog-Cheese-Mayo (with or without Catsup) Sandwich

Let’s Make a Sandwich – Episode 4

Most of us loves hotdog sandwich either from a hotdog stand or from a well-known delicatessen. But making your own hotdog sandwich can be a little more fun. Let’s see how we can make one:

Ingredients:

1-2 regular size hotdog of your choice (boiled or fried)

2-3 tbsp. of grated cheese

1-2 tbsp. of mayonnaise

1-2 tsp. of catsup (optional)

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients evenly: grated cheese, mayonnaise, catsup, and a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.
2. Slice hotdogs in half.
3. Lay a slice of bread on your table and spread you cheese-mayo-catsup mixture.
4. Place hotdogs on top.
5. Put another cheese-mayo-catsup mixture on top of the hotdogs.
6. Atop it with another bread.
7. Press lightly and cut it in diagonal.

Another way to prepare it is:

Directions:

1. Slice your hotdogs into smaller cubes.
2. Mix all ingredients evenly.
3. Dash salt and pepper to taste.
4. Spread evenly on a slice of bread and atop it with another bread
5. Slightly press your sandwich and cut it diagonally

Easy yet deliciously yummy!

Enjoy every bite!

Deluxe Peanut Butter and Jam with Fresh Fruit Sandwich

Let’s Make a Sandwich – Episode 3

All kids were fund of making their Peanut Butter – Jam Sandwich. It’s easy to prepare, no cook, and most of all it’s easy to find at your nearest supermarket or grocery store.  Let’s not wait for long check out the recipe below:

Ingredients:

4 slices of bread

1 – 1 ½ tbsp. Peanut Butter

1 – 1 ½ tbsp. Blueberry Jam or Strawberry Jam

1 – 1 ½ tbsp. Orange Marmalade or Pineapple Jam

1 Banana sliced (optional)

1-2 tbsp. raisins (optional)

 

Directions:

1. Lay a slice of bread on your plate and spread blueberry jam or strawberry jam until you fill the edges.
2. Layer your sliced fresh fruits over.
3. Lay another slice of bread on top of the first bread and spread your peanut butter like what you did on the jam.
4. Sprinkle raisins on top of the peanut butter spread.
5. Lay your 3^rd slice of bread and spread orange marmalade or pineapple jam on it.
6. Atop it with sliced fresh fruits again.
7. Place the last piece of bread on top.
8. Press your sandwich slightly, close your eyes, and take a big bite to enjoy.

You can put 2 different fruits on the other layer or you can just have the spreads per layer. You can also select other jam that best suits your taste to satisfy to cravings.

Happy Spreading!

Food Trip @ Ilocandia...

Whenever you visit a new place you should try the local cuisine. So let's see what we have tried during our Ilocandia trip:

The Infamous Bagnet and Vigan Longanisa (try Rafael's at Nuestra Dela Paz, Batac):

Empanada Especial (we tasted the one at Pagudpud Plaza):

I'll try to get the recipe for you guys and hopefully we can do it in our own kitchens!

Easy Tuna Sandwich...

Let’s Make Some Sandwiches - Episode 2

Sandwiches are easy to make. Get 2 loaves of bread then a spread in between; you now have a good yummy sandwich ready to eat.

Here’s a recipe on how to make an Easy Tuna Sandwich:

Ingredients:

2-6 slices Rye or wheat bread

2 – 4 Tbsps.  Mayonnaise

1 Tuna Flakes in Oil (get the regular can and if you want some kick you can get the SPICY Tuna)

1 small bulb onion minced or finely diced (Optional)

Salt and Pepper

Lettuce and Tomato (Optional)

1-2 hard boiled and mashed eggs (Optional)

Directions:

1. Mix evenly the following ingredients: Mayonnaise, Tuna, and Minched Onion.
2. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. To make it like the commercial sandwich – add the mashed hard boiled eggs into the mixture evenly.
4. Spread Egg-Mayo mixture evenly in your slice bread.
5. Put another slice of bread on top.
6. Add some lettuce and sliced tomatoes to add color and for fibers
7. Slightly press and cut sandwich in diagonal.

The simpler, the better, and the easier you can prepare your meal in a dash.

Enjoy your Easy Tuna Sandwich any time of the day.

Happy mixing and munching!

Goody Egg-Mayo Sandwich

Let’s Make Some Sandwiches - Episode 1

Sandwiches are easy to make. Get 2 loaves of bread then a spread in between; you now have a good yummy sandwich ready to eat.

