What Childhood Comfort Food Do You Yearn For The Most???

267 Responses

1. Tender Juicy Hotdogs!!! i remember my aunt frying these in oil and finishing them with a coating of sugar. Sweet & salty, reminds me of our beach/pool outings.

   I have been living overseas for the past four years and really miss banana-cue!! I miss saba bananas. And Philippine mangoes of course. I just had mexican mangoes and they were nothing near to the ones we have in Manila.

   Oh MM, just wondering… do you happen to know the rough ingredients that go into Cibo’s spinach dip? :) i am craving for real good spinach dip!!

2. my father used to cook the best dinuguan i’ve ever tasted but since my parents joined the INC, he doesnt cook it anymore :(

3. i miss the puto bumbong during xmas. the ones that i have tried here so far are so grainy and crunchy.

   i also miss the pan de sal in pi kasi the ones here are soft AND sweet.

4. I miss the tamarindo my lola used to make… actually it’s just like jelly made from fresh ripe tamarinds.. but what i remember vividly is how we (the young ones) would roll the jelly unto the spoon and keep it from falling to the floor…

   I also miss the time when my mother and I used to make lechon sauce from scratch… I would be the one on the mortar & pestle duty… pounding the garlic and sibuyas tagalog to pulp (we didn’t have any food processor back then)…. those were the days… haaayy!!!! :)

5. Hello,Mr. MM! I have been living in the Bay Area for 19 years, and what I am really craving for is the authentic Kare-Kare that my “barkadas” ordered at Barrio Fiesta Restaurant way back in the 70’s. Then, I also missed our green mangoes with bagoong dip and lastly, banana cue. Those were the days I won’t stop reminiscing. Thank you so much for letting us share the “precious memories”.

6. I miss the laing of our cook in Bicol. The ingredients are all fresh (and cheap). I’ve never tasted laing like that here in Manila. I was 10 when I first tasted that and was 17 when I last had a taste of it. She sent me one stikko container full of that delicious laing. Since then, I’ve always been the lookout for a really good laing that can compare to her cooking. I think the ingredients are the key to that laing as we don’t get authentic Bicol bagoong here too often. I myself haven’t tried cooking the dish as I just might end up comparing it to our cook’s incomparable laing.

7. I miss my Mom’s embutido. I have tried countless others but none has triggered that savory taste sensation I remember from childhood.

   Fiddlehead fern (pako) omelet reminded me of wet and blustery stormy nights when power lines are knocked out and no one wanted to cook really. During the storm season, vendors would forage for fiddleheads on the riverbanks and creeks, sell the freshly picked stalks wrapped in banana leaves. It was a curious childhood treat for me! I could never have enough of fiddlehead omelet, but where I live now, it’s a costly craving :D!

8. Our yaya/cook who retired when she was 60 (after almost 30 years of service with us) had the best fried chicken ever! I know all her ingredients but I can never seem to replicate it as she used to cook it. I also miss the bangus with a toyo-sugar-calamansi sauce she used to make. I miss a lot of ‘normal’ food she used to make that never quite seems right when other people cook.

   Another thing I miss is gorging! Haha! Now that I am older and wiser (hah!) and more health-conscious, I try to make sure that hubby and I eat right. (Hubby has a very high cholesterol count!) I miss those days when I can eat anything and not worry about sugar or high blood or cholesterol.

9. i miss the lechon baka of my uncle who’s an expert. i miss his pail of calamansi and a lots of onions processed in his blender as part of the mixture that he injects in his lechon…we call him dr lechon 25 yrs ago.

   i miss champorado with tuyo…like you MM i can no longer tolerate kamias, “sobra ngilo” na ko. sad to say even our green mangoes…

10. A childhood memory of a food that I haven’t eaten for a long time and no one can replicate it is Lomi. It’s a soup with vegetables and noodles that we used to buy at a chinese restaurant in Caloocan… authentic egg pie at the Dagohoy bakery…
    And just like you MM, I used to eat a lot of kamias dipped in salt and patis, or green mangoes dipped the same way if there is no bagoong available…but it seems that being away for 20 yrs., I cannot eat as much as I used to. The sourness just quivers me now… and yes banana cue. there’s nothing like the saba…with simple syrup, fried sprinkled with sugar or as turon. Ooooohhh, it is making me drool now.

11. I miss my lola’s Bringhe which we used to have every New Year’s Eve and during town fiestas. Also the Chinese ham from Binondo which she used to boil in spices in a big talyasi in the backyard.

    I miss having a pack of Chiz Curls, a pack of Danish butter cookie, a bar of Cloud 9 and a bottle sprite on lazy afternoons after getting home from High School. Used to do that 5 days a week. Technically I still could but without my 16 year old metabolism, there’d be hell to pay. I’d rather spend my calories on a wedge of good cheese, red wine and brownies made with Valrhona chocolate.

    Other comforting food memories; my mom bringing home pasalubong from Almon Marina – usually blue cheese and crackers and maybe a jar of cookies. Misua and pork brain omelette cooked in dark sesame oil (sounds yuck but is delish!). Yaya’s Humba with fat and juicy shiitake mushrooms served with garlic rice. Lola’s Nilaga with Jamon and corn, pork nuggets, stuffed amplaya, Callos and Kaldereta. Pandesal from the neighborhood bakery before pandesal became airy and tasteless.

    Oh I can go on forever! Good post MM.

12. comfort food : guinamos with kalamansi squeezed on it with plenty of bahaw, and sinaing na tulingan (made from very fatty tulingan), with plenty of bahaw again. and kapeng barako on the side.

13. Every Christmas, my Mom’s ninang makes a delicious lengua stew with tomato sauce and olives. I have not had anything close to it since she passed away. I miss that soooooooo very much.

    I also miss the mongo hopia of my youth. The quality of current hopia just does not compare.

    Then there’s the street-side fishball with their uber-yummy sauce! I used to set aside P1-2 of my daily allowance just to eat fishball.

14. My lola’s tapa and her home made ice-cream cake…

15. same here MM, i missed the pandesal of old…crusty and a little bit saltier than today’s version…with plain butter, or better yet, spanish sardines…

16. i miss the smell of baskets and baskets of ripening mangoes in the house courtesy of my lolo. *sigh* i miss biringhe (pinoy-style paella) and tibok-tibok with latik (maja blanca made with cows milk) during fiestas in those same hot summer months. i miss the kilain at my lola’s house. i tried making it here but it just didn’t taste the same. when i miss home, i make chicken and pork adobo.
    interesting article on what we choose to eat when no one else is around https://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/aug/26/eating-food-alone

17. I miss hot summer days spent in the huge backyard gardens climbing our mango, santol, guava, avocado, chico and coconut trees… playing with a garden hose until the grass turned muddy… then in the shade of a fragrant kalachuchi tree, being served a simple lunch of fried hasa hasa, kalamansi-patis, ginisang sitaw and hot, white rice.

    My sister and I ate that fried fish and gulay like starving children, kamayan style. Dashed off to play the rest of the afternoon away, until a merienda of hot-to-the-fingers turon.

    And no, this was not in the province, but right in the heart of a Makati village :)

18. My family is from Quezon and Bicol so I miss the food that has both chillies and real (not canned) coconut milk. I miss laing, sinantolan and sinaing na tambakol sa kamias. Laing is cooked with pork belly, prawns and hinimay na tinapa. We also use tanglad, siling labuyo and young kalamansi leaf to enhance the aroma. On very special times when we get hold of dinailan or balaw (it’s similar to Malaysian belachan or terasi in Indonesia) from Camarines Sur, we lightly roast it and add it too. Sinantolan is made just like laing, except we use ground liempo and bagoong alamang. When I get back to the Philippines, laing and sinantolan would be the first two things I would like to eat.

    I also miss sinigang na baboy with kangkong, sitaw and labanos with real sampalok… oh yum! On cold winter months particularly during the snowy part of winter, I always dream of sinigang.

    And fresh pandesal… I can go on and on :-).

19. Have you ever tried the pan de sal recipe in “The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking”? It’s a traditional pan de sal–no sugar that I remember, or very little, and it gets hard relatively quickly. The recipe is from Jesuits in the Philippines (the author is a Jesuit brother, and he compiled bread recipes from different Jesuit brothers around the world). I made it a couple of times for my grandmother, and she loved it because it was old-style.

    A transcription of the recipe can be found at the link below (there is sugar, but only 1 Tablespoon, and 1 tablespoon shortening–it’s not my website, I just googled for the recipe and got that site).

    If you try it, let us know if it’s close to what you’re looking for!

    https://631westfourthstreet.blogspot.com/2008/04/pan-de-sal-filipino-bread-roll-by.html

20. Living in Southern California, we’re fortunate to be able to avail of most filipino foods we crave. However, something I haven’t had since childhood in Pampanga was “patco” (patko?) which around 9 pm on summer nights, my Dad would have a craving and we’d all drive to the vendor where they made them fresh and piping hot. For those who are not familiar w/ patco, it’s like a filipino crepe but only filled w/ freshly grated coconut, sugar, and I guess in later years, they added sesame seeds. Oh and not to forget the slathering of Star margarine to give that sweet-salty taste that was oh-so-yummy!

21. > fried tulingan dipped in suka & patis with chopped red sibuyas
    > fresh seafoods (seashells, lato, lukot, guso)
    > budbud, bingka of mandaue, kalamay of bohol
    > talisay lechon….

    i could go on and on too but i guess i’ll just stop here. > :-)

22. home cooked fried chicken, taho, hot pan de sal (peddled every afternoon an a bike and placed in styro containers), and magnolia chocolait.

23. chocobim – santol – duhat – kamias – pandesal –

24. Banana cue, maruyang saging, at mainit na goto titimplahan ng kalamansi, patis at paminta..hmm heaven, at ang pasalubong ng tatay ko galing sa Ongpin pata hamon na may kasamang pickled green papaya :)

25. i miss turon with langka in it.. i also love my mom’s tulingan paksiw and then fried the following way with fried rice..i could not enjoy these dishes. seems not available here.

26. Star margarine on rice, Hansel sandwich cookies and a slab or two of pan de leche.

27. Sopas!

28. almon di gas with patola and misua… im based here in singapore and surprisingly they have an abundant supply of patola in the market! total comfort food, with tuyo or daing on the side

29. for breakfast…my mom’s champorado with scrambled eggs and dried fish
    for lunch…my yaya’s dinuguan with rice and banana
    for merienda….my lola’s rustic mango jam with 60’s sytle pan de sal and cheddar cheese
    for dinner….my dad’s humba

    On Sunday’s…Talisay’s (Cebu) lechon, maruya and consilva

30. my nanay’s “Everlasting” – made of ground and cubed pork meat, redbell peppers, hard boiled eggs,tomato sauce, egg yolks, raisins,steamed on a llanera(leche flan containers).. reminds me of our childhood fiesta, puto bungbong with salted egg, Scalding hot Mami sa Palengke in Marikina! simply the best.. Sugary Ripe Santol! These are some of my favorite things which we all sadly missed here overseas..also “Binatog or Kinabog!!” in the afternoon!! thanks MM! its been a trip down the memory lane!!

31. comfort foods: deco’s lapaz batchoy, the old Ted’s lapaz batchoy, grilled liempo of newly butchered pork, not the frozen ones in the US, broiled native tilapia (not the farm-raised ones), really good dinuguan with prepilla, served with puto manapla

    magnolia tutti-frutti ice cream when i was in grade school…”dirty ice cream” or sorbetes…

    a full breakfast!! all the ‘silog’ combos!! everyday!!!

32. My lola used to make some kind of black sausage made with pigs blood and rice or beans. Really big and black and good sausages Never tasted them again since she passed away.

33. My comfort food is my mom’s chicken potato salad. Although I know its SO easy to make, its just different if she prepares it. (Which is why I requested it recently when I was craving while pregnant).

    Another one that I haven’t tried in a long time (and I dont think my Lola can make it anymore) is this thickened soup that’s so fatty, made with beef cheeks(?), (I guess its a simple nilaga) and it has corn bits… Has to be served piping hot before the sebo comes out… Hay, sarap…

34. I thought I could just choose one…impossible task. I miss them all! The oyster omelette from Fook Yuen in Banawe, ma chang and siomai of my aunt, my mom’s home made beef tapa, old-fashioned apple pie and beef pie, sweet longganisa from this semi-blind lady at Kamuning Market, Red Ribbon’s chocolate mousse cake not because it’s particularly good but because we had it for everyone’s bday surprise in school, lumpiang ubod from this tiny store at the old Rustan’s Cubao, asado miki from this Binondo Chinese food chain (forget the name, they’ve expanded since), sago’t gulaman, taho!

35. I miss Dick’s cheeseburgers. Whenever I was sick, mom would give me a Dick’s cheeseburger or two.

    (Dick’s a small burger chain in Seattle)

36. Inun-unan na Tulingan/Pirit…..
    Binignit/Taberak..the equivalent of bilo-bilo or ginatan in the Luzon area….
    and surpisingly,Granada….which thru MM’s blog…i learned as the fruit Pomegranate….

37. It was Pala-iros ? every Sunday that I miss now. My mom would go every Sunday to Tanauan and make her weekly palengke pilgrimage there to buy stuff to be divided among siblings! Then it’s buckets of PALA-IROS to take back to Manila. There is also Aling Atay’s BIBINGKA…My aunt would also have BIYA with GATA, Sinaing na Tulingan and TAWILIS always ready when we got there PLUS BAON to take back!!! In the summer months, we would go to the ILOG at lunchtime and just swim away and then eat and sleep, then back to reality!

