On aglio olio - Italianni's version

I think the pasta dish I enjoy the most has to be aglio olio. It ranks up there on my list along with pepperoncino and tartufo. Though we can make really good aglio olio at home, I still order the dish at some restaurants that we frequent like Amici and Italianni's. I also enjoyed this pasta while I was in Japan, usually in Saizeriya restaurants there.

Italianni's version of aglio olio comes with shrimps. It is a good version and they prepare the shrimp so it is not the dominant taste in the dish.

In some Italianni's branches you can have them separate the shrimps from the pasta. They will still cook the shrimps but separate from the pasta if you're sensitive to the taste or perhaps want to have aglio olio but allergic to shrimps.

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Shops at the Bicol International Airport

There are many choices for eating, drinking and shopping at the Bicol International Airport. Here's a quick share of them on this First of April.

There are many choices for the hungry here including Biggs, which has many branches across the Bicol region.

There are the familiar eats like Dunkin, Potato Corner

The shops include many selling local products.

Shops include an OTOP shop, one selling mainly souvenir shirts, and another selling various handicrafts.

Chocolates by Mayon Gold

I got a few shirts for myself, the wife and our daughter. I also got a few bars of chocolates to enjoy and write about later. Tip to travelers looking for souvenir shirts: They have more variety and higher quality shirts and designs here than in Cagsawa or other touristy areas in Albay. And that's no April's Fool joke!

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A nice can of sable cookies from Japan

Visitors gave us some souvenirs from Japan. These turned out to be small cans containing sable cookies. As is usual of omiyage or souvenirs from Japan, the packaging was interesting, attractive. Here is the can of cookies.

The can features popular representations of Japan including the Tokyo Sky Tree (the tallest building in Japan), Hachiko the dog, the Shinkansen or bullet train, temples, and sakura (cherry blossoms).

Details on the cookies including the manufacturer

Decorations on one side of the can.

The other side of the can.

Inside the can is bubble wrap to protect the contents and a pamphlet on the maker.

The cookies come in different shapes and each is a different kind of cookie. The mountain-shaped cookie is pistachio. The lighthouse-shaped cookie is ichigo (strawberry). The station-shaped cookie is cacao. The train and square-shaped cookies are butter. The small sakura-shaped cookies are blueberry. There are also small candies sprinkled around the can.

Here are the cookies.

The cookies side by side with the guide.

These were not large cookies but small or bite-sized. The taste is not really spectacular. They're regular as far as cookies go. The experience of eating them though is enhanced by the packaging. I keep the can as my pens and other items fit in the can. I have other cans like this that I kept and use to store a variety of items including office supplies and stuff for my hobbies.

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Chocolate milk from Carmen's Best

I found out that Carmen's Best, well known for their ice cream, also had chocolate milk. I saw this at a stall they had at a pop-up event at the parking lot of the UP Diliman College of Science Library. I tried one at first and easily finished 1 Liter during the day at my office. I ended up buying a couple of bottles to take home for the weekend. I forget the price of a 1L bottle but they had a promo for buying 2 or more bottles. I recall that the price of 1 bottle though is less than other milk brands from local farms.

Nutrition information for the chocolate milk

Information on the manufacturer and recommendation for consumption after opening

I haven't seen this being sold at supermarkets (yet) so hopefully there will be a Carmen's Best stall in future events at the University.  I will definitely purchase a few bottles for our consumption.

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Home-made brownies

Our daughter has been very interested in cooking and baking lately. They've been learning to cook at school and at home, she helps her mother when the latter is baking. We always have the ingredients for cookies or cupcakes at home so they can actually bake whenever they want to.

A few weeks ago, our daughter made some brownies from the mix we had. Half had cashew nuts in addition to the chocolate while the other half only had chocolate sprinkled on top.

Brownies half and half by our daughter

To be honest, he fudge brownies were good. I even brought some for my snack at the office.

 

It's not yet at par with the brownies I've enjoyed eating but I think we'll eventually get there. I use the term 'yet' because it is a work in progress. I prefer my brownies with nuts especially cashew (instead of almonds, macadamia, pecan or peanuts) but they're still good without the nuts.

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Unusual fruit shapes

At the market last weekend, I spotted a couple of unusually shaped fruits.

Oddly-shaped avocado

I was informed these were called moon drop grapes. These are seedless and very sweet.

While the avocado shape may have been naturally occuring, the grapes were a lab creation (genetically modified?). I have nothing against the latter and enjoy fruits whatever their shapes are. Others may have their shapes influenced by how they're grown. An example of these are cube-shaped canteloupe melons I saw in the supermarket a number of times.

