I simply remember my favourite things and then I don't feel so bad ...

What can I say? I had a great two-week break back home in the Philippines. As expected I didn't fail to eat all my favourite things. Though sometimes with all my yakking with friends and relatives I forgot to take pictures of some. Fortunately here are a few that I made sure to make kodak of.

My first morning there saw me staring at a plastic bag of bualaw (binatog for the rest of the Phils.). This is one of my all time favourites that I continually reminded my mother to get me it before I flew in. The simplicity of the cooked, slightly sticky corn mixed with freshly grated coconut then simply enhanced by a sprinkling of salt makes me want to eat it all day. Give me more please!

Next in line is the venerable karyoka. A snack or dessert (depending on how hungry you are) that is made of fried puffed glutinous rice balls drenched in some sweet sauce made from panucha (a type of muscovado sugar) and coconut milk. Like most of my favourite things - simple but yummy!

That karyoka was delivered via a family gathering held just before I left for the UK. A sort of despedida. You won't know my family (or probably any Pinoy family) unless you see the amount of food we have in this kind of gathering. We had pancit luglog, lumpiang shanghai, lumpiang sariwa, Pinoy spaghetti (thus sweetish), tokwa't baboy - these are the ones cooked from scratch by my dear aunts. Bought food are the karyoka, pizza, ice cream and all the drinks. This is supposed to be snacks, okay, not dinner or supposed to be heavy.

Before all these I had a chance to have lunch at Dencio's restaurant in the atmospheric city of Tagaytay. Our table was in roofed but open-sided/open-air veranda that over looks Taal volcano. Lovely! The great food also completed our visit. I have here only a few of the ones that are memorable. The crispy pata was so-so hence not included. It didn't taste fresh enough or crispy enough for me. Although I forgot to take a picture of our appetiser, the excellent Crispy Kangkong, because I was too busy trying to dissect the dish and plotting on how to make it at home. There's a picture in the internet here if you're interested.

The pancit canton was good although a little more sauce would be nice.

The sizzling bangus belly was nice, too. My mother was complaining about the amount of cholesterol in it but even she couldn't help to take a bite.

And the winner is --> pork sisig! This is the best tasting pork sisig I have had so far. Just plain pork sisig with the right tutong (crispy bits) at the bottom and no creamy dressing whatsoever. Yum-my!

If all that eating had us tired, all we had to do was turn on our side and gaze at the view of Taal Volcano right there on our table. *sigh* I wish I could come back soon.