    BATANGUENO: If you are from Tanauan, do they still have the palairos in the palengke?..also Aling Atay’s Bibngka?

38. Yumm. All of the above plus the pospas with chicken and lots of garlic and green onions, sometimes with shredded meat on top. Usually, we get this when we were sick. And one other fruit I have craved for a looong time–breadfruit dipped in latik. And the bas-uy (sp?)that my father used to cook every Sunday. I remember the tripe because I always fish for it and lots of other meats.. this is a soup. I don’t think I have eaten this dish since he passed on:(. I am not sure where he got the recipe as he was the only one I knew who cooked it. Yikes, MM. You really made me think back so many years.

39. Being here in the US for quite some time, I miss Liberty’s Chinese ham (near Quiapo) and my mom’s potato salad with red beets! And of course, Letty’s buko pie from Laguna.

40. For me, it’s banana cue and camote cue. Also, Cosmos Sarsaparilla and hopia baboy that our neighborhood baker made.

41. Batchoy!… I grew up on them.. My grandmother use to have a batchoyan in bacolod and I grew up eating them..
    To this day I can eat batchoy for breakfast, lunch and dinner, everyday for a month before I can get sick of it.

42. i miss kbl (kadios,baboy,langka) coz i cant find kadios here in Cebu…

43. I miss the arroz caldo sa plaza together with the different kinds of inihaw on sticks, trapilya, adidas, betamax, helmet, isaw, etc. If any of you is from San pedro Laguna, im sure you also miss the pansit na may ketchup.
    I also miss the tapang baka of my lola at sinaing na tulingan with atchara.The bicol express and adobong pusit from bicol that my friend’s mom sends whenever she can. And my all time favorite, yellow ripe mangoes.

44. I miss the “ma kut teng/肉骨汤” that my mom used to make–simple pork rib soup in clear broth, that she’d put pechay and squid balls into. It’s different from the “ba kut teh/肉骨茶” that’s here in Singapore :-(

    Also-she used to make a sort of chawanmushi, steamed egg with ground pork and mushrooms inside. And sometimes a bit of sotanghon. Must be some variation of Chinese-Filipino cooking..

45. * Banana cue
    * taho – I still remember getting my first taste of this, scooped into a small glass. I wanted seconds and thirds!
    * champurado
    * and pork bbq on sticks, bought fresh from a street vendor.

46. I really miss the ensaimada and puto that my Lola made. My Lola used to own a bakery and whenever we visited, I was always offered the first ensaimada. She said I was a very good ‘buena mano’ :) I think she just knew how much I loved what she made. My Lola’s puto went best with dinuguan from Bulacan.

    I also miss eating pan de sal (fresh out of the oven) with a thick slab of cheese accompanied by hot chocolate to drink. Mmmmm. . .

    During the holidays, I miss having puto bumbong.

47. sinampalukang manok for me. It’s quite different from the one posted here in your blog. No vegies, just chicken and tamarind soup plus tamarind leaves (usbong ng sampalok). It’s good that there are native chickens now for sale at the local market, so we are able to cook once in a while.

48. Comfort food makes me feel a lot better after a really stressing day unfortunately there isn’t anything close here in SK.
    1. Lechon with a good sauce
    (then the left overs– paksiw or sisig)
    2. My grandma’s adobo back in the 90s with papaya atchara
    3. Grilled milkfish with onions, tomatoes and garlic in the inside
    4. Datu puti soy sauce and dayap for anything grilled
    5. Those fat steamed crabs yellow on the inside
    6. Manga at bagoong and riped sweet mangoes
    7. Goat Kaldereta(by my tito) and San Miguel
    In SK however, I’ve started to eat some relatively good substitutes every time I crave– Kimchi and pork stew, terriyaki meat, even fried sardines!^ ^

49. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw some fresh lanzones in Chinatown last week- one of my favourite fruits ever! Also siniguelas, atis and chicos. My mom’s arroz caldo is also truly memorable, and her French toast without syrup. Yum.

50. My Lola’s homemade chocolate with pinipig on top and champorado with tuyo! Yum!

51. Confort food for me is Spanish sardines w/ hot white rice and a bottle of Stella…Hits the spot!!!

52. MM, if i may add something i haven’t had since my college days and while working in our cattle ranch, its rocky mountain or prairie (offal) oysters!!!

53. OUT OF TOPIC:

    I am an avid reader of your blogs. The Apple customer service post is really interesting. Recently I have an horror story with a travel agency named DRC Holiday Travel & Tours located in Robinsons Forum. I thought I was a lone victim but thanks to google. My internet research revealed more.

    https://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/view+classifieds/id/1419724/BEWARE%3ADRC+HOLIDAY+INT%27L+TRAVEL+%26+TOURS-Rudest+Agency!!!+

    https://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/view+classifieds/id/1418860/DRC+TRAVEL+AND+INTERNATIONAL+TOUR-THE+WORSE+AGENCY+EVER+IN+PHILIPPINES?referralKeywords=DRC+travel+and+tours

54. 1. champorado and magnolia milk(the bottled ones)for breakfast.
    2. toasted pan de sal with butter and sugar for merienda.
    3. page with sigarilyas by my friends’ mom
    4. beef with gravy at my high school canteen
    5. spaghetti loaded with cheese served in a sizzling plate(i kid you not!) from green archers in UM mall during my college days
    6. my mom’s shrimp with oyster sauce
    7. blueberry cheesecake by my other friends’ mom (she always serves this during my friends birthday, unfortunately she didn’t have time to make it this year so i have to wait till next year)

55. While reading the previous posts, I was craving for all those and made me scroll faster and faster…then deciding I can’t zero on one for the moment :)

    @Sam, I never heard about Pako Omelet before. Was it done with tomatoes and onions too?

56. Dinuguan (with Sampaloc leaves) at Puto in San Miguel Bulacan. Papaitan from the roadside carinderias in Nueva Ecija. Arroz Caldo in Santa Fe, Nueva Vizcaya. Inihaw na Liempo with Sibuyas Tagalog, Suka at Paminta from guibang, Isabela. These are all food stops we used to make on long drives to and from Cagayan when I was younger.

    From the farm I miss the squabs we’d roast over charcoal, seasoned with just rock salt. The Capeng Barako with Carabao’s milk, and the Tibuk-tibuk with Dayap peel made by my grandparents’ contemporary and fellow Pampangueno.

57. uummm our cooks’s pork and beans; real champorado [not ready mix]; maruya; banana q; karyoka [not sure of the name now but these were fried glutinous balls rolled in syrup and served on bbq sticks.

58. oh I have to add,, the guava jelly that came in tin cans. With hot pandesal and butter, this was super breakfast for me

59. I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s chichiria. Like Chiz Curls/Cheetos with that nuclear orange color. It came in a small 2inchx3inch nondescript white plastic bag. Inside were “surprises” like plastic soldier figures or tattoos. Every sari sari store used to sell it for around 10cents to 25cents per bag. Now, nobody remembers what I’m talking about.

60. i miss:
    >my mom’s “picadillo con patatas” a staple during rainy days
    >the banana/camote que lady in the corner of 15th ave and 3rd ave in Cubao for her samalamig and bananaQs my childhood merienda
    >my tita olivia’s leche flans that takes 8 hours to steam
    >my auntie loling’s chicken macaroni salad
    >my auntie cely’s homemade polvoron
    >our former housecompanion/tutor’s coconut macaroons and cassava cake
    >a little place in Binondo that serves beef atay bistek with chicharo and cashews
    >twix cookies and creme

    haaaay, this comment is making me hungry.

61. i miss my father’s way of cooking halwan (fresh water fish, i don’t know what it is called in other languages). after a night of making rounds in the nearby creek, my father would bring halwan (or hawan in bohol) and cook them tenderly in coconut milk and spices.

    i am drooling right now.

62. ginataang halo-halo!!! with lots of saba and small sago! yummmyyy

63. Magnolia Choco Vim!!!

64. @Marichu – i think that’s chicadee’s

65. banana-cue, turon with slivers of langka, pork bbq, green mango/ sour santol on the rocks (rock salt) , caimito, siniguelas (I did not find these in Indonesia nor in Malaysia.

66. banana cue, ripe and unripe manggoes,kinilaw, inihaw na bangus,pork and chicken bbq, lechon and most especially my mother’s fresh lumpia…can’t wait to go back to the philippines soon : )

67. banana cue, ripe and unripe manggoes,kinilaw, inihaw na bangus,pork and chicken bbq, lechon and most especially my mother’s fresh lumpia…can’t wait to go back to the philippines soon : )
    Oops…forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.

68. Whenever we come back from a trip, first meal at home is always Sinigang with tons of veggies for me and Chicken Tinola for my very British husband (who loves his tinola!).

    Supreme comfort food for me is Mapo Tofu on hot jasmine rice or Chicken Lugaw with all the trimmings. Must be a rice thing.

    Favorite childhood food memories: ube puto from San Lorenzo Village which my Titas used to bring to Cebu. Hopia from Eng Bee Tin. My Mom’s stollen for the Christmas table. My uncle’s angel food cake with mocha buttercream icing. The frozen ice cream treats (ice cream shaped like fruits, animals, flowers etc)from Magnolia that used to be sent down packed in dry ice. My lola’s mamon that was lighter than air. My American grandmother’s zucchini casserole.

    Favorite childhood foodie memories: my lola taking all of my sisters and cousins in her big American car to Liloan from Cebu City for hot rosquillos from Titay’s. Baking tons of cookies for Christmas with my mother and sisters. My dad’s “jailhouse potatoes” which he used to cook for breakfast…fried left-over roasted potatoes with onions and ham. Eating an ice-cold mango straight from the cooler while island hopping on a banca…Artisan, i’m sure you remember that!!!

    Nice trip down memory lane, MM. Thanks! Now I know why I am this size…all the best memories are of desserts!

69. Oh, and Ice Castle’s halo-halo with corn flakes.

70. I miss my mom’s macaroni salad! She use to make a lot during christmas and gave most of them to our relatives and neigbors.

    I miss the food. I miss my mom.

71. ~balimbing, camachile, siniguelas, duhat
    ~authentic halo-halo (as in homemade ingredients), arroz caldo and bibingka with lots of cheese on top
    ~sinigang na bangus sa bayabas, laing, dinuguan

72. I miss my father’s adobong Bikol (walang toyo), malunggay with gata, my mom’s cassava roll(minsan niya lang niluto), ginisang ampalaya, ampalaya salad, fried gigi,my tio kuya’s fiesta food- humba, pata tim, igado, morcon, my lola’s atsarang papaya at ibus, my tiya cely’s latik sa suman… and Bikol’s nilantang pili with kuyog… plus pan graciosa from a local bakery plus tinapa from Bikol.

73. 1. Pinaputok na Pampano or Tilapia – during family excursions/outdoor bbq
    2. Steamed Lapu-lapu with Milk – one of many specialties of my grandpa, cooked fresh from his regular morning walks to Arranque Market, who introduced us to host of Cantonese dishes that sorely miss!
    3. Maja Blanca Mais & Palitaw – and other kakanin by a dear aunt
    4. Fried Suman and Mangoes – suman from trips to Antipolo and Zambales mangoes
    and so many more…nagugutom na tuloy ako :D

74. MM, about your pandesal craving…maybe you can try (or have tried already, i’m sure) 1950’s Pan De Manila, they have freshly-baked wheat pandesal all the time and I regularly buy them from their Wilson, Greenhills branch. They are bigger than most pandesals, crusty on the outside, soft and chewy inside, and smells sooo wonderful — at P5.50@! They also have big wheat ensaymadas at P10@.

75. sorry, it’s 1950’s Pan Amerikana :)

76. I missed my Lola’s homemade Macapuno, I remember seeing her cook it in a giant vat and mixing it over the fire with a giant bamboo stick….My Aunt’s chicken, roasted over a fire and covered with a empty giant can of Bagiuo Oil… Palabok and Halo halo from Little Quaipo

77. I miss my dad’s special misua soup with dozens of seafood and meats and fishballs that he made himself. He only made it on chinese new year and took days to prepare the ingredients. He’s been gone ten years. I miss him so much. I try to duplicate the soup but it’s not the same.

78. Dinuguan and Bopis in my lola’s house! I’ve tried making it but still can’t seem to match it, maybe its also because we live outside the Philippines so the ingredients feel different. I also miss having Filipino stable breakfast food! Longganisa, bangus, tapa…

79. Yes, consilva is definitely one of my childhood comfort foods. I remember eating a bunch on our summer beach outings to Talisay. Yeah, not white sand, but who cares? Back then it was just as clean as the beaches in Mactan. Besides, the bridge hadn’t been built yet so it was easier to get to Talisay. Of course, you always had lechon at the beach.

80. When I was growing up in Quezon City our help were mostly from the Bicol. I miss my Manang Zeny’s laing and tulingan with kamias. It’s funny the dishes that you hated the most, either you atem them often enough or just didn’t like how they looked. They will be the first things you would miss when you start living overseas. I remember when I was in the U.S. Navy I had a dream about corned beef with potatoes since it was something I cannot order in a pinoy restaurant. My mom still made the best kanduli with miso. Used to volunteer to drive her to the Farmer’s Market in Cubao. Fond memories.

81. simply my mom’s adobo and rice. :)

82. Susie…yes!!!! I remember riding with your Dad and my brother on our way to mantalongon, dalaguete and practically stopping in every town to grab a bite! And then having your Dad’s “garbage soup” to warm up the body from the cold night of mantalongon.

