A Batangas Day!

We were in Anilao, Batangas yesterday to bring some balikbayan friends for some swimming and diving. We left Manila at 6 a.m. and met up with some other guys at McDo-Petron in SLEX. We headed to Mt. Malarayat Gold and Country Club at Lipa, Batangas to pick up the balikbayans, chit chat with their folks and some photo  taking at their very picturesque backyard- the golf course itself!  We finally reached our destination, Bambu Villa,  at almost noon after being stuck at the Batangas City junctions.  (We later found out that it was Batangas Day so probably there was a parade that held up the traffic!)

As soon as we arrived, the kids practically jumped into the pool! This was all they were waiting for after hours in the van.  And as soon as they got into the pool, it started to rain so, we, the oldies went up and waited for the buffet lunch to open.  And here we stayed and chatted until it was practically time to pack up and go.  Lunch and merienda were so-so but we sure did a lot of catching up and reminiscing- and snacking on all sorts of chips. We left the resort at past seven too tired to even mind about dinner. Good thing Edith made reservations at Johanna's Grille at Bauan, Batangas.  I was not excited anymore as I was dead tired but dining at Johanna's capped the day indeed! They served fork tender hickory barbecued baby-back ribs!  It was so worth the side trip!  Apparently, Johanna's Grille is a popular stopover place to dine in  for divers coming from Anilao. The servings are huge and cheap. A big slab of ribs costs Php200 and this comes with corn and a scoop of rice.  I went for a smaller slab that was just Php180 (a similar dish would cost more than Php500 in Manila)
It was truly enjoyable Batangas Day indeed!  We were in 3 Batangas towns yesterday!  As soon as we hit the road for Manila, I dozed off until we were almost near Edith's house where I parked my car!  Thanks Norman for driving to and from Batangas as I was no big help!  Thanks much!

Love this song | Say (All I Need)

This song has been playing in my mind for a week now.  I simply love it!

Pancit na Puti, Max's Style Fried Chicken and Cassava Cake

Yesterday was Mama Rosa's birthday and we had some homestyle Pinoy cooking - Sotanghon na Puti, Cassava Cake and bottomless Max-style Fried Chicken. 

For the sotanghon, I use the Pancit na Puti recipe but instead of bihon, I always use sotanghon. I first tasted this dish during one of our office parties where we would always order from our "suki" Mang Julio.

Here's my recipe:

1/4 kilo sotanghon (soaked in water)

2 chicken breasts

1 cup chopped lechon kawali

1/4 cup minced garlic

1 medium onion, sliced

1/3 cup sliced green onions

1/4 cup cooking oil

freshly ground black pepper

salt

chicken bouillon

1/3 cup patis (fish sauce)

Directions:

Boil chicken breasts until tender in 1 liter of water. Set aside broth. Cut chicken into small pieces once cooled. Saute garlic and onions in cooking oil. Add chicken pieces and patis. Let patis boil for 2 minutes then add chicken broth and bouillon. Let the broth simmer for 5 minutes then add sotanghon. After 5 minutes, add the spring onions, salt and pepper.  Top with the chopped lechon kawali as served.

For the Max's style fried chicken:

Chicken fryer

cornstarch

salt

pepper

oil for frying

Directions:  Split the chicken lengthwise. Rinse well. Coat will cornstarch and season with salt and pepper.  Steam for 30 minutes. Let the chicken halves dry. (May be kept in the freezer also!). When about to serve, heat oil and fry the chicken. Drain and serve with, of course, Jufran banana catsup.  

And for the Cassava cake, I picked this recipe from the internet:

For the cake:

2 lbs. grated cassava

1 14 oz condensed milk (reserve 1/3 c. for topping)

1 14 oz. can coconut milk (reserve /3 c. for topping)

1 12 oz. can evaporated milk

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup grated young coconut

For the topping:

3 yolks

1/3 c. reserved sweetened condensed milk

1/3 c. reserved coconut cream

Directions:  Pre-heat oven to 325F.  In a large mixing bowl, combine cake ingredients. Mix well. Pour equally into 2 large greased rectangular pans. Bake until top is no longer liquid (30 minutes). Mix topping ingredients well and spread evenly on the two cakes. Bake for an additional 20-30 minutes. Cook cakes completely.

   

Get Together with Balikbayan Friends

College friends Angeli, Noel and Powie are in town from the U.S. We had a quick get together at Barcino last Wednesday. Traffic was heavy from ADB which was a usual 8-10 minute drive that it took me almost 30 minutes to get there. I was already anxious to see my friends! 

