Food

I'll admit that I haven't been very brave yet with food, so I'll start trying to be more adventuresome. Maybe the 3 little cookbooks I purchased the other day will help!

In general, Filipinos eat rice at about every meal. And the price of rice is going up, which is causing problems with the poor. Word on the streets is that big suppliers are hoarding. The government is looking into the crisis and they're having to import rice. One can pay all the way from about P25 to P60 per kilo now for rice, which is about double a year ago, they say.

In Mindanao I was getting some organic red rice, which is sweeter, probably better for desserts. A couple weeks ago I found some whole grain jasmine, which is fragrant and wonderful, for P47(just a little over a dollar a kilo). And today I shopped at the big SM Supermarket in Makati, and found some organic brown rice for about P50/kilo. So now I have about four varieties of rice totaling about 5 kilos. Filipinos don't like the color of brown rice. Too bad. Every rice vendor usually has at least 6 varieties of rice in wooden bins, and some probably a dozen or more, so there's always a good choice, if you know what you're looking for and how you want to use it, which I don't!

OK, so BALOT: Fertile duck or chicken egg incubated for up to 14 days, I think, then boiled.
This morning I bought one on the way back from the open market, where I bought more rice, mangoes, onions, long string beans, potatoes, oranges, and Fugi apples from China.

Every night I hear a man calling "balot" on the street. Course his diction over the years has gotten rather lazy, so I had to ask E, "what's he saying?" I guess they come around at night because they're supposed to be an aphrodisiac!

So I haven't tried it yet. It's sitting in the frig...it's just the thought of a little chicken or duck arrested by boiling, and feeling the crunch as you bite into it. Well, OK, now or never. Just a minute while I work up the courage!...........(hear me crack the egg, peel it and think, hmmmm, can I do this????)

Ok, so I did it! And there was nothing in the egg but egg! Darn. I'll have to buy another later, then report. But dipping a boiled egg in vinegar then a little salt was good!

I bought some LANZONES a couple days ago. (See new Slide show: FOOD) Here's what a web site said about them: "An oval khaki colored fruit, lanzones has several segments within with white, translucent and juicy flesh. They kind of “pop” in your mouth and can range from unbearably sour to incredibly sweet. Often there is one seed larger than the rest. The seeds are wickedly bitter and highly distasteful – biting into too many of them is a real turn-off. There is a sap to the skin that is extremely sticky and fairly gross on the tongue – kind of like spreading a faster drying Elmer’s glue on your tongue. When just ripe, this is a tropical fruit par excellence. It has flavor, juiciness, sweetness and a uniqueness that is not found in western fruits. Apparently, bats have figured this out and they munch on the ripening fruit with a vengeance. In Indonesia, they wrap pungent bundles of shrimp paste and hang them on the trees to distract or repel the bats; in Paete, Laguna they apparently hang kerosene lamps on the trees to do the same task. The resulting view of hundreds of hanging kerosene lamps on a hillside is said to be spectacular."

I think the taste has just a hint of lime, maybe? The consistency is kinda like firm oranges, or firm jello? Anyway, getting rid of the membranes is sticky but necessary. And those seeds, usually only one in one section of about 5, are indeed bitter! But I like the fruit, though at their size, it can be sticky work peeling them. Ivory soap seems to wash off the sticky stuff.

I've heard that the Lanzones from Camiguin Island are the best. We visited there last May but they weren't in season. That's a small island just off the northern coast of Mindanao, with a beautiful rugged coastline, remnants of several volcanoes, hot and cold springs, and many resorts. In May it was hot, hot, hot so the cold spring was especially refreshing to us and, down stream, for a carabao. Carabao don't sweat, so they need shade or water to cool off. (I have to admit that E thought that seemed strange, and he grew up with carabao, so who knows what to believe!) Anyway, they are docile, hardworking animals, native to the Philippines. They plow many a rice field, pull travois, and can work for 8 hours, not like the brahman cattle who can't pull the plow but half that time. And they're also ridden, slowly!

Oh, this was to be about food. Well, I have to start my research! Be patient! I'll try a new something every few days if I can. By the way, you can buy regular green beans, potatoes, small red and yellow onions, asian eggplant, green, red and hot peppers, long green string beans, carrots, squash, bok choi, cucumbers, small almost red tomatoes, cauliflower, cassava, and what's that slimy veggie from the south? -- oh yeah, okra, etc. I used to get broccoli and snow peas, New Zealand spinach and lettuce in Malaybalay where it's cooler.