    KROD….I’m craving now for your comfort food…Spanish Sardines, Piping Hot White Rice, and Beer!!

83. @chrisb
    in our place, we call the dinuguan with sampalok leaves ‘tinumis’.

84. These are the hit in our humble home during rainy season or sunday lunch in Manila: siniggang na bangus sa bayabas with talbos ng kamote, siniggang na tilapya sa miso with mustasa, pinakbet with grilled bangus and using young and fresh vegetable including malunggay fruit. These ingredients are not readily available here in NZ.

85. thanks cocolevy =) That’s the one that I crave the most because I haven’t been in San Miguel in years, particularly at Sevilla’s where we used to stop.

86. Horlicks! The chocolate candy that looked like a tablet and came in bottles! My sisters and I used to nag our parents so that we get them from the small grocery called Tong Chong regularly and so the supply would never run out at any time.
    I also remember Mama’s bucayo. Da best! Never tasted any bucayo quite like it.

87. Been away from home for almost two decades now and I yearn for my Tita Meding’s bibingkang itlog na mabaho with maanghang na suka dip.

88. Bensons, White Rabbit and Tootsie roll :)

89. Sweet mangoes. Hopia Monggo. Beef curry curls.

90. Linuyang/nilupak/linusak, I used to eat this when I was a kid.
    They used to sell them house to house still hot.
    I have not eaten this since I was a kid so many years ago.
    Marketman you never feature this food.
    Have you eaten this?
    It is made of coarsely gilusak or gilubok underipe cooked bananas mixed with freshly grated coconut and brown sugar and then molded to shape.
    This is another alternative if you have enough eating plain boiled bananas.

91. My Mom’s pinoy style spaghetti and Arroz Caldo!

92. For me it’s paksiw na tagbago (not sure what tagbago is in English but it’s a small colourful reef fish) It’s what I ask my mother to cook each time I go back to the Philippines. This fish is plentiful in Palawan but difficult to find in Manila. Another dish I always miss is Lechon Paksiw. While a dish that instantly reminds me of childhood and grandma is ginataang alimango (big mud crabs). Oh I’m drooling. Lucky for me, I’m going home in a week. Yippee!!

93. siniguelas na may asin, kinilaw na kambing, papaitan na kambing at kalderetang kambing.

94. chocnut

95. turon with langka
    fried peanuts
    pinato – peanut brittle

96. I miss my Mom’s sopas that my husband also loves, nilagang baka as my Dad used to do it,my Aunt’s lechon sauce that she makes with chicken livers and lots and lots of onions, bulanglang that my Mom makes with string beans and grilled fish like bangus, tinumis with young sampalok leaves, sinigang na bangus also with young sampalok leaves, my husband’s lola’s binuo, kare-kare with the skin of the oxtail that my friend Elo makes which you can’t find here, liempo that my dad makes so good, also piping hot peanuts, pansit alanganin and of course climbing up every mango tree you could find, also trying to find ripe atis.

97. I miss Magnolia’s ice cream sandwich in the tin wrapping, ChocoVim (especially when chilled)and fresh milk & chocolait sold in bottles delivered at your door every other day!

    Miss my lola’s lechon sauce made from scratch, her sansrival and ube haleya packed in bear brand tins!

98. Pork sinigang I had as a child whom our old cook named inday prepared! Natural sour broth was used back then. I would mix the soup with my rice Wow

99. ive been away from home and been living in New York for 3 years.

    I miss:
    1. The native na manok. My mom cooks a very good sinampalukan, adobo, arroz caldo (with malagkit rice), tinola and chicken mami… and its so good!!! these are my comfort food and i miss all these terribly. I tried making all these here but the chicken here is not as good and tasty as the native na manok in our province (nueva ecija).
    2. My mom’s pork adobo. Im proud to say that since im a sucker for adobo, nothing compare’s to my mom’s adobo.. it is the best in the world! she have her own method of cooking this, i tried it and i think im getting close to perfecting it. Of course she would always tell me that the secret is the brand of soysauce that she is use! =) Her adobo reminds me so much of childhood memories.
    3. Cabanatuan’s longganisa… the garlicky one and the sweet one we called “batutay”… and of course the binabad sa toyo and tocino that we buy from our suki at cabanatuan’s main wet market.
    4. Lately, ive been thinking about my mom’s callos and kare kare… nothing beats my mom’s kare-kare and im still wondering how she cooks her callos … she seldom cooks the callos but when she does, no leftovers because its always good.
    5. I miss the santol, mangga, oh and the LANZONES!!! glorious lanzones… and also the mangosteen that we buy in bangkok!
    6. The Cabanatuan LECHON and the sauce…. its the sauce that makes it really good! And the paksiw na lechon a day after.
    7. And… the pinapaitan and calderetang kambing that we always have during our town fiesta!
    8. The alimango (babae and bakla) and the sugpo that my mom orders in advance and our driver will pick up in orami bataan. i cant tell you how good (loaded with cholesterol) that alimango is with all that red aligue! we will use our hand to mash it in the rice and dip it in patis with kalamnsi… gloriously splendid!!! And the sugpo… its so fresh, we just cook it as halabos. It has i bit of a sweet-ish taste, and the head… the best head ever! lol!! I love dipping the sugpo with the toyo, kalamansi with siling labuyo for a kick.. or with kamatis, red bagoong, cilantro and scallions. YUM!
    9. This may sound weird but i also miss the salagubang! Eating this delicacy goes way back during my Dad’s childhood years back in his hometown in Bongabon, Nueva Ecija, he passed it on to us, his kids. We think its yucky but after so much force from my dad that we will get punish if we dont learn how to eat it, we got hooked and we always look forward to May (which is the season of Salaubang). We cook it as adobo or sauteed in manggang hilaw. Its an acquired taste, but i swear its really good!! Not for the faint of heart.

    Until i come home for a visit, i will just torture myself and salivate over all these food that brings me back happy memories… which makes me realize, i had a happy and healthy childhood =)

    Thanks for the post Mr. MM =)

100. hi mm. like you i’m also from cebu. i do miss the consilva that you described. growing up i often see those in the beaches of mactan. the pinasugbo found in the supermarket is quite cumbersome to eat because of the paper. i also miss the sandwiches and burgers of hot shoppes. there was one across usc main campus when i was in college and another one near foodarama along mango ave. i also miss the ube and nangka dulces from mandaue shaped like “nipples” and wrapped in white paper. btw, manang lima who makes the yummy budbud kabug was my yaya when i was a toddler. we still get budbud kabug, budbud pilit and biko with latik from her. and lastly, i miss the kinupusan that my dad used to make. it’s pork fat fried to a crisp. much like the chicharon but without the skin. we try to eat healthy now. all these talk of food is really making me salivate. hehe.

101. The vegetable dish made of unripe nangka cooked in coconut milk with slices of bulad.

102. I miss steamed rice and siomai at Ding How (is it still Ding How?) The lechon in Talisay, Cebu. Masi and Cebu paklay (what a combination)

103. Mrs. K – I miss it too, from my mother’s suki at Mandaue market, Cebu.

104. Local na local: pan de coco and pan de mongo. As a child, we’d start eating from the still warm paper bag in the car and it seemed we’d finish it off even before we get home.

105. I can never replicate the “pancit guisado” at WA PAC in the downtown area (Recto). When we were kids our mother we’ll take us shopping in SM (the first one) and fairmart. It’s a small chinese restaurant(i wonder if theyre still there) That’s the best pancit guisado ever! I miss coco jam and pandesal too for breakfast or merienda!

106. For me it would be a Saturday lunch at my grandparents, my grandmother would make monggo and pritong usohos – I don’t know if I am spelling this fish correctly. Everytime I go home for vacation, I ask my mom to buy usohos. Also during Christmas, lola would make chicken galantina. I love the way she makes it! Hot Tsokolate (tablea)for afternoon merienda, stirred with a batirol. Iba talaga ang lasa!! yummy!

107. 1.) bicho-bicho
     2.) tira-tira
     3.) my mother’s embutido &
     4.) home-made achara

108. 1. Nena’s Bibingka in Cubao
     2. Majestic Ham
     3. Baliuag Pandesal from Baliuag Bakery
     4. Pastillas de Patatas
     5. Burong Talangka with 4 cups of rice, lol

109. mom’s sinampalukang manok with fresh tamarind leaves, sinigang na baka/bangus sa bayabas
     lola’s sinukmani and fried suman with hot tsokolate and bulalo

110. My comfort food to date is still simple ‘ginisang mungo’ or when re-heated ‘mungong ginisa’, (lol)

     Food that I have not eaten in a long long time, and I don’t know what it is called, is some kind of snail. It is 3″ – 4″ long, spirally shape. “Kuhol” which is round, is a substitute but not as good.

     Another one, is also of snail family, and I use toothpick to get them out of their shell. “Kaligay?” Could someone identify these snails.

     Are these snails still available or are they totally wipe-out of existence?

111. here in a balmy afternoon in Surrrey, spreading condensed milk on a piece of white bread, ( which my husband finds yucky) what i miss most is banana/camote cue, turon, suman latik, laing/pangat, kare kare, lechon, kbl (kadyos,baboy, langka) takway, apan apan, lechon, alugbati with mince meat, uga, tilapia and any fish fried in a filipino way oozing with oil ( i can’t fry fish coz my husband hates the smell of fried fish) i can only do it in the phils. i am making a list and comfort food here i come…

112. 1) Our Sunday lugaw from Kalentong market
     2) Adelaida’s ham (specially the ‘scrap’) every December
     3) Nilupak also from Kalentong market
     4) Hot Pandesal at Dairy Queen / Queensland butter
     5) Pastillas from Mindoro

113. I can’t believe nobody mentioned pastillas de leche!

     That is the food I crave the most from the Philippines. They were my favorite thing as a kid — of course, right? All sugar + milk… And they were sort of a specialty candy in my memory. My mom would get boxes of them for my birthday parties to give away as prizes for games. The white tissue each one came wrapped in made them sort of delicate. And each one came sugar-crusted and a little soft and crumbly. That texture. They always felt special occasion to me.

     I still love them, but I can’t get them unless I visit the Philippines/badger someone else visiting to bring back a box for me. No carabaos in North America, so no genuine pastillas de leche (everytime I hear of something by that name, it’s some sort of Latin sweet that tastes totally different, and I’m disappointed). You can’t replicate that taste. The carabao milk taste with sugar.

     I also think it’s perhaps something uniquely Filipino — the southeast Asian-Spanish combo (what with the local carabao milk being made into basically a boiled milk-sweet).

114. I miss the following very much:

     Fish balls from the cart outside my highschool, St.Paul’s in Pasig.

     Real sizzling sisig (I think from Dencio’s).

     Those grilled prawns with butter that you grill; my dad used to make me something very similar when I got good grades (he called it prawns thermidore)

     Purple suman cooked in a “tube” sold outside simbang gabi. Also, kutchinta from the market with fresh coocnut on it.

     And Pandesal (fresh and hot; the small ones) that you put butter and a slice of queso de bola.

     I’ve tried to eat all these here in oakland (and in LA and in Phoenix, you get the picture) and it never lives up to the real thing.

     Oh and my husband says lanZones and duhat.

115. Cocolevy and Chrisb, I was born in San Miguel, Bulacan and we had half a dozen each of tamarind tree and camachile. My Mom made the best dinuguan with young tamarind leaves “tinumis” way back then because we left Pinas 33 years ago. Our camachile fruit was so sweet! I’m also craving for chico, saba banana, pastillas (made of carabao milk), and butong pakwan (watermelon seeds).

116. zaN – – I remember “kaligay.”

     Christina – – Yes, I love pastillas de leche! My son brought me back 2 boxes when he visited the Philippines last January.

     I’ve lived in the US for 40 years and miss a lot of Filipino food; some because they were truly delicious and cannot be replicated here, and some because they bring back memories of my parents and grandparents.

     My Grandma was the family cook. I miss the following:
     Matamis na saging saba (cooked in syrup and slightly makunat)
     Ceviche
     Many variations of omelets
     Dinuguang manok
     Takway
     Inihaw na hito (a special treat for me whenever I was sick)

     The following remind me of my Mom:
     Charlotte Russe
     Lanzones – I can still picture her savoring the lanzones
     Duhat

     The following remind me of my Dad:
     Bacalao
     Ma Mon Luk siopao (he and I used to go there all the time)

     And I miss the following:
     Puto Bumbong
     Puto Binan
     Lumpiang Ubud

     I don’t miss the mystery meat sold in the UP Diliman cafeteria. LOL

117. My grandmother’s homemade ube halaya and macapuno. My grandfather’s kilawin and igado whenever he came home from Guam. I forgot the name of the fish but it had smaller than jolen eggs and it was cooked nilaga style. And that grilled porkchop we had as kids during Saturdays which we were never able to replicate anymore. Kailangan ata yung lola ko yung nakabantay para masarap. Tapos may kasamang bagong luto na sinangag. Yum!

118. When I was young, I used to go to Ongpin to visit my lola every Saturday. She would make champorado for breakfast. I would eat it with pandesal. She also made the best quiqiam :) We would also have lugaw(congee) with chicken with salted eggs and lots of fried shallots, preserved cucumbers and boiled peanuts as condiments.

