Granny Saturday!

Several weeks ago, our family joined the whole world in the celebration of Grandparents Day, in our case, it was grandmother's day as tatay wasn't home to celebrate with us, he was sent out-of-town for work.  My younger bro was also at work, leaving me, hubby and kuya E the task of recognizing nanay as a true blue grandparent, naisip ko lang si Kuya E pala talaga dapat mag-effort kasi nag-iisa lang naman s'yang apo, hehe.

Pancit Luglog

We didn't have the time and the money, haha, to do it elaborately and I know how my nanay ride, she wants everything as simple as it can be, so we're all good *grins*.

All Hallows is Kare-Kare Day!

Team PIO sort of joins everyone in celebrating Halloween by having lunch at the office before rejoicing the half-day break given by Malacanang to all government employees (that includes us, yessirie!).  All Hallows is our Kare-Kare Day!

Beef Kare-Kare

As usual, our viand and rice were cooked by Kuya Josel's mother-in-law, thank you po ulit, wag kayo magsasawa *Korean bow*.

Office Lunch

We had a potluck lunch at our office last Friday, it was my birthday week, so let's just all pretend that I treat them to lunch, hahaha.

We had Lechon Kawali as our viand with sukang may bawang and two variants of Mang Tomas sauce (spicy and regular) for our dip, and a whole lot of white steaming rice, as in cholesterol kung cholesterol, putok batok kung putok batok, hahaha!  

Lechon Kawali

Our viand was made with love (or not, hehe) by Kuya Josel's relatives, his mother-in-law have this well-known eatery in their area so kuya just have to make some lambing and request and voila, we have ulam na *grins*.

Mader's Day!

"Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife." - Proverbs 17:1

Haha, I didn't turn into a preaching food blogger all of a sudden, I just thought the passage sooo accurately applies *smiles*.

Beef Bulalo

Mader, as we fondly call her, celebrates her birthday today, September 8, but she already treated us to lunch last Friday.  It wasn't grand and expensive but it was festive and memorable.

Holiday is Bulalo Day!

We spent our holiday (Ninoy Aquino Day) last week working in the office instead of relaxing at home, and to give ourselves a little perk me up in the afternoon, we decided on trooping down to one of those bulalo places in C4 Road.

The place we went to, which has no identification whatsoever and as I'm too shy to ask will remain unknown to us, offers not just bulalo but other kinds of viands as well, let's just say that they are just more known for their bulalo.  If you're there for the bulalo, you actually have two choices - a regular-sized one (single serving)  priced at 65 pesos or the large bowl (group serving) priced at 130 pesos.

Bulalo (large)

Beef Bulalo

As we were a group of four (girls), we opted for their large serving and shared it among ourselves, with an order of rice and extra bowls of soup each, we were full even without the additional softdrinks (my eating buddies had Sprite while I had my ever-present drinking bud - water).

Bulalo time!

Another bowl, another time.

Cravings: Buli

Buli or Buri fruit comes from Buli / Buri Palm, the most stately and largest of Philippine palm.  The fruits are globose, fleshy, 2 to 2.5 centimeters in diameter and the kernels of the young fruits are edible and made into sweetmeats.

I haven't tried the said sweetmeat but I had devoured more than my fair share of these gummy, coconut-like little delights.  I remember eating it in my childhood with tubo (sugarcane) during the summer, wherein the parents cut the fruits and we children will pick out the flesh using our thumbs.  I had been asking my mom for years 'whatever happens to buli and tubo' coz we can't find it in the market anymore', nanay said, 'hindi na uso kaya wala na nagtitinda'.  This past summer, my need to have a taste of buli (again) resurfaced, akala ko simpleng PG moment lang like my usual, iyon pala I'm craving kasi I'm pregnant na pero dahil alam ko na it doesn't exist na sa mga palengke dito sa amin, I kept quiet na lang, so imagine my glee, when I went home one day to a half plastic bag of whole buli and a tub of cut and ready-to-be-eaten ones.  I didn't care for dinner that night, I just go ahead and eat my waiting buli(s), I finished the tub-full in less than an hour, I think, while watching television and I took care of the whole ones the next day.  I ask my mom to buy another batch, sadly, the woman who sold them to her wasn't there anymore, sabi ni nanay okay na daw yun, pinatikim na ko para di maging tulo laway ang anak ko!  

Sige na nga *smiles*!

The Boss' Birthday

We welcome July with a bang! Imagine two office celebrants in a month, and you know what that means right?  Okay, I'll spell it out for you, it means we get to eat for free and we get to eat cakes twice in a month, woohoo!  Yes, I'm that babaw, haha!

First off, it's the boss' birthday!  Last year, she celebrated grandiosely but this year she decided not to waste her hard-earned money, hurhur, and just have various small celebrations with her fam, friends and co-workers.

