Yet More Manila

I am back with more fotos. While munching on snacks that BIKSS brought home for me from BKK cos I couldn't go with him on this last trip. But we're planning on me tagging along to KL in Sept! I have identified the nearest Kenny Hills Bakery to the hotel. And it's a walkable distance. So I shall be sure to get me some more of those fine pastries that I discovered in Penang.

But I digress. 

Fotos. Here. We went to the Salcedo Saturday Market in the "rich" part of town... and dared to try some street food there cos it looked decent and not like it was going to give us diarrhoea. It was a feeling. Don't ask me. You know, like if the area is clean and the vendors are well groomed and have protective gear (gloves etc) and the food is freshly fried / kept in warm cabinets then I'm not going to mind too much. 

Whitebait n garlic in olive oil. Delicious. I'm throwing this on all my blanched veggies now.

Tried some pickled garlic. Not for me thanks. Next! 

Roast beef... no I didn't have any - the queue was too long and I was already pretty full by the time we got to this stall.

Bibingka - I did have some of this. I enjoyed it. 

Fluffy rice / sponge cake with cheese and salted egg yolk.

Grilled things - milkfish, salmon, squid... So they barbeque the stuff right there and then and it smells so good... but the smoke gets into your clothes your hair your nostrils.... I walked away pretty fast.

Top - the menu and prices of the stuff shown below 

Translations : "Isaw" = intestines. "Betamax" = coagulated blood. "Bangus" = milkfish. "Pusit" = squid. "Panga" = fish collar (lit. jaw) 

Tomato-stuffed milkfish is quite popular ...

Buko = young coconut 

Cooked / grilled seafood, veggies, noodles and various pre-packed meals for those lazy Saturday nights when all anyone wants to do is sit in front of the telly with a TV dinner.

I thought this was going to be exciting. I mean, it was yummy, but it was nought but a sugared bready donut in the end. Still, the bread was light and fluffy and just the right amount of warm for an out-at-the-markets treat.

These are called Dynamite. It's a stuffed chillie wrapped in some wantan skin type sheet and deep fried.

Kwek-kwek - Quail eggs dipped in an orange flour and deep fried into golden balls, eaten with a gooey, sweet, starchy gravy.

There were other deep fried things on sale but I really couldn't stuff myself anymore.

Crispy pata - Deep-fried pig's trotters or knuckles-

I'm not a huge fan of pork so I gave it a miss.

Pork Maru is a pretty well known restuarant apparently

I can't say the veggies and fruits were terribly cheap. I was pretty surprised at the rather high prices.

And then there was another section of the market that was in the park proper! The whole thing was bigger than I thought it would be.

Afterwards we headed to the Venice Canal Grand Mall

The shops were largely empty cos everyone was just out on the bridges and by the 'canal' taking photos. 

We did however find a Goldilocks stand - a popular traditional Filipino treats company that's popular with tourists who are looking to buy snacks home as "pasalubong" or souvenirs. I myself have received many many many Goldilocks boxes of Polvoron. Although now that I've seen the shop, I wonder why no one buys anything OTHER than polvoron. There are so many other treats to choose from. Needless to say, I bought me polvoNONE.

We also took a lovely stroll thru an upscale supermarket where I picked up more Ensaymadas from their bakery section (see top right corner of the pic below) as well as some packaged sauces / marinades so that I can re-create some of the dishes I tried there. Looking at this now reminds me that I had wanted to cook some Laing for the girls when they came over but I clear forgot all about it. Whoops. 

The pic above, tho, is part of the aisle that contains packed meat, as you can see. 1/3 of that is spam. That's a lot of spam. The Filipinos sure love their spam. Just standing there and looking down that aisle almost gave me a heart attack.

We had dinner on Sat night at the Harbor View Restaurant just a stone's throw away from our hotel, literally out the driveway and 20 paces to the left. It's the only other thing in the cul de sac where our hotel sits. 

The only othere thing there is a floating hotel.

We sat out on the pier and dined with the wind in our faces. It was pretty good, if pretty pricey. But hey, what's a vacation without living it up a little eh? My favourite thing was squid adobo, however this restaurant cooks theirs with a dash of coconut cream. Altho I think I would have preferred it in its original form, without the cream. 

Pinakbet or pakbet is my favourite Filipino veggie dish. However this one was a little bit too salty. Essentially it's a sitr-fried mixed vegetable dish that is sauteed with bagoong or fermented shrimp paste. Which is the Filipino version of the Malay "belacan" which I am very comfortable with as a condiment. It's all over South East Asian cuisine. The flavour profile is slightly different, a little less pungent, sweeter for the added sugar, but overall, a fermented shrimp veggie stir fry. 

Aside from that we had a huge bowl of fish and veggie soup. Too much ginger for my liking but the fish was seriously fresh!

