Ugu Bigyan's Secret Garden with the Ultimate Tour....

location: Tiaong, Quezon

Augusto "Ugu" Bigyan is a ceramics artist. Ugu produces dinnerware sets, decorative tiles and accent pieces for finishing walls and flooring. Very evident in his pottery are his leaves. I was able to catch a demonstration of how his leaf is made. Original and creative ceramic pieces spilled from the house through out the garden, where Ugo shares his art to those who wish to experience dining al fresco in one of the Balinese inspires huts and partake a meal on his signature leaf plates. The place is not easy to find. There are no markers, no signs along the road. But people still strive to find this great, relaxing place in Tiaong, Quezon Province. There’s good food, zen-like garden, and of course, pretty pottery items. It’s a long drive from Manila, but it’s worth it. Occasionally, Ugu gives pottery and cooking lessons. It’s an ideal place for people wishing to de-stress on a weekend. Ugu's Pottery goes on sale twice a year... once on May 15 ( in celebration for the pahiyas festival ) and on August 15 ( his birthday )...

We had lunch there and this was our menu: Clam soup Tahong with mustard leaves Sauteed Shrimps Grilled Pork Ribs Kulawo ( banana heart ) Pako ( fern ) salad Crunchy Calamares Sweet and sour Fish fillet with mango salsa Iced Buko juice Guinumis ( for dessert )

I was able to get the recipe of one of his signature dishes. It is called KULAWO. here are the ingredients and how to prepare it in case you want to do this one day. I liked this dish This can be used as an appetizer or as a main dish. - puso ng saging / banana heart ( cut into strips ) - cane vinegar - Garlic - salt and pepper to taste - grated coconut meat 1. Grate the coconut meat. Once it is done put it in a metal container and set it aside. Get heated charcoal and place it on top of the grated coconut. Then mix it . It will give you the smokey flavor . 2. when the meat turns brown mash it with cane vinegar and get cheesecloth to remove the juice ( pure coconut milk or gata ) from the coconut meat. 3. Then in another bowl mix onions, garlic, coconut milk and the coconut meat. Add the banana heart the last.

This tour was made possible by Anton Diaz and Ivan Man Dy of Ultimate Philippines and Tina Decal of Viejes del Sol..

Kusina Salud, San Pablo, Laguna

San Pablo, better known as the City of Seven Lakes, is a geographical wonder as such a relatively small area is home to seven very beautiful lakes. It is home to many hot springs as well many places where one can see the unspoiled beauty of nature. The best things about San Pablo is its close proximity to Manila. It is just a short two hour ride away.

KUSINA SALUD -- provides an enriching cultural experience that emphasizes Filipino cuisine and artisanship in a verdant environment. Opened in October 2004, Kusina Salud features an enchanting ambience created by Filipiniana textile artist Patis Tesoro, and a unique preparation of modern Filipino cuisine by Chef Paul Poblador and his talented team. There is also a mini aviary and a souvenir store where you can get some of the laguna delicacies for pasalubong. We were served breakfast of champorado, daing, fried suman with mango bits, garlic rice, bistek filipino and scrambled eggs.

Later on we had a demonstration of Chef Paul Poblador on how to make the PAKO ( Fern ) Salad...

HOW to make Pako Salad:

-- arrange the pako on your plate.
-- grate cheese on top of greens
-- grate salted egg on top of greens
-- add slices of tomatoes and onions
-- make dressing : mayonnaise, mustard, calamansi juice, little bagoong, mix well and pour dressing on top of greens.

Lucban Festival 2009

Location: Lucban, Quezon

Pahiyas means " decor " and every May 15 the facade of the houses are elaborately decorated with brightly decorated rice wafers called " KIPING". This is a type of rice dough made from traditional rice recipe. According to Tina Decal of Viejes del Sol, this kiping is the filipino version of the mexican taco. When the festival is over, these kipings are cooked and eaten as rice chips. Fruits, grains, vegetables and woven palm hats are used as additional decorations.