119. MM, what a great post to get your readers involved! I kept reading comment after comment and nodding … oh yes, that one! And that one, too! My very first childhood memory of food is our weekend visits to my aunts in Pampanga and they would have a big bottle of carabao milk just for me. I would pour some in a bowl with hot, cooked rice and a little bit of sugar. Now living abroad, I also miss my Mom’s Adobong Alimango — an often requested dish at extended family gatherings. She uses only the freshest, fattest alimango and should be laden with roe (taba). There is also her Pastel de Lengua and Ukoy (which I have now been able to recreate). Whenever I visit, she will always cook these dishes for me. I also miss the live/still jumping shrimps. The ones I can buy here in Houston are all frozen. I used to miss Ensaymada, but thanks to BettyQ, I got that nailed.

     To Bagito – I am familiar with “patco”. During a visit 3 years ago, my aunt showed me how to make it but since I cannot find freshly grated coconut and Star Margarine here, I have not made it myself. If you are interested, I can perhaps write to my aunt and get the recipe. However, I know that Star Margarine is crucial element to the taste.

120. ChrisB: when you have the time, try the Tibok-Tibok I posted somewhere before and see how it measures up to your childhood memory of your ninuno’s Tibok-Tibok….maybe once you’ve tried it, it can come close to theirs.

     MM, Bagito: I think after seeing how nostalgic we all are of what we grew up having, I will encourage my children to learn making whatever they can of their favorites so they will have no regrets when the time comes…..if need be, I will resort to drastic measures like not cook for a whole week! Tingnan ko lang kuing hindi sila matuto!…hahahaha

121. Wow! I agree with most of the food the others have listed, but one childhood treat that I really love was “bukayo/bucayo”.It’s like a candy made from shredded coconut meat,”panutsa”,and langka fruit.I always had it hot and fresh from our neighbor when I was little.She said I was a good “buena mano” for her.When our family moved,I stopped eating bukayo.I have yet to find a great bukayo recipe :)

122. > atis
     > purefoods hot dog – my barkada used to cut this into pieces, and after frying, bathing them in banana catsup and hot sauce then having these as palaman sa hot pan de sal….
     > kalamay – luckily we have these in san diego…
     > kamatchile – especially the very ripe ones
     > lechon – the real one, roasteed over an open pit, tuhog-style
     > sinampalukang manok – with manok na native and real bulaklak ng sampalok (not the knorr sampaloc powder or the bottled bulaklak)
     > arroz caldo with congealed chicken blood and boiled eggs
     > the real okoy with grated kalabasa and shrimp and suka with lots of garlic and sili
     > big, black duhat
     > steamed alimango with lots of aligi

     this is not fair!!! now, my tummy is rumbling…..

123. Ms. ECC: is the patco like a sweet lumpia? Can you also share with me the recipe of your aunt if she agrees? If she doesn’t, can you describe to me in detail like texture of the wrapper…is it more like an eggy type of wrapper or like a wafer type? …the filling: more coconutty or peanutty?

     Hay, Ted…if you are no longer following the Grilled Sugpo thread…I posted the masala recipe of my old lady East Indian friend. The recipe makes 1 kg. almost so she keep it in a jar and uses it on anything!

124. My grandmothers (Inang) pastillas made from carabao’s milk that was milked that morning. I remember all the grandkids would fight over who would help her because we all wanted to be the one to lick the wooden spoon. But most of I miss most is just spending quailty time with “Inang”

125. @BettyQ, i saw your post about the masala, and responded to it there. Thanks again.

     Speaking of Pastillas, has anyone ever tasted pastillas de patatas? My Gramma always makes them at xmas time and that’s one of the things i really miss dearly, she passed away 20yrs ago and did not pass on the recipe. Does anyone have the recipe?

126. Maruya with ice-cold, almost freezing coke, which my siblings, cousins and I had during our fun fun summers in Davao.

     Pili lantahon. Not the nut but the flesh outside it, softened with lukewarm water, with sawsawan made of kuyog (padas in Ilonggo) kalamansi and onions( MM, I was happy to discover that you wrote about this in the past ). My Papa and I could eat this everyday for months if we could help it.

     My Mama’s lumpiang sariwa. So painstakingly prepared, and delicious. The reason I learned to enjoy eating vegetables. We used to joke her that it was the cigarettes she smoked while cooking lumpia that gave the lumpia its unique flavor.

     The mangoes my neighborhood friends and I used to poach from the few fenced mango trees in our village in Cainta. Part of the thrill was the threat of the bantay chasing us away with an itak. It was a cheap thrill, stealing those mangoes ( just a few ) , but the experience has remained etched in my mind.

     3M Pizza, which my friends and I had just outside school, after our activity period. Very simple pizza, just ham and melted cheese on the crust. But the laughter among buddies made the pizza the best.

     Just realized, my childhood comfort food had everything to do with the people I ate with, or who prepared the food, even more than the food itself.

127. Marketman’s fan..I remember linuyang. Yes, the unripe bananas+grated coconut+brown sugar. Yum. Gosh, haven’t eaten that in decades!! I forget to ask for that when I go home. Must put that on my list.

128. My mom’s lengua in creamy mushroom sauce, her bibingka cooked with coals on top and the bottom in a banana leaf-lined clay pot (i brushed the butter on top when done), her lumpiang ubod with garlic sauce, her spanish sardines. My nanay’s dinuguan with saging latondan, her sister’s guinataang halo-halo. Buko sherbet in the province in large wooden containers. Free samples of chicharon and pastillas in the houses selling them in San Miguel, Bulacan.

129. Thel from Florida, now I’m really craving San Miguel’s Tinumis and the dry puto! San Miguel used to be our last stop before Manila or the first on our way up north. Sadly, traffic has become so bad in Bulacan that most travelers going north bypass it in favor of Tarlac through the new expressway.

     Bettyq, thanks, will look for your recipe. I was half consciously avoiding trying out a tibok tibok recipe lest I ruin the memories with my substandard version, hehe.

130. pinikpikan!

     a live native chicken, slowly whipped to death (to curdle the blood in the meat) then boiled with some etag (the salted and smoked meat delicacy in northern philippines) and fresh sayote added just before the meats are cooked.

     yum *smack*

131. Hi BettyQ. It is exactly how Bagito described Patco — like crepe but perhaps a bit thicker and yes, it is more eggy than wafer-like. You do roll it up like Lumpiang Sariwa. That is, open on one end. Inside is freshly grated coconut. We don’t put peanuts in it. I will write to my aunt (she lives in Pampanga) and ask for the recipe. I am sure she will not mind sharing it.

     I agree with Gej, comfort food has everthing to do with the people who prepared the food or who you ate the food with. From now on, I will pay more attention to the foods and dishes that make my kids excited and, like BettyQ, make sure they know how to prepare them.

132. in no particular order – been away for more than 10years now….

     1) Cow Label (could never really afford when i was in Grade School)
     2) Batchoy
     3) Inihaw na Baboy at Pampanguena’s on Katipunan
     4) Fried breaded porkchop, rice and ginisang sayote at Covered Courts in ADMU
     5) Ate Wally’s Spaghetti ammatriaciana
     6) Pancit Palabok from this one stall in Cartimar – by where all the aquarium supplies were
     7) Kowloon siopao
     8) Andok’s lechon manok and liempo
     9) from S’pore: Teck Hee Fatty Pau (dim sum)

133. I miss my Nanay’s arroz caldo, chicken adobo and tambo (shaved bamboo shoots cooked in coconut milk with crab and corn). Bachoy, butong-butong (that stretchable taffy candy made from sugarcane), tableya hot cocoa, and dinugu-an (not made with pork belly but with intestines and liver — YUM!).

     I live half the world away and there are nights when I wake up with my stomach rumbling, after dreaming of my mother’s dishes.

134. And may I add — perhaps one day, The Teen will have her own blog and when she asks her readers what their childhood comfort foods/dishes are, I hope my kids will mention all the ones their mother made.

135. ChrisB: I have received e-mails from TRUE BLOODED KAPAMPANGANS who made them and told me hindi daw nila mapintasan! So,hopefully your ninuno will be proud of you once you try making it!

     Ted: maybe you can or Batangueno can describe it to me. Is it makunat or crumbly?…rolled in sugar? Google it but tyoe in Potato pastillas. There were 2 recipes. How about subbing pottoes instead of ube in pastillas ube recpes. I have tried many haleya recipes and my SIL’s aunt’s recipe is easy and good. I always make this haleya when my kili kili is in good working order and shoulders too! I would make it but I am watching my cholesterol and sugar levels nowadays! Anyay, try this…it is for ube but sub potatoes (boiled and mashed)…

     2 pounds frozen grated ube
     4 cups evaporated milk
     1 1/2 to 2 cups sugar
     1 tsp vanilla
     1 tsp ube flavour
     Cook this over double boiler so it doesn’t scorch bottom of pot. I don’t have the patience to keep on stirring. So, this way, it might take a bit longer but it won’t get burnt. Cook until thickened,.When it is thick enough, then I transfer to a heavy skillet and keep on stiriing until makunat or consisitency you want. Oh, before transferring to skillet, make latik and add about 2 tbsp. of coconut oil to it. You can use butter if you want but the coconut oil gives it a nice flavour. This is my deviation from my Sil’s aunt’s recipe. I don’t know for potaotes though. You might want to omit the coconut oil

     Try this also, Ted: 2pounds boiled mashed red potatoes.
     4 cups evaporated milk
     1 cup condensed milk
     sugar but adjust it accordingly
     pinch of salt
     1 tsp. vanilla
     Do like the ube haleya. When it is nearly done…in a separate pot, make browned butter. When it is getting to be blonde stage or light gloden brown, take a quarter of your finished potato pateillas and add a few tbsp. of the browned butter. The taste and smell of the browned butter will elevate it to a higher level. This way, if you don’t like it, you still have 3/4 of the plain potato pastillas.

136. Oh, forgot, ted!..SIL’s aunt uses evap milk back hime but I instead of evap milk, I just use half homogenized and half whipping cream.

137. Groan. All these food memories are making me drool.
     My comfort food pilgrimage when I go back to Iloilo usually includes, when possible:
     Ted’s Original La Paz Batchoy, from specific branches because not all of them cook it the same way;
     Pancit Malabon from Balbi’s;
     Birdhouse (ultra thin crust) and Love and Kisses (thick, yummy crust) pizza;
     pancho from Buho Bakery (buho = hole, because you can literally buy a pack from a hole in the wall!)
     Alugbate and ground beef soup;
     laswa with green papaya and saluyot (but no malunggay and okra);
     Budyawi – from the buri plant; the “fruit” are boiled then the white, pasty kernel inside is eaten. It’s been over a decade since I’ve had some and I miss it!
     Pinamalhan nga bangrus – similar to paksiw (MM, you featured a similar recipe but I forgot what it’s called in Cebuano – fish with vinegar, ginger, soy sauce, and left to cook until the liquid is practically all gone);
     Jo-Ann fishballs from Molo Plaza;
     and, when in Manila, the isaw from UP Diliman!

138. Authentic LaPaz batchoy, pancit Molo, and chicken inasal from Fort San Pedro.

139. Where to begin…My mother was a good cook (she was from Pampanga), so we grew up eating really well. There was her kare-kare and heavenly ginisang bagoong. She also made a mean binagoongang liempo. She would fry hito to a crisp and serve it with putat mangga (young manggo leaves) or boiled unripe sampalok and binabaw na bagoong (steamed in a saucer on top of the sinaing) as sawsawan. Indeed the sawsawan was as important as the meat or fish that was served. All of these dishes conjure up warmth and comfort for me.

     Living in the US, I really miss lanzones and santol. Mom used to by both by the kaing when in season because she knew I alone could put away a kilo per sitting. Lastly, the bibingka and guinomis at Via Mare, or my Mom’s ginilo. These are amazing food memories of my mother that I would like to share with my young son.

     Thanks for posing the question, MM!

140. -hot pandesal w/ kesong puti
     -pili fruit flavored ice candy my yaya used to make : )
     -chilled aratelis & indian mango w/ asin fresh from our backyard :)
     -for ulam : pinangat, laing, egado & ginataang green papaya
     -lastly … daing na abo w/ fried egg n sinangag … yum yum !

141. So many memories are brought back with all the posts here;

     Tia Tibang with her pastillas de leche made of carabao milk from Lubang, Mindoro, Lolo Anong with his special unang linaw na patis, which has set my standards for patis; not sure now if it is from Binakayan, Cavite

     After the floods and typhoons: a rich champorado with tuyo or tinapa

     Nursing a fever: a thick congee with bits of sweet potato pahingi from the Chinese neighbor’s pot that had been brewing all day long

     Summer visits to the ancestral home by the water with Lola Abe: a breakfast of chorizo de bilbao and garlic rice fried in chorizo fat; pickled ampalaya; and pabusa (puffed) out of old rice long before our boxed rice crispies

     Holiday fare: dad’s chinese ham glazed with brown sugar with hot sianse, long before we had an oven. I can picture the glistening fat and taste the salty sweet with slices of pickled gherkins on hot pan de sal; my mom’s humba kept for 3 days to age in the fridge

     the special and delicately sweet suman malagkit cooked with coconut milk brought by my dad’s milling customers at christmas time

     Kesong puti with puto, from Bulacan, and chocolate e from mom’s own cacao beans from the backyard

     Ratiles, kalumpit, duhat and camatchile for which I was willing to take the tiniest and most painful kurot from a sadistic older friend so she would share them with me

     Halo halo topped with puffed pinipig at the only refreshment parlor in town

     Visits by Ate Nene who looked after us kids when Mom was away on business trips: bulanglang flavored with the freshest mint or basil, ensalada or ginataang pako ( fiddle fern), ginataang hito with turmeric

     Pinangat of banglis and simbad, a special fish only caught in Naujan Lake. Or.Mindoro

     That old lady who made the morning rounds vending her achara laden with bamboo shoots, her large enamel palanggana delicately balancing on her head

     Maruya and minatamis and maligat na saging na saba

     and whoever had a merienda of old coffee from breakfast sweetened with brown sugar ,poured over bahaw na tutong and eaten with pinangat na tulingan….the ultimate in comfort food after walking home from school at day’s end.

