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.

Mayon Volcano Viewed from Ligñon Hill

Mayon volcano viewed from Ligñon Hill. Zip line is visible.

Ligñon Hill Promenade.

Ligñon Hill Nature Hill in Legaspi, Albay, Bicol is one of the prominent landmarks, apart from Mayon Volcano, that greet folks who fly into the city. At over 500 feet high, it's prominent enough to be seen from a landing airplane because the runway lies at the foot of the hill. As a tourist attraction, it's strangely not that well known, even to some Bicolanos. Mayon volcano and the Cagsawa ruins take center stage.

Nevertheless, in spite of the better known attractions in Legaspi, Ligñon Hill is really a good place to start your tour of Legaspi. It has an old World War 2 Japanese underground bunker, zip lines, and spectacular views of the countryside from the top which includes beautiful Mayon Volcano, Legaspi City, and Daraga. A restaurant and walkways at the top provide visitors a pleasant environment to soak in the sights. A pair of coin slot outdoor telescopes provide good entertainment to kids and adults alike.



For the more adventurous, tourists can go rappelling or rent a bike or an ATV to explore the lower landscapes of Mayon volcano. For those who are less into taking such sports, they can simply take pictures of the panoramic views. Mornings and nights give especially great sights!

Want your own Mayon volcano in your home? Click here or on the image to order the Star Wars Mustafar Volcano Lab Kit.

Pancit Bato of Camarines Sur

Pancit bato packaged in plastic.

Cooked pancit bato.

Pancit bato translates to "rock noodles," but the name has nothing to do with stones. Pancit bato is actually a type of noodles from the town of Bato in Camarines Sur, where the famous Lake Bato may be found. It is made of flour and heat-dried. It's been said that this is traditionally done under the sun over stones, but the commercial way of doing it is to use oven or furnace heat.

The dry noodles are shaped into blocks and packaged in plastic. It used to be that only the original pancit bato was available in stores, there are now several varieties or flavors offered for sale like Malunggay, Kalabasa (Squash), and Carrot. These make for tasty choices to satisfy different palates who want to taste something different from the usual pancit bihon and canton fare.

Cooking pancit bato is easy as it is also the same way pancit canton is prepared. It also uses the same ingredients and cooked pretty much with the same steps. The noodles are immersed in hot water until soft. They are then drained of water. After that, the vegetables (chopped carrot, cabbage, etc.), chicken liver, and seasonings are added. When cooked, pancit bato is best served and eaten while hot.

Pancit bato factory and store along the highway of Bato town.

Pancit bato can be bought in store-factories along the highway in the town of Bato. Just pull over when you see a store. They're near the turn to Iriga.

How to cook Davao "udong" noodles with meatballs

Mutant Featherless Chicken in the Philippines

Unique, mutant featherless chicken found in Iriga, Bicol.

Featherless chicken shown off.

Have you ever seen a featherless chicken? Of course we always see them when the chicken is ready to be sold as food, but how about a real live chicken that's practically without feathers? Yes, a bald chicken. KFC new chicken, anyone? Well, there's one found in the province of Iriga in the Bicol region in the Philippines. Except for a few small tufts of down on it's wings, this chicken is categorically naked. It's one of a kind and is the "ugly duckling" of a brood. The other chickens don't seem to like it as they pick on it whenever it gets near them, but then again, most of them are roosters.

How to Cook Chicken Adobo in a Pan (Adobong Kawali Philippine Dish)

Anyway, this featherless chicken just goes about its daily business pecking at the ground in and around a compound. Anybody who sees it would think, "Hey, look. A defeathered chicken's escaped from the pot!" They wouldn't think that the chicken was born that way and that it was not tortured or maltreated in any way. It's come to be a popular mascot in the local neighborhood. The owners didn't have a name for it, so let's let's just name it Mystique, a name inspired by the naked blue lady from The X-Men movies.

The bald chicken of Iriga in Bicol, The Philippines

     Recipe for Filipino Style Chicken and Potato Salad

Can you imagine the possibilities of having featherless chickens around? That would lessen the cost of poultry products as there will no longer be a need to defeather or pluck chickens during processing. They'd be next to ready for the cooking pot. It could be the new chicken at KFC and other chicken restaurants or they can be exotic pets! Scientists have already produced genetically-modified chickens without feathers, but this one is different because it's naturally featherless. Watch this mutant featherless chicken on video.

Best Chicken Breeds: 12 Types of Hens that Lay Lots of Eggs, Make Good Pets, and Fit in Small Yards (36-page Booklet)

If you ever need a rubber chicken quickly, then this Emergency Inflatable Rubber Chicken is the answer. Click here to order your own emergency inflatable rubber chicken.

How to Cook Tinuktok; Easy Shrimp Recipe from Bicol, Philippines

Tinuktok (Tinuktuk) as prepared in Iriga, a Bicol province.

This dish is called Tinuktuk in Bicol.

In the Bicol Region in the Philippines, one can expect food to have leaves of the gabi (taro) plant, be spiced with chili, and infused with coconut milk. Tinuktok or tinuktuk, a native food of the region, uses these basic ingredients, which makes it characteristically Bicolano.

