Food & Fun in the Philippines

Back by “popular demand” is another food blog.  The fascinating foods of the Philippines never cease to amaze and delight us – especially the many exotic fruits. 

However there are 2 foods that have a major reputation as being cultural icons – Durian and Balut. 

Finally I have tasted Durian!  Durian is a fruit and, honestly, it is almost indescribable. It has a very tough, very "poke-y" “shell” that is best attacked with a machete or equivalent (which unfortunately we did not have.) 

The closest I can come to describing the texture of the fruit itself is that of soft custard.  The flavor is very pleasant and fruity, but nothing like any fruit I have ever tasted before.  The reason for its fame (or infamy, depending on your point of view) is its very pungent aroma (that lingers) and had been described to us as “worse than stinky socks”.  On the contrary, I found it not particularly unpleasant, oddly fruity – but the intensity of the odor is pretty intimidating.

I have also had the opportunity to try Balut.  It is a fertilized duck egg that is left to develop almost to the point of hatching.  I am told that 16-18 day old balut is probably best for beginners as the beak and feathers are just beginning to be noticeable. Personally I found balut quite tasty – and I didn’t eat it in the dark either (one suggestion for making it more edible.)  The problem with finding balut is that it is mostly sold after dark in areas we do not go into – actually that is almost anyplace after dark. ( ^ ;  We ran across a vendor who must have just been beginning his route as it wasn’t yet dark and he was right on our street! 

 

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A cultural delicacy of which Cebu is very proud is its lechon – roast pig, preferably whole— it is great!  It boasts a unique blend of spices and is very tender.  I thought it notable that when the whole pig was being served for a ward Christmas party that someone asked to have the head (as it apparently is too slow to carve properly for a gathering).  The cook thought briefly then nodded, but promptly opened the mouth and cut off the tongue and put it aside for himself!

Here is a pig on the “sidewalk butcher shop” (literally a metal table on the sidewalk) on his way to becoming lechon.

Very little food is wasted here, we frequently see pork belly, pig feet, and tripe (stomach).

Another local delicacy is chicken feet – cooked crunchy – I confess, not my personal favorite.

Both a favorite snack and cooking food is dried seafood – especially fish of every variety! Notice that most of one wall of this large supermarket is taken up by dried seafood!

The fresh seafood is also wonderfully varied.  (I wish I enjoyed it more, but one doesn’t develop much of an appetite for seafood in Montana – no sea!)  I am actually becoming quite fond of squid, especially batter-dipped and deep fried – yum! No, we really don’t have facilities for cooking it at home (or the desire?)  There is lots of fresh squid, octopus, and tarot (cuttlefish—another cousin.)

There are always lots of shellfish, crabs, and fresh fish of all sizes, shapes, and, yes, colors.

This was our favorite little produce stand where we could buy fresh veges very cheap every weekend.  Unfortunately it was “condemned” due to safety concerns related to the new building supposedly being constructed on the lot behind it.

This small fruit stand is co-owned by a young man named Rain who personally delivers fruit to us at the office once a week.  He goes directly to the “wet market” before daylight to get the best and freshest fruit as it arrives.  I have never been able to resist a pun so I love that “Rain brings fruit”.

                           

My personal favorites so far are mangos, bananas 

(including red bananas) and deep fried bananas.

I also love  lychee and  rambutan, –  The rambutans are little red “hairy” fruits about 2 inches (5 cm.) long.  Lychee are small and red similar to rambutan, but not hairy – not yet back in season either, unfortunately.
the mangoes we get average about four and a half inches long (11 cm.) and very heavy and juicy. 

Dragon fruit is as fun as its name and quite tasty.

 Kaimito is a beautiful purple – especially inside.
—and very yummy.

Chico is a very fun fruit not unlike a roundish apple in appearance, but more like a peach in texture with a very tasty, unique flavor.

Marang is “furry” on the outside and must be hung up to ripen or its own weight will cause the fruit to bruise!  It has a pungent odor until peeled and the fruit is very sweet.

  

Guabano is leathery and looks much like an apple on the inside.

