Easter Sunday Merienda

lazy Easter Sunday afternoon merienda: lugaw with flour balls, sago, saging, gata, butong, ube, camote

LINUGAW brings me back to our humble home some 25 years ago. After the summer's precious rain, our grandmother Nanay Laon would make a very big cauldron of LINUGAW with all the good stuff. I love the soft flour balls in this sweet porridge with sago (pearls), ripe bananas, violet sweet potatoes, Ube or yam, strips of young coconut meat mixed with coconut milk and brown sugar. Eaten steaming hot or as a cold dessert, it doesn't matter. The taste and the texture of the different ingredients together in a mouthful is incredible. The soft richness of the potatoes and the Ube complements the sweet bananas. Comfort food.

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The Bacolod Chicken Inasal Tour

Let's take a trip around Bacolod for the Best Chicken Inasal in Sugartown!  

INASAL is somewhat synonymous to BACOLOD and NEGROS OCCIDENTAL. 

I can smell them! Wash your hands and be one with your food...its called the gracious art of eating with your fingers :D DIG IN!

My favorite chicken inasal resto in Bacolod is Chicken House North (or just about any Chicken House branches -- Mandalagan and Singcang). You are sure of the best chicken for every visit. And very good service. I get accustomed to the personalized service from  "self-assigned" waiters.  Although, they have to think about the rice portions. I think it is way to small, considering its comfort food for all. :D Attention Cajilis, rice alert. 

Sometimes, my waiter in Chicken House North Manong Jun would ask, "Pila ka rice 'day?" (How many rice would you like to order?) I would promptly answer, "Seven." I like the feel of SEVEN as a word and of course, you'll know what I mean when you are there. 

Chicken House North's PAA (thighs)

I would usually order: Pakpak or PAA, Atay, Spare Ribs (which is just plain awesome at less than 100 pesos and is part of a different blogpost coming soon) and X number (secret) of garlic rice.

And since we Negrenses definitely love our own, we had to feature this in our Food and Travel Show for TV5 last 2009 PROMDI CHEF. I worked as writer and associate producer for this show. A foodie like me would kill for this kind of job, so good thing I did not have to do anything gruesome.

PROMDI CHEF was directed and produced by: Direk Jay Abello and Bonfire Productions
Hosts Chef Jomi Gaston of Bacolod's Trattoria Uma and Cafe Uma, Masskara Queen 2008 Jan Mari Vega and local celeb/host John Arceo. 

Before we proceed to our next stop, don't ever forget to mix your own 'Sawsawan' (dip). First, squeeze 2 - 3 calamansi, then put some 'sinamak' (spiced vinegar) and soy sauce to color, not too much ok? 

Off to another stop for our tour is the resto at the aptly called inasalan strip MANOKAN COUNTRY -- AIDA's!

Aida's Chicken Inasal is located at the Manokan Country, in front of the SM Mall Bacolod, Reclamation Area. 

This is Aida's Chickan Inasal (Grilled Chicken).Well-cooked chicken paa (thighs) or pecho (breast) or any part of the chicken that is -- tinae (intestines), atay (liver), batikolon (gizzard), pakpak (wings) and some that I cannot translate like bul-o (errrr...) and isol (my favorite, but just discover for yourself what this thing is). Don't worry, the last 2 parts are still parts of a chicken.

Every guest or friend from outside Bacolod would ask me how to make these heavenly barbequed gifts.. I would tell them its marinating the chicken with just calamansi, vinegar, soy sauce, tanglad (lemon grass), rock salt and garlic. It is also about grilling them the right way. 

Before I clip my PAKPAK and fly out of here, here is another lovely addition to the meal (you are drooling now,  cover your mouth). Aida's GARLIC RICE and it does not add up to 1 cup only. I think 2 cups and a half! So watch it when you order or you'll get a pile of yellow colored rice and some fried garlic toppings. Very important: Don't forget to drizzle (fun word to use) your rice with "THE" CHICKEN OIL, chicken oil colored with achuete (annatto seeds). 

Aida's GARLIC RICE, 1 cup is probably equal to 2 1/2 cups!

Just a few reminders before deciding to eat here, you have to take a small snack before going or take some candy with you because they cook the chicken well before serving. They don't half-cook like some of the "fast food" chains do out there. Slowly cooking the chicken without turning the skin to black.

I got homesick when we were in Brunei for a couple of months. So when I got the chance, I cooked up my own version of Bacolod chicken inasal in a beach called Pantai Tungku in Jerudong Bandar Seri Bengawan, Brunei. Tada!

A Filipino Fare: Grilled Pork Belly and Bacolod Chicken Inasal complete with sawsawan, sliced red tomatoes and ehem... a pot of rice!

Beautiful sunset near the equator. Pantai Tungku Beach, Jerudong, BSB, Brunei Darussalam 2008. I did Chicken Inasal near the entrance and other beachgoers came to ask what were cooking. They said it smelled super good!

Well, if you are about to go back to Manila and is en route to Bacolod-Silay Airport, check out the GOLDEN FOOD PARK. They have the best and most-reasonably priced Chicken Inasal in Silay. Just before turning right on the corner of the CALTEX Gasoline Station, 100 meters away is the restaurant. Or you can ask any people and they will point you to the location. 

Hope you get a good grasp of how to eat Chicken Inasal, where to eat the best inasal here in Bacolod and what to order, etc. etc. So now.................you hungry?

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iPaint

i painted this last year! made myself a bag. :D

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Promdi Chef in Bacolod and Negros Occidental

Promdi Chef - Bacolod/Negros Occidental Episode Part 1 of 3

Promdi Chef was our food and travel show with Negrense Chef Jomi Gaston. I had the great time writing for the show and the food, oooohhh-la-la!

