I grew up eating fruits at home. My Papa and Mama made sure we have fruits day in and day out. It was normal back then for me and my siblings to be eating guava at 10 in the evening! We used to eat cocoa fruit picked from our backyard. I even go to see movies with a kilo of rambutan and lanzones as snacks. Ask hubby, he knows but thinks I'm weird. LOL
I planted two rambutan fruit trees in front and back of our yard last weekend but I guess I still have to wait for another five years to enjoy on its fruits! I love seeing fruits in the market. I love pictures of fruits! I am a proud fruit lover!
And so sharing you snapshots of fruits on my table.
I Hope you enjoy fruits (and photos of them) as much as I do!
One day at work, I checked on my phone to see three missed calls and one text message from a certain "Cess" who introduced herself as working for GMANewsTV, asking if is it okay to call.
As crazy as I am, I panicked! Why would someone from GMANewsTV contact me? Has something happened to my family? Feeling important? LOL. I called Freedom's yaya, Naynay. They are okay. I called my husband. He is okay, waiting for me at MarketMarket Mall. I am indeed crazy. Crazy paranoid.
And so after my shift, I found out that through their researchers, they bumped into my blog and they were inviting me to be a guest reviewer on PopTalk as they will be having an ilonggo cuisine review episode. I panicked again!
Overwhelmed and excited, I called my husband to ask what to answer. He excitedly said, are you crazy? Go!
Oh how I love my husband!
I didn't have much sleep the night before the taping. I was very excited! You can't blame me. This is one show me and my husband watch every Saturday! Oh how we love food adventures on TV -- from Jamie Oliver to Andrew Zimmern to Nigella Lawson down to Anthony Bourdain.
And so our day began at 10am in the first restaurant in Makati. The whole crew was very nice. While setting up, I got the chance to chat with Chef Jackie and Arthur as well as the restaurant's owner. We were chatting in Hiligaynon (ilonggo), I felt so relaxed and at ease. Jitters? Gone.
This is where I learned how hard and tedious it is to produce a show. While I'm aware that tiny details are important, I was amazed at how patient and resilient the crew and the artists behind scenes are!
What struck me the most about this show was, all reviews and comments were impromptu! So you better know what you're talking about the food and stuff. Ay paktay! Magaling ako sa mga impromptu na yan! LOL
This is why I adore Kuya Tonipet so much. He's very professional and knows well how to make first-time guest reviewers like me feel welcome. Thank you, Kuya Pet!
On the other hand, Arthur was very friendly, humble and nice. He is a surprisingly soft-spoken lad so you can imagine him speaking in ilonggo very gently and humbly.
Chef Jackie is a super nice lady, very classy. We chatted along while in transition to our last location which took a little longer than expected, and I've learned so much from her. Chef Jac shared how she and her husband Chef Lau had to give up France to start their business adventure here in Manila and their road to success. I super adore her dedication to her work and no wonder how the Laudico brand is an ultimate success!
Sharing you snap photos during our taping.
Photo credit: PopTalk and GMANewsTV
Photo credit: PopTalk and GMANewsTV
Unfortunately, the whole crew bumped into a big problem when the second restaurant backed out the moment we arrived at the location and as soon as they saw Chef Jackie! I found their reason though a little pathetic and childish. This resto knew PopTalk was coming. The only thing they didn't know was that Chef Jackie was one of the guest reviewers which they didn't even bother to ask in the first place. The management said they couldn't allow Chef Jackie to review their food because she was a "competitor" and it was "unethical."
According to Merriam-Webster: A competitor means one that competes; as rival or one selling or buying goods or services in the same market as another.
Hmmmm..Okay. This is what I only know.
I don't think they serve the same menu concept to customers to tag them as competitors.
I don't think that location wise, they can be rivals.
I don't think they will be that threatened if their food really tastes good, or even great?
I don't ever remember PopTalk being mean to restaurants they review.
AND I don't even think someone would eat in the same restaurant EVERY time.
These days, the more restos to try, the merrier!
OR Maybe they haven't heard of the PopTalk effect yet. PopTalk effect happens every time PopTalk just aired their Saturday restaurant review and sale of those restaurants reviewed on the show skyrockets! How amazing is that? Many restos would die to be featured on the show I'm sure.
