Hot Chili Ice Cream in the Philippines

Chili ice cream served at the 1st Colonial Grill

1st Colonial ice cream selections.

With so many ice cream flavors available, would you want to try chili ice cream? Yes, it's one of the strangest ice cream recipes out there and you can find some served at the 1st Colonial Grill in Legazpi City in Albay province in Bicol, Philippines. As a region known for it's chili pepper cuisine, ice cream made from hot chili peppers isn't surprising. Bicolanos are famous for their hot dishes, so if you're looking for ice cream that's really hot, you can find some in Bicol.

Where can you find 1st Colonial Grille? This restaurant famous for its exotic homemade ice cream recipes has several branches in Legazpi City. Just ask around and you'll be directed to one of the branches like the one at the Pacific Mall. Several unique ice cream flavors are available, such as Bailey's (the cream liquor), Kalamansi, Malunggay (Moringa oleifera), Tinutong (burnt rice), Pili (a native nut), Coffee, and Melon, but the most intriguing is the chili, or sili, ice cream, as it's called locally. But there's nothing silly about this homemade ice cream. It's seriously hot on top of its sweetness and creaminess. A spoonful of it will initially naturally feel cold in your mouth, but after several more, you will definitely taste the burning hot chili.

The 1st Colonial chili ice cream flavor is not for everyone, but if you're curious, you will need to have a few ice-cold glasses of water ready. You may give a cold shoulder to this chili ice cream, but this is the hottest homemade ice cream around town. If you'll be visiting Legazpi City any time soon to see Mayon Volcano, make sure you also drop by 1st Colonial Grille to get a taste of its amazing flavors of ice cream. It's cozy, laid back, and has friendly management and staff.

You can make your own ice cream recipe using chili. Just add blended chili into the mix! Learn the basics of making homemade ice cream here.

1st Colonial Grill manager gets friendly with customers.

Spooky Chapel on Haloween Night

Every year, on the first day of November, known as undas locally, people in the Philippines flock to cemeteries to visit their dead. At this time of year, all roads lead to memorial parks and public cemeteries. Where there's a cemetery, there's traffic and people - lots of them. Thus, all other places are left almost empty. The roadside Catholic chapel pictured here is one of them.

Locked securely behind an iron gate, it sits mute, silent but still inviting in its call to the spiritual and religious in Catholics. The lights left switched on at night gives the small interior an eerie auria, making the statues of the saints shadowy and gloomy. Nevertheless, the open bars of the gate still permit devout Catholics to pray. They just have to stay outside by the road. This chapel is in Hagonoy, Bulacan.

Read about Ghosts in the Philippines and other supernatural stuff - Supernatural Philippines

Thatched Roof House in the Philippines

Nipa hut by Alexcooper1. WIkipedia

Thatched roofs used to be the traditional roof construction norm in the Philippines. There are now few homes left that use natural dried leaves or grass to shed rain. Typically, roof thatching is used on nipa huts, the traditional-style house of Filipinos of old.

Through the centuries, the thatched roof never lost its popularity, though it became rare to see them used in houses, even the old ones from the early 20th century which are made of wood and stone. These days, old houses are stll found standing in heritage places like Vigan, Batangas, and Bulacan, but the roofs of most of them now use modern sheet iron.

Fortunately, there are still houses in the Philippines which use roof thatching. The house pictured here is found in Bulacan province. Notice that it also uses the traditional capiz shell sliding windows. Though the roof of the small garage is corrugated iron, the house is still a quaint picture  reminiscent of how all houses used to look in the country.