One of the most noteworthy meals we had during our Philippine vacation was at Fish Out of Water at the posh Greenbelt 5 and for very good reasons:  good food and one of the best company.  Our cousins (hubby’s actually…my cousins-in-law!) treated us to a yummy feast of Filipino dishes that were familiar and new at the same time.

For starters, we had Chicharon Bulaklak…

Ooh la la!  We haven’t had these in the length of time we’ve been away.  That’s close to four years!  I found Wikipedia’s definition of chicharon bulaklak very amusing:

“It is made from (deep fried) mesenteries of pig intestines and has a bulaklak or flower appearance.”

Click here for the definition of mesenteries. I could have eaten an entire plate of these.  But that’s a heart attack waiting to happen so I didn’t.

So we wouldn’t feel too guilty about the chicharon, we had Cebuano Danggit Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing…

That’s my danggit fix right there!  Danggit is salted dried fish that is fried to a crisp.  It is actually perfect with garlic fried rice, eggs and tomatoes or vinegar. Yum!

We sure love oysters so we had some Manila Rockefeller Oysters…

These were baked with saluyot (jute), cream and bacon bits.  I normally just prefer plain steamed oysters but how can you say no to cream and bacon? You  just can’t!

Believe it or not, we ate several whole crabs.  They were not the king or Alaskan kind though…

Crispy Shrimps and Crablets.  There sure was a crunch in every bite. Hee hee.

We were all game that night, so we decided to order something game-y, Cagayanon Ostrich Salpicao…

I believe it was the first time I had ostrich meat.  It wasn’t bad at all!  Salpicao is the perfect way have ostrich meat.  It was garlicky and buttery.  Then again, everything tastes good with butter! *wink*

Unfortunately, the restaurant only had enough ostrich meat for one serving.  So we settled  for the next logical choice of protein…beef (Beef Salpicao)!

At first glance, the beef salpicao didn’t look too different from the ostrich salpicao.  They do differ in color, and of course, in taste.

How many deep fried dishes have we had so far?  Why don’t we throw one more in the mix, Deep Fried Fish with Chili Mango Sauce…

It tasted as good as it looked.  If only we could have this as often as we liked and I mean with somebody other than me doing the cooking.

Last but not the least, we had a very tender Twice Cooked Pork Belly…

It was saucy, moist and served with quail eggs.

To wash down all that glorious food, I had Dalandan Juice.

Hubby, on the other hand, had something “light” from the  patron saint of Filipino men – San Miguel…

I’m glad we got to add Fish Out of Water to our Pilipinas Food Trip List.  The place was pretty upscale, being in an upscale location and all.  I thought it was classy until the servers started singing Happy Birthday to the beat of what I believe to be kitchen utensils.  It was a Singing Cooks and Waiters- slash- Ihaw-Ihaw, Kaldero-Kaldero moment. Hee hee.

For dessert, we had gelato at another establishment. :)

Thank you again, cousins, for a wonderful night.  We hope to show y’all a good time when you come visit us.  Your cowboy hats and cowboy/ equestrian boots are ready and waiting.  Yeehaaa! ;)

Craving for fish and chips?

Wish granted!

Care for some sausage?

Tada!

How about a side of sauerkraut?

Cool off with a cup of ice cream.

Grab some pretzels to munch on while watching a jousting match!

The pretzels were certified bestsellers!

Who would have thought Kettle Popcorn go as far back as the 16th century?  Tee hee. :D

We had a wonderful time immersing ourselves in the Renaissance period, a time when auto insurance quotes were unheard of. *wink*

The above photos are the “tastes” from the festival.  Here are but a few of the “sights”, my other WW entry.

It was my daughter’s first trip to California, so we did the rounds of the theme parks - Universal Studios, Disneyland and California Adventure.  We also managed to squeeze in a drive up to Mammoth and Yosemite.  We did a lot of eating, and I mean A LOT.  Hubby and I were also able to meet with long-time friends.  We would have met more had it been possible.

Next time, we will definitely stay longer.  That way, we can include Las Vegas in our itineray.  Everybody knows that one will never run out of things to do in Las Vegas.  A visit to  Madame Tussauds will most definitely be on our list.  I would have also liked a visit to San Francisco.  But we’ll just have to save it for our next visit.

