STREET CAKES, JARO

I have no great fear of street food. I always take the chance of finding out how street food taste like. Wherever there is a queue or a crowd, I always try to find out what the commotion is all about. You can say that this is a quintessential Filipino trait - to be perpetually curious.

In Jaro, I chanced upon a row of shops on the street selling something in brown paper bags. We walked past them, but I just couldn't contain my curiousity and went back to one and asked what was inside. A-ha! Miniature rice cakes or bibingka! At Php 20 per bag with around 10 cakes, it was a steal. The cakes were tasty, redolent of coconut milk. It was worth the risk.


The cakes are cooked under a stack of burning wood and hot ash.

Miniature bibingka delights in a paper bag!

CALEA, BACOLOD CITY

I researched on the net before embarking on this three-location trip. One of tips I got from the discussion threads was to visit Calea, Bacolod City's newest darling. Apparently, Bacolod has got more than the usual chicken inasal. It would be an insult to Bacolod if we eat in fastfoods or miss out on local shops so we made sure we dropped by their shop along Lacson Ave. The cakes can be a little expensive than Red Ribbon (currently the favorite in major cities), but my, oh my! It's worth every centavo!


Calea's leitmotif. This is printed on top of their tables. It also appears on their boxes.

Cakes galore. To die for. Oh, look! Pecan pie! My all-time favorite.

Ice cream cake. Simply sinful. The last time I had this was when I was 7 years old. Thanks for the thoughtfulness, BC.

Cream puffs. Look at the rich chocolate on top of it!

BREAKTHROUGH, ILOILO

Breakthrough Resto in Villa, Iloilo City.

Managat or Red Snapper.

Kaldereta (stewed goat meat) and tuna flakes (for tuna sisig).

Catfish or hito. Oily coat is released by the fish during broiling. Didn't order this as this is pretty common in Pampanga where i grew up.

Airy and wide. Ventilation is provided by large open areas and the beach beside the resto.

The world is an oyster. Only Php 35 / order. A plate is one order and it has 20-25 oysters in it. Not bad, huh. In Manila, 10 pieces would sell for Php 150 up depending on the variety.

The pearl of the orient. In this case, the real jewel is not the pearl but the meat! None of the sea taste we all hate (but love to smother in lemon or calamansi). This meat is sweet, which signifies only one thing - freshness.

Broiled managat. Like in many other parts of the Visayas, an order of a whole fish is cooked in 2 different ways: broiled and made into soup (See below).

Sinigang sa Batuan. Batuan is that green fruit they use to make the soup sour. In other parts of the country, we either use tamarind (sampalok), kamias or guava. See that sliver of fish fat? Yummy!

Baked clams. Garlic-y and succulent!

Aligue rice. Hot, moist rice mixed with crab fat!

Total bill: Php 518.00 (all inclusive except tip)

Fare: Php 10.00 (one-way)

Holding tanks.

Losbters. Too pretty to eat.

Coconut Crab (Birgus latro). Too large and scary! They are held in cages because they drown in water. They have what we call a brachiostegal lung - a cross between gills (hardly used) and lungs. They live in burrows underground and feed on anything organic - fruits, leaves, dead animals. Widely available in the Pacific and is regarded as a terrestrial hermit crab.

Crabby crabs. Congregating where there is water movement.

Clammy clams. Asleep, with no idea of their future.

THE JARO CATHEDRAL

The Jaro Cathedral. Commissioned in 1874, seat of the Archbisporic of Western Visayas.

The Jaro Belfry. Destr0yed in the 1948 earthquake but is now restored. It is one of the few belfries in the Philippines that is separate from the main church building.

Our Lady of Candles. Said to be miraculous, her Feast Day is on February 2.

Detail. One of the chandeliers that line the nave.

A LILLIPUTIAN REUNION IN BACOLOD

The reason for flying to Bacolod was to attend the wedding of a very, very good (and much missed) friend, Loujeane Gamboa. She was a former classmate and it's been 6.9 years since the last time we saw each other. Another friend, Kate Cadalin who hails from Dumagete, bussed to Bacolod to be with her bro, Sen, who is marrying Louj. A lilliputian reunion of friends, if you may. You know, it get's kinda weird meeting up with old friends because, well, there isn't much to talk about except the past and then, there's the really unnecessary remarks about how old everyone has become (like we need reminding). Also, it feels so weird to attend a wedding I didn't design or decorate. Well...

Anyway, Sen and Louj, we wish you both happy times and a good life ahead! Kate, you're so next in line!!!

The shocker pica pica came in the form of chicken skin - deep fried to cardiac-arresting goodness. Only in Bacolod! Needless to say, siya ang naubos agad ahead of everything else.

BACK TO NORMAL

Unforgettable. Shocking. Unbelievable.

Nobody would have thought the worse actually did come to pass to the capital city and its neighboring towns and provinces. In fact, some places still suffer the effects of Milenyo. In Tondo, electricity hasn't been reinstated and Meralco has threatened to delay further if the stolen copper cables are not returned or the thieves caught. Said one Barangay Tanod, "Why should we all suffer because of the actions of a few?" True and false. True, they do not need to suffer but hey, how come they weren't able to stop the thievery from happening when they know this is a possiblility, especially in the whole of Manila (not just in Tondo)? Evil begins when good people do not do anything to stop it.

One thing, the recent typhoon and its consequent disaster placed everyone on the same footing. Well, almost. There were no electricity everywhere except in the Palace (who says people there were ever one of us?). No internet, no ATMs. Credit and debit cards didn't work in supermarkets because PLDT lines were down. It was as if Manila went back to the Dark Ages! We had to make do with the most basic: candles, transistor radio. I charged my phone in the office, which was on perpetual generator power, but eventually the lavatories began to stink that people were doing their thing in the Mall of Asia ten minutes away.

I was packing my bags in the dark Friday night (September 29) and walked all the way from the office to the airport in total darkness at 3AM to catch my flight to Bacolod at 5.20AM. When I left Iloilo (October 2), the rains caught up with us there. In Manila, patience was running low at the old Domestic. We had to deal with singit people (mukhang singit na, mahilig pang sumingit sa pila) even if we were all soaking wet by 7PM since the roof of the waiting area for cabs was torn off by the winds a fews days before.

What did I learn from all these? One word: Patience. Do not let little things get to your nerves. I had to deal sharply with some Moslem women at the queue and I hated myself so much after that. To the two women, please accept my apologies, but please remember that making singit sa pila, in whatever weather condition, is just plain unfair.