Here’s an easy recipe on how to make an Egg-Mayo Sandwich:

Ingredients:

2 loaves of bread

For the SPREAD:

2 – 4 Tbsps.  Mayonnaise

2 – 3 Eggs (Hard Boiled and Chopped Finely or Mashed)

1 small bulb onion (Minced or finely diced)

Salt and Pepper

For Plating:

1         Tomato (thinly sliced)

1 – 2 Romaine lettuce leaves

Directions:

1. Mix evenly the following ingredients: Mayonnaise, Egg, and Minced Onion
2. Add Salt and Pepper to taste
3. Spread Egg-Mayo mixture evenly in your slice bread.
4. Put a layer of Romaine Lettuce and slices of tomato on top of the Egg-Mayo mixture.
5. Put another slice of bread on top.
6. Slightly press and cut sandwich in diagonal.

Enjoy your Egg-Mayo sandwich with fresh juice on the side or coffee if you like.

Happy cooking!

Philippine Adobo Recipe

A meal that all Filipinos are known to which people of all ages love combination of salty, sour, and sometimes sweet flavors that makes you salivate, the ADOBO. Most kids wanted its sauce poured over white rice while most adults love the dried version and of course pork thick fat.

TRIVIA:

Do you know that ADOBO is not a Filipino word? In fact adobo came from Spanish word means marinade, sauce, or seasoning. Filipino Adobo though is different from Spanish Adobo as it is cooked indigenously by stewing meat in vinegar and soy sauce.

Some Adobo were cooked with sauce and some with dried sauce.

Some Adobo were cooked with soy sauce or the regular adobo and some were mixed with salt which we call adobong puti. Adobong puti is best for those kids who suffers from G6PD deficiency.

INGREDIENTS:

4-5 lbs. of Chicken parts or Pork belly

½ cup vinegar

½ cup soy sauce

4-6 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1 tsp. black peppers (whole)

2-3 bay leaves

a pinch or 2 of sugar to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar
2. Place Chicken or Pork in a large pot and put all ingredients include the vinegar and soy sauce mixture
3. Cover and marinate meat for 1-3 hours (Optional)
4. Cook mixture until it boils
5. Lower heat, cover pot, and  let it simmer for 30 minutes and stir occasionally
6. Uncover pot and simmer until sauce is reduced and thickens
7. Check meat if tender then serve Adobe with rice

     Happy Cooking!

Enjoying Mong Kok's Noodles

Lissa and I just got back to our hotel. We enjoyed strolling along Mong Kok's busy street. We watched some performances and those amazing photographers. 

Lissa watching 2 singers (a male and a female duet a Chinese song) under G2000 sign in Mong Kok, Hong Kong

A photographer directing his subjects or customers for a photo shoot!

After a long walk and buying (it's more of haggling) stuff for our colleagues. Lissa and I decided to have our dinner at New Forrest where we ate the following dishes:

Dinner's READY! DIG IN!

Lissa:

Lissa's first Mong Kok meal... Yum!

She had a baked creamy and cheesy pork rice with a cold authentic lemon ice tea on the side.

Mine:

I said spicy and it was really spicy! Yey! Yummy as well, the soup is really good!

I had a spicy Hong Kong noodles with breaded pork chop and an Iced Coffee.

Our meals totaled 100HKD. We are trying to save as much we are under budget... :)

I'll keep you posted guys!

A Cup of Coffee to Share…

I have this very distinct taste about my coffee. I want my coffee to taste coffee in my mouth not any type of sweetener. I don’t go for any commercial coffee that serves sugar drink with pinch of coffee if you know what I mean. The balance of earthy taste from the coffee bean and its eccentric aroma is what I’m looking for. As I always say to my friends and colleagues, “a coffee drink will never be a coffee drink without the basic ingredient in it which is the coffee not sugar or cream”.

A taste of staple coffee slowly drip filtered on ice while the sweetened milk awaits to embrace the bitterness.

One thing that my co-workers know about me is that I love COFFEE. I know it is bad to drink too much but I have as much 10 cups per night. Because of that I even got a Blood Coffee award or should I say Coffee Smelling Piss Prince <aromatic… eww! Hahaha> I always need to start my shift with a cup and the day will just flow as it is. I always tell my friends, especially Lissa, my buddy, about how coffee makes my nerves calm too. Yup! You read it right, it makes me calm. I don’t know, do I have things all in wrong way about coffee? Should I get myself tested?

I think you already know where this article is going to. Yes, it’s listing down coffee drinks on top of my list.

Topping all is just coffee or coffee with sugar.  What else should I be listing on top but the very basic coffee mix. I like it brewed and a little bit darker. Varieties of brewed coffee I like are the following: Kape Alamid or Kopi Luwak or commonly known as the civet coffee, Kape Barako or commonly known as Baraco coffe a member of the Coffea Liberica,Vietnamese Espresso, Italian Dark Roast, Yukon Organic blend, and Sumatra Dark Roast. You can have a bag of ground beans and prepare it with either your coffee maker at home or any coffee drip filter. You can get your Kape Alamid from certified coffee brewers like Alamid Café Express in Bonifacio Global Heights for Php 295.00 a cup or visit any Alamid Coffee shops around Tagaytay. Kape Barako is best to drink in cold breezy morning of Tagaytay and Batangas as you drink it with the locals. You can get abount ¼ kilo ground Baraco beans in ShopWise stores for a cheaper price <Yey! Kape all you want!>. Some of the brewed coffees on my list were gifts from my friends Ria, Paul, and others which have their distinct tastes and aroma.