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Elusive Mayon Volcano, Part 2

We headed to Cagsawa where you probably have the most touristy spot for seeing the volcano. Along the way, we had nice views of the Busay River and glimpses of the volcano that was mostly covered by clouds.

The volcano as seen from the Duterte Highway along the Busay River

Another view of the cloud covered volcano from the highway

On the foreground are riverbanks protection.

A glimpse of the countryside as we traveled to the Cagsawa ruins.

Views from Cagsawa soon!

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The Lion's Head - landmark along Kennon Road

Before I continue writing about the more recent trip to Bicol, I'm sharing these photos of the Lion's Head, which is a landmark for people traveling to or from Baguio via Kennon Road.

We left Baguio for Quezon City just after lunch time after our workshop last December. This photo was taken as we approached the Lion.

The scaffolding means the monument is under some renovation or restoration work.

There were few people as we passed the Lion. It was just after noontime on a weekday so I guess there were not as many people as on weekends, mornings or afternoons.

I noticed people like to dress up in local costumes or garments in many tourist areas these days. You see these in photos of people on travel in Korea, Japan and Thailand. So it's not surprising that people would also dress up here. You can rent the clothes and accessories for picture-taking for a small amount of money. There are several stalls renting out these stuff near the Lion's Head.

More photos of recent travels in the following days!

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Elusive Mayon Volcano, Part 1

When we arrived at Daraga Airport, we knew that we could not get a view of Mayon Volcano. There was supposed to be an excellent view at Daraga Airport (Bicol International Airport) but the inclement weather meant clouds everywhere and covering the volcano. 

After having a late lunch, our friend drove us to one of the vantage points for the volcano. Somewhere in the middle of vast rice fields was an unfinished road project where we could have had a nice view of Mayon. Unfortunately, Mayon didn't show itself that afternoon.

A friend described this project as a road to nowhere. There is a roundabout with the image of Our Lady and nothing else. Mayon Volcano was supposed to be a backdrop for this photo if it were visible.

You can only see the base of the volcano in this photo. The inclement weather made sure the volcano is covered by clouds.

More on Mayon Volcano in the next posts!

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Gourmet tinapa from Bicol

The hotel where we stayed at was selling bottles of gourmet tinapa. You can get something like these at the supermarket just like the bottled sardines. But there is always something about local bottled products like these that I like to take home as souvenirs. I did so for Alavar Spanish Sardines from Zamboanga and Victorias sardines from Negros Occidental. And so I instantly had interest in the gourmet tinapa at the hotel.

Tinapa is actually a generic word for smoked food (from tapa). In this case, it is the fish, which is likely to be herring or sardine.

There are two variants - the regular one and the extra spicy

This was a product of another Albay town to the west of Legazpi City and beside Donsol, Sorsogon. Donsol, of course, is famous for whale shark watching.

I got four bottles of the gourmet tinapa - two of each of the regular and spicy variants. We've opened a bottle of the regular one after some craving on my part. The tinapa in corn oil was really good. You can enjoy it for any meal with rice (breakfast, lunch or dinner). I thought it can also go well with pasta. I would surely get a few bottles the next time I see these.

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A very late lunch at Four Seasons, Legazpi City

Our flight to Daraga, Albay was delayed for about 1.5 hours. Instead of arriving at 1PM, we arrived around 2:30PM. Our friend picked us up at the airport and we dropped off our bags at the hotel before heading out for a late lunch, which we enjoyed at 3:30PM. He took us to Four Seasons in downtown Legazpi where we could have a nice meal enjoying catch-up kwentuhan over Chinese food.

Our friend took us to the Four Seasons restaurant in downtown Legazpi for a very late lunch.

There were few customers when we arrived. Some eventually trickled in as it was actually merienda time when we had our 'lunch'.

Their special Seasons Chicken

Seafoods with century egg soup - perfect for rainy days

Chopsuey guisado

Yang chow rice

Needless to say but we had a great time catching up on current events and reminiscing about college life at UP Diliman. Nothing like the combination of good food and good company to brighten up a gloomy, rainy day.

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Bicolano food for dinner

On our first night in Legazpi, we decided to eat at the hotel. The weather was really bad and we didn't feel like heading out. We didn't have our own transport so we figured we were better off having dinner at the hotel instead of spending time waiting for a ride and travel. The hotel's kitchen did not disappoint and we had a very good meal after ordering Bicol dishes for dinner. Consider this sampler of Bicol dishes: Pinangat, Bicol Express and Adobo sa gata.

