01 Nov, 2009
With superb sourdough and cheeses (as well as salamis) as Part I of the food pasalubongs, how could there not be a Part II with fruit and chocolate. Mrs. MM’s luggage included several containers of black mission figs and other larger green/purple figs, all perfectly ripe by the time they arrived in Manila….
01 Nov, 2009
Family, friends and business colleagues have always been amazed by the contents of our luggage when we return from local or foreign trips. I once ran into a professional acquaintance of mine at the Singapore airport (she transiting from Kazakhstan or somewhere equally unusual) and me on the the way home from Melbourne….
30 Oct, 2009
After a recent trip to Cebu, I realized there were three types of tableas in our pantry, so I decided to compare them… First and foremost, let me state that I love artisanally produced ingredients, and will patronize them as much as I can. There is just something so pure about something…
29 Oct, 2009
Don’t read the rest of this post if you felt any tinge of sympathy for the fishpan lady…
23 Oct, 2009
The fruit is a fresh quince. It was early Fall in New York and I noticed them for sale at a nearby market, so I bought a couple, if only to record it for this blog and its readers. Quince (Cydonia oblonga) is an almost pear-like looking fruit but with a skin…
15 Oct, 2009
Certain gustatory delights I have taken for granted. Take chicharon, for example. All my life I have enjoyed this wonderful “snack.” I can think of many instances and snippets of memory from the past 4 decades when I was crunching down on some variation or other of deep fried pork fat…
23 Sep, 2009
A large whole russet potato passed through a special contraption that turns the potato into a very, very long continuous paper thin coil, plunged into wickedly hot vegetable oil and then sprinkled with salt and spritzed with vinegar. Is that joy, or is that JOY? What the heck is it about…
22 Sep, 2009
I have always liked deep fried battered onion rings. Something about the crisp fried outer coating that reveals a soft, squishy, sweet onion slice hiding within. It’s a classic combination that always gets my salivary glands going. But I had never heard of a “blooming onion” and when we spotted several…