Seconding on my top spot is the Vietnamese iced dark roast coffee on sweetened milk which called Cà Phê Sữa Dá or Cà Phê Nâu Dá (in English its iced brown coffee also similar with Café Cubano or cafecito). What best about this staple coffee drink is its simplicity in preparation and the balance of sweetness, creaminess, and bitterness of dark roast coffee. Also, this drink is something you can find anywhere in Vietnam from the coffee shops, restaurants, and along the hawkers or street vendors. Another think I like about Cà Phê Sữa Dá is the presentation. Coffee Highlands, one of the most popular coffee shops in Ho Chi Minh serves their Cà Phê Sữa Dá in a clear glass with 2-3 spoonful of condensed milk on ice and a coffee drip filter that allows the ground dark roast coffee’s flavour mixed with hot water and it slowly drips and combines to the other ingredient. Another thing why you would like this coffee drink is because of the cost. It is priced at ₫20,000-30,000. <funny thing about their money with a symbol ₫, it is called Dong hehehe. It was used since May 3, 1978 which was formerly known as Hào then it was Xu.>. You might say that this is too expensive for a coffee drink but it’s not. Try to convert.

Next on my top lists is the Caramel Macchiato, which I always get from The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL) as hot with ice on the side. Why do I order that way? And why not have it iced instead? I can give you 2 reasons. First is due to the taste. I don’t want my coffee to taste blunt due to melted ice. Second reason is you are getting ½ parts more than what you paid for <Isn’t it wise? LOLz>. You can go with the regular 2 shots or spike it up if wanted stronger coffee blend. You can have with breve in replacement of your regular milk too. Just ask it over the counter, if they don’t have breve then you can ask for half and half.

Another café latte type drink that I indulge was Starbucks’ Asian Dulce Latte which I wanted venti size with additional shots. You know how Starbucks make their coffee.  Asian Dulce Latte stayed for over month which start last May of 2013. It is another type of Caramel Macchiato but without the caramel. It was a switch from Caramel to an Asian Dulce, a mixture of milk or cream and sweetener.

I will end my list as of the moment and will give you additional if I got some new stuff coming. I’ll be in Macau and Hong Kong this September with friends and hopefully I can have new coffee blend specifically brewed from those countries. Maybe I can have some cups from Terra Coffee House, or Margaret’s Café e Nata, or CuppaCoffee.

I’ll you know ‘till next time. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, just let me know and I’m hoping to give you what you are looking for. Ciao for now!

Filipino’s Fried

Food what most of us loves to talk about and sometimes we are on our way of finding what best suits us and what is good for our health.  If you are looking for a healthy diet, I want you to skip reading this article. If you just want to read it for fun and some trivia, you can go ahead read at your own pleasure. For those who want to try out some Filipino cuisines, you can get some feedback on this must try list.

There is no easy way to prepare your food but frying. Buy a processed food out in the market then fry it and whoosh you already have a good meal for lunch, dinner, or even for snack and breakfast. I have heard from my friends who are taking up medicine that “Only palm or coconut oil is good for cooking, the rest just produce toxins which are bad for our health” <you see me here nodding my head with eyes wide open while listening>. If you want to research about it click the links I left below this article. So fellow fried eaters, be very careful which oil you are going to use when you cook.

Yes, I am talking about fried dishes which are really good either with rice or just as is. List get down to our list:

Danggit – What stinks does not mean it is not good? You will know if someone eats or cookingDanggit by its smell. I have written it correctly as it describes Danggit or sun dried Rabbitfish or Spinefoot or Siganid fish. This local delicacy is as smelly as a fish but it’s all flavourful too. This easy to cook meal is best served with vinegar, garlic, and pepper dip or fresh cut tomatoes. Best danggit’s are found in Cebu and common to all fishing villages in the Philippines. You can buy Danggit at the Tabo-an Market in Cebu. Danggit is one of the staple breakfast meals around the Philippines and it is prepared by simply deep frying it. Before it became a ready to cook meal, danggit is prepared by rinsing a Siganid fish and butterfly filleting it then dry it under the sun. Production of danggit happens over summer and if the fish was dried properly it will last for a year.

Smelley yet lovely

Tuyo – Another stinky yet delicious Filipino food, the tuyo. It came from the word tuyo in Filipino which means dry.  Just like Danggit, tuyo isalso a sun dried salted Herring fish or Stockfish. As pungent as Danggit, it is best with the same exact dips <I like it more with tomato and salted egg> and as delicious too.