Course it's summer here now for two months, until the rains come in June. Days are hot, though it's not too muggy since it's also the dry season. Many days are bright and sunny, with a little breeze, and not at all muggy. My aircon runs most of the day in the bedroom!

I'll take some pictures at the open market, and try to identify the veggies. The big Supermarkets in SM Malls have everything, from maple flavored syrup to salsa, fish to boxed cereals, and even a little whole wheat bread, as well as the usual isles of kitchen stuff, cosmetics, lots of asian noodles, tofu, canned meats (Sardines and beef, tuna, sisig (ground skin, face, whatever!), rarely pork. The pork is usually found fresh. I've even found cans of prepared veggie pork and vegetables. I did have some sisig once and liked it, until I found out what parts went into it!

We had some 5-spice curls of bean curd in a can, which were quite good. Here, much more than in Mindanao, there is a lot of Chinese and Japanese food. In fact, here there is just about anything you'd want. NOT in Malaybalay City. But what do you expect in the country? Great Bend, Kansas stores don't have everything either, but they're better than country towns here, I'll admit. And the aisles are much wider!

We even found a nice Japanese restaurant just a few blocks away. This area is not known for anything but small canteens, or venders who cook on the street, or cook and line up their pans n soy milk, etc. I've never seen fresh milk anywhere, only in boxes or in powdered form. Milo, a sort of chocolate milk mix, is very popular. Chinese canned foods, asian noodles, fresh fish of many kinds, meats, chicken are all standard fare here. And some prepared frozen things called chicken or fish balls, of many tastes, are common. I haven't tried those yet either. I suppose you just pop them in a soup?

As a precaution I usually don't eat veggies fresh, except peeled carrots or salads in a restaurant. It's interesting how people here often say, "oh, yes, that's good for the .... or ...., having some knowledge of the medicinal and healthful properties of the veggies they eat. I've seen several vendors here and there who seem to specialize in herbs. One green, related to the sweet potato, protects one from the dreaded dengue fever. You DO NOT want dengue fever!

Speaking of bugs, I put a screen over the balcony grating Sunday to keep 'em OUT! I haven't seen a mosquito yet, but come the June monsoon, the streets flood, and one needs boots and bug repellent! Flooded streets will be interesting, considering what's all left on the streets! And can't you just see me jumping around the streets trying to keep away from mosquitoes?

E bought a MILK FISH the other day. Tasty, nice white flesh, but too many bones for me! I hate picking through every bite! He made a nice fish soup with bok choi and potatoes.

Sauces: Filipino ketchup, tomato sauce, mayonaise are sweeter, so I look for American brands and Italian tomato sauce. Cheese? No big cheese displays, which is a disappointment. In the provinces the only thing you can get is some soft stuff in a little box, unrefrigerated, that ain't cheese! Here I did find some good cheddar and Colby-Jack. I saw some Gouda and others, but not a lot. I see lots of dairy products from New Zealand, butter and the like.

I even found some frozen salmon at SM, which we'll have later. I made salmon patties today from some canned salmon, yum! However, for a few days eating will be very simple and smooth, as E had three badly decayed molars extracted today! Not fun!

And then, MANGOES: Yummy!!!!! I've learned how to eat 'em: slice in half (well, almost, considering the large flat seed) cup the piece in your hand then slice the flesh gently to the fruit skin into little squares, turn the skin inside out and slurp them off! Juicy, messy, but so delicious! In Malaybalay friends made an icebox mango cake, layers of sliced mangoes, graham crackers and lots of whipped cream and sweetened condensed milk all over. You let it sit in the refrig for a few hours and it all sort of melds together. Yummy! Crumble some graham crackers on top, too.

Or you can simply take a can of Fruit Cocktail (here they include some kind of translucent fruit) and mix it with a little wipped cream out of a little box, and some of that sweet condensed milk. That's pretty fun and tasty and fattening!

Oh, gosh, I hear the balot vendor calling on the street! Will I be brave enough tomorrow to try again for the real thing? I've been avoiding it for 4 months.