Legazpi Sunday Market

Some flowers from last Sunday

Given that the Legaspi Market is just a few blocks away, it's one of the many good things in my life that I take for granted. Imagine, fresh produce, frozen meat and seafood, flowers, booze, and meals from all over the world all within walking distance? That is paradise in a concrete jungle. And I just walk - no worries about parking.

I haven't been there in almost a year and last weekend's visit came as a surprise. I've always thought Salcedo Market had better variety and more stalls but I was quite pleased with the changes at the Legaspi Market. There's enough stalls and choices to whet your appetite and the dormant shoppaholic in you without leaving you the bitin feeling. Except for the heat and lack of tables to eat on, Legaspi Market has come a long way. An informative article by Myrza Sison says it all. I leave you with some snapshopts from a wonderful afternoon at the market.

Some organic balms. I got a pot of mosquito repellent and it works!

My First Adobo

Close friends and family have always known I love food: cooking, eating, talking and dreaming about it. As much as I have been cooking since at least 11 years old, I've never really mastered the art of Filipino cooking. You see, if it's not the crunchy/ crispy sort like chicharon, crispy pata, lechon kawali and bagnet, I would not crave for Pinoy food at all.

When I was living abroad, the closest to Filipino food I prepared were frying the dried seafood my mom sent (danggit etc.), preparing instant champorado, and grilled Liempo. My single attempt at making adobo was a catastrophe as I didn't have the right soy sauce - it was too thick that I was not pleased with the consistency of the sauce, I never bothered again.

Since 2004, one project I've always wanted to do was to learn how to prepare Filipino dishes I'm content with. I have several Filipino cookbooks from Mommy and Tatay but never I cooked from them. I admit, I've never really religously followed a recipe (maybe that's why I never bothered to bake). I just read for inspiration and cook based on what I have in the kitchen. Despite all the cookbooks and cooking shows, cooking is more of a learning-by-doing thing.

So I enlisted my mom's lunchtime last weekend to teach me how to cook Adobo. All I needed were two pans (for the boiling and frying), soy sauce, vinegar, water, salt, pepper, and of course, chicken. It would probably be better with bay leaves, but I assure you, it's the manner of cooking that makes a difference in the taste.

We just marinated the chicken with all the ingredients for awhile, and left it to boil until the room was filled with the acid smell of vinegar. Do not stir. Once the smell is gone, we lowered the fire until the chicken was tender. Just dry the chicken through a strainer and fry on high heat. This is my chance to shred some pieces. Once fried, add the sauce in batches. Eventually, the oil is supposed to form a frame around the edge of the pan with the runny brown sauce surrounding the meat.

I tried it the other night and I was just slightly pleased with my version but I think I'm one step away from my mom's adobo, which is my benchmark. :) One more try, then I move on to Sinigang.

Kitchen Travel

I'm such an Asian Food Travel addict (Discovery Travel & Living on weekends, and Diane knows this!) that when I saw the trailer for French Food at Home, I was hooked. Key words: Kitchen Travel.
To be honest, I've only seen two episodes because most nights, I'm also watching my telenovelas. Haha! But since watching an episode one Saturday morning with mom, I knew I liked the show. I like the way the chef made fancy French stuff seem easy to prepare that in the end, you wish you had all the ingredients to try it yourself - regardless of whether you know how to cook or not. She made me want to do that with Turkish food but that was just a thought.
And tonight, I decided to google the show, and now I know the chef's name: Laura Calder. The more I learn about her, the more I'm falling and the more I'm getting excited! You see, I've been a secret admirer of Muccia Prada simply because she was a former communist and has a PhD in Political Science, and she put all of that behind her to be a fashion designer. I've got no secret fashion aspirations but as early as I knew I wanted to join the UN, I knew I wanted to cook, and be a chef.
The nerd and wanderer in me was delighted to find out she spent so much time studying, gallavanting and getting lost while loving food the whole time. Imagine, masters from London School of Economics and a dream to be a diplomat? The pillar behind politics, philosophy and economics of pol eco! She left her job, her fiance, and her life to study cooking.
I'm not yet in the dire situation of leaving everything behind but food, oh food! Time stops when it comes to food. :)
I'm still reading her blog, some articles and I leave you with some quotes that I absolutely like!

