Road trip up North :) pt. 2

More of our road trip to Cagayan and Ilocos. Mom and I went to the market to check out what we can bring home. And we saw alot! :)

Ballesteros Public Market.

Kuhol. (snail)

sili (jalapenos)

red bell pepper.

Melon.


Onions.


Puso ng saging.

Road trip up North :)

Me and my family went to Ballesteros, Cagayan to visit our relatives (Lola's side). It's a 16 hour drive and man! my butt hurts! :P But the travel was worth it because of the scenery and ofcourse! The food! :) Authentic local food! Before you reach Cagayan you have to pass by Ilocos first and the famous spring water from the mountains.

Taken from the famous spring water from the mountains.
(And fyi, the water is clean and you can drink it! Cool!)

Burong Isda or Mata as what the locals call it.

They call this one gamet. A dried seaweeds.
You put this in a water and it expands then put a few tomato, onions, ginger
and sprinkle some calamansi juice and you now have an ensaladang gamet.

Me Likey!!!

Happy Birthday To ME!!!

I got an early present for myself! :) I saw this necklace on accessorize.com and I have been wishing that it would be available here in the Philippines. Thank God it is now and I got one for myself! :) Yey!

Banana Fritters with Choco Dip

Dessert time! :) I made banana fritters for my nephews for merienda. I just opened a box of Maya Hotcake mix, followed the instructions (**note that I did not put oil in the hotcake mixture so that it would coat the banana evenly) then in a separate bowl I opened a bag of tempura breading and seasoned it with a pinch of salt and cinnamon.

Dip the banana in the hotcake mixture then coat it with the tempura breading. Make sure that your oil in the pan is hot before you put the banana. Remove when its already golden brown.

For the chocolate dip, I just melted a few tsokolate de cacao in a boiling water or you can use maple syrup instead. Try this one, it's great!

Cream Dory in herb and garlic butter

My sister and I have been experimenting different ways to cook cream dory. And I decided to top it with herb and garlic butter. First, I seasoned the cream dory with salt and pepper, drizzled some calamansi juice. Then set it aside for like 30 minutes or until the fish absorbs the flavor. While waiting for the fish to absorb all the flavors, finely chopped flat parsley, garlic, oregano and basil. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. In a small pan heat olive oil and saute the garlic and herb for 30 seconds. When done, remove the garlic and herb then add a small block of butter then add the fish until both side are cooked. When done, put the herb and garlic mixture on top of the cream dory, drizzled with the remaining oil in the pan and bake for 15 more minutes. Drizzled with more calamansi juice to taste.