Roast Turkey with Stuffing

Roasting turkey has been a yearly ritual for me back in Chicago during Thanksgiving Day and now every Christmas at home in Manila. It's a meal for the whole family and friends celebrating any special occasion, not just Thanksgiving or Christmas. This is another dish that takes a lot of preparation but simple enough to make!


Stuffing mix:
     1 pound of bread crumbs
     2 large sweet red apples
     1/4 pound of raisins
     1/4 pound of dates
     1/4 pound of wallnuts
     A sprig of chopped rosemary
     1 tablespoon of black pepper
     2 tablespoons of salt
     1 tablespoon of cinnamon
     1/4 pound of chopped mushroom (of your choice)
     1 cup of water


You will need a 20 pound turkey for the stuffing! When you buy the frozen turkey, let it sit for a day and a half in a tub of water to defrost. When it's ready, open the cavity and pull out a package containing the gizzard and liver. At the other cavity by the neck opening, pull out the neck bone. The turkey comes with a string to tie on both ends of the bird...under the wings on one end and at the other end near the fanny so you can lift the bird up when its cooked.


Massage the cavity and the skin with a teaspoon each of salt, black pepper, chopped rosemary, thyme. Mix the stuffing mixture by adding a little water at a time to make sure the mix does not go soggy or pasty...just enough for the mixture to bind. Fill both cavities of the bird with the stuffing mixture and set it down on a deep roasting pan. Fill the pan with a cup of water or 2 cans of chicken stock. Place the neckbone, gizzard and liver at the bottom of the pan. Set strips of bacon over the turkey so that the fat will act as the basting. Place the lid on the pan or if you don't have a lid, seal the pan with aluminum foil. Set your oven to 450 degrees for 15 minutes after which you set it back to 300 degrees and bake. Cook the turkey for 5 hours (the rule is 15 minutes for every pound of meat) or until the thermometer springs up the turkey breast. For the last 15 minutes of the last hour of cooking, open the lid to brown the skin!


Lift the bird up using the string and let it rest on the serving platter. For the gravy you will need a pound of unsalted butter heated up to melt in a sauce pan. When melted, add about 4 to 5 spoonful of flour mixing it with the butter to form a paste. Take the liver out of the roasting pan and the crunchy bacon from the turkey and chop them very fine. And put them back in the roasting pan. Take the neck bone and gizzard out of the pan and using a wooden spoon, scrape the bottom of the pan for a couple of minutes. Put the flour mixture and add a cup of water a little at a time while still mixing it with the spatula until you achieve a gravy like consistency. When you are satisfied with the thickness, taste it and if it needs more salt, put a little at a time.


And finally for the cranberry sauce you will need some fresh cranberries, pitted. If you can't find fresh ones, you can buy it in a sealed packet at the supermarket along with a can of cranberry sauce. Heat up in another sauce pan a quarter of a cup of water, add the cranberries and the cranberry sauce along with 2 tablespoons of sugar and a couple of ounces of water. Bring to a reduction by simmering while stirring until the liquid thickens.


Now for the mashed potatoes, you will need at least a pound of potatoes, peeled and boiled in a pot until soft. Take the liquid out, add a half a teaspoon of salt, half a pound of butter and half a cup of milk, mixing all together until you get the right consistency. Add chopped parsley and serve on a plate with the gravy poured on the mashed potatoes and a couple of slices of turkey. Pour a tablespoon of the cranberry sauce on the turkey and you are all set. Bona Petit!!

Skewered Pork Barbecue

Barbecue Marinade mixture:

     1/2 cup soy sauce

     1/4 cup cider vinegar

     2 tablespoons brown sugar

     1 can of Sprite

     1 tablespoon peanut butter

     2 pinches of black pepper

     2 small chopped  red chili peppers

     3 to 4 drops of sesame oil

     5 cloves of garlic,chopped

This famous street food commonly known as pork satay, sate babi, barbecue inihaw, pinchitos... is found all over Asia in small stalls lined up near the market areas. This is my own version.

