This evening, dear blog reader, self has decided to amuse herself with trying to recall as many of her childhood gustatory experiences as she possibly can. Apologies are in order for ensuing post turned out to be very very veeeery long. And, not to mention, full of Filipino/ Spanish words. 
Self loved alimango, especially the roe of female crabs.
Self loved balut. She bought these off the street whenever she could. She’d tap a little hole at the very top of the still-warm egg and suck out the liquid. Then she’d throw the rest of it away for she could never stand to look at the baby chick.
Self’s favorite desserts when she was growing up were canonigo, Brazo de Mercedes, Leche Flan, and Sans Rival.
Her favorite breakfast food was champurrado.
The best chicharon was Lapid’s and you can still get it on the way to Ateneo.
Self loved all the food she associated with media noche: ensaymada, kutsinta, lechon, puto, paella, Queso de bola, Rellenong manok, Sapin-sapin, Suman
Self loved inihaw na baboy.
Self loved ginataan (the one at Goldilock’s is pretty good) — the cook always seemed to make it for Dearest Mum’s bridge and mahjjong parties.
Self loves halo-halo. In the food court in the basement of Landmark in Makati there used to be a place called “Mr. Halo Halo” where you could make your own concoction out of a hundred different ingredients. The biggest halo-halo self has ever had was the one in Max’s in Honolulu. No, that’s not quite right. The biggest halo-halo self has ever had was the one served in the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel in Makati, which comes in a huge bowl whose sides are smeared with ube.
The best calamansi juice was, and is, the one served in the Manila Polo Club.
Self’s favorite restaurant at one time was a place called Kamayan where everyone had to eat with their fingers, in homage to our pre-colonial forebears.
Self loved and still loves kari-kari.
Self’s favorite fruits were atis, lanzones, santol, sineguelas and mango. The only one she remembers eating in the last decade is mango.
One of the things self loved most about spending summers in Bacolod was the chorizo they served for breakfast. Also, the palitaw.
Self misses merienda.
Self loved eating pan de sal dipped in condensada.
Self’s favorite pansit is palabok. Especially when accompanied by Tokwa’t Baboy.
Self loved Taho because she loved buying from the Taho vendor, who always came up the street around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, staggering under the weight of two cans balanced on a long wooden pole across the back of his shoulders.
The favorite dish of self’s Dear Departed Dad was a surprisingly humble one: Torta.
Self’s not that crazy about pastillas (though hubby is).
To this day, self can’t eat sinigang without patis.
The only Filipino dish self categorically hates is dinuguan, and to this day she’s never tasted it.
The one Filipino dish that self thinks she can cook well is pesang manok.
Luisa said,
September 4, 2007 at 3:59 pm
OMG you are driving me nuts with THIS post. Now I can’t write!
add to your list of sweets — turrones de mani, turrones de casuy, bibingka (piping hot), espasol, yema, and crisp-wrappered, dripping-in-molasses-syrup banana fritters, sometimes for a special treat combo’ed with slices of sweet langka… Tall glasses of gulaman and sago, and for us in our neighborhood the Taho vendor who made his rounds early in the morning before breakfast… OK now Marianne, how am I supposed to get back to work?
Chancelucky said,
September 4, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Okay, I had to look it up. Said that dinuguan was the equivalent of English black or blood pudding. I don’t blame you.
kathleen said,
September 4, 2007 at 8:14 pm
You’ve got it covered! I miss lumpiang sariwa and pancit mami.
anthropologist said,
September 5, 2007 at 4:30 am
Oh, la, I could have gone on and on and on.
Yes, Luisa, love that piping hot bibingka, AND espasol, AND yema. It’s a wonder we all don’t weigh 200 lbs. . .
I forgot langka! It’s one of my favorite fruits!
Chancelucky, dinuguan’s BLACK, it looks disgusting (but everyone else I know seems to love it)
anthropologist said,
September 5, 2007 at 4:32 am
Kathleen,
Next time you’re here, I will take you to Ma Mon Luk, in Daly City! I love their mami . . .
the wily filipino said,
September 6, 2007 at 5:46 pm
You’re killing me — now how am I supposed to work if I’m thinking of all of this?
The halo-halo at Chow King is actually quite good; I’m thinking of making a pilgrimage up to Vallejo to see if it’s up to snuff.
And since we’re talking about the Bay Area — Gerry’s Grill in Union City has excellent sisig. The Bicol Express was all wrong, but the sisig was done just right — just imagine flies buzzing and bottles of lukewarm San Miguel around you and it would be perfect.
anthropologist said,
September 7, 2007 at 12:27 am
Hello, Wily!
Chow King has halo halo? So, is that a Chinese Filipino chain (and sorry if that seems like a really dumb question).
Where is this Gerry’s Grill? Adress, please? Union City is not that far from self– may take exploratory trip across the Bridge
Ah, self loves image of flies buzzing and lukewarm San Miguel. I am sooo there (I mean, home. In my mind, that is)