Food blogging synchronicity happens so often that we just take it for granted. When it happens in real life, it’s almost surreal.

Auntie L. brought slices of ube-macapuno cake the other day. Ube is purple yam and macapuno is coconut sport or freak coconut. It is a variety of coconut (Cocos nucifera) without a cavity and found only in the Philippines. It is filled with soft, chewy flesh that is favoured by sweets makers. I love buco (young coconut flesh) and macapuno is a special treat.

I was contented with the cake which had real macapuno until Auntie T. arrived with a gallon of ube-macapuno ice cream! Under ordinary circumstances, I wouldn’t buy the same flavour of cake and ice cream togehter but this amusing coincidence had me taking bites of one after the other. Hmmm… it’s not something I do or want to do everyday but at that moment, the pair came out very novel. Purple sweetness!

Early yesterday evening I was out on the street literally searching for food. This is new. I eat my share of street food but it’s usually from ambulant vendors of taho (sweet soy bean curd) and sorbetes (traditional home-made ice cream). I have also bought food from parked carts but fish balls and buco juice (young coconut) are about it.

From the classification of hawkers, grilled food sellers are a fascination for me. I have not had much experience with them and aside from the identifiable hotdogs and pork barbeque, I can hardly identify the names of what they’re selling. Oh but did I learn a lot last night! I should have brought my notebook and pen to jot down all those details. But not to despair, they invited me back to watch and take pictures tomorrow.

Why am I doing this? Kai told me to.

This is for Lasang Pinoy which is on its third month now! It’s almost unbelievable how time flies. Was it not only yesterday when we were brainstorming how to launch a Filipino food blogging event in the tradition of Is My Blog Burning?? Now it seems like it has gained momentum such that even non-bloggers are joining in.

We also have such an enthusiastic participation that Lasang Pinoy buttons seem to be popping all over the place. Check them out and take one to use if you wish.

This month’s theme is so interesting that I’ve caught myself wondering about the street food culture in other countries. It would also be nice to hear from our friends from the rest of the world. Do join in the fun!

I would love to say more but I should save the rest of my discoveries for my entry. Hmmm… I might just have more than one.

In the meantime, shall we eat out?

Lasang Pinoy 3

Hmmm… Close but not quite. My attempt at following a recipe to recreate a Filipino biscuit fell flat. I felt proud of my work after following Manny/Apicio’s directions to the letter. My gulgoria/gorgoria tasted very good, even if I say so myself, like dense cream puffs with a caramel coating. Nobody complained but apparently, they’re not the authentic biscuit they were meant to be. This I realised when I spied jars of gorgoria at the Likha ng Central Luzon Trade Fair last week.

Compared to my experimental batch, the store-bought gorgoria are drier, crispy-crumbly, just like what the recipe’s author said. They are more tightly-rolled, looking like univalves or snails rather than my bi-valves or oysters. Apparently, if I want my next batch of gorgoria to be as tight, I’ll have to significantly subtract from the amount of butter and milk then fry them till crisp.
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