In just a few more days, summer break will be over.  So if you want to squeeze in another holiday with family or friends, check out Trusted Tours and Attractions’ online travel guides. Sign up for the newsletter, too, and have a shot at winning a $150 iTunes.] giftcard.

Summer.  I wouldn’t wish for it to end if it just weren’t too hot. :D

I’m glad I found these pics from my archives.  These were taken in Malaysia in May 2005.  We just came from Genting Highlands and on the way back to Kuala Lumpur, we requested the driver of the van we rented to make a quick stop at this stall. :D

my sis-in-law, Claire and my Mom

I could’t join my sister-in-law, Claire, and my Mom in the durian feasting because Abby was sleeping in the van. But I made up for it when we got back to the hotel…

my date with a very “unsusual” comfort food ;)

Hotel guests are not allowed to bring durian into the hotel.  But the man we bought it from wrapped it really well that it didn’t smell at all.  Late that night, I snuck out to the balcony and feasted on the durian all by myself.  Yummy! :)

If I were asked what my most favorite Thai food is, it would be Khao krok kapi, better known as Bagoong Rice (Shrimp Past Rice) in the Philippines.  I like adding a dash of ground chili.

I wasn’t blogging yet this time that’s why there are no decent food pics.  Hee hee.  Hubby and I had this meal at the food court of the Siam Discovery Center.  In addition to the Shrimp Paste Rice, we also had Tom Yung soup, which was super super spicy and Chicken wrapped in pandan leaves (my 2nd favorite Thai dish!).

I love Thai food.  It’s just too bad we have yet to find a passable Thai restaurant here in the US.  Oh, you know what else I love about Thailand other than their, food…massage therapy.  Hubby and I had the best massage experience in Thailand.  Gosh, I really need one right now! *sigh*

Who is Emilia and what is “Kuechen”?  Emilia is my Mom, but she doesn’t want to be called that.  Hee hee.  She prefers Emy or Emily.    Kuechen is the German word for kitchen.  We had to take a photo in front of this store called, Emilia’s Kuechen, when we were windowshopping at a place called Taulusanlage in Germany.  This store sells assorted sandwiches.  The sandwiches are huge and the fillings all look so yummy.  We didn’t have any though.  Just took a picture.  Hee hee! :P

Abby was only 18 months old when we made that trip and meal times turned out to be such a challenge.  She didn’t eat much most of the time and the only meal she would ever eat with gusto were the chicken nuggets from Mc Donald’s.  Go figure!  In that trip, we were able to visit a total of 5 countries and for sourvenirs, we had Happy Meal toys to show for…from each of the 5 countries. Really!

This photo was taken at the Mc Donald’s located at the Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof, the main train station.  Abby’s Happy Meal drink is milk referred to as ”Bio Milch”.

Aside from the chicken nuggets, Abby enjoyed the fruit yogurt that came with the meal as well.  We were at this Mc Donald’s location for lunch  two days in a row.

This was at a Mc Donald’s in the city of Metz in France.  The toy that came with the Happy Meal was a mini radio, which upto now, Abby still loves playing with.  It’s her all-time favorite Happy Meal toy.

We were very thrilled with this radio because it features Billy Crawford who, at one time in his life, was a child actor in the Philippines.  Hee hee.  Small world?

These are our family friends, Uncle D and Aunt H.  I don’t know if they’d mind having their photo out in cyberspace so I had to put sunglasses on them.  :D  Anyway, I had to publish this photo if only for the heart-shaped chicken breast.  It was very apt for the Mc Donald’s tagline that time which was “Lovin’ It” (translated to different languages). 

I simply bought a Happy Meal for take out for this Mc Donald’s in Maastricht, Holland.  We just needed our souvenir toy!  Hahaha!

Finally, Mc Donald’s in Luxembourg.  We actually ate at another burger place called Quick.  But we did still buy a Happy Meal, which Abby ate at Quick.  Hee hee.

As much as possible, we try to sample the local cuisine of the places we visit whenever we travel. That didn’t quite happen on this trip. I don’t really mind though as that would be a perfect excuse to revisit these beautiful cities. ;)