(No) End of the Affair - part 1

I am not ashamed to admit it: I am having an affair and it has been going on for the better part of two decades. A number of ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends, and one almost-fiance - they have all come and gone but this relationship has endured. It's still going strong.

I have a love affair... with food: I love food and I like to think it loves me back.

I eat anything and everything. I am an equal-opportunity eater (to borrow from Joey of 80Breakfasts) - everything has an equal opportunity to be eaten by me. Anything except kamote (sweet potato), chico (sapodilla), and raw banana.

Let me explain.

First, the kamote. I love potatoes. I love tubers. I eat cassava (kamoteng kahoy in Tagalog). Heck, I'd eat any root-crop you put in front of me. But I. Will. Not. Eat. KAMOTE! Not in its natural state, anyway.

I have eaten hwat ke (not sure of the romanization but this is a sweet kamote flour based bun served during Chinese New Year) and I crave it whenever the mooncakes make their appearance. I have snarfed jap chae (Korean kamote flour glass noodles) and loved it. I have brought myself to eat sweet potato and pumpkin buns - thank goodness for the pumpkin.

But the kamote in all its glory just won't do: in benignit/ginataan (cooked in coconut milk with sugar and other sliced fruits/root-crops), as kamote fries (hand-cut and fried in oil then dipped in sugar OR fried in hot oil with sugar until the syrup forms a crackly crust on each slice), or simply boiled then peeled before rolling in muscovado sugar), or as minatamis (cooked in syrup).

There are, in my completely biased opinion, many things wrong with the kamote but I will focus on two: the texture and the taste. 1) I do not like "sandy" things. Apples, chico, kamote... sweetened beans... anything that reminds me of the stuff you step on at a seashore or a construction site does not make it down my gullet. 2) It's unnaturally sweet... not the way pumpkin is sweet, or a fresh asparagus is... it's just plain strangely sweet. Like potatoes with sugar.

Next, the chico. I don't like how sandy it is either... how each bite feels like taking in a mouthful of Boracay. Eeeew. I have nothing against its taste, I actually like its sweetness. Unlike the kamote, the chico has a natural sweetness that seems right for a fruit. Find me a chico that is crunchy like a jicama... or one that is mushy and custardy like a durian... I might just gobble it up.

Lastly, raw bananas - the only time I had this raw was in a smoothie with a ton of chocolate (I was on a diet, believe it or not). I don't like how sticky and gooey it is when its raw. I eat okra (lady fingers); I eat saluyot (jute, I think), heck I eat some of the stickiest stuff on Earth - mochi (yummy), bibingkang galapong (charbroiled cakes made from pounded immature sticky rice - they make their appearance right around the holidays)... their sliminess does not bother me. But for some reason... bananas bother the heck out of me. I'd eat it cooked in syrup (minatamis), baked up in bread or muffin, sliced and flambe-ed for crepes. I'd eat it frozen IF it's coated in chocolate and hard as ice.

So yes, even if I do love food in an unbelievably healthy way, I do have my limits. I have conquered celery after ten years (blue cheese dip is a miracle!) - but these three don't seem to have a good chance at all. Not yet anyway.

Do you have any "no-no-never" foods on your list?

Blast From The Past: The Kimchi-fication of Kasseopeia (part 2)

So I went through my blog archives and happened upon a treasure trove of pictures from my Seoul trip that I never posted about. It also came as no surprise that more than 70% of the pictures were of food/drinks.

I like Korean food, though not as much as I like other Asian cuisine such as Japanese, Thai, Filipino, Chinese, or Vietnamese. Suffice to say that it is always in my top ten list of things to eat when I am hungry. Korean will be one of the choices, always.

I like how Korean food is characterized by their ban chan/pan chan - a small assortment of dishes that go with your rice and main viand (my absolute favorite was the zucchini dipped in egg then fried, second is the marinated whole mushroom). This was how we had our food served in our Seoul office: personal ban chan on a silver tray. Most of my favorite meals, I had in our office cafeteria. If our Philippine office did this, I'd be ten times happier come mealtime.

It was the tail end of autumn when we arrived in Seoul and the temperature swung from a "balmy" 4C to a chilling -11C with wind. As such, we did not expect a lot of fresh produce to be available, as NOTHING grows in winter (except my waistline from all the ice cream, but I'll get to that later). So imagine my surprise when I found that out office cafeteria served - along with soup, rice and the various trappings of a traditional Korean meal - fresh greens mixed in with... whatever it was that made kimchi hot and spicy and nasal-passage-clearing good!