It was so much fun chit-chatting and laughing all  night with them! 

Pichi-Pichi

I was on my way home and happened to drive by a small store selling Pichi-pichi at Php6 per piece. This caught my attention so I decided to experiment. Yesterday was market day so I asked my mom and Yaya Sai to get kamoteng kahoy (cassava), lihiya (lye) and coconut so I could test the recipe I googled.

Here is the recipe I tried:

Ingredients:

• 1 – 1/2 cups grated cassava
• food coloring (optional)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 bundle of pandan leaves, boiled in 2 cups water until reduced to one cup, and cooled ( or canned pandan concentrate, or a few drops of pandan essence in a cup of warm water)
• 1/2 tsp lye water* “lihiya”
• grated coconut for topping

Directions:

• Mix the sugar and the pandan flavored water and mix until sugar is dissolved. mix in the cassava and then add the lye water drop by drop mixing well as you do so.
• Pour into a mold or bowl that fits your bamboo steamer. steam until the mixture becomes translucent.
• While still hot scoop out the cooked mixture (use ice cream scoop or a tablespoon the same size as the scoop) and roll into grated coconut.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Telling the world

I do not like bird movies... until I watched Rio with Peppe, Juju and Yaya Sai. It was cute, fun and had really good music.  And this one is my favorite... Taio Cruz' "Telling the World."

Good Life

I love my Phiten

My back has been bothering me since Friday, I even had to go  and have a massage. This morning as I was dressing up to go out, I found my Phiten necklace inside my drawer and decided to wear it and give it a try. Lo and behold! The pain has become bearable and I could move freely. Really! My Phitens are really worth it.  Besides, I got mine at half its Manila price back in Japan.

Royce' Potte Goma Cookies

I actually thought it was weird when I saw them on the shelves but I know Royce' never fails.  I got four boxes of these treasures as pasalubong but I ended up giving away only one because they were too precious to share! These are not available at the Royce' stores in Manila.

Who could go wrong with everything good is rolled into one: potato chips, cookies, chocolate and black sesame seeds?! Absolutely delish!

Strange but yummy Kitkat Wasabi

When we were in Osaka, I tried a lot of strange things like curry tonkatsu, green tea (I never liked green tea until that trip!), green tea Melty Kiss, soy sauce and green tea KitKat and even seafood flavored Nissin cup noodles. When we were in Kansai International and about to board our plane, we came across a small shop selling all kinds of KitKats.  We bought a few of Kitkats but I did not even dare touch the wasabi flavored ones. Huh! Big mistake!  Almost half a year after the trip, Edith gave me some of her leftover chocolate loot and I just fell in love with KitKat wasabi! I want to hit my head for not stashing these yummy bars! Ugh!

100-yen shops

I just got home from Chicken-All-You-Can dinner after a bit of shopping at Daiso. Tonight was really what one may call a “bargain” night. I spent around P1,000 at Daiso but got home with a bag full of sorts.  Shopping at Daiso is quite interesting as all items are less than P100 one ends up buying stuff that they do not need at all but bought anyway since they are cheap. I was able to buy all sorts when I was in Osaka when we chanced upon a 100-yen shop at Tenjobi.

100-Yen Shops or the hyakuen shoppu are one of the best place to pick up a bargain. In these shops you can find some really good value and often very unusual products, and as the name suggest all for only 100 yen, which is an absolute bargain.

The Last of Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is a 2011 epic fantasy directed by David Yates and the second of two films based on the nove of the same namel by J.K. Rowling. It is the eighth and final instalment in the Harry Potter series. The story continues to follow Harry Potter on a quest to find and destroy Lord Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry’s best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

I have watched Harry Potter from the very start.  Daniel, Rupert and Emma have grown before our eyes.  Now the saga is about to end.  I will miss you Harry Potter!

Caramel Butter Pecan

I just got home and I just put a quart of soft Tillamook Caramel Butter Pecan ice cream in the freezer.  I can't wait till tomorrow morning so I can dig in!

I have tried a lot of Tillamook flavors and this one stands out. I can only get it through an expat friend even though S&R carries the brand (only in very limited flavors).  The only local ice cream that comes close to this is Selecta's Vanilla Almond. 

This is one of my simple joys and it costs $5.37 a quart- not bad! Thanks a lot, Nishi-san!