A week before her birthday we already know that she's going to throw us some free lunch, how do we know, of course we'll know, what's the point of office gossip *lol*.  Anyway, as she's going to feed us and because she's always 'taya' on cakes during our birthdays, we decided on giving her a surprise of our own.

First surprise, banana arrangement and centerpiece!  What's the story?  Well, she told the PIO girls that we should have banana as dessert on her birthday lunch treat, so we made it happen... with a happy twist!

Surprise no. 2, her birthday cake!  We ordered a chocolate-based, egg-white icing coated cake from Betsy's, you see, most of the cakes in the market today are commonly coated with butter icing, the same goes at Betsy's, if you want their famous white icing, you have to order in advance and that's what we did!

Happy Na, Birthday Pa!

Another month equates to another birthday celebrant which then means another opportunity to celebrate and to eat more than we should *grins*.

June is the birth month of our national hero, who is the reason why Kuya Josel was named Joselito, if you still haven't put two and two together, he was born a day before Dr. Jose Rizal, and if I remember correctly, a few hours is all the difference, hehe.

I may not had the privilege of knowing Rizal but, at least, I had the opportunity to meet, know, work and be close with his namesake.  Belated happy birthday kuya!  May all your wishes come true and please, please stay as sweet and as levelheaded as you are.  Sana until the end, hindi ka kainin ng sistema, sasamahan kita, hehe!  Love you kuya! 

Kalborgers huge beef burger

All-Filipino Breakfast for May

We had this not-so-old (read: it started several months ago, haha) tradition in our office - a monthly foodie activity, wherein we will all (or at least, those who are not KJs enough to decline) shed a hundred pesos, from there, we'll buy or order dishes that we had resolved to binge on.

We skip a month, we weren't able to do it on the month of April as we had our annual team building but we're back in full force on the month of flowers and fiestas, May.  We had an All-Filipino Breakfast, which we bought fresh from the market and cooked by ourselves.

smoked (sliced) pork and chicken longganisa and embotido 

Father's Day for Two!

We celebrated this year's Faher's Day at home, as usual, hurhur!  Hubby bought some sisig, as requested by E, while Tatay brought home tubs of ice cream. Us (nanay and me), on our part, cooked some dishes we deemed easy and likable (by the two).

Antioch's Crispy Sisig

Tatay Ilyo's 60th!

My one and only (ehem!) father-in-law celebrated his 60th birthday last May 31st and his children with a little help from his relatives and friends threw him a surprise birthday swimming party.

Photos below was the buffet lovingly cooked by Dete Irene and financed by Imelda, kudos to the both of them!

Happy looking / salivating *grins*.

Lechon Ulo by Mang Ruping's

Apple and cheese slices were added to make it a bit more food porn-worthy, hehe.  Truth:  the accompanying apple wouldn't fit the roasted pig's mouth, nagka-crack 'yong mukha nya kapag pinipilit namin ibuka kaya sliced apple na lang ang nangyari, hehe.

B-day at Home

One of Tatay Ilyo's earlier birthday celebration, it was just us with Ninong Boy and Tito Tony, oh I think Gene-gene was also there.

We shared two kinds of pancit - Bihon and Luglog (both homemade), two kinds of puto - Pandan and Salted Egg (bought from Malabon Public Market, hehe) and two viands - Pork and Tofu in Black Beans and Lumpiang Shanghai (cooked by Dete).  

It was a fun and filling night!  That's why I love birthdays, you get to eat until you can't anymore *lol*.

Red Ribbon's Chocolate Cake

Tita Belle's Day!

May is Tita Belle's natal month at syempre, tulad ng nakasanayan, may munting salo-salo para sa kanyang kaarawan, pero dahil medyo nahuli kami ng dating, di ko na nakuhanan ng magandang litrato ang mga putaheng inihanda ng kanyang pamilya, ang siste pa nga, di ko na rin inabutan iyong ibang putahe, hahaha.

Pinagsaluhan namin ang Pancit Luglog mula sa Pancit Malabon Express, Puto na may Itlog na Maalat, Spaghetti (na wala sa larawan) Yang Chow Fried Rice (Mike's version), Sweet & Sour Pork, Lumpiang Shanghai (na muntik ko nang di abutan), Piritong Manok (na hindi na talaga namin inabutan pero napatunayan ko na mayroon dahil nakita ko sa plato ng mga naunang bisita), Mocha Cake mula sa Betsy's at Coffee Jelly (na si nanay na lang ang nakatikim).

Nasiyahan naman kami dahil masarap lahat ng handa na inabutan ko at hindi ako nagre-reklamo na hindi ko natikman ang lahat, pero sana lang talaga nagtira yung mga nauna, hahaha...

Pancit Malabon

Cravings: Nilupak

According to Mr. Wiki, Nilupak is a dessert made from mashed cassava, sweet potatoes or saba bananas with butter or margarine.