"So much in life seems permanent when we’re in the thick of it (our childhood homes, friendships, stages of our lives) that it can be a real shock when we realize that, in fact, nothing is forever – everything moves on."

"Big deal, you may say, but I think seemingly insignificant moves like this in life must be a sign of something deeper at work, no? Just like when people suddenly get transformative haircuts… I just got one of those too, actually, (not pictured here), so who knows what’s in the wind." "It made me consider how much lies dormant and ignored in the world until the right person comes along and breathes life into it. Like delicious forgotten recipes, like old toys locked in a trunk, like aspects of our personalities that hide in the shadows until someone comes along and shines a flashlight on them…"

"My resolutions are to be very loyal to yoga (not hard, because I’m addicted) and also to listen to my gut and trust it, always. " - I like this because I started my belly dancing and yoga bit at home but things got in the way and now, I stopped again.
"
The trick is to find the interesting people: that’s what makes any place come alive."
"As my instructor said the other day: "Generally, if something feels difficult, it's wrong, and what feels easy is right." Apply that little tip to work and relationships for a second… She's right."

"sometimes life steps in and forces our minds to change"

And my favorite because it's so timely:
"It never ceases to amaze me how the things we imagine to be permanent or certain in life never stay put or turn out as we expect."

There are still heaps of things I want to do before I make the big bold move; It just feels good to know that despite one's age, one can leave it all behind and pursue one's "dormant passions." :)

You can more from here, here, and here. But this is the juiciest article of all: Laura talks about men and food. :)

Inspired

Rogue Magazine on Chef Gaita Fores and Pepato

It's been exactly a year since I browsed a local foodblog. Over the weekend, I remembered there's more to Manila's food scene than clickthecity.com and random citations in Preview magazine and High Life.
I clicked on Dessert Comes First and remembered what it was like to breathe, eat, and shit gastronomy. All of a sudden, I remembered who I was and what I have always wanted to be - a chef/food writer/gourmet nomad. And I also remembered Our Awesome Planet. I joined their Pampanga tour last February and had the best and most memorable breakfast spread yet: Italian sausages, smoked salmon, steak, fritatas, yogurt, cereal and fruits, capuccino and fresh fruit juices. Well, those are the only ones I can remember tonight.
I'm sure there are more Pinoy blogs like those of MarketMan but I haven't had the chance to browse them yet. I've seen enough to be reminded. I am glued to AFC and the Travel and Living Channel but I guess, I've become a passive viewer.
Anyway, as stated in my previous post, I've decided to take a short culinary course next year. So far, I've found two schools in Manila: ISCAHM and CIA. International School for Culinary Arts and Hotel Management along Katipunan Avenue has a longer history than the Culinary Institute of Aristocrat along Roxas Boulevard. Both offer the short course I'm interested to take: weekend classes spread through 2-3 months providing basic culinary training. Right now, I've got a biased preference for ISCAHM. :)
It feels good to be inspired. Tomorrow, I'm getting copies of Rogue Magazine (because Lori Baltazar of Dessert Comes First is featured this month) and Travelife (because I must get my travel writing act together and it has features on Buenos Aires and Macau- two places I want to visit).
This weekend is the beginning of something good. I love the fire of inspiration!

Kitchen Help

For the longest time, I've always been comfortable in the kitchen, both cooking and eating. I've been blessed to share that joy with family and friends through the years, although not as much in recent times.
I've been longing to rekindle my passions and cooking always comes first. After browsing NYtimes for some inspiration, I stumbled upon Mark Bittman''s article on Paris bistros.
Opening up my own place has always been a dream I shared with my mom, and expressed to K. It has always been a retirement option, and retirement seems a long way to go. Lately, I've been thinking of what I really want and how to get it.
I want to open my own bistro by employing out-of-school youth who share the same passion for food. I want a gourmet-charity-bistro of sorts. And to make that happen, I'm planning to enroll in a short culinary course in March. I know it seems so far away but that's when my weekend teaching post ends (more on that next time).
Yup, school again. Instead of dole outs, I believe in skills transfer: the VSO way.
One day, it will come full circle: all the eating, all the traveling, all the learning, all the helping. One happy fulfilled community. :)