Tinuktok is what is known as pinangat in the Tagalog part of Luzon island. Tinuktok may use specific seafood ingredients like shrimp, fish, crab, or even non-seafood meat like beef, pork, and chicken. Shrimp recipes for tinuktok are very popular. Any of these may be used, but they must first be mixed with minced young coconut meat before being wrapped in gabi leaves and cooked in boiling water with coconut milk, called gata in Tagalog. The ideal recipe shrimp tinuktok is usually served spicy, but some people may prefer the non-spicy version.

Watch and listen to how tinuktok is cooked in the Philippines

Ingredients

• Your choice of shrimp, fish, crab, or a favorite meat (raw; minced)
• Coconut Milk
• Gabi (taro) leaves big enough to use as wrapper
• Minced young coconut meat
• Salt
• Pepper corns
• Fish sauce
• Red chilli
• Grass strings for tying

Procedure
Harvest your taro leaves. Ideally, they should be fresh, but if you do not have access to a taro plant, you can buy dried leaves from a Filipino store, which should have them dried. Clean the leaves before you use them. Prepare the easy shrimp recipe to be wrapped inside the taro leaves. Place three spoonfuls in the middle of a leaf. Add fish sauce or salt and pepper to taste. Wrap the taro leaf around the meat patty tightly. Use grass string to tie the preparation before cooking. To help identify the spicy wraps from the non-spicy wraps, tinuktok cooks usually tie the leaves of the spicy ones using two knots. Each shrimp recipe tinuktok should look like a little pillow.

Recipe Cream Dory Fish Sinigang with Lemon (Bicol Iriga Style)

Make as many  of these little pillows as you like. When you have enough, prepare water that's been mixed with coconut milk. The thicker it is (with more coconut milk), the more coconut flavor will be absorbed by the tinuktok. Pour this mixture into a deep pan placed over a low flame or heat source. Put your tinuktok in the water. Make sure they are submerged, but it should only be shallow. Wait until it comes to a boil. Reduce the liquid a bit until the tinuktok dish is done. You can add some color to the tinuktok by adding some chili when you plate. To really enjoy this wonderful recipe shrimp tinuktok (or any of it's seafood, beef, pork, or chicken variants), you must eat it with hot white rice.

Memories of Philippine Kitchens

Red Dragonfruit from Taytay Farm in The Philippines

Red Dragonfruit from a farm in Taytay, Rizal, The Philippines.

The red dragonfruit has found its way to the Philippines. The dragonfruit, a strange succulent fruit sought after for its juicy melon-like pulp, has slowly crept into the Philippine marketplaces and is now getting to be a more familiar sight in fruit stands. The relatively low demand has caused it to be pricey, but it has a loyal base of fans. When chilled and cut into cubes, it serves as a delicious and crunch (because of the black seeds) though not-so-sweet snack.

The type of dragonfruit that were initially sold in the Philippines were of the white-fleshed variety, the pulp inside is white. The white version isn’t sweet but it’s perfect for salads and as a cooling snack. If you know how to make ice cream, it’s a perfect exotic ingredient. It’s hard to tell if a dragonfruit has white or red pulp, unless you’re familiar with all the different varieties, but the pinkish variety has both a white and red version.

The red dragonfruit has a bright-red pulp that’s also filled with black seeds, just like the white. But unlike the white variety, the red one is slightly sweeter and of course full of antioxidants. Chilled, you can eat directly from the skin. With just a slit of a knife you can peel it like a banana and you’re left with the inside flesh. The red dragonfruit is a strange-looking fruit, but it’s a fun fruit to eat. It’s also healthful. 

The red dragonfruit pictured here came from a farm in Taytay, Rizal.

A round chili plant and a lesson from the aphids

The First Maid Cafe in the Philippines

This is Meidolls, the first maid cafe in the Philippines where the waitresses are dressed in cute maid costumes worthy of an anime cosplaying party. Meidolls is at the second floor of the building just across the Rublou shopping plaza near the Brookside jeepney stop in Cainta, Rizal (UPDATE: In 2012, the restaurant had moved). You can see the interior of the restaurant from the outside of the building through a long glass wall fronting the road. The management of the cafe had relocated to this front unit from a smaller one on the same floor that's hidden from view.

The interior of the Meidolls maid cafe is quaint with a television in the corner where a maid or two usually sings or dances. The large counter in one corner is where all the food is prepared and served from for ease of service. The restaurant has just enough room for maybe two or three groups of people and a few pairs along the side. The tables and chairs have short, or no legs at all, to simulate an authentic Japanese dining experience. Once you open the door, the "maids" inside greet you in traditional Japanese fashion and attend to you almost immediately; at least, as long as they're not busy attending to other guests.

The maid servers call all diners "master" and they are summoned with the ring of a counter bell on each dining table. Just tap the bell and they come to fulfill your dining needs. They can even perform a little song for you (see images), if the timing is right. It's all about fun dining and you can even play an eating game - with a corresponding order of course! Meals are easy to eat and fun to look at. The colorful menu says it all. If you want to, you can even have your meals prepared to go. But then if you do that, you miss all the fun.

UPDATE: In 2012, the Meidolls maid cafe restaurant closed down.

Boracay, Wet and Wild in October

This is a Queens Blade Airi Black Maid Costume Statue just for you maid-loving anime figurine collectors. It's impeccably detailed and you know at a glance that she's a maid. The question is if she's out to serve or out to serve your head on a plate! Click here or on the image to order this fine anime maid statue with a huge scythe for your collection!