Mangosteens wear funny little caps and have a sweet white segmented fruit inside.

mangosteen

Chocolate is good with everything—including bread, bacon, and “puto mayo ug sikwate”(sticky rice cooked with sweetened coconut milk and served with cacao syrup.)

At the SRC (Self- Reliance Center) where we work, we try to help people become self-reliant -- able to provide the necessities of life for themselves and their families.  We do this through a 3-fold approach: teaching skills related to planning and getting an education; job-searching and job-enhancing skills; and skills for starting and growing their own business.  Since individuals are considered "too old to be employable" at age 30- 35 in the Philippines, the church is encouraging self-employment for most adults. Our focus now is on helping local leaders develop their own programs for individual and group enterprises.  

We recently attended a delightful program sponsored by the Mabolo Relief Society (women's organization) of 3 traditional foods that make inexpensive start-up businesses: 

pork barbecue -- thin pork strips marinated, mounted on a bamboo skewer, and cooked over an open flame; 

siomei-- ground pork garnished with egg in a thin wrapper then steamed; 

                                                                                                          

and puso or hanging rice -- rice boiled in a pocket woven from coconut leaves.                                  

It is a wonderful feeling to be a part of something that can help lift people out of poverty one step at a time.  We are all children of our Heavenly Father and he wants us to be successful and to help each other.  I feel so blessed to be even a small part of His plan.

Trekking Cebu & Bohol

This post I want to share our trekking to: Marco Polo, the Regional Correction Center, The Jumalon Butterfly Preserve & Museum, the Carbon Wet Market, and Bohol.
We took a trek up to see the Marco Polo a very fancy hotel overlooking Cebu.  

People had told us that there was a nice hiking trail up the backside of the hotel.  We missed the trail on the way up and followed the road.  

We  then found out that four huge new condos were being built behind it.  

This is the view from the back side of the Marco Polo.

Half of the people we talked to told us the trail was closed and the others pointed the way to it.

so we hiked down a fairly steep, but very interesting trail -- that landed us right at the rifle range on the base of the 53^rd Engineers Brigade of the Philippines Army.  We saw several groups of young people in training classes, walked past the base hospital, 

the base headquarters,

the base chapel

and the base goat

and didn’t arouse any interest or concern – except our own! The armed guard at the gate when we left looked pretty official.

We also heard from others of the “Dancing Prisoners” at the “Regional Correction Center”, aka

Provincial prison.  They have actually attained a certain amount of internet fame and perform the 4^th Saturday of every month.  There are over 1000 inmates who participate – most as a choreographed group dancing in the background behind a smaller elite dancing group.

The smaller advanced team of dancers appears very talented and dedicated. 

  We are informed officially that “it is all volunteer”, but by some of the locals that there are some privileges associated that are very desirable.  Also the prisoners can make handcrafts and have them sold during the performances for money to purchase necessities or desires.  

The Jumalon Butterfly Gardens was founded by a Professor Jumalon here in Cebu City as a result of his personal passion.  He planned the garden to naturally attract the butterflies rather than to keep them in.   I loved the World Butterfly Map at the entrance.

He collected butterfly specimens from all over the world and had special protected areas built for egg-laying and hatching the young.

 Professor Jumalon who established the Jumalon Butterfly Sanctuary and Museum was also well known for his lepido-mosaic art -- beautiful pictures created from tiny pieces of damaged butterfly wings.

I particularly enjoyed the "Butterflies of the World" map near the entrance.

We had a wonderful little fresh produce stand very near our apartment, 

but it was shut down to make way for a construction site and everyone assured us that the only other fresh produce stands in the area were at the Carbon 'Wet Market' (fresh produce).  So we hopped a jeepney and went there.  Imagine city blocks lined with little stalls all selling fresh food – separate areas for fish, meat, rice, fruit, and vegetables.



Vegetable stalls covered both sides of the narrow street for a “guess-timated” ¼ mile or half a kilometer. 

Other areas also had clothing, shoes, household goods, crafts, jewelry, beauty products and services, etc., etc., etc..  It was almost unbelievable.  