Let's do this Again

My favourite painting of all: Salvador Dali's Muchacha en la Ventana

Crossing over timelines.
Musings over realistic imaginations.
The mundane, the grand and everything in between.
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Same old thoughts in a new home.
It's my first time on wordpress, and first time to commit to public blogging all over again in a year. Yup, hello world! Again.
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It's been a slow week, and I've been thinking how cooking really fulfills me. Tonight, I made onion soup at home. I caramelized onions with butter, then added chicken broth, salt and pepper. Meanwhile, I toasted some bread covered with a generous heap of cheese. I heated the bowls, put dollops of mozarella, poured the boiling soup over, and topped it with toasted bread with cheese. Et voila! homemade onion soup!
I know for sure I can cook. And any one who's lived with me and welcomed me into their kitchen knows I've got what it takes. But somehow, the daily grind of concrete jungle life has distracted me from pursuing my passions. Must find a culinary course after work or on weekends soon. :)
Or dance classes. Anything but intellectual pursuits for now.
Dobrou noc!

Budapest is Love!

I was in Budapest last spring and it's one city I'm coming back to! It's got the charm of an old city, yet despite its faded imperial glory, is just about to make it happen in the 21st century!

I love Baguio!

I've been to Baguio several times before but my recent trip impressed upon me an I-love-Baguio-I-want-to-keep-coming-back-to-Baguio" type of feeling.

Perhaps it was being with family and friends. I was there with the B. family and all they did was reminisce about their childhood and visit all the places they frequented then.

We had lunch at the Baguio Country Club where I enjoyed some freshly made caesar salad and bought some banana bread. Now I know why the banana bread is a country club specialty- it's best for banana-haters who can only tolerate a hint of banana with the right sweetness and perfect moist. I'm now a banana convert.

Visiting the Baguio market just made me want to fast forward to retirement where I won't do anything but cook! Gosh, the freshest vegetables at bargain prices! Probably a dozen lettuce bulbs for only PhP50! Everthing was there, even crabs. And strawberries, oh strawberries!





I also met up with R. and at my request, took me to the Tam-awan Village. Since I've been to Ifugao before, I wan't impressed. The funny thing is, there was an artist in front creating a steel monument for the Baguio centennial celebrations come September. Well, we thought he was the artist. Maybe just a welder. Hahaha!

R. and I bid farewell when I met up with E. at the U.P. Baguio campus, and off we went to Camp John Hay.







I haven't been there before and just had to see it. After some photos, and laughing at the graves at the lost cemetery, we were off to Cafe Wills for some food and drinks. One thing I love about Baguio, is it's cafe culture. I like it that I can have great food and alcoholic drinks, practically anywhere, and anytime. Need not be at a bar late at night with loud music or our local version of a biergarten.

Time was running out and E. dropped me off at Rosebowl to have dinner with my family. Apparently, Rosebowl is another institution where oldtimers go.

I just love Baguio! Each place seems like a short ride away and there's so many places to see. And at some point, you can even view the South China Sea beyond the mountains.

I can't wait to come back!

Crabs and Mojitos

Over a weekend ago, I spent Friday night with E. and M. for some Vietnamese heaven at Aquaknox. Think Arzenal with velvet chairs and nuvo lounge music in the background. I was too hungry, I only took a photo of the crab. It was so good, it beats my fond memories of than long crabs from SFO. And yes, it's the best mojitos I've had so far. Aquaknox does not scrimp on ingredients. I'm definitely coming back. And bring more friends.

Taal Heritage Tour

On Labor Day, I joined my mom, together with the Philippine Italian Association, to a day trip to Taal, Batangas. It's not really a municipality by the lake where the volcano is located but somewhere near Calatagan. At least that's what the signs stated. I just road the bus, listened to the guides, visisted churches, old houses, sampled local food and heard mass officiated by Fr. Suarez.

Inside the Villavicencio Residence

Exteriors of Marcella Agoncillo's home, the lady who made the first Philippine flag.

Several versions of our flag