Libreng Sabaw

Eating Gotong Batangas in Batangas

The best place to eat Gotong Batangas will of course be in Batangas. We were actually in Lipa on our way home from Laiya. And that's the most perfect thing because Gotong Batangas is also most of the time referred to as Goto ng Lipa.

After a tiring weekend at the beach, getting to eat a warm bowl of Gotong Batangas was the absolute reward. Ideally, I'm not even allowed to eat this (mas masarap ang bawal!). I'm advised to avoid internal organs and other stuff high in uric acid and bring us to the popular Filipino concept of "Minsan lang naman e". hehehe.

Gotong Batangas is differnt from normal goto because it doesn't have rice. When asked about it, I usually respond that it's a bit similar to the popular goat preparation of papaitan (we actually have a whole dead goat in our freezer right now, I'll blog about that as soon as we cook it).
It's weird how some Filipinos themselves are deterred by these kinds of ingredients. Last night, I was watching the Vienna episode of No Reservations and saw that these kinds of ingredients were actually a delicacy there and something that they're really proud of whereas here, even when it's all local produce, people will actually consider it exotic. McDo mentality. They are missing out. Oh well, to each his own.
I usually get Gotong Batangas right by the entrance of Nasugbu in Tagaytay (which is technically also Batangas already). You'll surely pass it on your way to Punta Fuego or Tali. It's really one of my favorites. In fact, if you Google search "Gotong Batangas" you will see one of my old entries on HubPages as the number on result on the first page:
gotong batangas recipe

You'll be surprised to see how many people search this every day and it is surely a significant contributor to my earnings as a blogger.
And, another reason why I love this is beacause people who serve this will usually give free refills of the soup to those who order. Yup, libreng sabaw. :D

Steak Marinade Recipe

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Anthony Bourdain has been torturing me for a few days now throug his show No Reservations that I've been marathoning. Because of this, last night at around almost midnight already I decided to look around for food that I can cook. Luckily, I found a bunch of raw t-bone steaks in the freezer.
steak marinade

Random Marinade Recipe
I just got whatever I could that I figured could make the taste of the steak better for the marinade. I really would have preferred A1 steak sauce but sadly we currently don't have any. So going through our stock in the pantry, all I found was BBQ sauce, worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco. It's a pretty good mix. The internet said that when you have no time to marinate, it's best to make rubs or something like that but then I didn't really have the ingredients required for that so just ended up mixing whatever I could find.
cooking medium rare steak

Cooking the Steak on Butter
This part is kind of tricky. I ended up making my steak a bit medium well when I was going for medium rare. I guess I underestimated the electric stove (it's usually weak plus the steak was still very cold). So just after a few minutes of bathing in the random marinade I made, the steak was cooking in butter and later on ended up in my stomach. I didn't even get to take a photo of the finished product because of hunger.
Well there's some more left on the freezer and I'm planning to cook some again tonight.

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Anthony Bourdain is Cheating Through Life and Torturing People Like Me

Watching No Reservations is a lot like torturing yourself. It's just too much of what's too good and currently too far to reach. And I come to the conclusion of one thing: Anthony Bourdain is the luckiest man alive.

Uni and Salmon Roe on Rice

Yes, he's a brilliant and talented TV show host and writer, giving the world a unique perspective on food and travel but he himself said before eating that meal above that he feels like he's cheating for being paid to do that. And I was here in front of my laptop getting tortured as I watched him eat that heavenly bowl of pleasure.

Anthony Bourdain drinking vodka in Ukraine

And every episode, all he does is drink. It's like he's paid to get drunk and eat amazing food. The girl he was with in Hokkaido called him a professional drinker. After watching how much vodka he drank in Ukraine, I'd have to agree.

Hey, I'm already getting paid just for writing about food here. Surely there's something there, yeah?

Like he says: always be hungry for more.

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Instant Vietnamese Noodles (Phở)

On my way home the other day, I decided to go to 711 to buy food so I can eat something while watching the stuff I downloaded or while surfing the internet.

I saw this instant vietnamese noodles. Vietnamese food is actually one of my favorites ever and probably even beats my love for Japanese food. The photo on the right side panel of this blog is actually me eating vietnamese noodles.