Slice a kilo of pork butt into strips and marinade the meat for a couple of hours. Soak the skewers in water so they don't burn when grilling. After a couple of hours, skewer the meat so that the wooden skewers are fully covered, then set aside. Boil the remaining marinade to a reduction until it becomes a bit thick.

Cook the barbecue on a charcoal pit until the meat is done then brush the sauce before serving.

Macao Crispy Pork on Watercress (Litson Kangkong)

This recipe is a bit time consuming but the results are worth the wait. You will need at least 2 to 2-1/2 lbs. of pork belly...choose the part without the bones so it would be easy to slice. Put the belly in a pot and add water up to the meat level. Add about 5 star anise, a teaspoon of five spice powder and salt and 5 drops of sesame oil. Boil for at least 30 to 40 minutes and set aside on a strainer to cool off. Place the belly in the refrigerator overnight.


Next day: Puncture the belly skin with a needle with as many holes as you can. This will release the fat through the holes and create bubbles on the skin to make it crispy. Using a wok or a deep fryer, pour in generous amounts of peanut oil to at least cover the belly and set the temperature to high heat. When the oil starts to bubble, gently place the belly and cook  and continually baste using a ladle it until the skin starts crackling evenly all over. Remove the belly on a strainer to drain the oil.


On another pot, boil a cup or two with water adding a few pinches of salt and sesame oil. Wash a couple of bunches of watercress and cut off the bottom part. Chop the watercress into 3 portions and boil until soft. Drain and arrange the cooked vegetable on a platter. Chop up around 6 cloves of garlic and brown them using the peanut oil you used for the belly and sprinkle on top of the watercress. Using a chef knife or a sharp cleaver, slice the pork belly and lay it on top of the watercress. Before serving, pour about 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce on the sliced belly. Bona Petit!

Shrimp Tamarind Soup (Sinigang)

Sinigang is a staple soup dish with different versions from different places in Asia. For example in Thailand, they call it Lemongrass Soup because they use lemongrass as the base for flavoring. The Philippine version uses a different variety of base flavorings to make it sour. You can use guava, santol, camachile, lemongrass but for this particular dish, I use tamarind. You may also substitute different varieties of meat like pork, beef or fish.


In a pot, pour about a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil and add 2 onions sliced in quarters, a slice of ginger and 5 mild green chili peppers (4 inches in length) and saute for 2 minutes. Then add a pound of large shrimps (14 to 16 per pound size) and once they turn red, put the shrimp aside. Add 2 cups of fish stock and 4 tamarinds (unripe and pound it so the flavor is released) with the shell on. Bring to a boil and reduce temperature to medium high for 10 minutes.


With the heat in medium high, add a bunch of watercress (kangkong) with the stalks chopped off, radish sliced 1/4 inch thick and add the rest of the half cooked shrimp and simmer for 5 minutes. Add some fish sauce to taste and serve!

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

I got this recipe from a catering service where I had to bribe one of the cooks to get me the recipe and here it is: For each breast of chicken you can make 2 rolls. You can utilize the dark meat portion of the hen but it takes longer to debone them. Use a strip of bacon for each roll and spike them with toothpick on both ends so they don't spread apart. No need to salt the chicken as the bacon itself is flavorful enough. Arrange the chicken rolls in a baking pan and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes for 6 to 8 rolls.


For the sauce, dice a green pepper, red pepper, a celery stalk, a medium sized potato, 5 large black mushrooms, a large onion, 3 cloves of garlic and a large carrot. Saute them in 1/3 cup regular olive oil for 5 minutes and add 1/3 cup of tomato sauce and 1/3 cup of white wine. Add the chicken rolls and simmer for another ten minutes. Arrange on a plate and serve.

Gindara (Cod) Teriyaki

Recipe for Teriyaki Sauce:
     1/2 cup soy sauce
     1/4 cup brown sugar
     1/2 tspn powdered ginger
     3 to 4 drops of sesame oil


Bring the mixture to a boil and make a reduction until the sauce thickens.


Marinade the cod with a tablespoon of light soy, rice wine and half a teaspoon of ginger powder and sprinkle a few pinches of black pepper. Heat a skillet or griddle and cook the cod for 2 minutes on each side. Place the fish on a plate and brush a generous amount of teriyaki sauce and serve!