San Isidro labrador's image ( the towns patron saint ) is carried across town in a procession to assure the farmers of more bountiful harvests in the coming seasons. During the festival. people display their harvest in front of their homes for the parish priest to bless as the procession passes their homes. A competition is usually held during the festival. Families would compete for the title of " The Best Decorated House " after the competition the awards are handed over, the winning houses decorations will be thrown away to the huge flock of people as free treats. This is called " agawan "... What ever you catch is yours to keep!! It is indeed a joyous merriment for the Tayabasins ( that is what they are called ). You will never walk away with an empty stomach. It is a mouthful welcome to show how the people welcome their guests.

Food to try when you are in Lucban:

** Langonissang Lucban - is a garlicky slightly sour sausage that is quite similar to chorizo de bilbao, the famous garlic sausage from Spain.

** Budin or Casava Cake

** Hardinera - is like morcon

** Pancit habhab - very typical of the province... you will have to eat this dish without utensils. it is served on a piece of banana leaf and you have to shove it up your mouth... instead of using fish sauce ( patis ) you use vinegar... A word of advise when you are attending these festivals..

WATCH the calories when you are at it!!!

Laguna Food Fetival 2009

location: Hills Spa Los Banos, Laguna

Los Banos started as one of the many settlements of the town of Bay in southern Luzon. It was then called Mainit because of the hot springs coming from Mt. Makiling, a dormant volcano, which is located within its proximity. These springs, which were said to have curative effects, attracted the Spaniards especially the Franciscan friars. In 1589, Fr. Pedro Baustista established public baths and renamed the place Los Baños which means bathing places in Spanish. When one hears the word LAGUNA... the first things that would enter in your minds would be... KESONG PUTI ( from Santa Cruz ), fresh BUKO PIE to take home as paslubong and Mount Makiling. But has anyone ever tasted LAGUNA style cooking??? Since May is known as Heritage Month in the Philippines... I was able to attend an event that was sponsored by the Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc., National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Department of Tourism and the Senior Citizens Federation of Los Banos Laguna. It was the Food Heritage Cooking contest of Los Banos, Laguna. The contestants had to prepare dishes that was typical of the province or town.The criteria for this event were the usage of indigenous / cookery methods, Must have profit potential and they have to use nutricious ingredients.... and NO MSG!!! They had 3 dishes that were coconut based ( guinataang hipon, labong and the binagoongang dalag ). What i noticed is that they would use calamansi instead of vinegar ( in the ampalaya salad ) and instead of sampaloc for sinigang again calamansi was used to make the broth sour... another ingredient that was very noticeable was the usuage of the malunggay or saluyot leaves in their cooking.

The winners were: 1st Place - Tortang Tulya - minced clams sauteed with saluyot and malunggay leaves, kinchay, spring onions and tokwa. Then each pattie is dipped into egg-cornstarch mixture and fried till done. 2nd Place - Sinigang na Carpa with gulay - cooked the same way as how we cooked our sinigang, but calamansi was used to make the broth sour, and the fish they used was CARPA... a fish that is found in the Laguna Bay. and the 3rd Place - Binagoongang Dalag - same proceedure as how they cook the binagoonang baboy but they used DALAG ( another fish that is found in Laguna Bay ).