We had a wonderful time doing this show and of course, telling all the world about our food and our place!


Promdi Chef - Bacolod/Negros Occidental Episode Part 2 of 3



Promdi Chef - Bacolod/Negros Occidental Episode Part 3 of 3

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MassKara Festival in Bacolod City 2010

MassKara Festival at night

Streetdancing on a Sunday!

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Blueberry Cheesecake: Chasing My Blues Away

One of my favorite things in the world is Calea's Blueberry Cheesecake.


Yesterday was a mix of good and bad but more of bad. Good thing we thought of going out for lunch and having dessert in Calea.


Calea is located beside L'Fisher Hotel, Lacson Street in Bacolod City. It is known to many of us Negrenses as our testament to our famed sweet tooth. The staff is very accommodating and they have been there for years so they already know the cakes and drinks by heart. So just tell them what you really want and they will give you their suggestions.


My friend Harold Geronimo wrote about Calea and its cakes in his column in Manila Standard.


It's always a treat to go to Calea. They never fail to lift my spirits up. Thank you!


Note: My sexy boss T. treated me and my workmate P. for desserts. I am just writing an ode to my fave place Calea. NAMIT!

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Luna's Arroz Caldo

One of those late nights with my brother. He is that kind of person who drink and then... EAT.

So at about 1am, we were off to one of Bacolod's not-so-hidden treasures. Luna's Arroz Caldo. 

I forgot my tipsy state and drove along Lacson Street and stopped near Tay Tung High School to get this quick fix before going home.






The staff are very accommodating even if they were chopping millions of garlic on a nearby table. Oh okay not millions, probably 3 kilos of garlic. It just filled the place with garlic...hmmm....


Luna's Arroz Caldo is one of those places that is very consistent with their taste. Arroz Caldo is a rice porridge with chicken and spiced up with lots of ginger. Luna's is distinct among others. 

Of course it is the native chicken that they have on this amazing meal. (For me its pretty amazing especially if you are a bit drunk and you need more than alcohol in your stomach.)


Native chicken, also known to us Ilonggos as bisaya nga manok, is generally considered more tasty than its 45-day old sisters bought dressed (but they really aren't that dressed, they should call them birthday girls). The meat is more tasty and calls for some heavy biting incisors.

And then I just can't get enough and had to ask for a freebie... Just call out "Pwede kadugang kaldo?" (Can I ask for extra soup?) And they would serve you this little bowl of hot soup. Tip: You can ask for more. REALLY. Just don't make it like a soup-all-you-can treat okay? Hey, it's not everyday that we get extras on a 55 peso meal.

Drax, my brother's bestestfriends and technically my brother since I could remember, asked for extra fried garlic. They gave him a bottle of it. Now that's another clap for great service!


And the arroz caldo evaporated to thin air leaving an empty bowl with some bones for the dogs. Kalas!

After one steaming bowl of Luna's Arroz Caldo, this is a guarantee: 50% off on your being drunk ...and maybe a little more! 

How's that for a great night cap?!








P.S. I didn't get paid for this food blog. I just want to do this. And oh... my brother paid for everything.




XLXL,
FatGoddess

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Pork + Monggo = Heaven

Need I say more?

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Golden Balls

It was just one of those slow and easy Sunday afternoons. My 7-year-old niece Ching saw our "suki" vendor coming. Weeee! I missed fishballs!!!

I was and still am salivating over these little crunchies. Actually, Ching is the regular customer. Her all-time favorite.

How to make fishballs? I don't really know the exact process. But for sure you just have to get the right amount of flour, water, scallions, salt, fish flavoring and what-have-yous and combining them to become a starchy mixture. I saw Manong,

(as I usually call this fine chap), use a small scoop to make one small fishball and deep-fry them in boiling hot vegetable oil.

He said the scoop helps it to make them the same size and faster to "dunk" these starchy dots to the burning cauldron of oil.

I asked the fishball vendor if they buy the mixture. He said they just make them because they don't trust commercially produced fishballs which go back and forth from frozen to thawed and back again. Not really safe, he concluded.

Manong was pretty much concerned about having regular customers - most of them school kids, he added - whom he has to take care of every day. I was thinking to myself, a very responsible businessman. I wish all people who are into business would be like him.

And btw, his cart is soooooooo clean. SPOTLESS. Not even a drop of sauce lingers unnoticed. Considering he moves from one area to another swarmed with customers, its probably tough to maintain that.

He so cautiously wards off insects and flies away from the famed streetfood.

That's how I like it... spic and span! WTG Manong!

This food blog is actually a BY-PRODUCT of my blipfoto journal. Let me share to you my blips... http://blipfoto.com/negrensedulce a.ka. Mi Dulce Vida. Well for those who aren't familiar with blipping, it's

a photo journal website where you are asked to upload one photo that you have taken in that specific day and it will be your entry for that exact day on your calendar/journal. Plus, you can write about this photo or your experience that day. Pretty neat huh??

Well this day, 4th of July 2010, I blipped about fishballs and I thought that a food blog would be another good venue

for some of the photos that did not make their way to my blipfoto for that day.

So I hope that you all enjoy this as much as I did.

And then, of course, consumption is always the best part of it all.

After snapping photos of everything, I sat back, relaxed and enjoyed my 10-peso snack of 20 golden fishballs. So far, these are the best fishballs I have tasted. 6 stars to you Manong!

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SUNKISSED...loved the SUMMER SUN!

March 2011

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