Fillet of Beef with Mashed Potatoes

Steak au Pouvre is a French version using black pepper and cream for its sauce. I made my own version using a light sherry for a sauce. My mashed potatoes are to die for! Here it is:


Slice an inch of fillet of beef and apply generous amounts of course ground pepper on both sides and set aside. In a pan, pour 1/3 cup of regular olive oil and cook around 6 cloves of unpeeled garlic for 5 minutes. Place the garlic aside and saute some chopped carrots and peas with a tablespoon of butter for 2 to 3 minutes.


In a pot, boil a couple of peeled potatoes until soft. Rinse off the water and mash the potatoes along with the peeled cooked garlic. Add a tablespoon of butter and 1/3 cup of milk until you get the right consistency while adding some salt to taste.


Using the same pan, set the vegetables aside and bring the pan to high heat. Cook the fillets 2 to3 minutes on each side and sprinkle a pinch of salt and set aside to rest. Deglaze the pan with 1/3 cup sherry and continue stirring until a thick reduction is obtained.


Place a couple of spoonfuls of the mashed potatoes on a plate and layer the fillet on top. Arrange the vegetables around and pour the sauce reduction on the fillet and serve.

Seafood Paella

One of my favorite dishes to cook taught by my Spanish brother-in-law. There are different versions of paella depending on the Spanish location. This is my own version...here goes!


In a pot boil a pound of crab claws, clams, shrimps, fish for 15 minutes and strain. In a pan, pour a cup of regular olive oil, and a dozen unpeeled garlic (crush them a bit so you can easily peel them later) and cook medium high heat. Add a few pinches of saffron, sliced red pepper, seeded and chopped tomatoes and 2 bay leaves. After a couple of minutes, add a cup of long grain rice and stir for another minute. Then add 2 to 3 cups of the seafood stock and bring to a boil. Set the heat to low and cook for another 20 minutes.


Once the rice is cooked, mix the seafood with the cooked rice and add some peas, chopped parsley and some salt and pepper and fish sauce to taste. Serve hot on a platter arranging the seafood! 

Pork Bar B Q Ribs

To cook an excellent barbecue, you need to create a good barbecue rub mix and sauce. Here's a great recipe I learned from our yearly ribfests back when I was living in Chicago.


Barbecue Rub Mix:
     1 cup brown sugar
     1/2 cup salt
     2 tablespoons paprika
     1 tablespoon celery seeds
     1 tablespoon cumin
     1 tablespoon dried chili powder
     2 tablespoons garlic powder


Barbecue Sauce: (Bring to a boil)
     2 cups ketchup (Hunts)
     2 cups apple cider vinegar
     1 lemon (juice)
     1 cup of the rub mix
     1 cup water (depending on the thickness you can add                 some more)


Boil the ribs in a pot of beer for 30 to 45 minutes and set aside. Massage the ribs with the rub and marinade overnight. 


Cook the ribs on a charcoal pit until brown and during the last minute of cooking, brush the ribs with the barbecue sauce until it forms a glaze. Set aside and brush some more of the sauce. Serve with some boiled corn!

New England Clam Chowder

During my trips to Boston when I used work for a publishing firm, I would sometimes just order clam chowder when I was too busy trying to catch deadlines for the show dailies. Here's a hearty classic soup that is best for that cold rainy day when you're just lazy to fix up a large meal.


Open up a can of baby clams or if you need fresh ones you can buy baby clams at your favorite seafood store and boil them. If you cannot find baby clams you can use big ones, boil them and just chop them up into tiny bits. Place the stock aside and chop up a couple of celery stalks, and a large potato and some parsley. In a pot, heat up a few tablespoons of butter and add a tablespoon of flour and mix thoroughly. Add the chopped ingredients and stir for a minute or two. Add the clam stock and if you have a cup chicken stock, add them too and bring to a boil until the potatoes are done. Add a cup of cream or milk and sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste.


Carve the top and hollow out the inside of a sourdough bread and pour the chowder adding bits of the hollowed out bread. Sprinkle some chopped parsley and serve hot!

