Fresh Guacamole

Not exactly related to food, I know, but I found this video amusing and thought it will be an interesting short film to watch if you haven't yet.

About this film:
"The 2013 Academy Award® Nominated film by PES. Fresh Guacamole is the shortest film ever nominated for an Oscar®.

Fresh Guacamole was originally commisioned by Showtime as part of its "Short Stories" series and first appeared on Showtime's YouTube channel for a period of 1 year (March 7, 2012 - March 7, 2013). In that time the film tallied 7,842,373 views. Since YouTube does not allow view counts on a film to be transferred between channels, the upload here on PESfilm has to start again at zero. It is the only place online to see the film for free."

The mystery of Yakult

My son loves Yakult and we make sure he has one in his lunch box everyday. But the most baffling thing is the size of the Yakult bottle.  If you thought the bottle was small in the Philippines, check out the bottle from here in New Zealand!  Photo above for comparison.  It does make one wonder about the size discrepancy.

Coca-Cola Happiness Project

I have seen this video before, and when I saw it again in Facebook a few minutes ago, I just had to play it again.  And it was just as touching as when I first saw it.  Worth sharing a million times over.

Halo-halo and other treats

How can you tell if summer is well and truly underway in the Philippines?  Well, there's the warm weather for one thing.  But food-wise, it's the halo-halo stands that sprout in the neighborhood by enterprising households.  And boy, do I love halo-halo!

Reminiscing

Been quite busy lately so I haven't found time to blog yet.  But I have been recently uploading photos to my Flickr account (for backup - I've always worried that my old photos would disappear as soon as the portable hard disk fails, and I found it cumbersome to save on DVD discs.  Why didn't I think about getting a Flickr Pro account before!), and I saw some pictures from 7 years ago that made me reminisce my time back in the Philippines...

Dinengdeng with inihaw na bangus... a couple of my favourites!  My Nanay makes the best dinengdeng!

There's this section in the Baguio City market where you can get all the ingredients you need to make Guinataan... a one-stop shop if you will.  My eldest sister loved making treats for us in the afternoons when we were kids... I guess she still loves doing it now.

Manila listed in CNN Go's Greatest Street Food Cities

For a country that loves to eat, having something to chew on at most street corners is a welcome respite from the busy urban life.  I too have found myself on the street for many an occasion, be it for fishballs or pares, or a yummy lunch in one of the Jollijeeps which provide affordable meals in Makati.

How are you weathering through the Marmite shortage?

When the Marmite shortage was publicised last month, New Zealand was abuzz with the grim prospect of facing the tough months ahead with no Marmite.

Fine Dining - a film by Lance Katigbak

I think Somebody up there is trying to tell me something.

This morning I came across this quote from Sidney Snoeck's Facebook wall:

The happiest people don't worry too much about whether life is fair or not, they just get on with it.
- Andrew Matthews

This made me stop for a while and ponder on what it means for me.  And then later in the afternoon I saw this video from Tito Rolly's feed.



Again it made me stop and I felt a certain sadness overcome me.  This scene felt very familiar.

Pinakbet (Ilocano song)

Here's another interesting video.  An Ilocano folk song about the Pinakbet, which is a vegetable dish with fish sauce and some pork bits mixed in.  It's really good, and is one of my favourite dishes.

For the love of tuyo

Ah, the lowly and yet so yummy tuyo!  The perfect companion to ginisang monggo on a Friday evening.  And the lengths we have to go through to have some tuyo at the dinner table!  For this dried, salted fish has a notorious reputation of being so aromatic it pervades and lingers in the house that visitors the next day can guess what you had for dinner!

We bought a portable stove as part of our emergency stash.  But we have found another clever use for it: cook tuyo in the great outdoors!  And my mother-in-law thinks it's genious.

Happy weekend everyone!

Filipino Food music video

This music video was released October of last year, but still gets airtime.  Over 967,000 views the last time I checked.  It's a parody of Katy Perry's California Gurls.

