Exotic defined

Sometimes, when people ask me if I'm adventurous enough to eat anything, I'd say that I draw the line on exotic food. Come to think of it though, what exactly is "exotic"?

If "exotic" means anything that uses un-conventional meat, meaning other than the widely accepted beef, pork, chicken, turkey... then even foie gras is exotic, le canard à l'orange (duck in orange sauce) is exotic, and even paella with rabbit meat. Yeah?

In those cases, I'd still give it a go. I'd re-phrase my answer then when someone asks me. I'd draw the line on wriggling worms, on raw brains and the like. The only raw thing I could eat would be sushi and sashimi, and kilawin.

This made me look back to the exotic things I have tried so far.

Sisig is exotic, when you think about it. It's a mixture of odd-looking meat parts from the pig's face to the liver to the backfat. It's like alternative music that went into mainstream. Exotic that has gone popular. Me, I love the corny versions: bangus sisig, tuna sisig, tofu sisig --- which would make lovers of the authentic sisig roll their eyes and say "nag-sisig ka pa!" (translation: "and you call that sisig!")

Above is a photo of Claude Tayag's sisig, which he himself prepared from his home in Angeles, Pampanga:


Bopis falls along the line of Sisig. Exotic that has become a bit widely accepted.

Below is a photo of something I refused to try initially. I mean, I have seen fried froggie legs in Manila bars, but they weren't, uh, as graphic. With this one, I could almost make out Kermit's form, and I adore Kermit! Can you see those tiny arms and legs? :-(

In the end, I had to try it. It tasted just like chicken, a little oily-er, but if you close your eyes, you could almost convince yourself it's chicken haha!


Then there were the crickets. One of the specialties of Everybody's Cafe in Pampanga. Surprisingly good, in adobo.

In several trips to other Asian countries like Bangkok, Saigon and Beijing, I have seen exotic dishes like crickets, scorpions and all sorts of bugs along the street. Squeamish then, I opted for the safer candied fruits, just like the ones my dad, brother and I had at Wangfujing hahaha!

But I promise to be more adventurous. Now that I'm 25. Right. Haha :-)

So near and yet so far, Tagaytay

Idle time makes Myra conjure up evil thoughts... There is a desperate need to feed fantasies of sugar and salt wonderland, this being that weird time of the month that girls curse.... In my head, I had already made a firm decision: I'd drive up to Tagaytay early morning tomorrow with my dad and Tita Susan, we'll have breakfast at Antonio's:

Sardine and eggs with pandesal, plus.....

Caramel banana walnut waffles ---- while I prefer Pancake House's version, you don't drive up to Tagaytay for somethin you could have in Manila yeah?

Immediately after, we'll stuff ourselves bloated with Gourmet's shrimp and pesto pizza for early lunch? Yeah, why not? Surely, the long drive back would burn all those carbs. No? And all these years I thought driving around Manila's horrendously, perpetually jampacked roads was exercise enough!!

And then of course, coffee and apple pie a la mode at Bag Of Beans (last photo) before hitting the road back to Manila...

Only in your dreams, Myra.... you'll be stuck at the 21st floor all day tomorrow. Haha! G'night peeps!

Burger Mem'ries

I don't know if it's just me. But sometimes, I remember a place based on the food I had there. I remember a trip based on what I ate, ahaha (what does that make me, I wonder?).

Remarkably good or bad, at least not forgettable yeah? Right now, all I could think of are burgers. For whatever reason. I vowed not to eat pork or beef, and was successfuly for months. Until my skin acted up and I had perpetual goosebumps, probably because I have ingested too much chicken and egg lately. No, I'm not trying to justify why I had to eat meat again. Oh okay. Maybe I am haha! I digress.

I flew KLM about four times the past couple of years and, while I couldn't quite remember what they served us for breakfast, the fact that I couldn't remember meant it wasn't so bad, but not to die for either. I did remember Eva Air. It was last year, on board a Manila - LAX flight. I dozed off and the flight attendant served me a sad-looking ham that I wanted to toss out the window, if only I were riding a bus or a train and not thousands of miles above ground. I work for a processed meat company so I know when one ought to stop putting extenders lest the ham becomes just about as edible as an eraser.

