Eleven Things To Eat in Ilocos

It is summertime in the Philippines!  The streams on my facebook is filled with images of  our tropical brand of happiness!  Here I am cocooned, sweatshirt and all, watching the gloomy Saturday run its course, my mind miles away filled with a longing for...


Halo-halo - the quintessential Filipino frozen dessert

    (Image from nytimes.com)

That Green Gunk!

See that slimy green gunk on the left? The one that looks like
        a) radioactive waste
        b) something  that´s meant for the garbage can  or
        c) something that´s ermmm, too gross to mention.

Well, that green gunk is the one food that I love above all else in The Netherlands.

An Almond A Day...

I  just realized that  I have been eating a lot of almonds these past few weeks.  I always thought of almonds as these nubbins that´s  supposed to be a healthier snack option to chips.   Rich in Protein! Food for the Brain!  Well, you know the drill...

On days when I get into one of my get-fit-or-die  mindset, I  do turn to almonds to carry me through my snack cravings. Although to be honest, I do get bored eating almonds after sometime, because let´s admit it, absolutely nothing is as satisfying and guilt-inducing as munching through a bag of  lipsmacking Ruffle´s Cheddar & Sour Cream potato chips!

CHOCS

And then there´s Almonds with Chocolates, or is it the other way around? Let´s just say that whoever discovered this delicious combination is a food hero.  Because let´s admit it,  life, hard as it is already,  would just be a bit harsher if there were no chocolate-covered almonds  in the world to perk us up!

 Meiji Almond from Japan

A Sweet Hello to Gu´s Delicious Treats

Hello! How are you? Sorry I´ve been quiet for some time.  I just moved countries and although The Netherlands is only an hour and a half away from Madrid, my base for the past two years,  there were still a lot of things to get used to.  The weather, for one thing.  It´s always cold and drizzling in Holland.  But the past few weeks there have been pockets of sunshine.  People are all looking forward to spring and the tulips in full bloom!  and the sun! How I miss the  hot scorching rays of the sun!  I never imagined I would say this, but there are days when I miss Madrid so much.  I miss the  mild weather and the good, inexpensive food  that can be had at the restaurants all over Madrid.  Here in Holland, the groceries are not really expensive but eating out is.  I miss Madrid´s 10€ two course meals with dessert and wine! Ah but that´s life.  One has to make do with what is on her plate at the moment.

One good thing about Holland is the plethora of grocery goodies from Belgium, France, Germany and the UK.  Take for example my super delicious find this weekend.  It´s a brand called Gu from the UK founded after the owner got inspired by the desserts he tried in Belgium.

The first time I tried this was on a brief trip to Paris. I remember I bought a chocolate pudding and it  was delish but relatively expensive at about 2€ for a small ramekin.  Imagine my happiness then when I saw packs of Gu at my local grocery today and they were on sale!  From 3.5€ for a double serving pack,  they were only 2€ a pack!

Going Home To Ilocos #1: Playing With Frogs

                                 Ilocos landscape

Five years.  It's been five years since I've gone home to my parents' hometown in Ilocos Norte.  I really have no excuse --- life just buzzed by and with my meager vacation days, I could not find the time and the willpower to go home.  I figured it's enough that my mother goes home every couple of years or so,  and that I did see my nieces three years ago when they came to Manila while I was on vacation.  There's  facebook  and  phone conversations to keep us connected.

But who am I kidding?  The truth is that going home to Ilocos somewhat made me uneasy.  It's a mixed bag of joy and frustration, of belonging and not really fitting in.  It was easier and far more comfortable for me not to go.

On the one hand,  Ilocos defined my childhood.  My happiest memories as a child were the two months of summer spent with my mother's parents,  Nana and Tata. This went on every year until I was fifteen when Tata died. 

My brother and I have not much to bank on when it comes to love between our parents.  I am luckier perhaps, because the seven years gap between my younger brother and me  meant I had the gift of time to spend with my grandparents.  Since I was six,  I  have spent my summers nestled within the loving adoration of  Nana and Tata.   They were the sweetest couple ever,  my Tata would arrive from his day at his farm and he'd holler to Nana,  Good evening, Darling ko!  And kiss her on the cheeks. And then he'd tug me and give me a warm embrace.

Despite the simplicity of life in Ilocos, I thrived,  and at the end of every summer I'd come back to Manila healthier and livelier.  In Ilocos, I could not be the picky eater that I was in Manila,  I could not demand for hotdogs and all those processed foods so readily available in the city.  Instead, my Nana taught me a  love for pinakbet, to eat malunggay soup, enjoy adobong saluyot and enjoy the clean taste of ukyang soup --- river crams in a clear broth of ginger and  sliced tomato.

                                Walking through farmlands

In the city, I was a quiet kid who filled her days reading Nancy Drew and Bobbsey Twins  detective stories.   In Ilocos,  I learned how to climbed trees, joined my cousins in the afternoon walking through farmlands, picking tomatoes and uprooting a few of the peanut plants we passed by  for our snacks( which is bad, now that I think of it), and when the  wet season came at the tailend of the summer I ran with  them to welcome the rain.

                               Image from amigurumiisland.wordpress.com

We'd play in the mud,  overturn  stones, and poke little crevices with walis tingting sticks (broomsticks) in search of ...frogs.  Yes frogs.  We never did anything to the frogs we found except gather them and throw them  back on the wet earth.  It was their croaks and the crazy hops done in panic that amused us, how foolish and funny these creatures were, how totally different from us.  I suppose in this time of political correctness,  our innocent joys of torturing these frogs, plucking them from their hiding places for our amusement, well the high and mighty they might say we were cruel,  but for us kids,  those were precious moments, there was something elemental with our happiness as we watch in amazement how  these little creatures scrammed away from us, mere kids.  Perhaps to them we were big forces of nature who could if we were so mean, squash them in a single  stroke.  But to us, they were these emerald, bug-eyed creatures, our  precious pets at least until we got tired of them, until we are called upon to wash up our muddy limbs.  Until the lure is called on by Nana,  an invitation for a bowl of hot steaming Royco, the chicken noodle soup we so loved as kids.  Food or frog? So easy a choice,  with that we leave the frogs be to their croaking.

UP NEXT:  What to Eat and Buy in Ilocos

Brunch at Baguio's Most Loved Restaurant

A last minute decision to make a side trip to Baguio on our way home to Manila from Ilocos found us  in Baguio's most loved restaurant for brunch. It's been years since we went up to Baguio, and despite the new restaurants popping up in the City of Pines, I wanted something familiar and comforting, like how Baguio is to me even after years of not visiting.

First we tried to find Star Cafe which to my memory was the best Chinese eatery in Baguio only to find out that it has closed.  Thankfully, my other favorite Baguio eatery, what many consider as Baguio's most loved restaurant,  is still standing tall. Like a serene and regal beacon  amidst the crazy commercial buzz that has overcome the once genteel Session Road.

Cafe By The Ruins is still as beautiful as ever.

                                 That bamboo canopy  at the al fresco dining area

Happy New Life 2015 Item 1: Driving for Dummies

Hello! I hope you had a blast celebrating the New Year!  I hope the holidays have energized each of us for the challenges ahead.

Of course we don't forget 2014 entirely,   that we might take stock of what was good, what made us sad and what we could do to make things better from this point onward.

While most people are back to their normal routines, to their jobs and joys of daily living,  I am still on vacation  in our tropical paradise.

                               The road to my hometown in Ilocos Norte

                                Ilocos Pride: Paoay Church, Ilocos Norte