Look at breakfast, how festive it is
For sure you’re going to like this
Meat and peas - no pressure
Of course, a few eggs for good measure
Alas we have a meal we can’t miss!

For this month’s edition of that non-event event - the End of Month Egg on Toast Extravaganza (EoMEoTE) - which Jeanne at Cook Sister is so graciously hosting, I tried to let the rhyming flow - to the detriment of the genre, as you can see.

The dish is very simple, it can be whipped up in the most rudimentary of kitchens. The ingredients are also available all year round in almost any marketplace. It makes me wonder why in our household, we only have it once a year, on our town fiesta. Other families in town seem also to associate it with special breakfast occasions.
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A few moons ago, Lynn and I had a short exchange on the comments box of her Five Minute Pao post in her blog To Short Term Memories. It was actually the related posts Chive Pao and Chive Boxes that made me mention my search for the herb.

I had long wanted to cook Sabo Balatung (mung bean, munggo or monggo soup) the way I remember it from childhood. This is a dish which is practically the same in the whole country, with regional or provincial nuances. In Manila and most Tagalog provinces I’ve been to, it is known as ginisang munggo (sautéed monggo), a very thick bean stew. To most Kapampangans, it’s a thick creamy soup.

Another difference I notice is how we mainly use kusé or garlic chives (Allium tuberosum - regular chives are Allium schoenoprasum) for the greens while in Manila they use kamaluñgge (Tag. malunggay - Moringa oleifera) or tender leaves of bitter gourd - we do too but not as often as chives. We also don’t use tomatoes. The soup is traditionally served with broiled tuyo or dried salted fish. To polish it off nicely, we also season the soup with a splash of vinegar and a dash of black pepper.

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Oh the merry month of May! It seems to be a succession of parties, both in real life and online. Just at the heels of the last Is My Blog Burning? is a potluck party! I only found out a few days ago that Stel has opened Baby Rambutan house for a Blogging Girls’ Night Out as inspired by her mom’s “hen parties” and in the spirit of IMBB.

Although the event is open to all able and willing ladies (updated to include “people who like girls or wanna be girls or girls-at-heart”, in the words of our host), it looks like a Filipina food bloggers and friends mafia. For such notorious foodies (in situ or in diaspora), who greet visitors with “Have you eaten?” instead of “How do you do?” and whose snacks can be considered as meals, it’s about time! The Italians have gone local almost a year ago and the Francophones, of course, even have a dedicated website, Blog Appétit for their cook-offs. But no, this one’s not nationality or linguistically-based. Perhaps it’s similar to the End of Month Egg on Toast Extravaganza (EoMEoTE) “non-event event” dreamt up by Jeanne at Cook Sister! and Anthony at Spiceblog last year. It seems like Alberto’s a very young grandfather, with his brainchild having so many children in just a year’s time (sorry, just indulge my corny joke).
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