     Pakaskas from Batangas made of palm sugar which we licked clean out of the palaspas

     I remember the taste but I forget now what we call those sweet goodies made of some kind of latik? in little round shells which came in sets of 5 or 6 and held together with tingting.

     Thanks MM for triggering a nice walk on memory lane, before everything escapes me.

142. Yes, definitely Lola’s casahus (beef tapa), served with vinegar and soft-boiled eggs and a good bedtime story under the mosquito nets; inun-unan fish with fried rice for breakfast; spicy coconut tinu-nuan chicken; baby squid in inky sauce; pigs’ knuckles; yummm…

143. when we used small bamboo ornaments to enclosed an area in our garden this summer, i told my husband about some childhood food/candy i used to buy in sari sari store in the philippines… inside the small bamboo stick there’s some sugar jam that’s being scooped…sorry but we call this in tagalog “kulangot ng intsik”… i also remember bukayo, tira-tira with all those hard caramel inside…oh and pilipit as well …, i don’t think these are all available now these days…

144. My Mom’s kare kare, embutido, and russian salad, and ice box cake which were always part of our Christmas menu. Although I was able to replicate these dishes, my brother said it doesn’t taste exactly like Mommy’s. It brings back fond memories of Christmas though as a child because most of our relatives would come to our house and spend Christmas with us. I also love and truly miss pastillas de leche from Sevilla’s and when somebody brings me some from the Philippines, I treasure it like gold because it’s something you will never find here in the US. I also miss the guinataan mongo and guinataan halo halo of my Mom’s cook. Somehow the canned gata does not taste exactly like the freshly squeezed ones. I also miss the “pinatisan” and puto (the round flat like pancake ones) which they would serve us for breakfast when we would go to fiestas in Maronquillo, Bulacan where my Dad was born. I have looked up the recipe of “pinatisan” but it is not the one I know because the one made in Bulacan does not have intestines but rather small bony pork pieces. Does anyone here have a recipe from Bulacan? I also miss the “suman sa latik” and “sapin sapin” from Angat, Bulacan where my Mom was born. It’s different though from the ones we know in Manila. The “suman sa latik” is like ground malagkit and pirurutong which gives it its ube color and it’s sweet and it has latik (not the latik sauce like Aling Paring’s but the whitish solid ones) stuck on the sides of the suman. The sapin sapin is white and sweet (they said it’s made of galapong) and then it has a layer of super delicous sweet thick coconut milk on top but it is not runny and seems like a thin layer of whipped cream. I have been searching everywhere for recipes for these two but can’t find any. The ones they sell here in LA doesn’t even come close. I never bothered to ask the lady we used to order from in Angat and besides, I was embarrassed to do that because it was her business. Is there anybody out there from Bulacan who knows what kind of “suman sa latik” and “sapin sapin” I am referring to? Maybe you have a recipe and can help me replicate these because I am really craving for it and I haven’t been to the Philippines in 5 years. Please?

145. I miss the smell of freshly roasted cacao beans being ground into “tablea”, shaping the warm dough-like dark chocolate into round disks with my hands, and afterwards, the resulting first pot of tsokolate cooking on the stove that my mom would furiously whip with a batidor. We had several cacao trees in our backyard which yielded quite a crop of beans regularly for making the round hardened fresh chocolate. Whenever I go back home, or someone goes home and asks me what I want for pasalubong, this is always on my list.

     Other childhood comfort food cravings that are hard to satisfy here in California even with the abundance of Filipino food sources are the uniquely waray-waray specialties like chocolate moron and binagol. I will admit to having smuggled a few of them in the past in my suitcase, including some kesong puti for my mom. It was well worth it. :)

146. My grandma’s pancit luglog with flaked tinapa, calamansi juice, boiled egg, fried garlic, prawns, patis and rendered pork fat. She did not put the orange sauce but it still tasted fantastic.

147. I miss bananaque my snack after school ,buko flavored iced candy that my neighbor use to make,purefoods tender juicy hotdog (grilled),boiled peanuts, and my mom’s gelatin(the pink kind i think it was mix w/ some milk)

148. I miss Magnolia’s twin popsicles especially the orange and langka flavour.Also Aling Nena’s bibingka in Cubao.

149. Lilibeth, you are in luck! My sister-in-law is from Angat and makes a mean Pinatisan! I will ask her and Lola (everybody calls her mom Lola)how to make the suman you are talking about. It couldn’t be any farther from the suman I posted before? Kasi Lola always requests for my Suman!!!

150. Betty Q: You are angel! Thank you so much! I would appreciate it if you could also ask about the white sapin sapin. It’s different from the one from Malabon. She would know because she is from Angat. Thank you so much!

151. i miss fresh quesong puti wrapped in banana leaves…you place slices in freshly baked pandesal and a few drops of patis….heaven!!!! Team up with native brewed coffee for breakfast…ang sarap….

152. i miss the frozen haleyang ube we used to order from a lady somewhere in pasig. my mom’s papaitan, lutong palos na kanduli, samaral na pinangat sa kalamansi and pinikpikan. my aunt’s bibingkang bugok and fresh water hipon sa gata, stewed itik sa pickles. lastly, baguio longganisa with fried rice, tomatoes and itlog na maalat. for dessert, patupat or is it katupat? from pangasinan, it’s sticky rice cooked in panotsa and gata and wrapped in a coconut leaf bag.

153. Betty Q: I have checked out your suman recipe and I have it on file and I’m sure it’s delicious and I plan to make it soon but it’s not quite the suman sa latik from Angat because the suman sa latik from Angat is made from ground malagkit and from what I’ve heard, they mix the gata and sugar and then there is also latik (not the sweet sauce) stuck to the side of the suman.

154. i miss my mom’s tamarindo and the postre (guava cooked in coconut milk and eaten as dessert). Also the ‘Sarsa’ in Romblon. it is a combination of young coconut and fresh small shrimp, pounded and steamed like suman sa ibos. its an appetizer or something you pair with grilled fish. Im going to Romblon next month, hopefully i could have the ‘sarsa’ again.

155. as the eldest apo, i used to spend my weekends in bulacan with my lolo and lola…
     for breakfast – kapeng barako (to the horror of my mom! she says i didn’t grow tall because i started drinking coffee at a young age) with pan de sal and mantequilla, dipped into coffee.
     for lunch – gatas ng kalabaw, heaping white rice and halabos na hipon all mixed together in a bowl(not really an appealing sight so this became an initiation for any incoming boyfriend/girlfriend in the family. hehehe)
     for merienda – kaimito and this fruit called “balimbing” (not sure what the english translation is), kalamay hirin (kalamay with sweet “gravy” topped with toasted coconut
     for dinner – fried chicken!!!

156. Over a quarter of a century ago, my parents would drive us down to Laguna to visit my Mom’s parents, and upon arriving in Santa Cruz, we would always stop at this old house on a bend in the road to order puto binan. The old lady who made it required a day’s notice to prepare one bilao of this delicious delicacy. I remember the puto to be moist but not soggy, sweet but not cloying, slightly chewy with a satisfying fullness to every bite, and topped with grated cheese to boot! She passed away after about ten years of sharing her beautiful puto binan with us, and sadly, none of her children took up the bowl and spatula.

     I miss that puto binan.

157. MM, try the pandesals of panaderia pantoja… they even have stuffed versions that you might find amusing.

158. – pancit wrapped in banana leaves, served in chinese restaurants
     – chocovim
     – magnolia ice cream sandwich
     – bulalo sizzling ala pobre steak
     – good old bread baked in wood burning oven
     – sarsaparilla

159. A lot of my comfort food is associated with my beloved yaya, who was also our cook. She was from Ilocos Sur, and she made a lot of Ilocano food and merienda for us. I dream of carioca, and calasucos (sp?) which are malagkit rice balls rolled in fresh coconut, then eaten with sugar, tupig (a suman) and another suman which came inside bamboo tubes that were roasted on coals (calamay like). Yaying also made minatamis na saging, with a tinge of dayap in the syrup. I also dream of a camote dish made by one of my lolas. It was camote sliced really thin, then rolled in brown sugar and fried to a crisp so the sugar was now melted and hardened all over the camote. She also made the best leche flan, and polvoron. She spoiled us so much, she indulged my cousin’s desire for the polovoron not to be shaped and wrapped. She gave us the “polvo” in individual cans, and we could just spoon up the polvo, from can to mouth! Sometimes, I dream of the best biko ever, which came from a sarisari store down the street from us. No biko I have had since then ever tasted as good. The owner would save the corners for me, my favorite piece! I had another lola who had a favorite “drink”. She had to have ube ice cream float made with seven-up! I know it sounds weird, but she loved it. I did not particularly like it, I liked the ube ice cream by itself, but I can’t help but smile everytime I think about her ube ice cream float! I think of the turon in a store called NEMART that was on Calle Herran, in front of Assumption and how we would all crowd in there after school to get our merienda. My God MM, I could go on forever and ever and ever. But thank you for this post, comfort food/childhood memories are always good things!

160. Lilibeth: my SIL said Pinatisan is like making menudo without the toyo. Instead Patis is used to season the dish…so saute the usual garlic, onion until soft and caramelized. Then add coarsely chopped seeded tomatoes. Saute until soft and the oil oozes out. Add your cubed pork and a little water…not much! Season with pepper and patis. Add bay leaves. Then cook over medium to low heat until tender. NO potatoes or red peppers or peas!

     The Suman she said…you probably are referring to Suman Maruecos? Is the whole suman purple or is it like a twist?…both white and purple? Sorry…she’s not much help with your sapin sapin! I will experiment with your suman. When I have nailed it like ECC said, I will let you know!

161. I miss our labandera’s young langka salad, a relative’s pinamalhan na gurayan wrapped in guava leaves, pinamalhan of my lola, bilong bilong na pinamalhan later fried crisp. I miss my aunt’s guinamos na bihod, Mrs. Arcosa’s adobong pitaw, takway, kadyos with pata (where you see more kadyos unlike here in Manila where you can cound the kadyos). I also miss my mom’s cocido and the ropa vieja that she made after.

162. steamed alimango dipped in a sauce of rock salt and minced raw garlic over which hot baguio oil is poured (which cooks the garlic)

     malunggay stems chopped into 3″ pieces and cooked with a little bagoong and eating it by scraping the flesh out with my teeth

     buto ng langka, steamed and eaten with just a little salt

     favorite fruits: mangosteen, sineguelas, cayimito, atis

163. Wow Betty Q, thank you so much. I will try the pinatisan recipe soon. I think you got it right because I remember my relatives saying you saute it in lots of garlic, onions, and tomatoes and then patis. I just did not bother to write it down because we get to eat it anyway when we go there. Thank you too for the suman experiment. Mwah!

164. Definitely miss old-school pan de sal too…and my great grandmother’s toffee condensada/dulce de leche…mmmm!

165. chrisb: I have a betty q. file that includes the Tibok Tibok recipe. It includes some of the other kakanins too. If you haven’t found the recipe, you may email me at zabanilla@yahoo.com. =)

166. nothing beats tsamporado(champorado) during typhoon and classes were suspended.

167. 1. Nutri bun from my teacher way back my kindergarten days.
     2. Skimmed milk also from my teacher
     3. Fried tuyo, hot rice, and Kapeng barako on the stormy scene in the center of rice fields. yum
     4. Kinilaw na oyster or nilasing na hipon.

168. Most of the time I find indulging in a comfort food that I crave for is as easy as a few clicks away using this wonderful invention of Al Gore,the world wide web (wink!wink!), hunting for the ingredients and following the prescribed recipe. Yet oftentimes there is something missing in the experience. No i’m not a bad cook, thank you. But the recall of the who the how and the where you had this comfort food leaves this experience longing for more. Is it just me or do some of you feel the same way? Anyhow, not to put a damper on everyone else’s cravings, I do have a few food items that I miss and that I find impossible to recreate. First the lupak or nilupak which I really enjoy eating in a “palengke” setting. Second, the “bibingkoy” of Aling Ika in Cavite City and lastly the “quesillo”. Yes, no matter how many variety of cheese I had tried nothing comes close to our quesillo wrapped in banana leaves. Sometimes you may come across stores or restaurants, specially in latin America, that advertises quesillo, but don’t be fooled, it’ll vary from a sweet dessert to a really bland tasting cheese. So there, those are the comfort foods that I yearn for provided that I can sample them again where the planets alignment are the way it was when I first enjoyed them. Cheers!

169. this post is so exciting, i thought i have to share too, mostly from the neighborhood…
     1. pandesal sa corner ng buendia and f.b. harrison (i forgot the name of that bakery)
     2. pandesal ni aling tindeng (rock solid when cold)
     3. palabok ni aling tale (you to get up by 8am before they are sold out)
     4. palabok ni aling poleng sa cartimar (yeah)
     5. beef mami sa street (also found in cockfight arena)
     6. fishballs… (like they say, marumi na – masarap pa)
     7. pancit bihon sa harlem
     8. liver wurst mixed with star margarine (spread for pandesal)
     9. all other street food… :)
     10. lumpiang shanghai and fried rice sa Max’s (not the same taste now…)

170. native chicken adobo and fish grilled by the seashore straight from the fisherman’s banca.

