Food food food

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Rosario says it's time to add some new pictures of food. Everyone is anxious for us to try all of the local specialties. Fortunately, they usually prepare only a small portion of each dish -- and there are plenty of willing tasters -- so we only eat a few bites of each thing - with lots of rice, of course!

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Photos

Eggplant omelette
The eggplant was first roasted over a gas flame. Then dipped in beaten egg and a little extra egg was poured over it in the pan. Although we've been trying to only sample each dish, we all had several servings.

Puto
Francesca helped to make these steamed cakes made with rice flour, which are always served as the accompaniment to . . .

Diniguan
"Chocolate meat" or pork stewed in a sauce of pork blood

"Chop suey"
mixed vegetables -- this version includes quail eggs and bitter melon

Mango
sliced ripe mangos are a frequent addition

BBQ
skewers of marinated pork, grilled on a charcoal fire

Adobo
Stewed dog meat.Someone in the area prepared earlier in the day. Den teased her by asking if she wanted to know the dog's name. The other common joke is that people say you'll start barking.

kare-kare
this version was made with pig tails and feet. it's also made with oxtails.

Relleno
First, the whole fish is beaten with a mallet and all of the meat, bones, guts are removed through the head. then all of that is cooked on the stove and the bones are picked out. then it's mixed with pork and stuffed back into the fish. After sewing up the fish, it's fried.

Tilapia
The favorite fish of our hostess. This was prepared in a flavorful stew. the small dish on the left is some embutido -- a hot dog encased in a ground meat mixture and fried.

Local Oysters
Our host ate these fresh, but they have a bacteria that would make us sick because our digestive systems would need to adapt.

Chico
a delicious fruit with the taste of brown sugar and the consistency of a ripe pear -- everyone has a tree so we are eating a lot to keep up with the ripening fruits. the sap of the tree is used to make chewing gum.

Bitter melon
it's cooked and added to many dishes.

More tilapia
this was braised and then topped with vegetables and a sweet and sour sauce

Mango salad
a simple salad made with mango and tomatoes -- naimas!

Comments

[michelle]

Looks good!
wow, everything looks delicious! I wanna try that egg plant dish, but I am snowbound, so I can only look. The fish looks delish too! How was the dog? Kinda struggling to wrap my around that part, but it looks good.....

[Carol Manahan]

Food
Thanks for sending us more food pictures. I totally forgot about the chico! Anyway, have you tried the halo-halo yet? ....and you have to try the banana cue if you haven't already.

[islandgirls]

halo halo
yes we did but i'm still not that big a fan. i like the different ambrosia salads more -- we had grapefruit and banana today. and we had some banana cue to sustain us while getting tatted up. :)

[islandgirls]

the dog
we didn't watch them doing the actual killing, but it is done as humanely as you can when butchering an animal. they were singeing the fur off while sario and cesca watched. but when it's cooked you can't tell what it is. we had some last night with my great nephews and it tasted just like really tasty beef stew.