12 Filipino Foods to Have During the Holy Week

Holy Week is about to start tomorrow (it officially started in the Philippines today) and it has been a practice among Roman Catholics to abstain from meat. Pork, chicken, beef, goat meat and other types of meat are usually out of the picture during this time of the year. Vegetables and seafood are commonly consumed unless you are fasting.

Instead of putting your attention in thinking about the simple meals that you need to prepare this week, try to focus more on the spiritual aspect of life. We already collated 12 meals that you can prepare for your family during this season; all you need to do is choose and prepare them.

Red Tide Causes Shellfish Ban in Eastern Samar

I just read an article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s website about the imposition of Shellfish ban in Eastern Samar.

Apparently, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) prohibit gathering, eating, and selling shellfish from Matarinao Bay. It appears that toxic red tide organisms have been discovered in water samples collected the bay. According to the news, the bay covers the following areas: Salcedo, Quinapondan, MacArthur and Hernani.

If you are living within or near these places, try to practice due diligence by not consuming or selling shellfish; the article did not say anything about the effects of the red tide in other marine life within the area but it will be safer to abstain from seafood until the ban is lifted.

BFAR also made clear that other than Matarinao Bay, all other water bodies in the region are free from red tide organisms.

Tuyo: Smelly but Lovely

It has been more than a week since I last posted an article for our What’s Cooking section so I decided to write something about what I had for breakfast this morning. After taking a shower and brushing my teeth twice, I’m now inspired to write something about one of my favorite breakfast foods: Tuyo.

Tuyo refers to salted dried fish (usually herring); this is also known as stockfish in some countries. In the Philippines, tuyo is considered as a poor mans food because of its cheap price – however, this connotation has been expunged over the years since people of different social status learned to love and enjoy it. This can be justified by the different recipes involving tuyo; these ranges from fried tuyo to gourmet pasta with tuyo.

Fried Bangus

Before anything else, let me first acquaint you with a section of this blog called “What’s cookin?” This section (or category) is intended to showcase simple yet delicious food that we usually prepare on ordinary or busy days.

Unlike the recipe section, this does not show details on how certain foods are prepared. The ones featured here are done using basic cooking procedures that almost everyone is familiar with. In addition, this section is also intended to promote our appreciation on simple everyday meals that most of us had while growing-up (or still having until now) and remind everyone that some good food does not need to be costly and complicated.

I was craving for pritong bangus (milkfish) since last week: it is not until today that I was able to visit the local Pinoy store to get a pack of bangus marinated in vinegar and crushed garlic. I even saw some salted eggs and was able to grab a dozen.

First Friday of Lent : Piniritong Galunggong

Today is the first Friday of lent for the year 2009. During friday’s and the whole holy week, Roman Catholics practice the virtue of fasting and abstinence. We fast by eating just one full meal a day while the rest of the meals should be lesser than the usual. It is also a day where [...]