Kalamansi / Calamondin
Thu 17 Feb 2005
This fruit, scientifically referred to as Citrofortunella mitis (Citrus reticulata x Fortunella sp), i.e. a hybrid of a Mandarin orange and the Kumquat, 
is an essential ingredient in Philippine cooking (according to the Oxford Companion to Food). It is a small, flavor and acid packed fruit that has a distinct citrus flavor, sometimes described as a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. It is used in kinilaw (raw fish marinated in vinegar and kalamansi), to marinate meats, to squeeze over broiled food, noodles or fruit, to make juice, or candied into something sweet and sour at the same time.
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Last year I ate at a super fancy “in” Makati restaurant whose menu stated “Caesar Salad made the old fashioned way…” and when I cross-checked with the waiter if the lettuce used was Romaine he quickly said “yes” so I decided to give it a try. It was simply HORRIBLE!!! What emerged from the kitchen was a bowl of wet iceberg lettuce drenched in pre-made dressing that was so thick it could have come out of someone’s nasal passages. When I summoned the captain to tell him this was not romaine, and worse, not dressing made the “old fashioned way,” he just shrugged. Don’t you hate it when they do that?
halo-halo is a mixture of sweet beans, coconut, fruit, etc. covered in shaved ice and topped with leche flan, ice cream, milk and sometimes crisp toasted pinipig. What seems to be an absolutely indigenous Filipino classic, halo-halo is actually very similar to cold desserts in Indonesia and Malaysia that incorporate various sweet fruits with ice and milk.
your salad dressing possesses the perfect balance of acid, oil and spices, you start to wonder about these things, or at least I do. If I am taking the salad to the table or placing it on a buffet, I prefer a wooden salad bowl. If I am worried about clean up hassle I use a white ceramic bowl. If I am tossing the salad in the kitchen and plating it up before serving then I prefer a spacious stainless steel bowl.
Have your fishmonger slice Tanguigue steaks about ¾ inch thick (too thin and it will cook too fast and dry out, too thick and the outside will burn before the inside is cooked). You should get 5 or 6 steaks per kilo (180-200 grams each) or roughly P40 each at P200 per kilo. Keep this refrigerated until a few minutes before cooking.
Although much of the bounty was due to the coming holiday, I find that the fruit on Salazar is generally better than at other more well known fruit markets. Located perpendicular to Ongpin Street, almost directly across from the President restaurant (worthy of its own future post under the rave section), it is a short span of say 150 meters or so and the fruit vendors are all on one side of the street under eaves of buildings or portable umbrellas.
Wake up and smell the fecal matter! It’s disgusting! My inaugural rant is on a subject closely related to food and my intestinal tract. What goes in must definitely come out. And there is nothing more horrific than going to a nice restaurant in a relatively new mall only to go to the bathroom and be greeted with some bizarre version of this message: “Do not throw your soiled toilet paper in the bowl to prevent clogging our pipes. Please use our trash cans (that are often not lined with plastic). Thank you.” (Note: picture is not meant to offend anyone who holds cows in a high regard. Taken at a roadside meat stand in Batangas, it is my way of saying “kachunk” with slashing movement along the neck area, or “dead meat” with respect to the specific rant it is attached to. )
Do you pay attention to the water you are drinking? Personally, I have poor water taste buds. I can only discern outrageously flat, highly chlorinated or dishwashing liquid residue in my water while others can sniff remnants of some hapless and unfortunate person who got sucked into the Balara water system (true story) and ended up in people’s baths. He may not have been present for his own wake but at least he touched a lot of people…