On one of our holidays, we decided to take a tour of Bohol, a bigger island close to Cebu, where the major earthquake had its epicenter back in September 2013.    Our friends there, Elder & Sister Talbot, 

said there was a tremendous amount of damage done, but the worst part was the destruction of roads and bridges so it took a long time to get any assistance to the central areas where the damage was greatest. It was six weeks before any power was restored even to major cities along the coast.

These pictures were taken in April 2014 and many families are still living in tent shelters.

There is still a lot of earthquake damage there and much of the aid that would have helped in its restoration has gone instead to victims of the typhoon Yolanda the following month.  Major roads have been mostly re-opened, but many have areas of construction.

Tourism and the economy are depressed due to concerns created by the typhoon, but the people were happy to welcome tourists at the historic areas we visited..

We were able to visit the Blood Compact Site (site of the signing of the first peace treaty between the Europeans and natives). 

Next we went to the Tarsier Monkey Conservation Reserve.  The tarsier monkeys are about the size of an adult fist with a skinny tail about twice its length; they are named for their unusually long tarsal (ankle) bones that allow them to jump up to 10 feet from tree to tree.  They mostly eat insects, but have been known to eat small mice, birds, snakes, and lizards. Since they are nocturnal we only saw them quietly clinging to tree branches. 

 Notice the large eyes—each eye is about 3 times the size of their brain according to the guide.

 I thought they were absolutely fascinating.

This last photo isn't mine-- none were that close or that wide awake -- it was probably taken with a

night vision camera.

Next we passed through the Man-Made Forest – a huge mahogany forest planting project.

We stopped and ate lunch on one of the famous Floating Restaurants on the Loboc River. 

Loboc has many scars left from the earthquake--  massive destruction of buildings and homes.

We were served a lovely buffet of traditional Cebuano dishes while the boat “floated” up river to the waterfalls and then back down.   Actually there was a small motor attached to the boat to keep it moving.

 Each boat had its own band and stopped at one or more of the little shore attractions. 

Where we stopped they had children singing and dancing some of their traditional dances.

Our "tour group": Elder Talbot, Elder & Sister Mather, Sister Talbot, myself & Sister Evans.

  

Next we toured through the Chocolate Hills – a most unusual geological area.  There are groups of hills that look like someone had scooped the dirt up with an ice cream scoop and plopped them down in random little groups.  They know what they are composed of – limestone from a sea floor with a clay base, but have no real agreement on what caused them to be formed.  The greenery on the hills becomes somewhat brown during the dry season leading to the name “Chocolate “ Hills. 

While we were there the landscape was a gorgeous kaleidoscope of rice paddies, rainforest, and flowers.

We got one special stop, however, that only friends can provide:  we got to personally visit with Sister Segovia.  She is a very special individual and a true survivor. 

During the earthquake she was standing in the kitchen with her grandson and her daughter and a friend were in another room of her lovely home.  At the end of the earthquake, she was the only survivor. All that is left of her lovely home is some of the tile floor

 and a huge pile of rubble.  

She now has a small tent with a small shelf in front with the few things she managed to salvage – a few vases, flowers, and small items – that still makes the area feel like a home.  

When we were there she was showing us with great gratitude the small home – one living area and one sleeping area—that is nearly completed from donated materials and labor from the government and the Church. 

She was the first person to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints on the island of Bohol.  She proudly related stories of how she became a convert to the Church: she had a dream of two young men that she had never seen before “and they looked really strange” and then she saw them the next day at the market. She says, “I got right in their faces and said, ‘Who are you? And What are you doing here?’  When they told me they were missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, I didn’t even know what they meant, but I knew they were supposed to come home with me and talk to me!’”  She related stories of how she had helped during the construction of the chapel in Loon and when she stayed late at the site, she had confidence that the Lord would see her safely home and “when those noisy boys that cause trouble saw me coming they just got out of the way!” And finally she shared with us a very personal dream that helped heal the wounds of the loss of her family in the earthquake.  

She is truly a survivor – and one of my heroes!