LA is the land of burgers. I fell in love with In N Out, even after having been brought to this place in West Hollywood called The Counter, where they customize burgers for you --- 1/2 pound, 1/3 pound, a quarter of a pound, beef, chicken, turkey, vegetarian, on wheat, on rye, or just the patty, with grilled pineapples, avocado slices, caramelized onions, cornichons, mozzarella, parmesan, cheese sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, sauerkraut, arghhhh every kind of topping you could think of!!! In N Out, The Counter. It doesn't end there. Even the McDonald's in LA was offering something they don't here. Angus Burgers! My head is swimming with burger memories as I type this. Another place we tried was Islands Burger.

The burgers were so good I took a break from my no-meat resolve. So good I could almost eat them for breakfast. Almost. Because the best breakfast LA had to offer, for me, was my aunt's scrambled eggs with cheese and bell peppers. French toast and eggs at Denny's a close second!

A bacon is a bacon is a bacon?

To say that I love my job would be too loaded. Lest I be accused of being just a tad too emotionally constipated, fine, I must say I do like my job somehow, because of the people I work with and the perks of getting to eat out for free teehee!

I work with food. Day in and out.

In order to keep my job, I have to sell bacon and corned beef and ham and pizza toppings. And I do need a great deal of help from workmates lest I end up just slapping them on a piece of bread when I present to Clients.

Some of my favorite applications so far?

Breakfast burrito with ham and bacon, cheese, eggs and rice --- breakfast in a roll.

Cheesy corned beef turnover!

Chicken longganisa and a egg, classic Pinoy breakfast.


Adobo flakes and egg with fried bananas on the side.

You see, my job does not really require super skills. Just a passion for food, and the desire to find ways to make the ordinary more exciting. After all, a bacon is a bacon is a bacon. But only if you want it to be.

Paris and (the art of) ageing

I went to Paris two years ago, went back last year and will be spending about a week there again in a couple of months. Nooooo! I'm not bragging hahaha :-) Ok, maybe just a tad. But only because it's my favorite city in the world. The Philippines is my country, but Paris is my hometown, haha as one American writer put it.

I prepared this photo tour simply because I vowed to take better pictures this year, see more open markets and try out the following:

1. a rabbit dish (lapin)
2. mussels with fries (moules frites)
3. snails (escargots)
4. all kinds of foie gras

5. kir or pastis or both!

I also need to go back to Café du Marché, try Les Fêtes Galantes and L'As du Falafel, go to the open markets at Rue Raspail and Rue Mouffetard..... arghhhh I'll lose my mind if I think about it too hard.

On my very first visit two years ago, we stayed at Campanile Berthier Clichy. The hotel was ideal only because it was right across a Metro station, walking distance to an internet cafe and there was a brasserie nearby which served this yummy, authentic carbonara.

A major realization: the real carbonara shouldn't be swimming in cream, and it's served with fresh egg on top.

My friend Renei and I walked around aimlessly the first two days and had Nutella crêpes just at the entrance of Jardins des Tuileries. The girl did it so deftly and skillfully we didn't mind at all that she didn't have gloves on haha! On our second visit, last year, we went to the same place and I had Gran Marnier crêpe.

Who says you can't have your liquor and eat it too huh?

Our French friends also took us to an open market. Again, I should've paid attention to details. All I know is that it was not Raspail or Mouffetard. Nonetheless, my senses swam and revelled in the colors, the smell and the flavors!

My least favorite was the meat stall, because my heart just felt heavy seeing the skinned rabbits. I couldn't find it in my heart to describe it then, now I'm vowing to eat it... tsk tsk tsk. All for the love of food. Anyway, I remember having walked past the fresh meats towards the fruit section.

