Day 144: Local Razor Clams / "Tudlo Dato" (Rich Man's Fingers)

I was doing the rounds of the Banawa market this morning when I spotted a tray full of local razor clams ("Tudlo Dato" in Visayan lingo). At P100/kilo, I thought it was already a steal. And so with a kilo of these fresh live shellfish at hand, I started to salivate about what's for lunch today.

Just a simple stir fry of these babies turned out to be a sweet and succulent dish that's both hearty and exotic.

Razor Clam Stir Fry

1 kg razor clams / "tudlo dato", rinsed well

5 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 medium onion, sliced

2 pcs. thumb-sized ginger, sliced

5-6 pcs. medium-sized tomatoes, sliced in wedges

2 tbsp. canola oil 

salt and pepper to taste

In a stir fry pan, heat up some oil and fry the aromatics. Once the onions turn translucent, stir in the clams. Season with salt and pepper. Adjust heat to medium and cover the pan. Turn off the heat after 10 minutes. Serve piping hot with rice.

Day 318: The Pinoy Priority

This is the main road just outside St. Joseph's Cathedral, Butuan City.
On a normal Sunday, this road would be filled with cars, people and vendors.

We usually hear Sunday mass at St. Joseph's Cathedral at 11:00 am.  It was a particularly peculiar scene outside the church today when I parked the car.  I thought to myself maybe we're just a bit early than usual. Since we usually occupied the front pew, I didn't really notice that the attendance at the mass was abnormally less.  It was only after mass when we were about to ride the car when I realized that there were so few people who attended mass this time. In fact, ours was the only car parked on the street that's usually filled up with vehicles. Even vendors numbered to less than five when there used to be a tiangge-style commotion right outside the church after mass.

Why the seemingly car-less and people-less Sunday?  Today was Manny Pacquiao's big fight with Antonio Margarito.  Most, if not all, Pinoys were at home or some place getting ready to watch the "Pambansang Kamao" show off the fruits of his long and arduous training. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Pacquiao fan and all but somehow I don't get the Filipino psyche when it comes to boxing of this magnitude or caliber...we literally drop everything we're doing to watch two men battle it out on the ring. 

Seeing how nearly empty the church was this morning just proved where the Pinoy priority really lies...tsk! tsk! tsk!

Day 315: Surprise in the Mail

This small packet of surprise came in the mail today. It's the 2010 W@W (WeddingsatWork) Wedding Primer. Skimming over the pages made me reminisce my wedding preparation days back in 2000-2001 (civil rites) and 2006 (church rites).

W@W became my best friend in all things bridal. I was able to scout many suppliers through the site and later on developed friendships with other would-be brides through the W@W e-group. To this day, these friendships have endured time and distance as most of us have graduated from being W@Wies to N@Wies, exchanging our wedding planners for marriage counseling, pregnancy tips and childcare concerns. 

It's so wonderful to see how W@W has evolved over the years and continue to assist all would-be brides and grooms to prepare for their wedding and marriage. Thanks to Abet & Benz for making my day today. Cheers to W@W!!!

Day 305: What happens at midnight

Knowing that my brood are nuttyholics (including hubby), I always keep a stash of cracker nuts for those weekend midnight snack bonding moments. Aside from nuts, the entire family also enjoys snacking on "cornicks". It's a good thing these stuff are cheap compared to the usual chichirya fare available in the market. Want some?

Day 243: Culinary Prize

Guess what was delivered to my doorstep today? The cookbook from Unilever Foodsolutions which I won at an online contest finally arrived! A few weeks ago, I "liked" a fan page on FB and learned a lot more about cooking. At the time, there was an online contest regarding "Your Adobo Story". I decided to submit my entry on Adobong Pusit and a week later, I received a message announcing that I won a copy of "Around the World in 80 Plates". Thanks to my good friend, Caren for hooking me up to So Pinoy Dishes in Facebook. It has truly inspired me to keep on exploring and discovering the culinary artist in me. 

Day 231: Ang Langka (Jackfruit)

I wasn't too fond of jackfruit as a child. I thought it smelled funny. When Jollibee came out with their Banana Langka pie, I thought it tasted weird. And langka in my turon didn't thrill me either. 

Well, maybe there's something about promdi living that actually changed my taste buds. You see, langka is now one of my favorite fruits and I love to munch on it when it's sweet and ripe and I adore it as a vegetable dish - Guinataang Langka. Even with turon, I've come to prefer the ones with a sliver of jackfruit inside. 

Hubby and all three of my kids also love eating ripe jackfruit - we usually munch on the succulent yellow flesh as dessert. It's a good thing there's a regular langka vendor near my son's school so I don't really have to look around for some whenever we get the jackfruit craving. 