I know nothing about sweet potatoes and saba bananas, the Nilupak I know and grew up to is made up of kamoteng-kahoy or cassava.  The one featured below is one of those ready-made nilupak one can find in the market, it has grated cheese on top instead of butter or margarine and it's not as sweet as those nilupak of random street peddlers.  Not many folks in the metro sell nilupak and as I'm sort of maarte, I don't really buy food from people I don't know, so I haven't eaten homemade nilupak (the one with margarine) in a long, long time.

I had been craving for nilupak for weeks before my nanay chanced upon one in our community market, I think I ate three bars in one go, imagine that!

Fiesta Food Hunting

During any fiesta, aside from the opportunity to eat lots of delicious food for free (also, without the guilt of committing gluttony), I also welcome and embrace the chance to walk around the street market, feasting my eyes on various treats ranging from simple street foods to native furniture, to even on-site tattooing and herbal medicines and other traditional ways of healing (with free demonstration), but what I like most about fiesta street fairs is the possibility of getting some known native delicacies from neighboring provinces.

The last time I took a look at a street fair, I took home some yummy delights *smiles*.

From Pampanga to Nueva Ecija, from Laguna to Rizal

Special Piaya 

Cravings: Kakanin

If we'll count my kakanin posts as proof of my love of all things kakanin, we'll certainly deduce that I am overwhelmingly besotted with it.  But now that I am pregnant with Baby A, I tend to crave and mentally drool for the uncommon ones, I can buy puto, cochinta, pitsi-pitsi, etc. in our barangay wet market but I won't easily find Pinipig Kalamay or Puto Polo or those big and chunky palitaw.

But hey, if there's a will, there's a way!  And if your pregnant and you wish it, people who loves you will painstakingly make it happen, I feel so loved, haha.

Pinipig Kalamay 

My tatay found this green and slime-looking delights in Cavite and he hit it with just one try - Pinipig Kalamay, check!

Puto Polo

Puto Polo was a namesake given to these kinds of rice cakes as it hailed from Polo, Bulacan.  Found this pack under the table of one of those business-minded peeps of the Legal Dept., she's from Bulacan, hence, her choice of business - buy and sell of Bulacan delicacies.  Puto Polo, check!

Palitaw, still waiting to be checked *sad face*!

It's Tatay's Turn!

Have I told you that my Nanay and Tatay have the same birth month?  I guess I did huh, and even if I didn't, yet, my last year's post would have more than suffice to fill in the details, right *grins*?

Anyways, we didn't had that big of a celebration, it was just us! We had our usual Sunday family dinner but we sort of prepared dishes that pops like, it was his special day afterall *winks*. 

Tatay used to work as a chief cook in an international cargo ship, so imagine the gamut of dishes he had sampled and tried to create, add it to the fact that his love of food never falters.  But as we all know, age brought about ailments, whether we like it or not, and aside from the usual maintenance meds that oldies had to take, moderation or, unfortunately, sometimes a total ban from eating specific kinds of food have to be implemented.  But for his birthday, we let him have what he wants!  We bought two kilos of Lechon from Concepcion (Malabon) Market and transformed it into a Lechon Paksiw.  Sisiw lang pala magluto n'yan and believe me ang sarap ko magluto, hahaha!

Easter Egg Hunt

We had our yearly celebration of Easter and we (our family) were tasked to make and decorate the Easter eggs.  Photo below was the result of our (hubby, son, brother and moi) collective efforts, but mostly it was hubby's, we're not all born artist you know!

We were supposed to start early morning but  because we're us (nocturnal beings and all), we were able to start an hour before lunch, hurhur!  We'll make Grandfather Time proud *grins*.

Calm after the storm, believe me it was pandemonium, I don't think anything in Tita Belle's house was left untouched.  They were looking for eggs like they'll win a million bucks for it, that's how game (and competitive) our family is!  Fun, fun, fun!

Surprise, Surprise!

We surprised Nanay with a simple birthday celebration last Tuesday, March 18 when in fact, her birthday fell on Monday, the 17th of the month.  We, sort of, made it look like we (bro and I) were short on funds so we can't even buy her a birthday cake, she's already immune to us making a fuzz on her day so we decided to give it a little twist, a bit different for this year.

Red Ribbon's Dulce de Leche & personalized Yema Tarts

Saturdate

I discovered recently that a strip of 'bulaluhan' (eateries serving / specializing in Bulalo) can be found at C4 Road, Navotas City and here I thought only Tagaytay City is famous for bulalo (beef shank soup).  So, the ever-curious me, at least in terms of food sampling, together with two co-city hall slaves trudged the area and order ourselves a big bowl of steaming bulalo last Saturday.

bulalo

The place had no signage and I was too shy to ask the proprietor of the eatery we went to what the establishment's name is, I ask around and all I got was C4 Bulaluhan *tongue out* pwede na yan, for the meantime, hahaha.