The vegetables there were spectacular, as one would expect from a colder climate. The broccoli was bright green, the asparagus was tender and sweet, and the cabbage was bigger than my hand. It is SO easy to go vegetarian/vegan with such a plethora of options. This is winter picking, imagine how much wider the variety would be come spring/summer! (Kikeun did tell me that most of their produce is imported. Apparently, there's not much flat land in South Korea for agricultural endeavors).

The fruits are a-ma-zing too! Where in the Philippines can you get ten huge pieces of sweet, luscious kiwi for only KRW5,000 (about $5 = Php 250)?!? You can bet your pwet I gorged on these things. Usually 8 to a KRW5,000 pack - I horded four packs at the grocery section of Shinsegae mall and ate it all in less than a week. Those strawberries are said to be imported from Japan. They cost a pretty penny too... about KRW8,000 (about $8 = Php 400) for 250 grams. But considering how sweet, juicy and downright sinful they were - it was worth it!

Korean-style tonkatsu, spiral-cut potato chips, a HUGE Zinger from KFC, fish-shaped griddle cakes filled with red bean paste

The savories are NOTHING to scoff at either. While the paeans to commercialism and globalization are here in the most wired city - Starbucks, KFC, McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts - there still are some traditional savories to be had. KFC was a very strange experience for me. I loved how HUGE and spicy their Zinger was, but my one-piece hot and crispy thigh (the size of my open hand) felt dry and lonely without gravy. They'd offer ketchup and hot sauce but still... =( However, these spiral potato chips were a revelation. I had them from a street vendor in the night market over at Myeong Dong. This was way before all of the similar carts popped up here in Manila. Sliced, skewered, dunked in hot oil and liberally doused with fine salt - this was a finger-licking salty hot snack on a cold day (-4C with wind! Brrrr....)

To wash everything down, here are my top three favorite things to drink in Seoul:

Despite being lactose intolerant (or a degree thereof), I thoroughly enjoyed each sip, glug and chug I had of strawberry milk. I think this one is made by Seoul Milk, whose plain full fat milk was a dream to sip on - ice cold and LBM-inducing.

Next up is Chilsung Cider. For those familiar with Sprite and Mountain Dew, it's like a combination of both. The clear lime-ness of the the Sprite with the kick of Mountain Dew... except this one is caffeine free (Mountain Dew has a LOT of caffeine). For me, it's just a refreshing bubbly drink to sip on straight from the fridge, despite the chilly weather. Oh, our office cafeteria offers it for free as an alternative to water. (In fact, in most places here, soda is refillable)

The third is rice tea. I like tea - in all forms and from all sources. I like the Japanese mugicha made of toasted barley. This one from toasted rice is similar - there is an unmistakeably nutty flavor that screams "toasted grain" while the mellow tea-ness of it all is pleasant to the tongue. Some venues offer this warm (think of a fridge that keeps things warm rather than cold) probably due to the season, but I prefer it ice-cold.

In general, I like eating cold food despite the cold weather. That meant ice cream!!!

This is but a small fraction of my ice cream horde, since 90% of my consumption went unphotographed. Ice cream was up to 40% off since it was winter, but hot damn if that was going to stop me (the weather, not the price slash). Mr Jong, the friendly owner of the grocery/cafeteria in our apartment complex, had a HUGE stash of them in his freezer. He must have thought me crazy to be dashing out in -8C weather in pajamas and a sweater... in socks and slippers! That may have been reinforced by the fact that I bought at least 8 bars in one go. No surprises... I stayed in Seoul for 49 days. I must have eaten 49 servings of ice cream.

Last but not least: sweets. I blame Momsie for passing on her passion for sugar to me, but I am NOT complaining since there is a lot to stuff my mouth with when it comes to these coma-inducing confections. My favorite has got to be the Ghana mild cacao... 60% (I think) chocolate, mildly sweetened. Another favorite are these Sugus-like things that come in plain yoghurt (my favorite), strawberry (next favorite), grape, apple and orange. They cost KRW1,000 (about $2 = Php 100) for a pack of three. Tooth decay in a tube!

I guess that pretty much sums up my Korea food posts. There's a lot I didn't put up and that's because I'm hoping to take another trip to South Korea next year. Hopefully this time, I will be able to document everything with a proper camera... not a 1.2MP camera phone!

Happy Eating!

Bangkok Eats: The BKK Food Trip

Popsie works in my favorite Asian city (so far): Bangkok, Thailand. He lives smack dab in the middle of the CBD (central business district - think Makati or Libis or Ortigas).