Day 229: Golden Kernels

As I was exiting the school gate with my son today, these golden orbs attracted my eye. A local vendor with his "kariton" was busy arranging his fare when my three kiddos cajoled me into buying some for their afternoon snack. Well, gullible me gave in to the temptation as well, not being able to resist the smell of freshly boiled corn on the cob.

Well, I wasn't able to capture a photo of the remnants of our corn snack but suffice to say, even 1-year old CeeJae had a hey day snacking on these golden kernels.

Day 224: Hunger Aftermath

This was what our table looked like after a hunger storm...

You can guess how much we enjoyed that bowl of steaming hot Bulalo...

Day 220: Jollibee Kids Party

Many years ago, when my firstborn Jarred Andrei was still a toddler and we were still living down south in GenSan, he celebrated two of his birthdays (2nd & 3rd) with Jollibee Kids parties. Those two occasions were birthday packages won from promos of the popular EQ Dry diapers. Today, we were invited to the 5th birthday of Mariella, the eldest daughter of our ka-Bro and Sis in BCBP, Jeff and Manette Dellosa, celebrating it with the ever-popular Jollibee Kids party.

It was indeed deja vu time as I recalled the similar games and songs played during the party. Not to be missed of course is the special appearance and participation of the great bee himself - JOLLIBEE!!!

All three of my kids had a blast with the games, dance numbers and yummy food. Thanks for inviting us, Dellosa family!

Day 217: Truly Pinoy

Ask any Pinoy abroad what food they miss most from home and I'm sure Jollibee would be on their top 5 list. A brainchild of the Caktiong family of Davao, it began as a small Magnolia Ice Cream House in Cubao, Quezon City originally named JollyEgg. Over the years, the business evolved into a hamburger/fries fast food outlet and eventually changed its name to the ever famous JOLLIBEE. 

The unique Filipino flavor in their food offerings is probably one of the main reasons why its such a hit for us Pinoys. Nowadays, the famous bee mascot is a familiar landmark anywhere in the country and is even making its presence felt at key cities in Asia and North America.

My own kids have developed a love affair with Jollibee - having the Yum Burger, Jolly Spaghetti and Crispy Fries as their top favorites. Of course, it doesn't hurt that most outlets have a play area where they can spend hours of wonderful playtime.

What's your favorite Jollibee food item?

Day 214: Week-Start Breakfast

Of all the meals in a day, the one I really look forward to is breakfast. I'm not really sure what it is about breakfast that keeps me hooked. It could be remembering my childhood when I used to wake up to the wonderful cooking smells in the kitchen as my Mom used to prepare yummy champion breakfasts for us whenever she had the time. Or it could just be the idea of "breaking the fast" from the previous night's sleep. Well, whatever it is, breakfast will always top my list as fave meal of the day. Today we had two of my favorite "almusal" viands - "tuyo" or dried fish and skinless "longganisa" or chorizo paired with garlic rice and sunny-side up egg. 

Day 211: Mommy's Special Sinangag

Whenever I have the time, I love preparing breakfast for my family. One breakfast fare I love to cook is fried rice and its many varieties. If pressed for time, I quickly saute finely minced garlic and leftover rice from dinner and come up with garlic rice. Sometimes, I perk it up with a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce or Asado sauce. I had more prep time today so I came up with this all-in-one special fried rice made more attractive and healthy with the colorful mixed veggies (carrots, corn and peas) and yummier with scrambled bits of egg. 

Don't you just love rice?

Day 210: Icy Treat

One refreshing treat that usually delights my kids is the tingling icy goodness of ICE POP or for those who grew up in the 70's and 80's, we used to call it ICE CANDY. This millennium's version are rainbow-colored fruit-flavored gel treats sealed in plastic that can easily be frozen at home. They're sweet and cool but personally, I prefer the good old homemade ones in tiny ice bags filled with real fruit bits and milk.

What's your ICE CANDY story?

Day 192: Sunday Lunch

Weekend meals are considered special...these are the days when we can indulge in our food favorites. Today, the choice was "inihaw na liempo" and after hearing Sunday mass at the cathedral, we trooped down to Botoy's Inihaw for lunch. 

It was a simple, no-frills affair - 2 orders of freshly-grilled pork belly, rice and refreshingly cool Mountain Dew. The kids loved it plain while hubby and I had to have our spicy "sawsawan" (dipping sauce) on the side.  The two orders of the grilled pork were actually too much so we still had enough leftover for dinner (how's that for a bargain meal?). All these for only less than P350, it was a great weekend family meal, don't you think?