The instant noodles was 55 pesos, if I remember correctly. It's quite pricey compared to other local instant noodles but quite cheap compared to other imported instant noodles (the Japanese ones are very expensive but very good as well).

It wasn't really that good. I guess cause the experience was incomplete. It didn't have the bean sprouts and the leaves (I'm not sure what they are and I'm lazy to Google). It didn't have the meats. The soup was bland perhaps because I usually put sriracha sauce (one of my favorite sauces ever as well).

So all in all, I wasted 55 pesos but at least I learned. Next time, Yakisoba na lang ang bibilihin ko.

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Kanin Club — I ate here last night!

It's always a delight to get a random call that you are getting free food most especially if it's one of your favorite places to eat in. It was my really good friend's birthday yesterday and his family treated him to some food in Kanin Club.

My apologies for the not so appetizing photo. I was in a hurry to eat! On the left of my plate you will see the very classic crispy dinuguaan along with their other specialty sinigang rice. The one on the right is something that I tried for the first time last night. It's their pad thai recipe and it was unbelievably good, I swear. It is an instant favorite for me.

I got to try many other things from the Kanin Club menu such as the laing, adobo, binukadkad na tilapia, and crispy pata. One thing I noticed is that they really have mastered the art of deep frying and making things crispy. This remains true for many of their specialty dishes. Just writing about their food right now makes me so hungry.

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Clara Ole Asian Salad Dressing, California and Kani Maki

Here are some photos and thoughts form my recent encounters with some oriental flavors.

Salad prepared by Adrienne Nicole Bernal

I love the taste of sesame seeds and any other product used with it. Sesame oil, for instance, gives off such a powerful oriental flavor. I remember using it in my burger patty recipe that I blogged about before. This is the same flavor that can be found in Clara Ole's Asian Salad Dressing. For around 40 pesos, if I remember correctly, you can get those small budget packs that will surely enhance your salads or anything you want to add a wonderful asian flavor to.

For example, in the salad you'll notice that there's chicken meat from the breast part. I usually hate the white meat part of the chicken but with the asian dressing makes it so flavorful and appetizing, I swear. It's surely a must-try! This is something you can use not just for salads and in my opinion slays any other kind of salad dressing being that I am partial to oriental flavors.

Home made California and Kani maki
Speaking of Asian and oriental flavors, I recently had a chance to learn more about making your own maki/sushi. My mom's friends with the owner of the Japanese restaurant Hanakazu, located in BF, Parañaque. We got to borrow some of their knowledgable employees for a day and they prepared some maki for us.
It's much easier than I thought. The rice is basically just flavored with some special vinegar and sugar then you just roll whatever you want inside with the seaweed wrapper and then maybe add some roe around it if you want.
In my blog post about Raw Fish Recipes, I expressed how much I love Japanese cuisine. It's been one of my top favorites since I was young. I've always been so intrigued by its complexity. Their cuisine reminds me of origami, their artform of paper folding, very delicate and requires skill, technique, and discipline. I've always been thinking that unlocking the secrets of Japanese cuisine can make one's life better.
You may have noticed a bit of change in the design of this blog. I'm really just experimenting with the ad placements, hopefully to increase my earnings. I plan to blog about it more over at my other blog Beating the Search Engine, so be sure to check that out if you are curious.

How to Cook Poached Eggs

Sick of fried egg? Just a few moments ago, I decided to cook some poached eggs for the first time in my life.

my not so helpful tutorial video on how to make poached eggs
I used to watch Top Chef all the time and I remember some challenges would require the contestants to cook poached eggs because it requires a lot of skills and techniques. Basically it's just boiled egg but making it look perfect requires a lot of delicate movements and timing. So I decided to make some for myself and try it out instead of just going for the typical fried egg.
I still prefer fried egg, of course. Healthy food would usually sacrifice taste. But hey, it's my first time so I'm sure I'll learn more about it as I cook it more times. I need to practice on sauces and other things that will compliment the egg. I'm sure eventually my poached eggs will be more preferable than my fried eggs (and more presentable too).
There's really no excuse anymore in having conventional and boring meals. The internet gives us all these information on different recipes and cuisines most with step-by-step guides and tutorials. Plus, even without the internet, there will always be the imagination that provides reckless and unrestricted creativity.
I am the eggman.

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