If you look closer, you'd agree that this guy bears a striking resemblance to Robert Deniro. Haha! The cherries in Nuremburg were cheaper, but I remember I did bring back to my hotel a bag of these yummy cherries.

And then of course the cheese, the wine, the dry sausages..... all aged and pricey... the older the better yeah?

This got me to thinkin'..... what's with Paris and aged stuff anyway? Even the buildings are mostly old, save for a few modern ones here and there like the Centre Pompidou, La Defense and the rather ghastly Tour Montparnasse.

Even the most ordinary street corners like the one above seems to proudly stand out, basking in its.... old-ness (I really should be more adventurous with my adjectives!).

But just because Paris represents everything old doesn't alter the fact that I'm in love with it! Maybe it's because I don't feel poor when I'm there? I can go to the market four to five times a week like most locals, and buy wine, cheese, cornichons, salad, foie gras ---- for only one person! Just a little of the best, just a little bit of what the rich could enjoy with abundance. And the old streets and buildings, bistros and cafes make me feel just.... warm inside.

I can sit and have café crème on the same spot Hemingway and Oscar WIlde did did years ago, listen to a string quartet or rap artist in the subway, go sunbathing at Place des Vosges, party with strangers at Champ de Mars with the Eiffel not far behind.

All these with just a few Metro tickets and some Euro coins. Who wouldn't want to live in this city and just bask in the glories of yesteryears, on the same old streets and old beautiful buildings, so old they're no higher than six or seven floors, with open courtyards inside, with no elevators. Same old cafés and bistros and brasseries and hotels.

The oldest subway in Europe if not the world, if I'm not mistaken, is the Paris Metro, having been built in the 1900's. Yeah, that fact alone is so cool you could almost overlook the fact that some stations are really dirty and dank and scary. Haha!

Now I know for sure. I love Paris because it is a reflection of a personal resolve: I too must age beautifully! Like the French wine, cheese, dry sausages. My heart is one with this culture of ageing with grace, of loving what's old not for what it was but for what it has become. 49 days to Paris. Arghhh. Can we skip August yet? :-)

Le Petit Dej

This morning, as I was waiting for my soy latté, I thought of starting a blog. And, like most blogs (the ones that make sense, at least) I felt it should be about something the blogger, me in this case, could write and expound about yeah? So I thought of one word that would encapsulate the best things I love in this life. Breakfast. Le petit dej, in French.

You see, I can’t NOT have breakfast. Lunch could be anything. Dinner is pfff, optional. But breakfast is something I look forward to every waking moment. Some of my favorites, never without a mug of freshly brewed coffee or hot chocolate or both!

1. My default breakfast - hot pandesal with cheese!

This is when I’m at my dad’s house in Pasig. There’s a panaderia called Ayie’s right across, and its pandesal never fails to reach our table each morning. If people wake up late, we end up buying the sad monay (translation: bun).

2. My favorite Alabang breakfast - Brown rice, well-done sunny side up eggs, bangus

This is when I feel rich. Haha! Okay, blessed. Because dear Carmen gets up ahead of us and prepares everything with love, just as we want it. Regular sunny side-up for Kail. But well-done for me (I don’t like raw egg yolks. It tastes too chicken-y, like I can taste the feathers). Hardboiled for Tita Bunds.

3. My senti breakfast - Toasted white bread or hot pandesal, butter and pineapple jam

My mom’s favorite breakfast. Queensland butter, the one that comes in red tin cans, plus Lady’s Choice Pineapple Jam. Our old red toaster, as I remember, didn’t quite do the one important function normal toasters do: to push the bread up when it’s done. So we end up forkin out the sliced bread once it starts to smell a little burnt haha!

4. Hotel breakfast - waffles, croissants, yogurt and fruit

I'm crazy for hotel breakfasts! I look forward to the breakfast spread each morning. I go around and take in all the flavors, the colors, the smell before I pick up a plate.

The blog title pretty much establishes that Breakfast is my favorite daypart. And why not? Breakfasts, simple or sumptuous, give us the opportunity to thank Him for another day. So each bite should be a celebration!