food moment: PAKUMBO

When we had a family outing in Laiya, Batangas, Philippines… I’ve noticed something sweet being sold by the locals on the shores of the beach. Out of curiosity, I came to know by the vendor that it’s called “Pakumbo” or “Pacombo”. 

“Pakumbo” is a sweet delicacy with the use of young coconut meat strands as its main ingredient and boiled in coconut juice with brown sugar until done with its translucent form. It is usually recognized for its packaging in a dried banana bark. Locally known and sold in the beaches and nearby towns in the provinces of Batangas and Aurora, Philippines. 

It is sometimes mistaken as “Bukayo”, only that it is served in a dried banana bark and not on the leaf. Nowadays, this yummy treat have evolved with different twist and flavors like being added with ripe langka (jackfruit) strips, peanut, and cashew nuts.

Photos taken by: Sukito San

food recipe: BUKO PANDAN

“Buko Pandan” which is mainly made out of “buko” or coconut is one of the famous Filipino dessert that completes the table in any occasion.

Here’s a simple recipe of this sweet course eaten at the end of the meal.

Ingredients:

½ cup shredded coconut or fresh coconut strips

1 medium can condensed milk or creamer

1 pack all-purpose cream

1 ½ teaspoon refined sugar

1 box buko-pandan flavored gelatin

1 ripe mango cut into cubes (optional)

¼ cup shredded cheese (optional)

Procedure:

1. Prepare the buko-pandan flavored gelatin according to package direction and add sugar according to your desired sweetness.
2. Pour the mixture into a glass container for the gelatin to cool down and set. Then cut it into strips or small cubes when it’s already in its viscous or gummy state.
3. Combine the shredded coconut, condensed milk, cubed gulaman or gelatin. Then, cheese and mango if you have any.
4. Chill and serve. 

Enjoy eating!

Photo taken by: Sukito San

food photos: VERY STRAWBERRY

The Strawberry Festival is a week-long event that was celebrated in La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines every March. In relation to this, I am about to share on this entry some photos of strawberries in its many forms as our favorite fruit, food ingredient, and flavor.

Strawberry Fruit

Strawberry Sundae

Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry Wafers

Strawberry Taho

Strawberry Jam

Strawberry Sticks

Strawberry Cinnamon Roll

Strawberry Candies

Strawberry-filled Biscuits

Strawberry Rolls

Strawberry Jelly

Strawberry Doughnuts

Strawberry Cheesecake

Strawberry Croughnut

Strawberry Ice Cream-filled Chocolate Bar 

Strawberry Cake

Strawberry Farm

Photos Taken By: Sukito San

Strawberry Cake Photo By: Entz Gomez Alcaraz

 

food recipe: TUNA FLAKES WITH QUAIL EGGS

For people who’s always on the go and just rely on canned goods to cook a special meal… here’s a simple recipe of tuna flakes in can with a twist.

Ingredients:

2 cans tuna flakes in oil

pugo or quail eggs (of your desired number) 

3 potatoes cut into cubes

1 calamansi fruit

1 white onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

small piece of ginger chopped or julliened

salt 

water

Procedure:

1. Pre-boil pugo or quail eggs for 10 minutes in a separate pot. Chill and then peel its shell afterwards.
2. In a separate wok or pan, saute white onion, garlic, and ginger using only the oil of the tuna flakes in can. 
3. Add 2 cans of tuna flakes to the sauteed ingredients.
4. Pour enough amount of water as its broth and stir. 
5. Add the cubed potatoes and let it boil in the broth until tender and done.
6. Put the pre-boiled pugo or quail eggs. 
7. Season it with a little amount of salt to taste.
8. Turn off the fire and squeeze your tuna dish with a calamansi juice then stir.
9. Serve hot with rice on the side.

Enjoy eating with family!

Photo taken by: Sukito San

2015 in review: SUKITOSPOON

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 26,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

food review: RAZON’s of GUAGUA’s “HALO-HALO”

Whenever you heard the food place named “Razon’s of Guagua”… the first thing that comes to your mind is their famous “Halo-Halo”.

Compared to the price of other Halo-Halo in town, I can say that it is not budget-friendly as the others. But, when I’ve tasted it… it convinced me that it deserves its price of P100 per tall glass. In my own opinion, what made Razon’s Halo-Halo special  despite the simple, clean, and not so colorful look is its finely shaved creamy ice that when tasted… feels smooth on the tongue. Sweet macapuno and bananas, poured with creamy milk, and topped with leche flan adds up to the said dessert to be more flavorful. Though with less usual Halo-Halo ingredients compared to others… all I can say is that, it’s all in the ice! And you’ll be wanting some more.

Photo by: Sukito San

food photos: CAKE GALORE

I will always cherish my taste encounters with these cakes. And I really love having these slices of heaven over and over again for my dessert!

Mango Cake

Mediterranean Strawberry Cheesecake

Chocolate Cake

Cassava Cake

Oreo Cake

Mango Graham Cake

Cookies and Cream Cake

Cheesecake

Strawberry Cake

Sans Rival

Black Forest Cake

Ube Cake

Tiramisu Cake

Photos by: Sukito San

Other Photo Contributors: Jonelyn Santiago (Cheesecake & Mediterranean Strawberry Cheesecake), Entz Gomez (Strawberry Cake)

 

food recipe: MILKY CAIMITO

Caimito or Star Apple is one the summer fruits in the Philippines. Since its plenty during this hot season… the best way to enjoy eating this fruit aside from tasting it from being freshly-picked from the tree, is when you have it chilled.

Here’s how you can simply make your own “Milky Caimito”.

You’ll need:

• Caimito
• Condensed Milk

Procedure:

1. Cut the caimito in halves. Scrape it with spoon and remove the seed.
2. Place the scraped fruit pieces in a mixing bowl. Add condensed milk according to your desired sweetness. 
3. Chill inside the refrigerator for 30 minutes or more of your desired coldness.

Now, you have your homemade dessert ready to be served. Enjoy eating 🙂

Photo by: Sukito San

food moments: DUHAT

Duhat is a local Philippine fruit which is oval in shape and has a dark purple and almost black in color. It is also referred as Java Plum.

Whenever I am having a taste of this sweet-like fruit, I used to remember how we climbed up to the Duhat tree in the backyard with it spreading branches just to pick and collect more of its one-seeded fruit in a basket when my friends and I were young back in the days. After that, we’re going to put the collected duhat inside a closed container, sprinkle it with rock salt… then slightly shaking it for a while. Grabbing some and enjoying the taste of it with my folks. Others just dip it in rock salt if they don’t want to do the “shaking thing”.

Food isn’t really all about satisfying your tummy but leaving you a lasting memory to laugh about with your friends.

Photo by: Sukito San

2014 in review: SUKITOSPOON

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 15,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.