LOCAL BIBINGKA OF PANGASINAN

Gutom Intro

About Bibingka

Cost: 2.50 pesos

SAN FABIAN CHURCH, PANGASINAN

Gutom Intro

About Tupig

Cost: 2.50 pesos

Where to Eat This?

Some say this is from Laguna. Who cares? I ate this in Lucban, Quezon! Yey! Espasol is a kakanin type. I don't know what this is made of (I won't use Google for this) but it's like made of a glutinous rice, or maybe flour. But it is sweet wrapped with powder. Please lang! This is is not a baby powder jaz-ya-yo'-kno'!

Based on my experience (parang lovelife lang), espasol was wrapped in paper. I bought this inside the bus. I also ate this inside the bus.

Espasol is not necessarily made from Lucban. Some are made from Laguna and some parts of Quezon like Tayabas City. But espasol abounds here due to the Kamay ni Hesus, a popular pilgrimage site. Of course, vendors take advantage of the huge market of pilgrims.

Well you don't need to go to restaurant just to eat espasol. This is sold by vendors inside buses and in some popular sites like Kamay ni Hesus in Lucban. So, don't ya worry. You can eat this everywhere!

This is popularly called pansit in Abra. However, in Ilocos, they call this miki. So to prevent over-analyzing, let's just call this food pansit miki. Either way, it is acceptable.

Ok. Ok. I am not going to dig history lessons for this pansit miki here. I'll just review it. Uh! It is not my first time to eat miki. I've been eating this since time immemorial, like the dinosaur age, uh! Just kidding. 

Bwahahaha! This poor food blogger is so back, so sexy, so hot and so uhmmm... yummy! I mean, this noodle soup is soooo yummy!

So I was so hungry when I went to Bangued, the capital town of the province of Abra. I asked the locals where is the best place to eat pancit miki in town the cheap way. Someone told me to go to a restaurant called "Mhiki Moto." Uhh, I am not sure with the spelling of that restaurant but all I can remember is that there is a letter "H" after the letter "M." I don't know why Filipinos tend to put "H" everywhere like Jhon, Jhenny, Dhanny, Bhong or Vhong, Jhong, hahaha! Bwahahaha! (Please laugh with me. Come on!). Hahaha.. Hahaha. ▬ Stop!!!

So after that laughing exercise, let's continue... I rode in a tricycle. I wanted to become a little bit sosyal ever that day even though I am a poor food blogger but there was no LRT. Yes! I wanted to ride in LRT but in Bangued, I only found tricycle. Hahaha... Opkors, ambisyoso si Palagutom Boy. Huwag ka!

I immediately went to the counter and I ordered no other than... pansit miki. Opkors golp kors! As far as I can remember, I ordered the special one amounting to ~50 pesos. I can't remember the exact amount. LOL!

For the information of everyone, miki is a famous noodle soup in Ilocano-speaking regions that's why they call this the Ilocano Noodle Soup. It has different versions from different towns, and even every restaurant has it's own version. So it was like there are hundred versions depending on the cook! LOL!

The three photos above is as yummy as me, hahaha! Actually, they help this pansit miki to taste yummier ▬ these are the toppings: onion leaves and chilly paste. However, some of the toppings is already on top upon serving, LOL, like the egg and the pork.

For this miki version I've tasted, I will give it a 9/10 score. Unlike it's Ilocos counterpart, the soup is not colloidal, it's thinner which really highlights the taste of this miki. The taste of the soup (which is usually from the water they used to boil the pork) mixed with secret ingredients is the foundation of the taste. The noodles (usually made from flour) are then added to the soup with all the toppings and seasonings.

Hurray! So this is the miki version of a restaurant called "Mhiki Moto" in Bangued.

Hahaha! I don't know why I am laughing. Maybe because I am in love. Wahahaha... Anyway highway, I'm going to feature this local dish of Dagupan called pigar-pigar as in pigar-pigar. If you are sosyal you can pronounce it as pee-gohr-pee-gohr. If you are a mathematician you can do the pigar- raised-to-the-second-power thing. Awww! As in aww na aww bow-wow-wowww. Hahaha!

Pee-gohr-pee-gohr (remember Palagutom Boy is poor but feeling sosyal), is cheap at 80 pesos per serving. The 80 pesos serving is 1/4 kilogram of beef. 

Wait! I forgot to tell that pee-gohr-pee-gohr is all about beef mixed with onions and cabbages. But it depends on you. If you want to mix it with seedless mango, frozen olive oil and boiling ice, do it! ...and do eattttt!!! Basta, the basic ingredients are the beef, onion and cabbage. Why make things complicated. Uh! I'm sosyal but I will never use Swarovski crystal plate. Hihihi.

The best authentic place to eat pigar-pigar is in Galvan Street! Stores are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 12 months a year, 10 years a decade, 10 decades a century and a whooooooping 10 centuries a millennium! Bonggaaaa!!