Mouth-watering Tuyo

Tinapa – Smokey delicious as a variety of smoked fish fried after the smoking process is calledTinapa. This meal is as mouth-watering as the first 2 fish dishes on the list. Commonly, bangus(milkfish) and galunggong (mackerel scad), it is served during breakfast.  You can add it on your cheap list like tuyo and most on this list.

Smokey yummy treat.

Crispy Pata – deep fried pork knuckles or trotter which is best dipped in soy sauce mixed withkalamansi (Asian Lemon), onion chops, and garlic or soy sauce and vinegar. This all-time favourite dish is served during parties or special occasions. There were restaurant around metro and near cities or provinces that serves this dish typically in bars and drinking areas. Tagaytay’s Leslie’s, is a place where you can enjoy the said dish while overlooking at the Taal volcano’s crater and the cold breeze of the area. It may not be cold for foreigners but for Filipinos it is.

Pork knuckles fried deeply to its perfection.

Bagnet – one of the best Ilocano-culinary price is the bagnet or commonly called pork bellychicharon(pork cracklings or pork rind). Cooked the same way as the Crispy Pata, the only difference is which part of pork is used for the said cooking, also, this dish is best dipped on the same dips you can use for Crispy Pata or just as is. I remember how delicious this simple dish is cooked with the local pinakbet at Java Hotel’s restaurant in La Union.

Crispy treat from the North.

Lechong Kawali – a common Filipino dish served with liver sauce or vinegar, crushed garlic, and pepper sauce. It is a slab of pork’s belly that was boiled and then deep-fried until crispy and golden. Mama cooked this food typically when Lolo ask his “glassmates” or his drinking buddies at home in Bolinao, Pangasinan.

An all time favorite.

Tapa – this delicacy which may be mistaken as tapas as Spanish cuisine’s wide variety of appetizers but it is the counterpart or resembles Beef Jerky. The word tapa is more related to Sanskrit term tapas which mean “heat”. This beef sirloin strips were marinated/cured with salt, sugar, soy, garlic, and ground black pepper or saltpetre then dried is made perfectly to form a delightful and mouth-watering breakfast. Over the years tapa has been served as meal not only in breakfast but also lunch and dinner.  It is best partnered with garlic rice, fried egg, and atsara (pickled papaya) or commonly called TAPSILOG with a spicy vinegar or soy sauce andcalamansi as a dip.

Meaty flavor you will always look for.

Tocino – is a barrowed word from Spanish which describes bacon, is some Carribean countries Tocino is actually bacon made out of pork fatback but instead of cured or smoked it is fried until crunchy and were used as additives like lardons in French. Philippino Tocino is prepared by mixing Anise wine, annatto, water, salt, sugar, and saltpetre then sprinkling this mixture on pork strips and stacked in a container which is covered and kept refrigerated for about 2 to 3 days. This sweetened pork recipe is very delicious when fried until the sugar caramelizes and the pork reddened which completes a very good breakfast. Just like Tapa, this has been commonly served as meals all through-out the day with rice, fried egg, and tomato. Our Cabalens or locals of Pampanga have a special way to marinate their tocino, adding pineapple juice in the mixture to have a slightly tart flavour which they call “burong babi” (fermented pork).

An Asian way of sweetened pork.

Longganisa – it is a barrowed dish from Spanish Longaniza but with the Filipino twist. There has been variety of so called Filipino sausages all throughout Luzon. Lucban have this garlicky and peppery longganisa which you can easily get from Buddy’s together with the pansit habhab. Vigan’s longganisa is also famous because of the distinct garlic taste of Iloco’s garlic. Guagua’s salty and soury longganisa which is by contrast of the regular longganisa that is sweet in taste. Like tapa, it is also served best with rice and fried egg.

A pouch of meaty surprises.

Fish Balls – this maybe one of the most popular street food in the Philippines but the fish balls that comes to my memory is the homemade fish balls. Most of Bolinaonon make their own fish balls out of fish meat, pepper, garlic, onion, and some carrot mixture. These will then made into balls and deep fried giving you delightful taste of the ocean and earthy taste of the spices. Typically they use triggerfish or the papakol as the main ingredient. The distinctive taste and softness of the meat makes the different flavour of this fish ball. Best when dipped in all sorts of vinegar mixtures and it eaten as a snack like your regular fish ball.

Snack time for fish balls with sweet chili sauce on the side.

I have been listing all this food and it made me really hungry. It’s time to park the pen and get my fingers working on some food and eat.

Enjoy everyone! Have a happy and cravingly reading.

You can now follow me in twitter @travelingwithyu and visit my facebook pagewww.facebook.com/travelingwithyu. For any questions and suggestions just shoot me a message and I will get back to you.