Other recipes that joined were: RELLENONG SILI - they used small peppers stuffed with ground pork, minced onions and diced tomatoes. AMPALAYA SALAD- they used calamansi instead of vinegar, Buko pancit - they used grated young coconut instead of noodles, GUINATAANG HIPON- they used small fresh water shrimps cooked in coconut milk. I was able to taste a better version of this a long time ago from a friend of mine who is from Pila ( another town in Laguna ). KULALO TALONG- charcoal grilled eggplant grilled then mashed mixed with roasted coconut ( niyog ), coconut milk extract ( kakang gata ) and chili peppers. Just trying to jot down the ingredients of this recipe i thought it was the hardest to do unlike the others. The lady who cooked it told me that after you have grilled the eggplant , you set it aside... the meat of the crated coconut you will wrap it in a foil then ... get some charcoal and put it on the HUSK of the coconut... and then put the wrapped coconut meat on top to ROAST it. After it is done... you will then get the roasted coconut and extract the coconut milk by squeezing the extract thru cheesecloth. After all these are prepared , the coconut extract together with the mashed eggplant is now mixed with other ingredients like minced onions and chili peppers... an added twist was using calamansi ( instead of vinegar) to get the sour taste. The finish product??? it tasted like the sidings we have when we cook Pochero. It didn't look appealling to the eyes but it tasted good! SAGIPIG SA BANGA- their version of guinumis. Next time when you travel south... and pass Los Banos... why not stop and try to taste some of the dishes i mentioned... cooked the LAGUNA way..... HAPPY EATING!!!

Ultimate Tour and Culinary Cuisine goes to Tagaytay

I travelled with food bloggers and first timers on this trip. We were 20 in a little coaster on our way to TAGAYTAY. Most of us were fully equiped with our cameras, tripods and video equipment ready to document our experience..... before i took this trip all i thought the best food places were SONYA's garden and Antonio's ..... but after tasting and discovering these new places.... it makes you want to make that trip to Tagaytay once more!!! When you travel with food bloggers... you cant eat as soon as the food is set on the table.... YOU GOT TO TAKE THE PICTURE first....... once satisfied with the outcome of your shots... then.. you sit down and eat... UNLESS... you are famished... and gobble down your food before you can document your food...you end up with NO FOOD pictures!!! Joining a food tour is all what it is all about... DOCUMENTING your food and by word of mouth.... these new places will be another " MUST TRY " places to eat when you are in Tagaytay. What I learned from this experience was to be adventurous in your taste, have an empty stomach since you will be eating and sampling so many things along the way, its very important to pace your food intake, one must have an open mind when you go on these trips and last but not the least.... tons of energy to last you the whole trip........ otherwise.......... JUST STAY HOME!!!

Loumars - known for its BUKO CRUMBLE PIE... what i learned we have to eat the pie baked right from the source ( we went to the wholesaler of this buko pie)...its better to buy your buko pies early morning so its still warm and fresh. When you get it any other time of the day... they dont taste as good.

Ilog Maria HoneyBee Farm - owned by Joel Magsaysay and his family. They sell all sorts of products like handmade soap, massage oil, bee pollen, etc. The road to his little farm ( 9 hectares ) is a very narrow bumpy, dirty ( during summer ), muddy ( during rainy season ) road.. you need a 4 X 4 vehicle to get there. He had prepared a impromtu video presentation about his farm and showed us around. I learned something new about the BEES and their HONEY... Ants whether black or red are not attracted to natural honey.. Once the honey is harvested and processed... sugar is added... etc... thats when the ants come.

BAWAI's - its a newly opened Vietnamese Resaturant owned and operated by Mr and Mrs Tatlonghari.. It opened only 15 months ago... and was discovered by Anton Diaz ( food blogger of OUR AWESOME PLANET ), Mrs Tatlonghari a native of Vietnam personally supervises and cooks all the dishes from her kitchen.. Since the restaurant also serves as their housing quarters it is opened only on weekends.. and one has to have make reservations in advance. Unlike Sonya's garden which has the set menu... BAWAI has a menu you can order what you like. The seating capacity is 28 persons.

CHATEAU HESTIA - owned and operated by Johannes Zehethoffer ( from Vienna ). It opened last year... and its a few meters down the road from BAWAI... this was where we went for our dessert. He has 2 house liquers which i tried.. LIMONCELLO ( but this time with a twist ).. since we dont have LEMONS in the philippines he made use of our dalandan with a dash of vanilla. the other one was ORANGE liquer which was also very good. He offered us panna cotta topped with passion fruit bits and jam which i liked. His ferrero rocher ice cream was also good. He had another treat for us called mango napoleon which i wasnt able to try since i was soooooo full already!!