Saturday 21 September 2013

Hayop na Degustation at Pepita's

Alain in the foreground in blue with a bunch of happy gourmands
Since Alain was in town, Gai herded the troop to indulged in a lechon degustation at Pepetia's Kitchen.

Note that this is my second lechon degustation in a week's time. The first was last Saturday at Aleth's with Greek Chef Anthony (with Kat and Jemgie). Yes, I know gluttony is a sin but it's hard to resist an invite to a lechon degustation.

Anyway, Hayop na Degustation is Dedet's new 12-course -  10 new dishes and two lechon de leches. We were the second batch to try her creative and yummy concoctions.

The meal started with a welcome drink called Pepita's Magic Potion which is cotton candy served in a cocktail glass with a shot of lambanog infused with dayop juice.

Bettina enjoying her Magic Potion
The second dish was pork rind tendon chips with her special sinigang na gabi dip.
Tendon chips with dip
The third was my favorite which Dedet dubbed as  "hiplog," short for hipon (shrimp) and itlog (egg). The egg is actually salted red egg sauce.
Hiplog

The fourth was another favorite, a bone marrow with oxtail marmalade and a special salt which is mixed with chicharon.
Bone marrow 

The fifth course was called salad surprise. She served micro greens with flowers and on the side, homemade cashew butter, yogurt cheese and a watermelon salt. The salt was the surprise because it pops in your mouth. She used pop rock candy which  I used to love when I was a kid.

Salad Surprise
The sixth was called Sipit sarap  a crab's claw cooked in deadly taba ng talanga, the orange-colored crab roe.
Sipit sarap
The seventh she called Lucky You, the noodles with garlic and basil oil. (No photo taken). Dedet said that this dish has no 'Hu Wow'  moment but it will prepare the guests to the next dish which is another favorite. The eight dish was called Lambada, spicy lamb  cooked in tomato sauce.

Lambada

The night was her Cheers Palate cleanser tamarind sorbet.
cheers palate cleanser

And finally, what I was waiting for - her Lechon de leches! She has several stuffings to choose from - the Pinoy has four stuffing choics - sisig rice, salted red eggs with garlic and anchovy, binagoongan rice, laing rice and bicol express rice   For the french, it's stuffed with truffle rice.  We chose the Lechon na Maalat (salty Lechon) which is stuffed with rice, salted egg, garlic and anchovies.

Lechon na Maalat

And for the second lechon, we ordered the Mailena de Leche, stuffed with spanish chorizo and taba ng talangka rice.
Mailena de Leche
Her cholesterol sweeper is oatmeal in white chocolate.
cholesterol sweeper

And the last item was the pinoy dessert, cassava brulee.
  • Pinoy dessert

Thursday 12 September 2013

Chato finally got hitched!

the bride and groom
Have you every seen a "Keep Calm and Carry On" poser? Well, that's my sister in action.

Last Monday, I got a text message from her asking if I was free for lunch on Wednesday. Of course I can't say 'no' to lunch. However, when I found it out it was all the way in Palms Country Club in Alabang, I had to ask what the compelling reason was. To get there from work, I have to travel about 20-km from Pasig and brave the Wednesday Baclaran traffic.

Note that in Manila, Wednesday is usually referred to as 'Baclaran day' where devotees [like me] pay homage to the National Shrine of the Mother of Perpetual Help in Pasay and thus, cause traffic along EDSA, the major thoroughfare.

There was a long pause before she replied and finally answered "I'm getting married."

her rose covered wedding case
I couldn't dare miss her wedding so I made it on that special day braving the Baclaran traffic and all.

It was a small gathering of immediate family and close friends. We were in full force and my sister's 'chestnut' riding friends were all there. Jon, the groom, who belongs to a large family was not complete. I asked his sister why they were only a handful and she said that it was such a short notice that they couldn't rearrange their schedule.

Oh well, at least my sister looked happy! Cool as she is, she managed to bake her own wedding cake for the occasion. Congrats sis and may the two of you be blessed with another 17 years of togetherness.