Chicken Enchilada

This is one of my favorite foodie and every time one of my friends from America comes to visit, I tell them to bring a bag of jalapeno peppers and cans of chipotle sauce! You can find canned jalapenos in some supermarkets but nothing beats the fresh ones.


You will need a whole chicken, place in a pot and add a teaspoon of salt and water up to the level of the meat. Pour a can of the chipotle sauce and boil for 30 minutes. Lower the temperature to medium and continue to cook until the meat falls off the bones. Using a thong, throw the bones out  while continue to simmer the meat until there is a reduction in the liquid to a point where the sauce thickens.


To make the salsa, chop into quarters around 6 tomatoes, 3 onions, and 6 jalapeno peppers, a handfull of cilantro leaves and roughly blend it along with a teaspoon of salt, sugar, and 2 tablespoons of worsteshire sauce in a blender. 


Using a large tortilla, wrap a handful of the chicken like a big eggroll and put it on a platter. Add 2 slices of cheddar cheese on top and pour the salsa to cover the cheese. Add some (3 to 4 tablespoons) of the chipotle liquid from the pot and microwave or bake the enchilada until the cheese melts. Sprinkle salt and pepper and serve.

Roast Leg of Lamb

Roasting lamb is as easy as roasting chicken. The ingredients are simple and easy! You will need a roasting pan with a lid and if you don't have one, a deep pan and a sheet of aluminum foil will do.


Using a paring knife on a 2-1/2 pound leg of lamb, puncture X (crisscross)  holes about 3/4 of an inch deep and 6 inches apart all around the leg of lamb and fill them with peeled garlic cloves. Sprinkle the lamb with salt, black pepper, oregano and rosemary and using your hands to massage, spread a generous amount of butter all over. Place the lamb in the roasting pan and pour 2 to 3 cups of white wine and put the lid on.


Set your oven to 450 degrees for 15 minutes to heat up your oven. Reset your oven temperature to 350 degrees and cook 15 minutes per pound to a total of 45 minutes. Bring up the temperature back to 450 degrees & cook your lamb for another 10 minutes without the lid cover.


When done, place the leg on a platter and add some slices of fresh mint on the drippings while constantly stirring for 3 to 5 minutes. If you cannot find fresh mint leaves, mint gel or any fruit jam will suffice. In this recipe, I used fresh cranberries. Pour the drippings on the leg and serve! 

Authentic Yakitori from Little Tokyo

At Little Tokyo, located across the Makati Twin Cinema arcade in Pasong Tamo, you'll find a number of the most authentic Japanese restaurants in the country. Why...because most of the shops are owned by Japanese and their patrons are mostly Japanese.


Here's a simple dish recipe I like to share with you...Chicken Yakitory.


Slice fillets of boneless chicken breasts and marinade them in rice wine or any white wine. After an hour, put them in skewers along with some sliced onion stalks, asparagus or onions and green pepper and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook them on a griddle or on a charcoal pit for 3 minutes on each side, brush with teriyaki sauce and put aside.


For the teriyaki sauce just boil a cup of light soy, adding 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and some sliced ginger until it reduces to a slightly thick consistency. Serve with a cup of short grain rice, some slices of tomato and some cole slaw.

Pork Chop with Vegetable Risotto

Marinade the pork chop with a tablespoon of  soy sauce and apple cider and sprinkle some black pepper. In a pan, add about half a cup of regular olive oil (not virgin) and heat the pan to medium.  Break a couple of large garlic cloves and cook along with the pork chop four minutes each side and set the chop and the garlic aside.


Using the pan, saute some chopped green and red peppers, carrots and some frozen peas for about a minute. Add a tablespoon of tomato sauce and about half a cup of risotto, half a cup of white wine . Stir constantly while adding water until you get that soggy consistency until the rice is cooked.


On a plate pour the risotto and arrange the pork chop on top. Peel the cooked garlic and put alongside the risotto and serve!

