The Pilgrim’s Pots and Pans

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.

Last night I was out with one of the families who adopted me (I can’t keep track of how many anymore, hehehe) for a birthday dinner. The food was fine but the company better.

One thing everybody took note of, however, was the birthday cake. It was dense, moist, smooth and not too sweet with a cream cheese frosting. It also has a very firm crumb. Initially, I wondered if it was the usual red devil’s food cake but it was too dense for that. After a little research, it turns out to be a red velvet cake. It has a different name in the restaurant’s menu.

Well, for the “review of related literature” here are three of the recipes I found online:

1. Red Velvet Cake recipe from JoyofBaking.com – Ms. Stephanie Jaworski says a red velvet is a devil’s food cake with red colouring so I was partly right
2. Red Velvet Cake recipe from recipetips.com
3. Red Velvet Cupcakes from chezpei.com

This is all theorising but I think I’d like to try the recipe with the red beets in it, something like a carrot cake. Apologies for the picture above. I wanted to check the crust of the cake and had to set aside the frosting before I realised I had to take photos. :cake:

It’s been way too long! But after more than a year, I’ll resume blogging. Give me a week or two to get comfortable once more. As it is, I’m still a bit disoriented and haven’t cooked anything. It’s almost dinnertime and all I’m having is a tin of pineapple tidbits.

What have I been up to? Well, the picture above is a bit telling. That’s my usual lunch when I go to Everybody’s Cafe in the City of San Fernando (P). I’ve been going there regularly the past year. :hungry:

More stories soon!

Now the world knows the miracle in Pampanga. Across the world, they were watching the proclamation of our Gov. Fr. Ed live. That is why the SMS I received the morning after the event was a bit disorienting. They were giving out food and groceries in San Vicente, it said.

Vote-buying after the elections? What in the world is happening?

No, it was not. Storekeepers in Sta. Rita town’s commercial area were giving out free food and drinks to their customers in thanksgiving for Friday evening’s momentous event. I didn’t know what to think. What was happening? When did it ever happen in the history of Sta. Rita?

I had to see for myself. And truly, there they were. It was unplanned, uncoordinated but as of press time, I have seen for myself that at least four establishments couldn’t wait for the town fiesta (22 May) to feed their customers and friends to celebrate Among Ed’s victory – their victory!
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What an event it was the other Saturday, 14 April! I expected a busload of curious culinary enthusiasts, eager to learn more about Pampanga’s cuisine. True enough, there was a family from Bicol who thought of doing the tour to learn about the food which seems to have reached mythical proportions in the realm of Philippine cuisine. What I was not prepared for was a handful of Capampangans hoping to better understand their roots.

Cultural appreciation through food! Isn’t that what I’m really advocating? Fantastic.

After a day eating and discussing the principles and little-known facts about Capampangan cuisine, what do our guests have to say about their tour?

Read all about it on Karlo’s blog.

There you have it! Indeed, a proper presentation of our cuisine, in its right context and a showcase of its evolution is much appreciated. Even with the heat of summer, the tour was such a success that not even a day passed when the organisers were already getting requests for succeeding trips. They just had to schedule another one.

The next trip will be on 5 May 2007. The details are also on the Sleepy Traveler’s announcement.

Some of you may have seen the tour featured on QTV 11’s Sapulso last Monday, 23 April 2007 at 10:00 p.m.