Well, maybe they don't need PopTalk to promote them. Maybe they're too high profile to be reviewed on the show. Okay, okay. I get that they may have their own reasons too, but I absolutely didn't admire how they handled the situation. The owner (who was personally acquainted to Laudicos) was there but chose the restaurant manager to bring the bad news to the crew. It was NOT classy at all, not a bit.
From this, I've learned many things that day. I've learned that like any kind of work, challenges are there to overcome. I've learned that no matter how hard the challenges are, you keep on going and you learn how to laugh at it in the end. This was indeed an interesting day for me.
And without further ado, I share to you IlonggaMommy's TV debut on PopTalk. Enjoy!
Video credit: PopTalk and GMANewsTV
And oh how I admire GMANewsTV for giving bloggers and writers like me to have this kind of opportunity. Not that I didn't admire them before. How I love everything they feature on GMANewsTV. They have the passion to promote real stories of Filipinos, true to their commitment to transparent news and current events, local travels, local food and culture.
Watch out for more PopTalk reviews every Saturday on GMANewsTV!
Disclaimer: This is my blog and opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express opinions of the show, its management or staff or even people mentioned above.
Being an ilongga, it is quite normal that we have ilonggo dishes prepared weekly at home. My son doesn't eat pork or beef and when he eats chicken, he only eats fried chicken from main fastfood chains like KFC, Jollibee and McDonald's. His tastebuds sure are bisaya and ilonggo through and through and we are so proud of that! We may live in Cavite but our hearts truly remain in the Visayas!
Sharing you some photos of ilonggo dishes we normally eat at home or at relative's home.
The Famous Kinilaw! This was prepared by my Tita Haydee when we got to visit them for lunch one day in May. She used dilis in this recipe. Kinilaw is a dish every ilonggo is familiar with. It is composed of deboned fish (usually tanigue, nipis or dilis), minced ginger (many of them!), onions, chilies and sinamak! Sinamak is an ilonggo spiced vinegar btw.
This is one of my favorites! Sinigang na alimusan! Alimusan is a local fish found in rice ponds and it is very cheap! Ilonggos use batwan as a souring agent, a local sour fruit in Bacolod and Iloilo. This one is very easy to make. Use any fish like milkfish, tilapia or even hito. Bring water to boil with tomatoes, batwan and salt. Put in the fish until tender and mix in some banana's heart. Season to taste!
See these golden lobo-lobo disc yummies? My son loves it so much we cook it every week at home! Just mix dulong with an egg and a little cornstarch, then fry small disc portions and voila! Be careful not to put salt though because dulong is already salty in itself.
Give it up for LASWA! The ultimate ilonggo nutrients-packed vegetable viand soup! Gotta share with you a separate recipe post on this one. Yeah, laswa is that special it needs a separate page on my blog. Watch out for it!
How I love cooking for my family! Sharing all these gorgeous photos of my home cooked meals (summarized) on weekends where I find the time to do grandiose dishes in the kitchen!
Prepare to salivate......
I believe this was our Christmas lunch at home. Ham, corn, egg surprise.
Our lunch during the famous Pacquiao-Mayweather fight! Fight din kami sa kainan!
One lazy Saturday with buttered shrimp and corn.
My birthday lunch! Baked spaghetti with garden salad and vinaigrette.
Since siblings were in the house, pizza making was timely!
Freedom the ultimate sabad!
Was happy with the new Imarflex oven hubby bought, I had my first try on this mac-n-cheese!
Dahil diet-dietan ako these days, I had these clean, egg white, romaine lettuce, cucumber with vinaigrette salad for breakfast!
Home is really where meals are great! Happy eating!
Hi mommies! This year marks a major milestone for me as a mommy as we have enrolled Freedom to daycare classes. At 3, he was so happy to go to school already and we are so amazed with all the things he learned from there. His eyes would lit up every time he shares stories on what happened in school every afternoon, and me and his Tatay always check out his star marks given by his teacher.
To tell you honestly, I was a bit worried at first that he couldn't adjust well due to his young age. But I guess my son is just a social person. I sure know where he got that!