The hotel's version of bicol express had pineapples

The hotel's version of pinangat

Adobong manok sa gata

More on our Bicol trip in the next posts!

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Guinobatan Longganisa

A close friend had told me about the longganisa (local sausage) in Bicol, particularly the one from Guinobatan, Albay. The real deal was supposed to be 100% fatty and used intestines. The regular variant you can get at restaurants or eateries are usually a mix of fat and laman (meat). And then there's a special variant that's mostly meat and lean (not so fatty). As like other longganisa, these are fried and for the Guinobatan longganisa, to a crisp.

Guinobatan longganisa for brunch (longsilog)

We had our brunch at Dad's in Camalig, Albay. This was after a quick tour of Cagsawa in Daraga town where we had hoped to see Mayon Volcano in her full glory. This meal had to be one highlight, food-wise, of my recent travel to Legazpi. I thought that Guinobatan Longganisa quickly came up my rankings for longganisa. My only regret is that I couldn't bring some home as I didn't find ones that were packed, frozen and ready to take home.

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Lunch at Elephant Grounds, The Podium

We originally wanted to have some ramen at The Podium but ended up having lunch at a cafe we haven't eaten at. From the menu, we thought they were more a coffee or merienda place but they did have some interesting meals that convinced us to eat there.

Truflle fries

Karaage don - a nice kinda fusion take on a classic Japanese dish

I wasn't able to take a photo of the hamburger the wife ordered but assure that it was good. I also wasn't able to take a photo of the gyudon our daughter ordered but since she finished her food, it means she liked it. I thought the karaage don was excellent and enjoyed this lunch. The cafe adds to our options of places to eat at whenever we are at The Podium.

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On stray dogs in the neighborhood

There are many stray dogs in our village right now. Many are dogs left by construction workers who raised them from puppies when their projects were starting and then left the dogs when the projects were completed. Other dogs are actually attributable to informal settlers in the periphery of the village (gillage - "sa gilid ng village") who typically leave their dogs to mate and multiply. There are also dogs that are let out by their owners to do their stuff (defecate and urinate) so they don't have to clean up after their so-called pets. All these dogs just roam the village and cause trouble in the form of poop on the roads, sidewalks and gardens, and spilled garbage from bins they manage to topple.

Strays at one village corner

More strays

 

While there has been initiatives to drive them away or even capture them (c/o the barangay and the city), these appear to be unsuccessful as the same dogs are still very much around. While it may be humane to feed them, that means tolerating their presence and nuisance in the neighborhood. What can be done to address this concern without hurting these dogs?

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Venchi at the Podium, Ortigas Center

The first Venchi store in the Philippines opened recently at The Podium in Ortigas Center. The last time we enjoyed Venchi was in Singapore in 2023. We had ice cream and I purchased a few bars of chocolate that we've consumed by now. It's good to have a Venchi branch here at least for when one has a craving for really good chocolates and have the budget for it.

Venchi store at The Podium

There were long lines before at the store as people bought mostly ice cream. I thought that while they had really good gelato, the other restaurants at The Podium weren't far behind in quality and were less pricey. The next time we were there, the line for the ice cream was shorter and there were a few looking at the chocolates but I saw none actually buy some. Yes, their chocolates were a bit pricey so you really had to be a serious chocolate lover or perhaps thinking of gifting chocolates to someone dear to purchase some.

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Chocolate review: Hawaiian Host Founder's Collection Dark Chocolate covered macadamia

I have a backlog of chocolate reviews not because I've slowed down in sampling, buying and eating chocolates but because there are other things to write about. Since today is Valentine's Day, I decided to mark this date with a post on chocolate.

We got this box of Hawaiian Host chocolates as a pasalubong last May 2024 and kept it on reserve for a few weeks before opening the box.

The dark chocolate variant of Hawaiian Host's chocolate cover macadamia nuts

Details at the back of the box included a brief history of the chocolate covered macadamias.

Nutrition information

Expiration date and ingredients - We ate this way before the 'Best Before' date. There is no information on the minimum cacao content of the chocolate.

When you open the box and slide the tray, there is still this cover to protect the chocolates.

Each chocolate sits on a slot. Without the cover, they can easily get dislodged.

We enjoyed eating this. The less expensive but usually available at supermarkets are the milk chocolate and dark chocolate variants of chocolate covered macadamias from Meiji. I thought Hawaiian host is just a bit better than Meiji's but you won't really be able to tell the difference when you're eating them. Will I be buying this soon? Maybe, but there is no urgency given there are many other chocolates out there to enjoy.

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