171. Ok, Lilibeth…I was prepping for Pinoy BBq for this week-end so I decided to set aside some of the pork and made PINATISAN tonight for my son’s baon tom. It turned out really good just like my SIL’s. So, for 2 people: 1/2 head of garlic, pounded in almires, 1 large onion-finely chopped, 2 tomatoes-coarsely chopped, 2 thick boneless pork chops (cubed) 2 fresh bay leaves, pepper to taste, and PATIS. I only added aboout 1/4 cup water. Lastly, I added a few pinches of SAFFRON (my sister’s pasalubong from Egypt).

172. Mom’s 1) dinengdeng w/malungay fruit, pumpkin tips/bean tips, pumpkin flowers, 2)another soup with black beans, ginger, and pork, and 3)shrimp w/bamboo shoots, saluyot, and gata

173. Hmm..I forgot steamed talangka with nice aligi dipped in suka with patis. Then the sour tocino from Angeles Pampanga

174. I may not be a filipino Like you guys but i too have fond memories of the food that i still miss and most of them seasonal
     summer definitely meant Halo-Halo for me and Indian mangoes with bagoong…:D yes i love the taste of this inspite of being a foreigner..and the the beach parties with bangus being cooked on an open fire on the beach
     With the rain you would love to have piping hot tinola…
     winter would bring in memories of chritmas( the best place to be is in the Philippines during this season) and with christmas could the early morning mass be far behind…. the bibingka after the mass, puto bumbong..
     and last but not the least college days would always have me craving once a week for the kare-kare at a restaurant beside ST. Paul’s College on pedro Gil street…AM not sure if it still is there but it had one of th best that i have tasted..

175. i also miss the nilupak at tanuan batangas…selling at a white mansion down town but its seems that wala na these days :(

176. i miss the cornicks w/ calamansi that me and my playmates had during summer or weekends,we usually ate the cornick w/calamansi at the back of our house and the summer wind is blowing up in our faces.

177. mavic, you from pateros? are you talking about abnoy? it is an acquired taste as you need to get over the smell first. but the best when cooked the right way.

178. Thanks Zena. Sent you an email…

179. hhhmmm…im actually learning here a lot of Pinoy dishes and kakanins from all over the country.

     whenever am home, i usually request for “binignit”, “monggos with coconut milk”, “utan bisaya”, “tinuwang isda”, “inun-unang isda” and yemas. i have simple wants. :)

180. anything with gata or coconot milk in it.. comfort food for me means anything which is “guinataang _____” , bilo-bilo,malagkit-mais,langka,etc…
     hmmm.. i miss my mom!

181. Betty Q: Thank you so much for giving me a more detailed recipe. Just wanted to ask, I only have dried bay leaves, is that okay? This will be part of our weekend menu. Thanks.

182. I’m longing for my lola’s bulig sabo camatis and quilayin (Capampangan food)! the former being a sinigang like dish but tomatoes are the souring agents and young mudfish are used. The vegetables are what you use in nilaga, pechay and repolyo, it may appear odd but it is really good!

     The quilayin is nowadays called in kilayin and is similar to bopis but this is a drier and more savory version of it. Miss having these dishes from my lola and brings back memories as a kid growing up and spending summer in Pampanga.

183. forgot to add my own comfort food list…

     Lugaw, sopas, sotanghon soup and pansit, lumpiang prito and okoy, pansit bihon, mami ng kapitbahay namin, pandesal fresh from the bakery na kinakain habang naglakad pauwi, SARSI!, bicho-bicho(ung nilalako sa kahon pag hapon), Inutak and dirty ice cream, binatog, manggang hilaw and bagoong, kamias dipped in patis and asin, ice candy, ung cheese curls na tinatakal kapalit ng dyaryo

184. i think 80% of everyone’s comfort food here are also my own childhood comfort food. i especially crave those that are hard to find now – kaligay shells that we’d coax out with thorns from the suha (pomelo) tree, choco-vim and bottled chocolait (somehow the tetrapak version now just doesn’t cut it) , aratiles (the tiny fruit that some people call mansanitas), ice buco, hoc shiu ham, this very salty canned chinese ham….i could go on and on….

185. Here’s my list:
     1. Fried crispy Bola Bola with matching vinegar chili sauce then dip again to a another sweet sauce.
     2. Simple palabok outside our place for merienda with a sauce full of flavor and simple garnish of just tuyo, chicharon and boiled egg.
     3. Tuba with lots of ICE hmmmmm good during summer
     4. My Mom’s sinigang using fresh sampalok, fresh bagoong alamang and pork ribs.
     5. Pig ear barbecue and of course pork BBQ
     6. Lugaw with matching calamansi and tokwa’t baboy
     7. Inangit (Glutinous rice) slightly burn with ginataan sauce (MM you got to try this one!!!!!!).
     8. Funny I don’t like Balut but I do eat fried balut and crispy fried day old chicken although I don’t eat the one in sidewalk. My mom has a source direct from poultry.
     9. Pandesal with giniling na baboy or kesong puti
     10. Banana Q, Camote Q, Maruya

     Oh I think my list will go beyond 100 if I don’t stop now hehehehe

186. My childhood comfort food was one that I would devour during rainy days and I had to spend the saturday afternoon athome watching cartoons. My mum would cook some mongo beans until tender, then place them in a glass with powdered milk, sugar and crushed ice, topped with a large spoon. I tell you, the texture and richness of this simple snack kept me entertained and hyper for a few hours.

187. Lilibeth…I have a Bay leaf tree at the backyard so it is easier for me just to pull whatever I need. If you are using dried: rule of thumb…half the amount.

     Hey, if you are in macaron mode …and since THanksgiving is not so far away…oh, what am I talking about…our Thanksgiving is the one not so far away….anyway, make a pumpkin macaron using gingersnaps (crumbs in food processor) for macaron and fill with pumpkin pie filling using white chocolate ganache or caramel pecan. I think that would work. In fact, that is what I am going to make as hostess gift this Thanksgiving.

188. I really miss pan de sal, too. The pan de sal should be hot then I get a very cold evap milk put sugar in it then I dip the pan de sal in it just bite by bite. I also miss Christmas when my father’s Chinese clients give him the ham that is hard so my mother had to put it in water for how many days til the saltiness is a bit gone then cooks in pinepapple juice and other things. Then later gets this very hot flat iron long thing and puts brown sugar on the fat on the ham then presses it down to cook the brown sugar. We slice the ham thinly and when the meat is gone my mama would cook the bone and make a soup. It was very good.

189. then when the meat is gone the bone is boiled then made into soup. It was very good. I also miss the queso de bola that my mama made into sandwich spread with pimiento and butter and a bit of sugar.

190. miss my tatay’s sinaing na tulingan sa gata halos naglalangis na tapos sa almusal kaulam ng pandesal ni mamay Takyo baked in a wood fired oven and you can also bring your day old bread slather with margarine and sugar and ask the panadero to reheat it for you . mamon luk siopao, chinese ham from new city grocery, burong mustasa, burong bawang, paho, sibuyas tagalog, bagoong balayan, tapa at longganisang Taal, estofado at paksiw na pata ng baboy both cooked in palayok

191. Betty Q; Thank you so much! Pumpkin macaron sounds great. How much powdered ginger snaps do I put in 1 basic recipe of 3 egg whites? How much pumpkin pie filling do I put in say, a cup of white chocolate ganache? I love that because I am a white chocolate lover. I already have a recipe of caramel pecan filling that I got from another blog – tartelette. Maybe you can help me with this. The one time I made it, it was a disaster. I followed the recipe for the caramel sauce and boiled the sugar, water, and butter until golden in color and then added the cream and boiled it some more over low fire for 10 mins. The caramel actually became stiff like candy when I put in the cream and then it separated from the oil of the butter. I ended up with a blob of caramel that was like tootsie rolls which actually hardened up like candy when it cooled down and a pool of oil from the butter. I had to throw it away and good thing I had frozen ganache (I learned this from you) and buttercream stored in the freezer which I used to fill the macarons. What do you think I did wrong? I plan on doing this again and it would be a waste of fleur de sel if I fail again. Thank you so much for all your help. Really appreciate it.

192. I really miss my lola’s

     1) Caldereta
     2) Laing
     3) Librilyo (tuwalya)

     Until now i search for the taste but everything else have failed in comparisson. I even tried cooking caldereta a couple of times but have not yet achieved what I perceived to be my lola’s secret touch. If only I was old enough to have assisted or observed her then the tradition would have been kept.

     I also miss the

     1) aliquemango of sinugba restaurant and their vinegar,
     2) The bbq chicken of sulo restaurant
     3) the cold cuts of jade garden
     4) The pusit of east st, louie or markina restaurant.
     5) the bbq of grandma’s inn.
     6) the pizza of OZ
     7) Sunkist orange in triangle tetrapack

     I dont miss yakult coz i still drink it now :)

193. MM I thought I’d never get to the bottom of the page to leave a comment:)… I always visit your site but rarely post a message but this time I couldn’t help it. I terribly miss my Mom’s homemade tocino which I still could not make the way she does. I miss a lot of roadside food… bananacue/turon, halo-halo, bbq on a stick, fish/squidball… tropical fruits that are not available here like sineguelas (i have not had one in over 15years), duhat, santol, lanzones. Hot pandesal or spanish bread and other merienda favorites esp native kakanin. Nakakapanglaway naman.

194. Lilibeth…send me an e-mail:mymudcake@hotmail.com. This way we can better discuss baking without taking over this post…though we have a very patient and accommodating host! I have an awesome, nakakaloka caramel pecan filling…you can eat it straight from the jar!

195. My mom’s homemade bagoong sauteed with lots of garlic and pork fat, tempered with a little sugar and vinegar. We kept small glass bottles for friends/relatives who always asked for “take home.” Her authetic pancit molo that took more than a day to prepare. Lola’s rope vieja; my aunts used to fight over the toasted bits. Hot pandesal with a thin slice of Chinese ham and nothing else. Sison ice cream bars, sweet corn and cheese flavors. Chocovim. Pako salad. Hot and spicy ginataang langka.

196. I miss eating bachoy with pan de siosa (sp?) at Tres Amigos in Bacolod. My dad would bring us there after school at least once a week.

197. pares mami at the kanto eatery…pancit palabok with everything on it…goto with tokwa’t baboy…tinolang daing na kanduli with upo…halo-halo with ube ice cream…

198. Alilay…that’s the one …the tulingan with gata! Oh, the mamom luk siopao is no longer a distant memory. We have it here …they call it Tai-pao: bola-bola special!

199. Lilibeth,

     The sapin-sapin you are talking about is the specialty of jessie Sinsioco of Le Souffle,who incidentally also hails from Bulacan.I think the recipe is in the new cookbook Kulinarya. The suman is called suman sa latik it is also famous in that parts of Bulacan.I will ask from my aunt how to make it and I will pass the recipe in this blog when I am able. The ‘pinatisan’you are asking about is composed of the parts of pork’s head. (chopped).It is marinated in patis,vinegar,onion,garlic,pepper for 30 mins. and then you saute and add tomato sauce.That is a recipe famous in San rafael,Angat, and Bustos.

200. lilibeth,
     yes,bay leaf is very important in this simple yet exotic dish!

201. Lilibeth: I searched MM’s archives. In his Suman Kabog posts (one of them anyway), Maricel posted a recipe for your Suman…ground galapong plus gata, etc. and then halo to death! Here is a tip…to grind your pirurutong, use a coffee grinder…not a blender unless you have a Vita-Mix/ But grind dry rice. It will turn to rice flour just like the packaged ones.

202. 1) tapa fried super crispy with garlic rice and fried egg
     2) sopas
     3) makati supermarket’s spaghetti
     4) magnolia ice cream sandwich wrapped in foil
     5) coney island ice cream
     6) choco-vim
     7) jack and jill’s bbq curls
     8) jack and jill’s curry curry curls
     9) shakey’s skilleti
     10) bun on the run sandwiches

203. My fondest childhood comfort foods? Oh, there are so many to mention but to name a few, there’s chocovim when I want something sweet and cold, grilled liempo as one of staple picnic food every summer with my cousins, bibingkang galapong with free hot pandan flavored tea after school with my classmates, arrozcaldo for merienda during highschool recess and my nanay’s pancit, leche flan and pastel. I miss those good old days and my nanay’s cooking. Thanks MM for making us remember once again those long ago happy memories.

204. spaghetti with ragu sauce reminds me of my childhood in ny. it was my friday after-school routine, with opera in the background.
     (our neighbor in the flat below was an opera singer who loved to practice with the window open).

     sardines in warm pan de sal and hot chocolate remind me of my first visit to the philippines. it was my first meal in my grandfather’s house.

