Short, Fat & Old…
Mon 21 Nov 2005
The “Eyeball” or was it really an “Eye Ball” was superb! 
Too bad for those of you who couldn’t make it! All this muttering on photo-napping had me really down over the weekend, the blog felt like a pre-law journal, so thank Buddha the EB was long scheduled for Sunday the 20th of November… I can honestly say now that I was seriously apprehensive about the idea of coming out of the shadows and exposing myself to the reading public…would we all be ogres and strange food deviants? Would people enjoy themselves or just stare at all these other strangers in silence as they munched on the food? Who knew this would be so much fun? Read on for the scoop on the food and the guests…
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In the Philippine Daily Inquirer yesterday (page C4) and on their on-line website (both with a readership numbering in the millions on a local and global scale, compared with my modest base of 2-3,000 wonderful and loyal readers) an article by James Anthony R. Ceniza on Yema Balls features a 
at his Fresh Field stall at Market!Market! Fort Bonifacio, I immediately reserved some and sent someone to go pick it up. One of the small perks of this website is that I have made acquaintances with some terrific vendors, suppliers, etc. who occasionally text me when unusual products come to market… If it’s something I would eat or that I find unusual and feature it on the website, then hopefully they will grow and sell more of it and a new product will be added to our increasing variety of locally available produce. What is broccolini, you ask? A broccoli (Brassica oleracea) hybrid, it is actually about ¾ broccoli and ¼ kai lan or Chinese broccoli. In other words, a mongrel broccoli that tries to get the best attributes of each… crisp yet with a tender stem, more subtle broccoli flavor without the cabbage notes and easy to prepare and cook…
diverse and thus often confusing… from province to province or coast to coast, the names of fish can vary and individuals in the North don’t necessarily know what a fish is named in the South… So if it’s confusing for locals, what more for foreigners or new arrivals? I find that many foreigners are often clueless as to the English/Filipino names of fish so unless they scour the wet markets for things that look familiar, they just give up and eat chicken. Who would have thought, that the prized Australian Barramundi with white flaky and delicious meat is a close relative of our much vaunted Apahap that was once the most sought after fish in Central Luzon (caught while spawning in rivers) and which is now raised in fish ponds in Mindanao…throughout this blog I have tried to introduce different fishes with both their local and common English names so readers get to know them better. First up, an amusing looking fish called Bilong-bilong or Chabita or Kadis. A Moonfish (now isn’t that a descriptive name?) of the Family Menidae, it inhabits coastal waters, has an incredibly flat body and oval shape with low fins. Locals love to serve this paksiw style with ginger, vinegar and onions, or deep fried where if small enough, everything is munched on, I am told.
my absolute favorite holiday of the year. November has been like a series of whirling dervish derbies so my posts have been a tad erratic. If you are wondering why I have done several posts on non-Filipino food recently, it’s because I actually do eat these dishes and have photos stacked up on my computer but have not caught up on the write-ups… this blog was meant to chronicle where I get food/produce, what is in season, what I do with it, and how I actually cook and eat it. It’s also because I hope to give you an overload of all things “local” in the month before Christmas and shortly thereafter. In response to a