03.17.08

Some Filipino Food Part 2

Posted in Uncategorized, cooking at 9:36 pm by Administrator

Looks like I’ve got a few moments to make my part two of some Filipino food. It appears that I don’t have as many more food pics as I thought, but here’s a few meat dishes.

The dish front and center is pork feet cooked adobo style. Chicken is commonly used for adobo, too. Basically, you take chicken or pork and cook it in vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaf, and pepper corns. The dish back and center look like just meatballs with carrot slices. The other dishes off on the sides were beef dishes. Some cooked with potatoes, some with bell peppers, some with tomatoes.

This egg is technically *not* a Filipino food, but I took a picture of it because I’ve only had it when visiting the Philippines. I had it this trip and also the previous trip years ago. It’s a wedge of a century egg. Century eggs are duck eggs that are preserved in charcoal and lime. Actually pretty yummy. This link has more information on century eggs, if interested, http://www.chinesefood-recipes.com/chinese_egg_recipes/chinese_egg_recipes.php Here’s a short exerpt from the link:

“Lime-preserved eggs are the so-called 100-year-old eggs, which are best when about 100 days old. The lime has a petrifying effect, making the egg look like it has been buried for at least a century. The black outer shell is removed to expose an amber-colored white and dark golden yolk. The egg has a pungent cheese-like flavor. Chicken eggs are most often used, though duck and goose eggs can be substituted. I personally prefer the tastier duck egg version. Hundred-year eggs can be found in Chinese markets and will keep at room temperature (under 70ºF) for up to two weeks or can be refrigerated up to a month; usually eaten uncooked, for breakfast or as an appetizer. Soy sauce or minced ginger makes a good accompaniment. Also called century egg, thousand-year egg and Ming Dynasty egg.”

Fortunately, there’s lots of food in the Philippines. Actually, the variety of foods to eat there rival the variety of foods we have available here. Not surprisingly, since eating and siesta is very much a part of the Filipino culture. However, I did notice that the more specialty foods like French, American, and Italian were more costly such as this dish I had at Mezzaluna. This was their duck confit with portabello mushrooms in a flaky crust. Quite yummy. . . And while I didn’t splurge on desserts, I did splurge on my weakness. . . bread, oye, oye. . . There was tasty bread everywhere. Why didn’t I take any pictures of the bread? I don’t know, I was probably too busy eating it! But I did take some pictures of some of the desserts my family was eating. These are actually Filipino desserts and drinks. This is halo halo. Translated into English it literally means “mix, mix.”

This halo halo has fruit, beans, jello, shaved ice and ice cream. When it is served, it comes with a small amount of half and half milk which is poured over the dessert as it is eaten.

Another similar type of Filipino dessert is maise con jelo, which translated into English is “corn with ice.” It is also a bit sweet and it too comes with a small serving of syrup which is poured over the dessert as it is eaten.
There are quite a lot of Filipino desserts, which unfortunately, I didn’t take pictures of. Sigh. When I was a kid I loved bibinka and puto. Leche flan is also a favorite. I think it may have come from the Spanish, tho, when they occupied the Philippines. That’s my guess because flan is also popular in Mexican restaurants, too. Umm, and that reminds me of creme brulee, which is French, so I’m not really sure how leche flan came to be. But creme brulee is also a very similar type of dessert.

Aside from desserts, there are also drinks. These below are pandan. It’s basically a cold tea made from pandan leaves. The red portion on the bottom is jello.

And that’s about all the food pictures I took. Shame because there are so many other yummy Filipino dishes that have been left out. Sadly, I don’t feel that I’ve done justice to the Filipino fare, sigh. But oh well, maybe next time. And I do hope there is a next time because I would really like to go back again.

Marlakins

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