205. i miss my mom’s crema de fruta, mango and ube chiffon cake made from scratch with real fresh fruit or ube, her nilagang tadyang ng baboy in which the bones were sooo tender but the meat were not soggy or falling off. sopas, bam-i,rice cake with latik, guinataang halo-halo, yung homemade guava jelly na palaman ng baon ko… i miss them and crave for them, pero dont get to taste them like he way my mom used to make them. ang layo na niya kasi and i never learned how to make them the way she did. tostadong galunggong ang steamy hot rice with toyo… aristocrat bbq, shakey’s pizza (for the memories of family eat-outs. bigtime na nun pagnagse-shakeys o aristocrat kami. wala pang jollibee nun.)yung ampalaya con carne at pinsec frito and hototay soup sa wah sun restaurant sa may avenida, asado ng cosmos sa binondo… hay, ang layo na kasi ng bahay ko sa kanila… miss climbing the neighbor’s senoritas guava during summer, or picking aratiles and freezing them, then popping them in the mouth like candies, tita sally’s manibalang na indian mangoes straight from the tree, biting into it without peeling… yes, the chocovim and fress gusto rootbeer, kinse lang ang bote nun noon, hehehe… condensada sa pandesal at champarado, eto i get to do with my kids. swirl the milk on bread or the porridge, making patterns then carefully biting/scooping, patagalan na di masira ang design… and last but not least, since nobody in the family knows or remembers this dish that my cebuana lola used to prepare, yung paklay. this is what i would gorge on in her carinderia along borromeo st. i miss my mom, i miss my lola, i miss my childhood… haaay… nostalgia tripping.

206. meron pa bang nakakaalala sa dickman’s snacks and crisp pop? tarzan bubble gum and jojo, manor house and wafrets, serg and milk duds? these were the commercial chichirya and candies of my childhood. :)

207. this is a good idea MM…i love reading everyone’s favourite childhood foods & memories…myself i miss tuyo with kanin & kamatis mmmmm, Goldilocks spaghetti for birthdays, Julius hotdogs at Virra Mall, itlog na maalat with kamatis, lechong manok, hot mani with garlic, butong pakwan, tocinong manok, rellenong bangus, bibingka, banana cue, taho, ice-cold magnolia chocolate milk, and ginataang halo-halo, ice-cold sago drinks and…sweet champorado with lots of evaporated milk – best.merienda.ever. LOL…PS to gtrine, i’m ex-St Paul’s Pasig too, i left in ’87 in my sophomore year of HS to move to Australia, g’day from an ex-Paulinian! (Though i never tried the fishballs, i’m sure they were awesome :-)

208. @nunosapunso: yes the”kulangot ng intsik” was a favorite. inaabangan namin pag nagdeliver sa tindahan ni aling shirley. i thought we made up that name kasi intsik sila aling shirley and would say its “kulangot” just to keep the younger siblings from asking, gusto kasing solohin eh, ayaw mag-share, hehehe…

209. Anything GINATAAN from Quezon province.
     Tsampurado especially pag may bagyo.
     Atis, chico, caimito from my dad’s hometown in Cavite.
     Chicharong Kalabaw from Lucban or Tayabas.
     Good ‘ol Fishball before all the squidball and them came out.
     Andami, kaya food tour ako everytime I visit hehehehe.

     Peeps,
     We shouldn’t call our Chinese brothers and sisters “INTSIK”, we should call them tsino or Chinese na lang. It’s like calling daw a blackman the “N” word.

210. When I was a kid I love the siopao and siomai my father buys at
     charlie’s. I think this was in Sta Cruz then. The others I love then were:
     – sticky tocino
     – egg pan de sal from Jopson’s Supermarket
     – kropek sold at the gates of Lourdes Church
     – kasoy in Antipolo

211. gtrine,

     “Purple suman cooked in a “tube” sold outside simbang gabi” = isn’t this ‘puto bumbong’?

212. oh! I forgot to include sison’s ice drop especially the cheese bar not to mention those with monggo on top.

213. My mom’s beef afritada and her chicken-macaroni soup. I really that stuff and I miss her. Can’t wait to see her in December (and cajole her into cooking afritada for me) =)

     Lava Bien: yeah, fishballs for 25 centavos each. Dipped first in spicy-sweet sauce then the spiced vinegar. Yum!

214. 1. Putong Pasig- placed in a big bilao it looked more like a cake with the bilao as the cake pan, it had itlog na maalat. I can’t describe the taste but whenever I remember it I could almost taste and smell it. All I know is we order it in Pasig “sa may palengke” (hence I remember it as Putong Pasig) had this for birthday parties or any potluck party. Haven’t had it in years… I don’t think they still make it… sad that another childhood food is gone when western fastfood places became popular.

     2. Sama lamig (sorry never spelled it)- milk, coconut strips, sago, gulaman, melon… ice cold… still love it more than the bubble milk teas. We would have this often during summer homemade is the best of course!… refreshing.. aah!

     3. Spaghetti – funny… the grocery spaghetti (Unimart to be exact), while mommy did her weekly grocery shopping we would be at the cafeteria eating that spaghetti. This I could still enjoy because pancake house spaghetti tastes like it.

     4.Pandesal- the old panaderia sa kanto type. it taste different fresh early in the morning. I remember when almost all streets had a pandesal bakery on them. Just walk to them.. pandesal in the morning… spanish bread in the afternoon..

     5. Native fruits- I remember when fruits had season… hahaha…there was a time when we had fresh santol, bananas – as in all kinds (senorita, lakatan, latundan and saba), mango (by kaing), sineguelas… by the season at home. I noticed that living overseas where mangoes are not that good and their summer falls on June… I crave for mangoes in March, April or May as in.. I look for them… funny… then after a while I realize that its in season in the Phil. that time of year.

     many more…I’m missing my childhood…

215. @ECC: Yay, I’m so happy somebody else knows of patco! This is something I’ve been telling my “Manila boy” husband about (and we’ve been married 16 years!) and he has yet to taste it. So, yes, please if you could ask your aunt about the recipe. Then when you and I make it, I will be happy to send you Star Margarine (crucial!) as it is readily available from the filipino market here. :)

     @BettyQ: I’m telling you, your boys may not be as appreciative now but trust me, when they get older, they’ll realize how good they had it when good ol’ mom still cooked for them.

     Suggestion for MM: Since I’m very curious and I’m not sure if you’ve had this as a survey question before but perhaps you can ask what percentage of your pinoy readers hail from which part of the Philippines or something like that. Me for example, I spent my childhood and early teens in Pampanga but my Dad is half bicolano w/ smattering of Quezon province. For survey purposes though, I’ll count myself as Capampangan. :)

216. Bagito: I am serious: I will send you dried scallops so you can enjoy that XO. And don’t you worry about anything. As Maria Clara once said…it will not create a dent in my pocket! So, send me your address by e-mail which is somewhere up above…

217. @bettyq, Taga Lipa po ako pero marami akong kakilala sa Tanauan. Matagal na lang nga ako hindi nakapunta doon.

     Heto po ang mga pagkain na aking hinahanap-hanap at kung minsan ay napapanigipan lamang habang nasa abroad:

     1) Tawilis
     2) Maliputo (ang aking paboritong isda na galing sa ilog ng Pansipit)
     3) Bulalo, goto at sinilihan (Brgy. Labac, Lipa)
     4) Lomi
     5) Embutido at lechong paksiw ng aking yumaong Lola.
     6) Cebu puso at barbecue.
     7) Bacolod manokan barbecue
     8) Kalamay na mais (hindi yung malagkit na kulay lupa)
     9) Purefoods tender juicy hotdogs at Swift’s all meat.
     10) Macaroni salad, sans rival, mango/banana pie at fruit cake ng aking Inay.
     11) Putchero, pansit, at dinuguan ng Itay.
     12) Kombinasyon ng lechon kawali at sinigang na hipon (hay naku, kahit araw-arawin ko ‘to).
     13) Kekiam at fishball
     14) Ube ice cream
     15) Taho
     16) Ginataan/binignit – kahit anong klaseng pagkaluto: Samar, Bohol, Cebu, Ilo-ilo, Bicol, Batangas, atbp.
     17) Guimaras mango – pinaka masarap na manga sa buong mundo!
     18) Chico at lansones
     19) Kaong
     20) Kesong puti galing sa Quezon
     21) QBB/Kraft cheese
     22) Mga mumurahing tinapay na ang tawag ng tatay ko ay “bugador.”
     23) Filipino spaghetti – yung medyo matamis

     Hay, tama na nga at wala yatang katapusan ito.

218. isabella: Thank you so much for all that information. I don’t think Kulinarya is available here in the US though, at least in Amazon. That “pinatisan” with the pig’s head sounds like it because the dish was pretty bony and you’re right we always had it in Anggat and Maronquillo which is a barrio in San Rafael, Bulacan.

     Betty Q: Thank you for searching the archives. I will look for it and try it out when I feel a little better and get over my traumatic experience of having the front window of my car smashed and my laptop, GPS, and purse with all my credit cards, some cash, and driver’s license, etc. taken. Warning to those living here in LA, it seems to be rampant lately so be careful not leave any valuables in the car. I should have known better but was too lazy to get a locker in the gym. This happened in the parking lot of Bally Total Fitness Gym in Glendale, CA. I hope this will help prevent it from happening to anyone reading this blog who works out in that gym.

219. isabella: Thank you also for the suman sa latik recipe that you will post. I will wait for it.

220. Bagito: your patco…I googled and patco is NOT a dessert! Howver, I thought typing sweet egg crepe with coconut filling will produce something close to what I was looking for. …2 sites came up with similar picture of the crepe and the filling. Go google it and hopefully, that is what you are looking for! If it is, can you let me know if that is the patco you are searching for? It looks like another “calorie laden” snack! Kaya na talaga hindi na papayat ako and my kapitbahays!

221. To Bagito: give me your e-mail address so I will know how to send you the recipe for Patco. You can either post it here or send it through BettyQ – she knows my e-mail address. Patco is definitely a Capampangan dessert or snack food.

     To BettyQ: I Googled “Sweet egg recipe with coconut filling” and looked at the sites. I would say that Patco is not the Malaysian Kuih Ketayap that they showed. First of all, the Patco crepe does not have pandan in it. The Patco crepe’s color is sort of cream. Additionally, the filling is not cooked. It is just freshly grated niyog.

222. @betty q: I googled and unfortunately, those pictured were nothing like the patco from my childhood. the patco was like a crepe, white in color (w/ slightly burnt edges), then slathered w/ Star margarine, budburan ng freshly grated coconut and sugar. then roll it up like a cigar, open on both ends (in fact, that was part of the fun, we pretended to smoke the patco like a cigar). really, can’t get any simpler than that, di ba? but as with everything else, the quality of the ingredients makes the meal, even as simple as the humble patco. maybe i’ve just romanticized this in my mind and would probably be disappointed if i ever found patco again but that will truly be a “Anton Ego/Ratatouille” moment for me if I ever encounter good patco again. I’ll send you a separate email so we won’t monopolize the board. :-P (sorry, MM!)

     @Lilibeth: we’re practically neighbors pala. we should have an EB!

223. Breakfast: fresh carabaos milk over fried rice and rock salt, those tiny longanisa hanging on sari-sari stores and hot pandesal with peanut butter.

     Lunch: Ginataang kamansi with lots of labuyo peppers spread over rice on a banana leaf and grilled tuyo.

     Dinner: Pindang Damulag that is almost getting sour but still sweet with bagoong and tomatoes on the side, then pouring a little bit of the oil over steaming rice and rock salt.

     Insert in between those meals halo halo, pancit palabok and balut. I’ll die smiling if I had all this on my last days.

224. champorado :D guess I have to ask Nanay to cook it this weekend :)

225. @Lilibeth, Sorry to read about your misfortune but glad that you’re okay. Had same experience at the basement parking at the hospital I am working..smashed the passenger front window, nothing lifted. I’ve been told that possibly young kids on summer vacation working out there hormones, and turns out not an isolated incident coz the following night 2 more cars been vandalized. Cheer up and let start cooking (sorry Mr MM ;) off topic)

226. Lilibeth, Bebot: what you went through is not an isolated incident. Even those working for or connected with law enforcement have gone through the same incident at one time or another. I have learned to accept the fact thatwhat matters is your safety. What they lifted are just MATERIAL THINGS that can be replaced! o, take a deep breathe and just release your frustrations in the kitchen! IT WORKS!!!…or just close your eyes and think of the COMFORT FOOD!

227. @betty q: he.he.he Thanks for the advise and the wisdom : )

228. one more thing that my mom teach me to it during rainy days is Gatas by kalabaw with rice and saint or tuyo. sounds weird but kinda miss it specially pag sinusibuan nya ok with her bare hands. memories memories ……

229. sorry iPhone autocorrection doesn’t work well on Tagalog words. I meant to say gatas ng kalabaw on rice with daing or tuyo

230. I miss the mango “halaya” we would have at the end of every summer. I remember how the cooks would mix it for what seemed like days, and we would savor each teaspoonful out of the jars they were packed in.

     I also miss Ambassador’s sweet and sour pork, and Peacock’s Mango Pudding. My age is showing because those 2 restos were from the 80s and early 90s pa. Puff Mommy made a mango cheesecake that was a close 2nd to the Mango Pudding, but I think they recently stopped making it. =( sigh….

231. adobo flying saucer sandwiches. grilled sardine and cheese sandwiches. bola bola of remy the cook.

     gah. i miss those days

232. My favourite comfort food of all time is Ginataang Bilu-Bilo; saka kahit na anong prutas d’yan sa Pilipinas. Pero dito sa Norway, hindi ako nasisiyahan sa de-latang gata ng niyog. So, nag-switch ako ng comfort food; kapag gusto ko ng lutong Pilipino, pansit ang niluluto ko o kaya ay pinangat na isda. Nagsisigang din ako ng cod at nagpapaksiw ng mackerell. anything Filipino talaga, masarap para sa akin.

