To all the food I've loved before

Working for TV5's Good Morning Club makes me feel like I'm like I'm livin' a teenage dream (I learned to love Katy Perry when my amiga Chia Hollman sang her version in Eat Bulaga.lol). They make me try & do all sorts of things plus they give me romantic dates to conjure and FOOD segments (!!!) to cover every now and then.

I was raised in a household of HE experts, hence my exposure to good food (on a tight budget). My Lola (maternal grandmother), mom & my aunts (Ninang Chuchit& Tita Diane) are all proud graduates of the College of Home Economics.

As a toddler I was taught how to appreciate food and discern proper preparation techniques. For merienda, it was common for me to help roll cheese sticks, turon & lumpia.  I learned how to separate the egg yolk for leche flan & peel apples for the Christmas salad even before I was even ready for kindergarten. I remember I even attempted to help cook Karekare while standing on a high stool (but I spilled the achuete seeds all over & got scolded for 200years).

As a teenager their expectations were quite high; I was often criticized  for my cooking abilities.  The marinade was either too salty, too sour or too bland, the vegetables were sliced inefficiently & were often either over or undercooked (iba-iba hiwa mo! Paano maluluto yan nang sabay-sabay?), I peeled too slowly (the apples & potatoes shouldn't turn brown!) & I couldn't manage to fillet the fish without hurting myself first... the list goes on and on of the things I can't do properly.

HE used to be my favorite subject but my mom discouraged me from joining the homemakers club & from taking a course from the College of Home Economics later on in the university (magastos lang..mag-aral ka na lang ng iba). I was never commendable in handling constructive criticism and I guess I wasn't passionate enough about it so I followed her advice. I don't cook at home anymore these days especially now that my younger sister Catie discovered she has the talent for it.

But my love for good food never stopped. I can give up everything in life except that luxury.

Tita Diane & Ninang exposed me to various types of cuisine every chance they get when I was younger. I'm truly grateful; I became more open minded as my flavor vocabulary widened. I'm adventurous in that sense.

Now I'm listing 10 food items I've tried over the past year which I really enjoyed:

1.        

Ristra’s Wet Burrito - the chunkier the meat, the better. It’s huge… I can share it with 2-3 people & it’s cool you have so many options what to wrap in…but you have to keep on coming back to discover what suits you best

Perfect partner: Tamarind Iced Tea

2.      

Mushroom Burger’s Royal Burger- reminiscent of college days & Tagaytay retreats. They now have it in Katipunan! Everything’s better with mushroom & egg! Yey!

Perfect partner: Sago’t gulaman

3.      

Offbeat Burger- never thought glazed doughnuts can be this HEAVENLY with meat and veggies (you shouldn’t count the calories while eating this though..:p)

Perfect partner: fries (unbeatable)

4.      

Hizon’s cheesy ensaymada- no wonder it’s the late Comedy King’s favourite. So soft & chewy, it melts in your mouth with every bite. The shaved quezo de bola is evenly distributed so the flavour explosion is consistent til your last bite.

Perfect partner: home brewed iced tea (gotta try the creamy chocolate cake too!)

5.      

Hizon’s juicy turkey- need I say more? They say it's healthier than chicken...

Perfect partner: mashed potatoes & veggies

6.      

Café Adriatico’s(Malate) Sopa de Marisco-simply the heartiest soup I’ve ever tried. It’s tomato based with shellfish (but it’s so creamy & tasty. Soup pa lang, ulam na)

Perfect partner: crusty bread

7.      

Uncle Chefy’s panizza- I like all the flavors! It’s fun you get to roll it up with alfalfa! (I’m also partial to Chef’s Quarters’ version)

Perfect partner: order more ribs!

8.      

Lyndon’s Worst Ribs (Davao)- it’s so bad, you just can’t resist!

Perfect partner: soup of the day (order more sisig!:))

9.      

Komrad Mao’s (Hunan and Sichuan Kitchen) shrimps- Kung Pao Shrimp balls, skewered shrimp, fried rice with shrimp, hakao… anything with shrimp in this restaurant is irresistibly hot (it glides in your mouth with inexplicable creaminess & you can enjoy this with or without the chilies)

Perfect partner: tea (in any form!)

10.  

Roxas City’s seafood- OMG try their prawns &scallops…you’ll glorify God’s name all the more

Perfect partner: rice, rice & more rice…

I’ll remember to take more food pictures next time so I can describe the memory in greater detail. Au revoir!