Buto't Balat

Going around Iloilo was a pleasant surprise for me--I was simply amazed at all the beautiful old houses, and the wealth of history that the city delivers!  During my last trip to the area in 2009, I had to set out for the town of Guimbal, which was about an hour away, so I didn't have much time to see the city sights.  My first trip there was almost two decades ago, so the beauty of the city sights were but a blur in my head.  This trip was an eye-opener--the architecture of both government buildings and private ancestral homes brought in images of elegance and Filipino heritage at its finest.

Lunch at Buto't Balat restaurant was a special treat for me--we had our fill of fresh oysters!  We also ordered baked oysters topped with cheese, crunchy eggplant, beef sinigang, grilled fish and fresh buko juice, which made us quite full at about P250 per head.  I understand this restaurant has a few branches around town, and the fresh wind and the rustic ambiance just made me want to linger with a cold bottle of beer in my hand!  I wondered why the restaurant name was Buto't Balat (literally "skin & bones," a term attached to malnourished children), and I was made to understand that because the fish is cooked is so well, the only things left on your plate would be the skin & bones of the fish!

Biscocho Haus

At the Iloilo airport, I also picked up some butterscotch bars made by the Original Biscocho Haus as a comparison.  Although a bit more expensive, I found that these bars to be more agreeable for me--the sweetness level is a trifle lower than that of the other brands.  The gooey sensation is also intact, and the bars are stouter than most others.  I also like the individual packaging,--sealed plastic pillow packs.  I understand that this firm is based in Jaro, and that the recipe for the bars dates back from several generations of the Jalandoni family.

Merci

I just got in from a business trip to Iloilo, and I was lucky to find some pasalubong treats at the new city airport in Santa Barbara.  Merci, which is a Bacolod-based bakery, has reasonably priced bakery items, and I found myself buying some piaya, which is a crusty cookie with sweet fillings.  Traditionally the filling is molasses, but nowadays, they have ube and mango versions as well.  Also bought their butterscotch bars, and this turned out to be gooey and tasty, but a bit too sweet for my taste.  I was lucky that there was an ongoing promotion--if you show them your boarding pass, they give you a 10% discount!

Pringles

While munching over our buko pandan salad, the kids brought out an old Pringles can of mine that I used to store some badminton shuttlecocks.  This brought back a lot of memories!  In the late seventies when Pringles first appeared, we were mesmerized at the constant shape of the Pringles potato chip, not knowing that these were were machine pressed and baked.  Since this product is omnipresent nowadays (with a hundred different kinds of flavors and spices), the kids don't even think twice about it and assume it as given.  Annika had some new flavors (in containers that are now taller and thinner) in her backpack, so we took the shot pictured at left to highlight the comparison of the old and new.  If I'm not mistaken, my red canister was bought circa early 80s, and I think I got that from Nepo Mart in Dau, Pampanga (PX shopping!).

Mushroomburger Pancit

This feels a bit strange, writing about pancit canton prepared by a burger shop!  Mushroomburger has a long history of changing the way Manila folk view hamburger, but this time they have prepared a different noodle dish by doing away with the pork/chicken meat base, and introducing mushrooms as the new flavor base.  Anita introduced this dish to us in the last family dinner get-together, and the nice thing is that they deliver around QC area.  I initially thought that the noodles would be bland, but it turned out to be pretty flavorful, without being greasy or soupy.  They do have various sizes, and one party order is good for around 25 people easy.  This size goes for around P700.

Nathaniel's

Here's something that Michaela brought over for a family dinner get-together--Nathaniel's buko pandan salad which came with a mixture of dairy and coconut cream.  I'm a bit picky about my salads, and I was happy to find out that it was sweetened just right for my taste.  I was also thankful that I did not detect any trace of condensed milk, as that really makes the sweetness level flip over the boarder line.  On the one hand, buko (young coconut) shreds were just the right for salad, not membrane-like (malauhog) nor too old (niyog).  While on the other hand, the pandan gelatin cubes did have a whiff of pandan flavor--I would have enjoyed a stronger pandan taste though.  I don't know if this comes frozen or simply chilled; I would guess that the product life expectancy is limited, so you probably have to serve it right after purchase.

The Professionals

I just read that The Professionals, one of our much-loved British televisions series of the seventies, will be transposed into a modern day film (supposedly starring Jason Statham and Gerard Butler).  I can remember Kongkong and I waiting every week for each new episode, and we were thrilled with the pace of the CI5 brand of crime-fighting.  The plots were slightly more complicated that that of American TV shows, and the action was gritty, bordering brutal at times.  And yet we loved Cowley, Doyle and Bodie--they truly made our day (or week, rather!)