Finally, the elusive Buko pie. CG was on about buko pie since the day we confirmed our tickets to Manila. You have to try it, she kept telling me. It's so good, all that coconut, layers and layers of young coconut in a pie! We didn't manage to find any till we were at the departure gate waiting for our return flight. But there it was in a tiny shop beside the souvenirs and chocolates. So the pastries are all in a fridge and you help yourself to what you want, pay for it, and then they'll pop it in the oven for you. "Come back in 30 mins" she said. We were lucky we had a lot of time before our flight, so we went ahead with it, and had us our buko pie. It *was* good, I admit. But perhaps because I'm not a huge fan of coconut, it wasn't life-changing for me. LOL. 

And that's the end of the Manila Foto Dump!  I hope you enjoyed it!

More Manila Pics

So last night I made a dinner of Filipino fare for my besties to sample. One of the things we've enjoyed doing after my trips is cooking up a food-from-there dinner for the girls to partake of on a Saturday following my return. My tummy, thankfully, is all better so I was able to enjoy myself too.

One of the things I tried making was leche flan aka creme caramel. Except the Filipino version is a lot sweeter and richer as it uses condensed milk and only egg yolks in the recipe. While the caramelised sugar didn't look great in the ramekins the steaming of the custard kinda coaxed it into an even layer and it turned out looking not half bad in the end. I was also pleased that it had a perfectly smooth consistency, with the custard turning out evenly set and nary an air bubble to be seen :) 

Dinner proper (clockwise from left) was chicken and mushroom adobo, turkey breast kare-kare and ginisang monggo (sauteed green beans) with vegetables. 

All in all a success. The girls were happy, I was happy, and altho I'm not the hugest fan of Filipino food, I think with some of the recipes if I can make my own substitutions (I'm not a fan of pork!) I'll be quite satisfied.

Speaking of food, we did go to one fast food restaurant, only because they're pretty famous, specialising in grilled pork and chicken, Mang Inasal. We had some grilled chicken (nothing to crow about really) but what amused me was that they had soy sauce and 'chicken oil' on the tables. I guess it's savoury flavoured oil but what a name for it.  

Back to sightseeing. Rizal park was basically a lot of green space peppered with ornaments. It was kinda hot (sweltering!) so I didn't bother to venture up close and personal for photos. The entrace had a rather nondescript gate with a concrete slab announcing the name of the park. 

One of the monuments taken from far away where I was hiding under the shade of some huge trees. 

There was a section of park with some pigeon homes :) 

From the park we decided to head to the museum of natural history. It had a LOT of halls. But this was the thing that fascinated me the most. The story of Lolong can be found here. 

[TL;DR - Lolong was the largest crocodile ever held in captivity. He was a saltwater crocodile measured at 6.17 m, making him one of the largest crocodiles ever measured from snout to tail, and weighing 1,075 kg.] 

There were also lots of stuffed eagles. And I realise I enjoy looking at birds of prey. Something I have in common with my niece. This is the Philippine hawk eagle.

We also found the malls to be pretty boring, similar to malls anywhere else in the world, I suppose. So we did our shopping at the ukay-ukay (thrift shops). They're not usually found in the busier sections of the city, and we didn't bother to travel to the outskirts just for that, but we did come across two. 

These bits of jewellery were got for under 10 dollars, from one of the street vendors at the riverside market. We selected a pair of earrings each, and they allowed us a free ring from a tray for every pair purchased. 

This was the first ukay-ukay we came to. Everything was displayed in a very orderly fashion. I didn't buy anything from here, but did pick up 3 bags for a bestie who had asked me to keep an eye out for her.

At the second store I found this puffer vest. For $3. I was thrilled at finding something so inexpensive that I could take with me for our upcoming London trip (November). I didn't want to have to to spend too much on winter clothing seeing as how I live in the tropics and don't often find myself in cold countries. 

The puffer is mine. The two tees on the left are CG's and the HP tee was for a friend. Total - less than $10. Score! 

We also went to Mall of Asia or MOA as it's commonly referred to. We met up with CG's sister and son, and had dinner there together.

One of the cool things about the malls in Manila is that dogs are allowed in as long as they're on a leash.

Macaroni salad - it turned out to be a dessert! Milk, cream, macaroni, fruit and cheese. I didn't get any because I've tried it once before and it is NOT my cup of tea. 

The famous lechon - aka pork. Roasted pork to be precise. That's stuffed pork belly. My goodness but when I saw that all I could think of was how much 'good' it would do my cholesterol readings.

We also popped into a local goods shop where I got me a bunch of snacks, some locally produced essential oil liquid soaps and mango rum for BIKSS and my boss. 

The next day we ventured to Our Lady of Guidance church where we attended evening Mass. It was lovely, not at all like the 'popular' touristy churches we had gone to a couple of days before.

Some of the cheap finds we purchased from the drugstore. I'm always stocking up on sunblock, and one of the things Asian countries does well is SPF50 sunblock.  These were on special - 2 for 1- even tho they're not anywhere near the expiration date (2027!).  They're lightweight, smell faintly of melons and sink into the skin in no time flat. I'm glad I bought a bunch. (This stash was split between me and CG.)

More snacks - those little parcels on the bottom left are ensaymada. My new favourite Filipino snack. I must have brought home 2 dozen. I haven't gone thru the lot yet. Savouring them slowly. Delicious!

A red bean filled ensaymada.

Actually, I think I'll go have one now. I'll be back with more photos!