What are you waiting for! Pigar-pigar is cheap at 80 pesos. So this is a mission accomplished since I was able to find a food cheaper than 100 pesos. That serving is actually good for 2-3 people with average appetite. But if your appetite is voracious and insatiable, the store owners will be very happy. Haha.

Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, 2NE1. Hallow hallow! Halo-halo! HelloHelloHello!!! I'm back with the sound of K-Pop! If you are a fan of K-Pop lollipop, I know you know what I was singing at the first line. Once again one more time repeat it again twice once more repeatedly! Come on sing! Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, 2NE1! Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, you gonna leave me alone, tama ba? lols! I love Sandara Park by the way highway superhighway far away!

I am so back again! I have a little back pain that's why I am back! Lols! I have no post for October because Palagutom Boy, the poorest food blogger, had no money to buy food last month! lols. I had a 1 month fasting, hihihi. Hihi. Hihi. (I am not laughing you know, I am saying Hi! Like hello! I just put it in cluster so I am saying many Hi, like hellohellohellohello. So let's say: Hihihihihihi. Natatawa ako hihihi. Vanal na Asho, Shantong Kavayo, natatawa ako hihihihi. Hi everyone!!! Take note: Hindi ako naka-hi.

Ok, ok. Look what I found! Because the Palagutom Boy was so damn poor that he did not eat for the whole month of October that's why he has no blog entry for October, he wandered in the forests, lol.

Palagutom Boy reached the mountain town of Nagbukel in the province of Ilocos Sur in search for food. He wandered in the forest until he saw an ermitanyo. The ermitanyo asked Palagutom Boy (P.B.) if he likes his Fita. I said yes sure! The ermitanyo was the one who gave me the fita, whew! The ermitanyo also gave me a drink, and irkkk! Starbucks! lols.

Anyway. Yes! I found a rice cooker. But take note, it was not run by electricity. It is a rice cooker bamboo! hihi. Using fire from 3 large stones with burning materials at the center, these bamboos were filled with uncooked rice. It was set to fire and viola! After 20 minutes, the rice is cooked inside the bamboo!


So after the rice was cooked inside these bamboos, what do you expect? Of course remove the rice from the bamboo and you know what, it was the most aromatic rice I have ever smelled. The water used came from a fresh spring and the bamboo can emit an aroma that blend with the rice.

The species of bamboo used in cooking the rice is locally called as "bolo." Bolo grows near the waterfalls where we are cooking that time. It grows in the forest where I wandered, lols.


So this is my mountain experience. This is what P.B. ate and discovered in the mountains of Nagbukel town. Have you witnessed this kind? Have you tried eating a rice from the Bamboo Rice cooker? Well well, baboosh! Palagutom Boy will be back again some time after matutunan ko nang mangaso ng mga hayop dito sa kabundukan! Whew!

Pili Nuts grow in the tropics of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines but it is only in the Philippines where Pili nuts are processed and produced commercially. Interesting right? I don't know why Indonesia and Malasysia ignored that opportunity.

In the Philippines, production centers are located in the Bicol region in the provinces of Camariner Sur, Albay and Sorsogon because it is only in this region where Pili Nuts are widely cultivated. 

Although the production is centered in Bicol, there are also some processing centers in the Southern Tagalog and Eastern Visayas.

Although as we said, processing is centered in Bicol, ironically, there is no commercial planting of Pili nuts in Bicol. The fruits are just collected from natural stands in the mountains near this region. Amazing right? No such effort. All they have to do is to collect without commercializing the plantation.

The hungry traveler landed in Legazpi City and I found this Pili nuts in a container and it is the most favorite pasalubong for those who just came from Bicol.

The Philippines exported about 3.8 t of pili preparation to Australia and the island of Guam in 1977 and until now, exports are still on the go!

The tasty nuts just kept me going then mixed with sweets that just blend deliciously sweet!

Sisig has always been one of the most inviting foods one must try because it is very mouth-friendly since the meat has been cut into smallest pieces or could it be ground then the juicy thing comes out there, really delicious! However, as I was in Legazpi City in Albay, we were so attracted by the Sisig Bicol Express that is new to us. Of course in every place, we always have our own version. Sisig is the generic name and Sisig Bicol Express is the brand.

In fact, if we talk about Bicol express, it is something with "gata [juice of coconut meat]" and "siling labuyo" [a type of a very spicy chilly]. That is the common identity of Bicol express. Innovations keep coming that the sisig here has turned to be their own version.

Actually, I am not a fan of Bicol express because of the spice which is against my health. But because I was in Bicol, I did not want to miss this food.

We ordered the food in a restaurant in Legazpi City, Albay called the Tummy Yummy located at the Legaspi City Grand Terminal. It was not an easy task for me to enter into a Bicol restaurant because I know most will offer a Bicol express menu. It was a matter of discipline for health, but this time, eating was my priority. Haha.

Although it was a food against my health [because of the spice], the gastronomical experience I had can never be the same again. Eating a food in a place where it is actually the place of origin is just a different thing. It was a feeling of fulfillment doing so. It was like being able to find a gold at the tip of the rainbow.