Clams with Angel Hair Pasta

A very simple dish with easy to find ingredients: clams, butter, parsley, virgin olive oil, white wine and angel hair pasta. In a pan pour a cup of white wine, add the clams and cover while bringing it to a boil until the clams open up (about 5 to 6 minutes). Uncover the pan, put 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons of butter and add salt and pepper to taste.


In a deep pan boil the pasta for about 4 minutes (aldente) and drain the pasta and pour onto the pan with the clams and mix until the pasta absorbs all the sauce. Place the pasta on a bowl and sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with garlic bread.

Chicken Souvlaki at Cyma

Souvlaki is the term used by Greeks for shishkabob. This simple dish is created by marinading chicken white meat breast fillets with paprika, a bit of cumin or masala and a bit of turmeric. Salt and pepper is then added before cutting the fillets into strips and skewering them into bamboo skewers. Make sure the bamboo skewers are dipped in water for half an hour so they don't burn while cooking. Cook the Souvlakis not more than 3 minutes on each side so they stay moist.


For garnish, saute slices of onions, tomatoes, eggplant with olive oil, a few drops of balsamic vinegar, some salt and pepper until they turn soft.


The sauce is mainly a yougurt base or you may mix sour cream, salt, a small hot chili pepper and 2 cloves of garlic. You may add a pinch of sugar if you like to make it sweet. Serve all of the above on a platter with pita bread or couscous and sprinkle chopped parsley. Enjoy!!

Create your own Casa Marcos "Steak ala Pobre"

Pour half a cup of regular (not virgin) olive oil in a skillet and heat in medium high. Separate 5 cloves of garlic and slightly press them to create a slight breakage and fry them along with a few wedges of potatoes. As soon as the potatoes turn brown, pour the remaining oil on a plate and put aside the garlic cloves and fried potatoes.

Slice about an inch of beef tenderloin and marinade a tablespoon of soy sauce for a few minutes and add a pinch of salt and pepper on both sides.Using the same skillet brown the steak 3 minutes on each side and put aside to rest (steak should be medium rare).

After 5 minutes, place the steak on the plate with the olive oil. Peel the cooked garlic skins and place on top of the steak. Place the remaining potato wedges on the platter and serve.

Hemingway In My Mind

My cousin and I were sitting on the porch of my grandmother’s back yard one August morning where Mang Imo, a carpenter/lechonero (pig roaster) from the neighborhood would start his ritual of preparing a live pig and roasting it for my grandmother’s yearly birthday bash. She would raise 2 baby piglets-- one, a year younger than the other and have the older one walk the plank in time for her birthday feast. As I remember, in the process of watching Mang Imo roast the pig, I proceeded to the second floor kitchen where my grandmother, Lola Elena, who was married to a Kapampangan, was doing preparations for her feast. On the kitchen table were the tools of her trade...a round stone grinder where she would pour some toasted rice for her kare-kare recipe and a metal meat grinder with a manual hand-crank attachment for her chicken gallantina and morcon fillings. Behind her work table was a glass cabinet where she stored her glass jars filled with pickled mangoes and santols which she had made months ago as supplements for her feast. On the first floor kitchen, my Aunt Nini would prepare her specialties... fresh lumpias and molo soup. As I remember, every year on her birthday was a sumptuous feast.

It was ten years later, in high school where I read about Hemingway as he described some mouth-watering meals in cafes, bistros and dark taverns while waiting for the bulls to run loose in Pamplona in his merrier days in Spain. I also read of his adventures in Cuba and the Key West where he would venture out to sea with friends on his boat, fishing for marlin. At the end of the day, they would line up the marlin tails on the beachfront posts in front of the yacht club as trophies, and to see who had the biggest catch. It was at that period in time where he had written that classic novel "The Old Man and the Sea". It was the Hemingway experience I dreamed of growing up.

A few years after taking a course in Fine Arts at the University of Santo Tomas, I was equipped with a plaque for having won the 1972 Annual Art Competition, and with some experience as production crackerjack/graphic artist for the family's printing business, I decided to live my dream and head out to distant lands. With tourist passports and some money in my pocket, my wife and I and our 4 year old son, boarded a flight to Hong Kong that would then take us to Bangkok, New Delhi, Bombay, Rome, Spain, England and on to our final destination, New York. Back in the martial law days of the Marcos regime, a family would find it hard to leave the country but with my father-in-law's connection, who was an ambassador, getting the necessary travel papers were easy.

