PS – I’m amazed at how this post was written in 2005 and you still have a handful of comments well into ’08 and ’09!

I remember my great-grandmother, who was from Tagbilaran, making torta the old-fashioned way – meaning she made the dough from scratch and kneaded everything in an old wooden bilao – even when she was already in her late 80s. The Tagbilaran torta is more bready, light, crusty, and topped with quezo de bola. And yes, made with pork fat. My lola rendered the fat herself and made chicharon out of the taba that was left after the rendering. She ate a rich diet but lived to a ripe old age of 94.