One of the things that I have wanted to do since even before I started food blogging is to recreate the old-fashioned bibingka. Today’s rice cake is quite fluffy, almost like bread. I still dream of the bibingka from Da Luming’s stall, beside the San Vicente Chapel (in Sta. Rita, of course). It was thin, used pure galapong (ground rice), didn’t have much eggs and some didn’t even use any baking powder. The cake was chewy and light.

More than a year ago, I interviewed someone from Becuran (my grandmother’s barrio) who knew how the old-style bibingka were made. She confirmed that they indeed didn’t use much eggs, if at all.

Soon, soon… I hope to get right back to the research. I’m digging up all my notes now.

What a versatile meat, that which we call chicken. It is perfect for almost all kinds of cooking – from simple, homey dishes to haute cuisine. It is also one of the universal meats eaten by people from different creeds, except of course, the vegetarians. A less expensive and healthy meat, chicken also makes its appearance on many dining tables more than pork or beef.

A few times this year, chicken figured into my personal “Can you say that again?” list. This list is part of my notes on food but focuses on quotes I find in the press, TV, radio, the internet and other public sources that get me thinking and researching further. On this list appear things I never heard of before that make me curious and usually send me off on culinary adventures now and then. It also contains a few things I hear that I know outright as false but to be sure, I embark on an academic exercise that more often than not, not only serve to confirm my suspicions, but also open new and exciting doors to my research.

So what about this chicken? Why is it in my list? Well, it’s not entirely about chicken but it was the common denominator.

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Leftovers? What’s so appetising about leftovers?

Everything! That is if you’re in the Filipino kitchen.

It’s the perfect time to have all those leftovers for Lasang Pinoy 15: Recycled, Reloaded, which Mike is hosting at Lafang. I am also perhaps one of the best persons to talk about leftovers since they make up some of my best childhood memories.

Many Filipinos, rich and poor alike, hold celebrations for a child’s first and seventh birthdays. I really have not dug up the significance of these years but I suspect they have something to do with the transition from one stage of a child’s life to another which also correspond with their growing consciousness (from “wala pang muwang” or a total innocent to “may isip na” - capable of thought). To a certain extent, both the first and seventh years are rites of passage for both the child, whether male or female, and the parents.

It is for this reason that birthdays on these years are big events, not necessarily extravagant but certainly something planned and awaited. Relatives, neighbours and friends drop in on the party, more often than not also bringing food which means the celebration might stretch for days.

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