At last, a dream realized when we reached Spain! We landed in Madrid where we decided to spend the night at Hotel Ingles in Old Madrid, where our beloved hero, Dr. Jose Rizal stayed when he wrote the novels El Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere. It was situated near the El Corte Ingles in one of the tight dim-lit streets of the old part of the city. The hotel was right next to a deli-tavern and just after arriving, I set forth to experience my first glass of Rioja wine and some tapas. The next day we met my sister-in-law along with her husband and took us to my first Castillian paella (as explained to me, there are varied versions according to the different provinces in Spain). The next day we travelled up north to a town called Segovia, a good hour drive past a castle patterned by the Disney Land logo. We arrived in Segovia and headed to the main square right next to the Roman aqueduct where there is this rustic place... an old restaurant named Meson de Candido. Upon entering, I see different coats of armor hanging on the walls which was later explained to me as culinary awards given by the royal family to the restaurant, whose chefs were master asadors of Candido before the nineteenth century. There I met the second generation master asador, whose father and fathers before him were chefs to the royal family of Spain. The specialty was cuchinilla, a tender suckling baby pig so tender that servers would slice the roasted piglet with a saucer instead of a knife. I then learned that roasting was the specialty of the Castillian province of Spain where Segovia, including the city of Madrid are situated. As we left Spain headed for Rome, I promised that I would come back to this place to find out and discover the roots of where I used to watch the feast prepared by my grandmother on her birthdays.

Circumstances have changed when we were starting out in Chicago. I was lucky enough to land in a publishing firm but had to lie low until we legalize our immigration papers. For about five years I found myself living and working in one place, surviving on deli food wondering how on earth will I ever get to experience the Hemingway I dreamed of... traveling and dining al fresco, fishing or even writing a book for that matter. Right next door to where I worked was this bistro type restaurant owned by a Vietnamese who used to work as a chef at the Hilton named Tutu. An eccentric guy with a temper but a master in French cooking who later found himself without a hired hand. Being an Asian, I easily bonded with him and as I became comfortable, I expressed my desire to learn his cooking techniques by working as his assistant with minimal pay, but on a temporary basis for four hours a day during dinner time which he agreed. This was the place where I fist learned of my culinary skills. Cooking the meat was a no-brainer... the sauces and a bit of presentation was what made the meal. He taught me every sauce you could imagine... beurre blanc, Marsala, roux, veloute, bechamel, hollandaise, bernaise, tomato base, creole, honey mustard and vinaigrette...etc. He started me in meat preparation and processing, butterflying chicken breasts to filleting fish... to meat choices and marinades for tenderizing meat. This lasted a year after which I felt I learned enough and had the need to resign and start a catering service to supplement my income. A month after I left, he closed shop and went back to work for another hotel.

Then in 1984, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that they were allowing overstaying aliens to apply for temporary residency which I quickly took advantage and got my temporary green card in a matter of a few months. In my ten years of service at the publishing company, I became good friends with publishers and editors of the food magazines we were publishing and became sort of a celebrity because of the catering service that I have done for them and their acquaintances. We would meet up at different friends’ homes and have our Saturday cooking club and on weekdays we would dine out to a featured restaurant and try out their prie-fix meals either in Chicago or out of town for a convention (we would invite clients for us to avail of our company American Express Card and binge on good food and wine). I’ve met some great chefs... Michael Foley of Printer’s Row, Jean Banchard of Le Bouchon, Wolf Gang Puck of Spago, Charlie Trotter’s, Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill, Emilio’s...and many others. This experience had taught me a lot in the food business industry.