When we talk about school, baon ideas come in mind second! This is a bit challenging to every mother out there and so I wanna share with you all the bento boxes I prepared for Freedom to bring to school. I prepare them just before I leave for work -- at 2AM!
Tantararan........
grapes, cheese sandwich bars, boiled egg
Boiled corn, green grapes, crackers and cheese bar
Happy Birthday, my little guy! You just turned 2 and nights from your birthday, I switched your lullaby song from "Torete" to "Happy Birthday" medley just because you requested for it. You are so funny that even when your eyes are closed, drifting away to sleep with Mommy's lullaby, you still manage to request what song Mommy would sing for you! Pretty hilarious!
It has been a great journey with you, Anak. The joy you constantly give me and your Tatay is just amazing! Today, we celebrated your birthday with a simple lunch in our small neighborhood. You woke up to Mommy and Tatay singing "Happy Birthday" to you. You can't barely open your eyes then but you were smiling and giggling!
We started our day at 7am running errands, had some breakfast, took a shower, went to buy your cake, and decorated to make your day more special. Tatay cooked spaghetti for you. Tito RR, Nana and Tita Remy grilled liempo and tilapia, cooked shanghai rolls and pancit bihon which you loved! You jumped, hopped, played basketball and pretended to be Dagohoy in between! But the highlight of it all was you blowing your candles until they're at their shortest! Haha!
These are all Mommy's DIY!
Celebrating your birthday robot style!
Rocking your shaved head on your big day!
Dagohoy on his favorite Minion shirt.
Your Tatay
kept on convincing you to blow the candles for the LAST time but you
still insisted "more" and since it's your birthday, he let you blow them
like a hundred times! Haha!
This day was so much fun and we are so glad you enjoyed it!
Ilonggos are famous for their many savory dishes. Chicken inasal, batchoy, kansi, molo and a lot more. This time, let's focus on their famous beef nila-ga or popularly known as kansi.
In our 12-year relationship, I was surprised to have found out that my husband hasn't tried this dish yet! I went on panic mode and decided to cook this dish for him today! How could he -- a husband of an ilongga -- not try this famous ilonggo dish? Oh my!
Here's the recipe!
You'll need half kilo of beef. It's better if you include beef bones like femur with all its marrow goodness. But plain beef meat will also do.
You'll also need a teaspoon of achuete extract, a handful of red string beans (lamigas in ilonggo), lemon grass, siling mahaba (siling pang sigang) and batwan! Now, you can't find batwan here in Manila. I've scoured all huge markets here and I couldn't find a trace of batwan in the city. You can use sampalok instead.
This is batwan! Ilonggo's famous pampaasim (souring agent)
Lastly, you'll need sliced langka (unripe jackfruit).
Here's how:
Bring beef, lamigas, lemongrass to boil till the beef is tender. Add achuete extract, your choice of souring agent, langka and season to taste. Add long chili a minute before you serve. Best served hot! This recipe is very easy to do!
Presenting! The hot hot hot beef kansi! Try it, mommies!
My toddler has been a picky eater these past weeks so the mommy has been in action trying her might to give the healthiest ever.
As mommies, we know smoothie is a hit to toddlers. And so I joined the bandwagon of mommies turning to the ever healthy and winner fruit and cereal smoothie craze.
Here's for today:
The stars of the day!
Kiwi, banana, oats, yogurt, vanilla ice cream and a cup of crushed ice. Blitz all of the above in a blender.
I’m a fan of Famous Belgian Waffles ever since I discovered the heavenly taste of their golden waffles. But I crave for it far too many times more than I expected. And as a mom, I have no time getting the waffle fix I needed when I need it.
I don’t consider waffles and pancakes as breakfasts. I will most of the time have them as an afternoon snack. I even consider them as desserts. Crazy but that’s me. And so, in my quest of giving in to my recent cravings, I concocted a familar-to-most recipe. Pancakes with bananas and hazelnut.
Mix pancake/waffle mix with a cup of buttermilk, an egg and a knob of butter.
I first wanted to make pancakes from scratch but after realizing that 500g ready mixes cost almost the same as 500g flour, heck do I have to beat myself up of making it from scratch?