I love it here! What's not to love about living in a condo on the top floor with breathtaking views of the city, food all around and around the clock, fresh fruit and vegetables for a few baht (THB 1 to Php1.3 threabouts), wonderful shopping, a few minutes walk from the nearest BTS (similar to our LRT/MRT. In BKK, the MRT is the subway), and did I say the food is great?

My favorite Thai food is not pad thai, kai thot, or tom kha gai. It's that salad of grated unripe papaya, carrots, long beans (sitaw) dressed with nam pla (fish sauce aka patis), lime juice, sugar, a bit of water, grated lemongrass, sliced kaffir lime leaves and dried shrimps. The one food that haunts my dreams and one I ate everyday during my recent visit to the city.

Enter the som tam. Oh, and did I mention this usually costs just 30 baht? I told you food is GOOD here!

Clockwise from top: (1)plain som tam from Som Tam Convent (Day 1), (2)som tam from the kai yang place on Phi Phat 2, (3) on my last day, a plain one also from Som Tam Convent, (4) Another one from Som Tam Convent ,this one with salted duck eggs for Day 3,

I love the harmony of flavors as they crash into each other on my tongue. All at once it's salty, sweet, sour, spicy - even when I request "mai sai prik, kha!" (Please do not put chili). It's inevitable that some of the chili from the last batch will make its way into my serving.

I kid you not when I say I ate for four days straight, sometimes more than once a day.

Of course it's not the only thing I ate. I had the freshest and juiciest rambutan I have ever had in my life. Their "hairs" still green, their skin a vibrant red... all to the tune of 30 baht (about 40 Php) per kilo. I also stuffed my face with the sweetest, most luscious mangosteens this side of Asia, an absolute steal at 35 baht per kilo (around 50 Php). Try getting THAT here in Manila. Popsie has several suki in the talat (market) so he can pretty much count on a discount when he goes to the market Saturday or Sunday mornings.

There is also a sweet-salty-sour-spicy pork rib soup that we enjoy at Som Tam Convent (Convent road runs perpendicular to Silom). I like this with the sliced pork liver with mint. The liver barely cooked, the mint complimenting the creaminess of the "meat"... all paired with kao niew - sticky rice stuffed in a woven basket. This is best eaten with bare hands - roll into a ball a and dip into the sauce of either the pork liver or the som tam. Pop in mouth and enjoy!

som tam, pork belly with mint, pork liver with mint, sour spare rib soup

I got my sweet tooth from Momsie so it comes as no surprise that we sugar coma-ed with each other - with my scoop of berry yoghurt and midnight chocolate from Swensen's and my mom's favorite: McDonald's vanilla twist dipped in chocolate.

More sweets: there are vendors that sell very thin crepes to be filled with fairy floss. Et voila! Tuck in!

Buy two bags of crepes and a pack of fairy floss, place on plate, fill crepes with floss, roll up and eat!

I will need to go back again before the year is over. My July stay was only four days (so hard to go on leave), whereas I was there for three weeks over Christmas/New Year 2009. I want to take Jeni there... maybe in time for Song Kran.

Happy Eating!

B is for Baon (part deux)

I had written about baon in my short-lived blog. In truth, I had PLENTY more baon posts to come... had I not forgotten my password. ANYhoo, here's what may have made it to the posts but in a more condensed form. After all, I'm sure nobody would want to hear (read?) me wax poetic about the wonders of Spam and warm Japanese short-grained rice, yes?

The photo up top is salted eggs, slices tomatoes, and steamed okra (lady fingers). In a separate container I had the steamed Japanese short-grain rice (which is LOVE on a bowl, methinks).

Below are two versions of the same breakfast/snack fare: Japanese short-grain rice molded into shapes and cut-out Spam.

Jeni and I love Spam, sodium and nitrates be damned! The left version is mine, as I love nori (seasoned dried seaweed sheets) and miso (fermented soy bean paste) soup. On the right is Jeni's "naked" breakfast - she is not a fan of seaweed in any form. Her loss, my gain, yes?

I sometimes get VERY lazy and opt for instant baon, like below.

There is a shop called Amber and it sells primarily Pansit Malabon (a type of noodle dish), pork barbeque, and pichi-pichi (sort of like mochi but sweeter, and is cassava flour-based). That's on the left. On the right are some Japanese rice wafer snacks, half of a gigantic siopao, and some home-made chicken nuggets with Bulldog tonkatsu sauce.

I do full meals too! Just like my pork adobo (a cooking method based on the Spanish adobado) with garlic-butter mushrooms (out of a can, sadly) on the left. On the right is some beef steak with onion rings.