My legal stay as a temporary resident status prevented me from traveling out of the country until I got my permanent resident status as required by the justice department. My taste buds were itching to go back to Spain and sample the gastronomic delights which I missed on my first visit to Spain. So I opted for the second best by traveling around the country like Florida and the Key West and other protectorate islands in the Carribean (St. John, St. Croix and Puerto Rico). Old San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico reminded me of Intramuros or Vigan except that it was a lot more touristy. Restaurants and shops filled the ground floor of the old historical buildings that lined up the narrow brick roads of the old section of San Juan. Like Spain and Italy, all roads in the city lead to a square and every square had a church. My ex-wife back then was married to the manager of the Hyatt at the Grand Central Station in New York so I was able to get complementary rooms at every Hyatt Hotels of places I would visit. On my trips to Puerto Rico, I had the opportunity to stay at the Hyatt in Dorado and at Cerramar but even with the complementary stay, I still could not afford the meals in those restaurants. Like the Philippines, Puerto Rico is blessed with roadside eateries adorned with tents and the meals were affordable and just as homely as in Manila. They have adobo, afritada, menudo, callos, arroz Valenciana... and everything came with a side order of fried plantains. I toured the rum factory where I became addicted to pinacoladas. Miami was another place with a latin flair where the downtown area near South Beach is lined up with Cuban restaurants serving Hispanic dishes. What stuck most to my palate was their use of beans and tomatoes. Creole cooking is a mixture of Spanish and African influences that were brought in by the Spaniards and African slaves before the 19th century... thus the Cuban style of cooking.

1987 was my year-- I got my permanent residency status and with some money saved up I was able to go to Europe and experience France, Italy, Portugal and Spain! With a new passport and visas to travel out of the United States, I was ready to see the world. I decided to go back and rediscover the realm of Spanish gastronomy. With some friends and relatives, we headed north to Portugal, rented a 12 seater van and headed south to the coastal towns of the Algarve for an overnight stay and spent a day at the beach then proceeded to cross the bridge at the border reaching Ayamonte, Spain for a rest stop. We surrendered the van in Seville where we stayed for a few days at Casa de Juderias in the old Jewish area of town. It was at this place where I had my first gastronomic experience eating “cocillas” , clams as small as fingernails simmered in white wine and butter; “boquerones”, fillets of raw sardines wrapped around slices of roasted bell pepper; “bacalao”, creole stlye fillets of cod; “gambas ala plancha”, grilled prawns; “chipirones”, small round squids sauteed and placed on a bed of carmelized onions; “pinchos solomillo”, small steak fillets marinated with sherry and grilled; “patatas ala Russo”, garlic potato salad...all these with just slices of bread dipped in their natural sauces laced with garlic.

After a couple of days we headed for the train station to go to Barcelona for another food experience. At the pier are rows of fast-food grill stands with a common area for dining. You could smell the aroma of grilled shrimp, snails, calamares and other tapas and of course the famous Barcelona style paella which are a bit soggy like the Italian risotto. I would later come back to this place and would be mezmerized by the knowledge that Pablo Picasso, Miro and Gaudi were at the very same bars, cafes and bistros where they hung out in their gilded age. One particular place is Quattro Gats where Picasso frequented near the Ramblas, where outdoor cafes lined up on a wide street island and poets, artisans, pimps and politicians would drink pitchers of Sangria, a concoction of wine, brandy and soda water topped with slices of fruits. I would often stay in a hotel named Hotel Gaudi situated just off Las Ramblas across Placa de Guell, a building whose rooftop was designed by Gaudi himself and I would request for a room with a balcony that sits right across that rooftop and spend the rest of the day, appreciating his work. In the late afternoons and evenings I would walk a block down to the Ramblas and position myself in one of the outdoor cafes to chug on pitchers of Sangria and people-watch before ordering dinner. At times I would meet some friendlies and chat with them for hours before heading out to the nearest tapas bar to fill up my hungry stomach. There is this restaurant called Los Caracolles, where, after having a sumptuous paella and a platter of shrimps I headed to the bar for an after dinner sherry. There sat this person who introduced himself as Don Bofarull, the owner who asked my ethnicity which I answered Filipino. He said that he visits the country every so often. He married a Filipina, has 3 daughters working at the restaurant, good friend of Emilio whom I have an acquaintance with and Don Alba of Patio Alba (in Manila). After befriending him he later warned me to stay away from his daughters.