I bought Fineti hazelnut spread for this one. Fineti tastes good and it's way affordable than other brands!
Pour batter in the pan, embed some bananas and gooey-chewy hazelnut. I’m crazy for butter so I also added some knobs to it. Toss and do the same drill for the remaining batter.
Stack ‘em up with banana slices and hazelnut spread like crazy. Tada! My version of hazelnut banana embedded pancakes in all its mouth-watering glory. Best served hot!
Warning: This is going to destroy your diet schemes so make sure to slow down though I know how hard it is to resist this decadent monster!
Finally! My first Ilonggo dish! Every Ilonggo is very familiar with this dish. We usually cook this on mornings for breakfast and sometimes for dinner. I grew up having this at home.
This is the simplest Ilonggo dish you'll ever find and moi son loves this so much I cook this recipe almost twice weekly. He likes soupy food by the way.
You'll only need any fish you like, onions, tomatoes and malunggay. Very simple ingredients.
Have some water to boil and add tomatoes and onions. After 3 mins, you can add your fish and top it up with fresh malunggay. Salt and pepper to taste. This dish is best during rainy seasons.
This one's for my son.
The moment he sees any fish dish, he goes "iiish, iissshhh" with a silent F. Even as I was posting this pictures, he points at the screen and goes "iiisshh, iiisssh" for fish!
I love cooking for my family. I love cooking for my friends. Cooking is one of my ultimate hobbies. Not that I have THAT many hobbies. Hehe!
This time, I want to share with you my own recipe of the hottest, sexiest, cheapest quesadilla you'll ever cook for your family. This recipe is super easy but is a total time bomb when it comes to taste!!!
HOT because it's literally hot with my sprinkling of fire-y, hot chili flakes.
SEXY not because it's low in calories but because it's Mexican and it's so sexy to eat!
CHEAP because 12 servings will only cost you less than 200php!
Okay. I know I named this section Ilonggo Dishes. I actually want to apologize that the first dish I thought of featuring here is not an Ilonggo dish. I promise I will the next time. It's just that I have a toddler right now and every time I try to take a photo of what I cook during lunch, he goes and grabs the cam and I end up taking his photo instead of the food! That's why I attached the word ATBP to this section. So that I have an excuse of including my other sumptuous, mouth-watering recipes as well.
You can serve at least 6 mouths with this ultimate Mexican merienda. Take note 'cause I'm making sure I stick with the theme of this blog. HAPPINESS with FRUGALITY. Boy there was so much happiness in the house when I made these for the Mister and Free.
You'll need:
-- 1 packet of small tortilla. A packet contains 12pcs. I bought mine for only 91php.
-- 1 big block of cheddar cheese. I bought Danes cheddar cheese for only 98php. I only used half of it so that's for only 49php.
-- 1 tetra pack of three-cheese pasta sauce. I used Clara Ole that only costs 25php.
-- a tablespoon of chili flakes. I already got some chili flakes in my kitchen and some ground pepper.
Spread the three-cheese pasta sauce on your tortilla together with some chili flakes and lots of grated cheese. Sprinkle some ground pepper to give a little bit of twang.
Fold this beautiful taste time bomb and grill it over medium heat.
Voila!!! The hottest, sexiest quesadilla with all its cheesy goodness. Yumyum!
The Mister and the rest of the household were so tummy happy! See? It's so easy and cheap to make your family happy. Now get off those feet and run to the nearest supermarket today and make your loved ones or yourself happy! I'll have to include this recipe on Free's 2nd birthday.
COMMERCIAL
The Mister and I were entertaining Free cause he got a bit of fever today. We were trying to feed him with my home-made egg noodles with chicken liver soup and this is what happened:
Mommy: Here comes the airplane! CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG! (w/ mommy's hands in the air resembling the propeller and chug-chug sound with all her might)
[LAUGHS]
Tatay: Ano ba yang airplane mo? Parang KARAG-KARAG. Ginamit pa yata yan sa World War II, sobrang luma na ang sound.
[Mommy smirking]
Free: Giggles and opens mouth.
Yes! Mission accomplished with the karag-karag airplane!