Day 126: Changing Our Mindset

Panic mode is on. It is evident by the exchange of misleading information and proliferation of fear-mongering elements. Yes, it is apparent that the COMELEC has bitten off more than it could chew and partner Smartmatic is probably calling on all gods and goddesses it could to aid them in the final stretch to the Philippine elections. Maybe the commission didn't prepare as keenly as they should have...maybe not enough tests and trial runs were done...this is reality but it won't help the nation's cause if we follow the others' lead in scaring the voting public by crying "Go back to manual process!" or "Postpone the elections!" or worse, "The automated election process is a sure failure!". Let's give it a chance. The concerned people from both the COMELEC and Smartmatic are doing everything they can to give us a process that will ease the elections this year. It's going to be our first time to have an automated exercise, it's bound to have growing pains and we'd probably have a bumpy ride. Start-ups are like that. You can't expect perfection the first time around. What you do, is learn from your mistakes and move on.

Let's rally together and be part of the solution instead of passing the blame. The buck should stop with us. We can do our part by calming people down and assuring them that steps are being done to ensure a smooth and fraud-free automated elections. Let's support the COMELEC and Smartmatic and cheer them on. Those people must be very stressed out already by now, they need lifting up, I'm sure.

Lastly, on Monday, May 10, let's exercise our right to vote and show our support despite all the problems and limitations of this new system. This early, let's change our mindset from being passive and complaining to being proactive and solution-finders.

(Photo above is courtesy of www.botomoto.com)

You may find a related post I also wrote on this topic at the Bagumbayan Blog here.

Day 122: In Prayer

I only have to look at the image of our Lord Jesus Christ here to be reminded of His own hardship and sacrifice to save all of mankind.

An inspiring teacher...a loving son...a strong leader - Jesus Christ is the model on how to live our earthly lives. Many times I forget this fact and end up erring big time. Well a huge part of Jesus' legacy is not just showing us how to live but also how to pick up ourselves after a fall. When we acknowledge our mistakes and ask for forgiveness, we are reunited with Him and with God, the Father.

As Filipinos all over the world face a great challenge next  week in choosing the country's next leader, may each one of us look up to Christ for guidance, enlightenment and inspiration.

Day 81: Piaya

Mid-afternoon snacks was quite special today.  We had one of the family's favorite treats - PIAYA.  This sweet pastry is a popular Ilonggo delicacy.  It's like a flat bread or pita filled with a delectable filling, originally a sweet and sticky muscovado sugar base but nowadays there are other flavors like ube and durian. Best eaten hot, every morsel of this Filipino pastry leaves a lasting memory of home and family.

Day 64: Breakfast of Champions and a Champion Breakfast

I'm a breakfast person.  For some reason I can't explain, my favorite meal of the day is BREAKFAST.  So you could say that I "freak out" whenever I see a diner type of resto.  When the defunct Country Waffles was still the all-day breakfast place to go, my Dad would treat me to a huge platter of Sausage/Bacon, Eggs and Fried Rice plus my fave Peanut Butter and Banana Pancakes on the side.  I was sad when the place figured in a major business scandal some years back.  Apparently, this love for breakfast has rubbed off on my son.  He too, looks forward to breakfast as the meal like no other.  He is happiest when served with Garlic Fried Rice, Chorizo Cebu and Eggs (either sunny-side up or scrambled).

Today, our breakfast consisted of Pampanga Longganisa, Plain Rice (but I placed some soy-longganisa cooking juice combo on top) and Scrambled Egg.  It sure beats any breakfast meal from the nearby fastfood chain.  It was so good, Jarred requested me to pack up the leftovers into his lunch box so that he could have a part 2 during recess in school.

Day 61: Way back when...

 

I chanced upon this photo while I was rummaging through some old stuff. This is an 11-year old photo, taken during the Sinulog in Cebu in 1999.  If I'm not mistaken, this was the first time I sported a very short hairstyle (I always had medium-length to very long hair).  This was my very first Sinulog as I had only moved to Cebu the year before.  I notice that this photo is shouting "freedom!!!" I just had started to live independently for the first time in my life.

Day 57: Bagoong Rice

The guisadong bagoong has stretched into this coming week...didn't I say a little goes a long way? When we spotted a fruit stall along the road, we stopped and bought a few pieces of green mango.  Fresh kamias or iba would have been the best accompaniment to this bagoong but somehow I can't seem to find any in my city.  Well, green mango will certainly do.

On hot steaming rice, I spooned several thin slivers of green mango and a teaspoon or so of the bagoong...yum-O!!!  The flavor explosion does its magic - sweet, spicy and salty combine with the sour and it's gastronomic heaven!!!