Hello, halo-halo!

Well, what do you know... our favourite summer treat made it to CNN!  In the Philippines, summer is welcomed with makeshift stalls selling halo-halo, which literally means "mix-mix".  It's because that's what you exactly do with it.  Various sweetened produce (bananas, sweet potatoes, beans, coconut strings, gelatin are piled at the base of the tall glass (or a bowl), then crushed ice is packed on top of it, followed by a good pouring of milk and with leche flan and/or ice cream to top it off.  Then mix-mix-mix it all up with your spoon!

Happiness is...

... a cold bottle of San Mig Light...

Bukayo

We were at my sister's house for lunch that day. It was quite the reunion; Jo-Lo's cousins were there to play with. Not that they're the same age as he is, in fact he's the youngest of the lot by 5 years.

Good thing his nephew and niece were around. It's a closer age gap.  Quite amusing though to see uncle and nephew playing around!  The sound of laughter was wafting through the windows; we decided to have a look.

Jo-Lo was enjoying a packet of bukayo with his nephew. I could not help but smile. That sweet treat of my childhood is now being enjoyed by my son. It's pure sugary goodness though so I'm not sure if there's a health benefit in there.  But Jo-Lo does not particularly like eating sweets and to find him enjoying this was quite a revelation.  There's definitely a giddy Pinoy kid in him regardless of his accent.

Coca Cola Happiness Truck Philippines

Couldn't help but smile. Whoever thought this up is a genius!

Technorati tags: musing

Sweet pusit

The sign on top of the box of dried squid read: "Sweet Pusit, P175.00/ kilo. It's the word "sweet" that got me. I mean, who can resist sweet squid? So I bought some for breakfast.

Sweet for squid is not in the sugary sense. I don't know how to place it though... but the squid is just so yummy! It's not salty (considering it's from the sea), it's not sour (save for the vinegar dip)... there is indeed a sweet tone to it. This goes very well with a vinegar dip sprinkled with ground pepper and with a couple of crushed garlic. Make sure fried rice is in abundant supply! It's one of my favourite breakfast (and lunch, and dinner) items ever!

Ar-arusep: grapes of the sea

I must take after my father when it comes to appreciation of seafood.  As a native of Dagupan, fish, clams, oysters, and all sorts of bounty from the sea find its way to his table.  And he brought this all the way to Baguio where we grew up.

Ar-arusep (as it is called in Ilocano, Baguio's local dialect), is a form of seaweed.  It also tastes great.  I could never recall a time that I did not like it.  I like the ones that have small globules; there's actually a variety that's lighter in colour and have bigger "grapes" but they're not as tasty.

Town's Pizza

Any Baguio old-timer would know Town's Pizza: those small, unassuming roadside stands that sell cheap but yummy pizza! Town's Pizza has been in Baguio as far back as I remember and their pizzas are value for money. In fact, there was a time when I actually prefer their pizza over the fastfood chain variety, and when we grabbed one again last December, I found that I do still like their pizza!

Philippine mangoes: the best mangoes ever

I missed our mangoes so much.  The mangoes that we get in Wellington are imported, but are of a different variety.  It's just not as bright and sweet as ours.  Even our green mangoes has its own distinct sour taste that goes very well with fish sauce.  Yum!

Love Kakanin!

We are currently on vacation here in the Philippines, and although it has only been two years since we left, I have definitely missed our beloved Kakanin! Bibingka, puto, kutsinta, suman, collectively called Kakanin, these foodie delights remind me of happy times. Rice cakes in one form or another always make an appearance on the fiesta or birthday table. It is also a very popular pasalubong fare after Sunday mass. Sweet and attractively packaged, our kakanin is always a welcome sight. Our kakanin often contains such major ingredients as coconut milk, brown sugar, and glutinous rice, root crop, or other local produce.

I have made it a point to buy some whenever I spot these in our travels, and I would like to share with you my kakanin adventure so far.