Baon need not be an elaborate affair. It's sometimes just a way to extend the pleasure of one delish dish from home to work (or wherever you're taking your baon). Most of the time, though, it's to make sure I like what I will be having for lunch on my office desk. We do have a cafeteria but the food gets repeated and recycled ad nausem so... that would be an epic culinary fail, yes?

More baon to come! Happy eating!

In the (Army) Navy...

One day I needed to go to the bank to take care of business. Afterwards came the most important business of them all: what to eat?

Army Navy is a resto (eating place) that has its roots in Tagaytay City - the other summer capital of the Philippines. I have long been planning a road trip to savor the huge burgers and the brilliant burritos but have been too busy (aren't we all?) to make it a reality.

Luck, however, is on my side as a branch opened up near La Salle Taft and another at the Ayala Westgate. It is the latter branch where I satisfied my hunger.

Here they serve the famed "Bully Boy", which is three quarter-pound pure beef patties in a black-and-tan sesame seed-studded bun. Yes, 3/4 of a pound of beef - and that's just the patties!

I came, however, for the burritos. Which were HUGE! My hand could barely close around one. I poured on the salsa (mushed up but good) and the yoghurt sauce, bit into the edge and chewed.

Not bad. The tortilla tasted fresh - warm with the right amount of resistance and chew. The steak strips were abundant, as were the greens. The garlick-y kick of the yoghurt sauce followed by the fire of the salsa was awesome. The Spanish rice and beans rounded it all out.

I guess that's my major quibble: too much rice!

To wash it all down: a thick chocolate milkshake. Chocolate ice cream, milk and a bit of ice - blended to smooth perfection. It was thick enough that my straw could stand in it but not too think that I could suck it through a straw. I appreciate (Wendy's) Frostee-like thickness but not when I actually want a drink!

All in all, it was quite a pleasant experience and I would definitely come back for the steak sandwich (which Leo had) - I forgot its fancy name but it looked delish. I had a bad case of order envy that day.

On a side note, Leo got a Bully Boy to go. My gassss, I know I am not up to it yet but I know someday I will get the chance to conquer that bully!

Happy Eating!

Blast From The Past: The Kimchi-fication of Kasseopeia (part 1)

A flashback from my Seoul trip in late 2008. I realized I never really posted a food-oriented entry on my Seoul trip so I think I'll start doing that now while I still have no new food-ventures (*sigh*) to blab about.

So on on one chilly Friday night (it was the start of winter), we had some pork sizzling on a metal grill fired up by glowing coals. It was beautiful! The smokiness of the pork, the sweet-spicy tang of the dipping sauce, the bite of the Korean shiso (an acquired taste, I admit) and the crunch of the oh-so-fresh lettuce (hydroponic?).

To accompany that, we were served this salad. It was frisee-like leaves tossed with what I suppose is the stuff that makes kimchi HOT. Regardless, I loved it and was quite happy none of the other Pinoys fancied it. More for me to shove into my gaping maw!

Here's the pork, sizzling away on a hot bed of coals...

The next day, we went on a touristy jaunt and ended up in a tradional Korean dumpling and noodle shop. JinSoo ordered for us and what we had was a soup of knife-cut buckwheat noodles with oysters.

Good Lord in heaven... the brininess of the tiny oysters as they popped in my mouth... the pillowy chewiness of the noodles... the thickness of the almost-bland broth. It was soooooo good! I ate three HUGE bowls of it. It is as good as my photo of it is bad (1.2MP phone cam in bad lighting). This got me ready to walk around Seoul in -4C weather. Hoo yeah!

The serving "scoop" is actually a hollowed out dried gourd. Beautiful, eh?

More Korean food adventures in another post. This one just about made my mouth water enough to warrant a flash-flood alert.

Coming Home to...

My BLOG!

HERE!

For a time, I had considered posting on another blog BUT BUT BUT... I forgot my password! Also, I miss having all blogs under one account (I used to have an account with FIVE blogs on it - life in general, love, food and travel, photography, and poetry - but I digress) so it's back to the original blog.

ANYhoo, I came back to post about a craving I have been having: freshly-baked bread. Plain warm bread fresh out of the oven in all its steaming, rich-smelling glory. a dollop of butter, a sprinkle of sea salt... and a cup of strawberry-cranberry tea! Argh...

Jeni bought an electric oven when we moved into our old apartment. Now in a much bigger place with a kitchen big enough to chop a lechon in, I will DEFINITELY be using this oven soon. My baking skills are a tad above zero, as I can do stove-top but NEVER in-oven dishes... but in life, one needs challenges to become better evolved, yes?

SO evolve I shall... as soon as my day (and into the night) job graces me with time to do so.

*sigh*