233. Betty Q/Bebot: Thank you so much for your comforting words. Sorry Marketman for being off-topic but I just want to warn other people from my learning experience. Aside from all my IDs, I also kept a record of my money market and checking acct #s and what was really stupid of me was also have my SS# in my purse! So I spent the whole morning in the bank to straighten things out plus I am haunted by the thought that with all the information the thief has in his hands, if he could not get more money since all my accounts have been blocked, he could get credit in my name and ruin my excellent credit history. I am mentioning this so you guys can take the necessary precaution. Also, have a master list of all your credit card #s, driver’s license #, acct #s and phone #s to call for lost/stolen credit cards so you won’t be like me who had to go over so many files to look it up. One of my credit cards was already used for $400 before I reported it simply because it took some time for me to get home after calling 911 and talking to the police and go over my files to look for the account #. I hope this experience will help other people avoid it. Sorry Marketman for using your blog but I hope you understand my desire to help other people avoid what I’m going through.

     Bebot: I will try and cheer up now and start cooking and first in my agenda is Betty Q’s XO sauce and then Marketman’s XO Fried Rice.

     Betty Q: I was able to get the ingredients in Chinatown last weekend and I was surprised with the price. The scallops were very expensive and went as high as $78/lb.! I just bought the cheapest (small ones) @ $18/lb. Considering the price of the ingredients, I wonder how a much a bottle costs because I’m sure it’s cheaper to do homemade.

234. Bagito: Yes, maybe we can organize an EB here in LA when we are not that busy.

235. Oh, dear Lilibeth! Sorry to tell you but you got duped with the dried scallops! I told you not to get swayed by the merchants! Here the tiny ones (japanese pa mandin!) only costs me $9.49 per pound. When on sale, the guy gives it to me for $8.29 per pound. I prefer the Japanese ones for they are mabango! Next time, I will mail you dried scallops so you also make for BAGITO! This time I hope Canada Post does not use the PONY!!!!

236. batangueno, im also fr batangas but batangas city…since you stayed in tanauan, are familiar with the “nilupak” that im talking about? Dun nmin nbibili un sa big white house along the hi-way…betty q, are you familiar w/ it?

237. when i was in grade school, my mom would buy from the market
     cacao butter which is almost the consistency of peanut butter, but thicker. i could eat it just the way it was, but my mom would use it for the tosokolateng batirol using warm carabao’s milk as well. i don’t know it they still sell it that way.

     during holidays, there was an older woman who would deliver
     a big flat of rice cake with the brown topping made of brown sugar and coconut. thi kalamay was so good with the almost
     burnt topping. i try to duplicate it but mine doesn’t come
     out the way i remembered to taste.

     i can’t forget also the tall bottle of fresh carabao milk delivered early morning. up to this day, i sometimes yearn for rice and warm carabao milk and banana…

     i could go on and on….

238. mdg…i thought nilupak is smashed boiled cassava or saging saba That’s the nilupak I remember!!!

239. betty q, i think d nilupak they make is boiled cassava..i dont know how they do it but what they are selling something really that melts in your mouth….so fine. I believe it’s w/ milk.

240. Mdg: Ok …I will call my Ate and ask her to ask our cousin in Tanuan to inquire about the nilupak sold at the big white house in town. is it near the municipio or the Church? But if it is known, then I am sure my cousin would know. If she is able to find out how it is done, I will let you know.

241. the nilupak I grew up is cassava with lots of margarine. I can’t remember if it has freshly grated coconut

242. MOST of the memories i have been experienced during my childhood were seperately explained in MARKETMANILAs food blog with almost all of the food subjects…Ofcourse i missed a lot more! When i was still in the Philippines,we used to dive fish in the magat river at night and have some fish grill on the spot, catching “salagubang”(beattle) near the streams and have it for dinner(salagubang-an exotic food liked by many ilocanoes)I used to stray in the jungle with my friends and brothers for days hunting wild animals,birds and learning survival techniques in the wild..And that was 20 years ago,NOW im glued to my chair at work almost 12 hours a day and all my daily life becomes almost boring. sometimes when im taking my vacation in the Philippines and still wanted to do thesame as those good old days but i cant,not that i dont have plenty of time but the people whome i used to go with are also gone! besides, climbing cliffy mountains is way different now, i cant do what i used to run those narrow sloppy hills no more…If only that i could return those old days….

243. wow…tnx a lot betty q.

244. mdg: Meanwhile…are you in Vancouver? You can buy frozen cassava chunks at most East In dian or Fijian grocery stores. I would boil the cassava in coconut milk with just a tiny pinch of salt. When soft but not soggy, I would drain it reserving the boiling liquid. Place the cassava in a pot and cover the pot with a towel…to absorb excess moisture. Then the boiling liquid, add sugar and reduce. Use that in place of condensed milk like in recipes I saw on the web. If oyu are back home, mix carabao’s milk and the coco milk and reduce….I think it will be more malinamnam. Just like making mashed potatoes, mash the cassava while still hot and add the hot coco/carabao’s milk reduction.Mash it too with the grated niyog. Now add STAR margarine if you want a the taste that is akin to back home. However, I think I would add fresh churned butter or cultured butter.

     I have never had the opportunity to taste the one from my hometown province. You have! So, try my version and see how it compares to the one you had.

245. mdg: just had an AHA moment! In place of Star margarine or cultured butter…here is an even better sub….make latik with cocnut cream or cacang gata. Then when beigy-brown, drain and use the coconut oil and mix it in. Then scoop the nilupak on banana leaves. Top with grated niyog, a bit of sugar and some latik!…Hay, that will surpass your nilupak memory of the big white house!

     Now, if you want to plate this…make quenelle shape from the nilupak using two cucharas. Then make sweetened coco/milk reduction and spoon it on a shallow bowl. Top with your nilupak quenelle and sprinkle your condiments.

     Or. use a small ice cream scooper and roll it in the niyog. latik sugar concoction …OK, I better stop! I am on a roll here…

246. “Champorado” made w/ real “tableya” (Tableya made by Lola from talisay, Cebu.)Pagka -laaami! Labi na ug parisan ug piniritong bulad(butterflied dried kutob) and the champorado drizzled w/ gatas condensada……ug walay bulad pinirito…it will be Lolo Gorio’s specially made beef or pork “casajos”. I remember looking at this hanging “thingie” above the “abohan” of Lola’s….it’s like a little kulambo w/
     somehing drying underneath it so the flies wont get into it. I could smell garlic and vinegar….ug matuskig na then we could have some w/ our champorado! Lola makes a batch every month…..it’s like the “chorizos”…. a very busy weekend in those days with a few Aunties doing a “busybee in the kitchen”. And the Pork lang-goniza that was garlicky, soury but not sweet……hmmmm…..time to ring Aling Antang- my cebu style longanisa lady here in Perth…..and to top the order w/ her yummy ensumada….Ha!

247. merienda of pan de sal baliuag with butter and slices of che-vital cheese (the cheese came in cans), and glasses of ice-cold sarsi!

248. I miss my favorite sweet junk food – Mallow Cone (?) – vanilla marshmallow filled ice cream cone with a strawberry marshmallow “ice cream” dipped in chocolate. It was priced as php 1 at the grade school canteen.

249. betty q:
     tnx a lot…i will do that! better find nice cassava, ill keep you posted!…actually I’m in Batangas City…sad kc we tried several times to buy the “nilupak” from the white house but failed to get one.

     on another agenda: we’re working now on how to make southern style chicken, we’ve tried 3 times with a kg per trial but can’t get the texture & taste…maybe you have some inputs?

     tnx again

250. Arroz Caldo and my grandmother’s fabada

251. toasted bread with melted butter and sugar with a glass of royal tru-orange

252. you grew up in baguio if you are familiar with Mother’s fried chicken adjacent to the nevada hotel…
     If your’e from nueva ecija or batangas you may have come across calumpit and tubo (sugar cane) that you bite and chew for the juice…

253. Mdg: I need to know the taste and texture you are looking for exactly. What is your basis of comparison? If you are after Jollibee’s chcken, I can’t help you for I am not familiar with their chicken. I haven’t had the opportunity to taste it. If however, you want something close to KFC…there are quite a few sites on the web. Have you tried Paula Deen’s Southern style fried chicken recipe? If you have and still are not happy with that one…make a brine I posted before. Then dunk your chicken pieces in it. Now, after brining, since you are going to fry it, pat dry the chicken pieces very, very well…if there is any bit of moisture…PIPITIK!

     Then coat it with the seasoned flour I posed a while back. Now, do oyu have a cast iron pan to fry them in? If you do, then fry them in the cst iron. Now, the legs takes a long time to cook. So, even though the outside looks done, pierce it and see if the juices run clear. If not, then finish cooking in the oven. Do not cover with foil for the skin will get soggy!

     But nowadays, those fried chicken is artery clogging dish! Are you sure you want to do this? To save you from your cholesterol count hitting the roof, may I suggest INIHAW? After bring , barbecue on medium to low heat. I much prefer this over fried chicken! This INIHAW na MANOK is my version of INASAL which my Cebuano friend prefers.

254. Comfort food for me is dabong (bamboo shoots) cooked in pure, freshly squeezed gata with grilled daing as the sahog. Reminds me of home.

255. What I usually miss when I’m abroad:

     -lumpiang shanghai. My favorite food when I was a kid.

     – Andok’s or Baliwag or Bugong’s pinoy style roasted chicken

     – Kakanins such as Dolor’s and the suman from Leyte and tupig from Ilocos

     -miki Ilocos, the chicken noodle soup I grew up with.

     – Ilocos Empanada (Oh and by the way, the three best Ilocos Empanada I’ve tasted in Manila are the ones in Katipunan, the one in Farinas Bus Station in Dapitan, and the Empanada (and Miki) stall at the Good Shepherd Bazaar near BF Paranaque.

     – Chinese style fresh Lumpia

     – Hot, crusty pan de sal putok with chevital cheese.

256. Betty Q: Thanks for the offer but now that I know how much it costs you, I will try and look around for that price when I go to Chinatown. I just did not have that time before. I would not want to bother you with sending me the ingredients. Thank you so much. You are so kind and generous.

257. Betty Q: I forgot to say your XO Sauce was fantastic! Thank you!

258. no, i haven’t tried paula deen’s..the southern that i’m into is kinda vanilla taste of in & out with very nice crisp but not too heavy breadings…w’re working on a lot of food recently for a future venture :)

     Would you mind if i send you email?

     i really appreciate all efforts & inputs…tnx tnx talaga!!!

259. oopps..sorry above is for betty q…mm tnx a lot!

260. mdg: a word of advice…if you want to venture into something, do not overextend yourself by having so many items. Specialize in one thing. If you have a really excellent product, people will find you. Say for instance Aling Rosy’s Pancit Malabon…that is what she is knownfor and people travel far and wide to have a plate of her Pancit. This way too, you do not have too much inventory and overhead.

     Look at the In and Out burger in San Francisco. …that is all what they sell, I think. A similar concept here came about called Vera’s burger…it is really good burger and they are known just for their burgers like In and Out burgers.

261. betty q, ill note on that :)

262. – TJ hotdog (who doesn’t like it?)
     – chicharong palutik, buro, inihaw na bulig, nilagang sitaw ( I’m drooling now, hehe)
     – longganisa and binabad sa toyo (I call it also “baboy na pula”)
     – along julie’s kakanin (from gapan city market)
     -champorado with inihaw na tuyo ( aww I miss rainy days)
     -Luz kitchenette’s spaghetti ( better than jollibee!!)
     – joey’s pancit malabon and halo halo ( cabanatuan city)
     – arroz caldo and goto ( aww!)

     the good thing is…. I’m going home next month!!!!!!! and I’m gonna eat this! haha

263. 1 nilugawan ulo ng bangus
     2.sinigang na bangus sa bayabas
     3.pinangat na ista ( talimusak, ayungin, dapa, bidbed ,o talapia)
     4.pinaupong manok
     5.chinese ham sa Quiapo
     6.tinapang kabasi ( herring) at bangus
     7.binanliang talaba
     8.santol at bagoong
     9.burong talangka
     10.inasinan na suwahe ( hipon)
     11. Pangasinan Bangus, broiled.
     12. totsong balay.

264. I miss my mother’s dinuguan. It has a slightly soury-spicy taste, she would put several green chilis and that would enhance the flavor. I miss the puto and kutsinta that the magpuputo would peddle in the morning when I was a child, it would be served freshly grated coconut, so yummy.

265. ECC, I’ve been searching all over the internet for a recipe for Patco and have not found it anywhere. Do you still have the recipe from your aunt you mentioned in earlier threads? My mom is from Pampanga and it’s one of the desserts she enjoyed as a child. I would like to make it for her this coming mother’s day. My email is agila010@yahoo.com. Thank you much.

266. 266. Shenna, Thailand

     Antipolo’s espasol, Ilo-ilo’s piyaya, the Christmas puto bumbong and bibingka, KFC’s chocolate mousse, Red Ribbon’s boat tarts, Baguio’s ubeng halaya, sinigang na hipon, nilagang baka, beef morcon, rellenong bangus with toyo and calamansi, fried garlic bangus, and arroz caldo.

267. I missed the Tinumis… it is liked Dinuguan but instead of internal organ Nuevo Ecijanos use pork meat and tamarind. Our vacation in my father’s hometown wouldn’t complete without Tinumis in our table with matching mountaneous of rice.
     After my father passed away, we never tried to cook Tinumis though it is now 5 years after he left the pain still hunting my mom so she told us the moment she totally healed she’ll ask my Aunts to teach her to cook this dish. sigh :(
     I hope in my next vacation I’ll smell the aroma of Tinumis in our table.. crossing my fingers! now I learned that foods is can really have direct affect to our emotional feelings.