Going back to my Spanish trip, we then headed down to Valencia in a small town called Gandia where at the foot of a mountain we had experienced the ultimate paella, cooked over burning wood with chicken and rabbit and topped with langustinos with lobster-like claws. The Valenciana style comprises mostly of meat topped with shrimp and the rice underneath is toasted. You are given a wooden spatula for scraping up the toasted bottom rice which to me was a treat. Another jewel I found in Gandia is this seafood restaurant called Kayuko where they serve bountiful seafood... crabs, langustinos, shrimp, clams, snails, lobsters on a huge platter and black rice called “paella en su tinta” (squid ink) to go with the platter. Gandia is a small scale version of Roxas Boule-vard where you could walk the whole stretch in about an hours time. North was where we were staying, a terrace type condo unit owned by my sister-in-law and her hubby where half of the floor area is the terrace overlooking the beach. The view at the back are mountain ranges that extended all the way to Valencia. Going south on the boulevard are condos and hotel buildings with shops and restaurants lining up the entire stretch of the boulevard. To the right is the beach with 50 yards of sand before reaching water. At the end is the pier where fishermen would bring in their catch of the day to sell to the market. We would walk there and buy fish where I prepare dinner either to cook sardines, bacalao or plain fried hasa hasa cooked in olive oil accompanied by a bed of fresh Spanish salad laiden with asparagus and few bottles of Rioja wine.

On our final day in Gandia, we gased up the van to go back to Madrid but before reaching, my sister-in- law wanted us to experience a Parador-- a castle converted to an inn where we can make a stop-over and have merienda. We reached the province called La Mancha based on the Don Quixote play and upon reaching the area named Cuenca, we climbed up to a hill ovelooking the Parador de Alarcon. Before reaching the castle wall was the town proper and separating it is a moat which reminded me of Ivan Hoe when in my youth, I used to be an avid comic reader. Upon entering the castle you see a square where atop the walls are walkway planks to access around and protect the inner castle. As you enter the main building you get into the restaurant lobby area, where rows of shining armors built from head to toe stood guard. After taking a tour and some merienda of chorizzo omelet sandwich and cafe con leche, the traditional coffee of Spain composed of half African and half Colombian blend and a generous serving of milk, we headed back to Madrid. During my other trips to Spain I experienced the food from the northern part, Galicia and the Basque region—San Sebastian and Bilbao, which were also the highlights of my trips to Spain.

In my other overseas adventures, I read up on Arthur Frommer’s Almanac as I learned that you’ll save a lot of money by carefully preparing and scheduling your trip especially in highly concentrated tourist-trapped areas like Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice, & Milan), England and France. It helps you pick the right hotels and restaurants for your budget so you can extend your length of stay in those places. I also discovered, especially in Italy, that the best places to eat with a budget are at the train stations, a lot better than the $20-30 tourist meals you come across on the main streets.

I came back to the Philippines in 2001 to find respit after so many years in the publishing arena or as we say in the business, “the salt mine”. A few months later, after urging me to buy his boat, I caved in to my friend's urgent request. Soon I found myself drinking beer with friends and fishing on Lake Caliraya for bass and having banana-wrapped lunches called “binalot” in one of my friends' island paradise. We called it paradise although the island was just a clump of mud with a tree next to the nipa hut in the middle of Lake Lumot, a few kilometers past Lake Caliraya. I was finally realizing my dream of imitating Hemingway's lifestyle...and a cheap imitation it was! But still I felt that something was missing-- I have yet to write my experiences and express all my culinary adventures--by sharing it! Its about my food experiences not only from Spain but from the many gastronomic places at home and abroad. I've made experiments in my recipes most of which are infused with some ethnic inluences, a few add-ons here and there to satisfy my own palate and for readers to enjoy.

In summing up, more often my experiences were ephemeral and couldn’t find the real Hemingway that I have dreamt of all those years. I would save up for a whole year just to enjoy a week of pleasure. It was like trying to live in Manhattan on a five-figure salary. Working for a publishing firm and a condo to maintain, I had little chance of realizing that particular dream. But after reading a line from him that goes..."Life is all about contentment", I soon realized that I found my Hemingway in my own simple way!