Market Manila

Cebuanos often make fun of Boholanos. My dad was a Cebuano, but no, aha!, he was born in Bohol! But my mom, who he chided endlessly for being Boholana, was in fact, born in Cebu, and a descendant of a large clan with lots of family in Leyte. But her family was a fairly well-known one from the proud little island of Bohol, the home to one of the Republic’s elected Presidents…not many provinces can claim that, after all, though Cebu can as well. At any rate, the gentle “rivalry” between the islands is an amusing one… So while Cebu might have the best dried mangoes, silvanas and what not, I have to say that Bohol has absolutely the finest broas I have ever eaten, period. And here, with a quick modification, I am inventing a cookie that would make my maternal ancestors proud… meet the “Boholano” - two Osang’s broas with a filling of rich chocolate cream. Superb.

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I tried to make the chocolate cake using the recipe (sent to me by reader Asunta, thanks!) that was apparently used by Kookie Monster, and possibly, the Shell gas station cake lady, Mrs. Polly. The results were a bit disappointing. The cake was on the dry side and I screwed up the sugar so my version wasn’t too sweet but the original recipe would be. I still think it lacked some fat, and some vegetable oil or mayonnaise would do the trick. I don’t think it is the recipe that will yield the Mrs. Polly equivalent cake. But nevertheless, it is an easy recipe and yields a basic and economical chocolate cake. If you buy a large container of Hershey’s cocoa, they have a recipe on the back of the can and frankly, it yields a pretty darned good cake or cupcake. Again, considering the ingredients, the results are not bad at all… For guests this afternoon, I prepared two dozen Hershey’s chocolate cupcakes with sickly sweet chocolate and confectioners sugar icing and halloween themed decor. And no, I did not make the decor myself, it’s store bought from Sweetcraft (nice shop, nice selection of goods, but the MOST inane staff sometimes…almost enough to turn me off to ever going back there again) on Boni Avenue in Mandaluyong.

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There was such a tremendous response to my post a few days ago, asking readers what they sell from home or on a small-scale basis, that well over 50 different “vendors” left their contact numbers for a mouthwatering array of goodies… We will probably only get to taste a fraction of what is on offer, but Mrs. MM and I decided to start with a couple of vendors in Cebu City. So a few days ago, we placed our orders, to be picked up or delivered just hours before boarding a fllight for Manila. First up are these stunningly good Silvanas by Mrs. U. I was never a huge sans rival fan (though I am fonder of it now) and when I tried to make the blasted dessert, it was a visual disaster but a taste home run… but silvanas are more like mini-sans rivals, easier to manage and eat, a smaller dose of richness and if well done, simply sublime. These ones are among the best silvanas I have had in recent memory. They arrived in a snazzy colored foil wrapper and they held up rather well to being transported, I must say…

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Arroz a la Cubana was a BIG DEAL in our home. For some reason, it was festive food. Now that I deconstruct the dish, it’s just sauteed ground meat with bottled condiments served with rice, egg and saba bananas. There are so many versions of Cuban rice out there, many served with beans as the protein rather than meat, that I wonder how much this rice dish has evolved into more Arroz a la Pinoy con Cubana… At any rate, I have NOT made this dish for years and today I was doodling with ground meat from the grocery and didn’t want to freeze any leftovers so I made some Arroz a la Cubana with about 500 grams of meat. It was dead easy. And after tasting it and smelling it, I have decided it is a serious food memory trigger from childhood. Even blindfolded, I can pick this dish from a lineup of several different dishes…the smell is that memorable…

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Growing up, the phrase “mag de lata nalang” meant there was no food being cooked and we had to rely on canned or bottled goods in the pantry. This usually happened when we got home early from school and were starving. Or when the cook and my mom were off somewhere and hadn’t planned on being away so long. Or during blackouts or other weather disturbances. My two favorite de lata meals were corned beef served together with pork & beans and rice, or spicy or non-spicy tuyo in oil fried and then served with chopped tomatoes, vinegar and rice. And gosh, do you remember those Royco Chicken Noodle Soup packets??? In those days, in the absence of microwave ovens and a much more limited choice of ready-to-cook foods at the groceries, the default de lata meals were pretty straightforward. Today, I still enjoy an occasional meal of corned beef AND pork and beans with rice and ketchup. Mrs. MM says in their household they never served the two things together, but in ours, it was a natural pairing. So yesterday, while munching on the humongous pomegranate that The Kid brought back from China, I decided to rummage through the pantry and came up with this de lata dessert concoction…

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If I were Adam, and Eve passed me one of these pomegranates to munch on, the entire human race would be toast as well. THIS is what a POMEGRANATE is SUPPOSED to taste like. The reference to Adam and Eve and the pomegranate is due to assertions that Eve didn’t really have any apples in the vicinity when she was tempting Adam, so the proverbial fruit was likely to be a luscious pomegranate instead… I have featured pomegranates before, and tasted wonderful juices and sauces made from pomegranate reductions, but apparently I hadn’t yet tasted a pomegranate at its finest. This huge non-descript, yellowish and lightly bruised specimen hand-carried by The Kid from Xian in Central China, was filled with stunningly crimson pieces. The flavor of this specific fruit was incredibly deep and delicious, a bit tart yet very sweet all at the same time. The color of the juice is something you will only come across in a natural product…

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The face on this foil chocolate is exactly how I feel at the moment. Too many outrageous service issues this week that miraculously disappear and are resolved when I turn into “I will eat you alive if you do not handle this logically mode.” I will definitely be a call center representative fielding calls from irate customers in my next life… At least I will be able to fling it right back. Or I will turn into a cockroach when reincarnated. Harumpph. Before certain holidays (Halloween, Christmas & Easter), we like to have a nice bowl of seasonally appropriate candy on a table by the front door for visitors (or residents!)… It’s usually a small bowl filled with goodies and various high cholesterol options. This year I was thrilled to find Halloween themed foil wrapped chocolates at Rustan’s Rockwell. It’s really more about the look and not the quality of the contents… Some of the packages of Palmers Halloween chocolates were a reasonable PHP60 or so. Others went as high as PHP180. They will be nibbled on until the 31st, at which point they will be given out to The Kid’s friends if they actually still head out to trick or treat. Or if they are too old for that, they can give the candy out to the hundreds if not thousands of kids that come by.

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Michel Richard seems to be an obsessive compulsive chef, in a good way. And his book is a joy to read. One of the few pastry chefs who switched to cooking savory food, he is referred to in the jacket of the book as a “chef’s chef.” With a foreword by Thomas Keller, and some of the most stunning and uncluttered visuals, this is a book I could not resist acquiring. While books to this style often intimidate a home cook, the recipes of Michel Richard are relatively simple and almost always incorporate a slightly unusual, intelligent and unique twist. There are several dishes in this book that I will try this holiday season. Apparently obsessed with crispness, I am curious if I can replicate some of his dishes in Manila’s humid weather. Some things I look forward to trying are his All-Crust Potato Gratin, Green Bouillabaisse with Aioli (though some ingredients are TOUGH to find in Manila), Crab Poppers (little bite size morsels like crabcakes but more sophisticated), and Chicken Faux Gras (a stunning sounding pate made with chicken livers, my childhood nemesis)…this last one is definitely on my holiday list! Happy in the Kitchen, by Michel Richard, list price $45.

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