My brother in law, Mark, if from Buffalo, New York so he is a buffalo wings snob!!! Well he is very particular with Buffalo Wings as I am with Tocino (being Kapampangan). Anyways, Mark has mentioned that he is on a continues search for the best Buffalo wings here in Bay Area California. So far the best one he found was at a small asian family own restaurant called D'original buffalo wings. Mark said that is the closest to the wings back home in Buffalo. He ordered some of this Buffalo wings from the resto for his birthday. I tried the sauce to have an idea what the sauce should taste like in the first place. I was surprise that its a lot tangy. He started told me how it was made, and explained to me what is very important on making good wings. Mark said that the crucial part of a good Buffalo wing is to make the wing crispy. I guess its the skin that has to be crispy. That part is what I was afraid of. When I decided to make some, I was thinking about how to make the wings crispy. I have not fried any kind of meat in a long while. But with the right oil temperature, everything went well. The sauce was a hit and the wings crispy. Friday Buffalo wings night was a hit!!! Mark loved it and so did my husband. I took on the challenge and survived. First Buffalo, next the world!!!! 
For my sister Colleen's birthday, I put together a filipino feast for brunch. Once is a while my family does get filipino food cravings. I thought of having tuyo, but for some reason I can't find any from the oriental market. So the next best thing is the dried squid and jeprox fish?!!!! That is what it says on the label. I always thought its the poor filipino's bacon. Its a really thin fish and when you fry it, it kinda curls a bit and its very crunchy. Anyways, the preparations I do before frying up is, open all windows, close all bedroom doors, turn on fan and lite up candles. For some reason here in California or probably any cooler places, the rooms keeps the smell of food, and the dried fish is really really stinky for non filipino peeps. The smell sticks to your clothes and hair. But the trouble is all worth it. I cooked some tinapa and scrambled eggs with onions and garlic. I also bought some chitcharon. The brunch was a success. We might be smelly but atleast we are full.
How can a picture capture this dish? Looking at this picture, it just looks like a bowl of meat and vegetable in broth. How can your camera capture the tender meat in a sour and a bit spicy rich broth. Does looking at this picture make you salivate? Clench your jaw with the sourness? Does the taro looks like its tender and creamy? Can you even recognize its Sinigang at first glance. I guess when you see the kinds of vegetable used and the taro, yeah you can recognize it. I guess that after realizing what you are looking at, your imagination takes over. At the end, you can smell the picture. So, did this picture really capture the essence of sinigang? You tell me. Are you still drooling? Or clenching your jaw?
I used to go to the palengke (wet market) with my brother every saturday morning. I mean 6 a.m. morning. With bayong in hand, my brother and I would first buy the meat products, fish, vegetable then groceries. This way the meat products first would be at the bottom of the bayong then fish, etc. That is how we are taught. hehe Anyways, we usually go with our neighbor, and we usually have to wait for them. They take a while but we do our best to not get bored. So when we decide we are done buying our stuff, we look at each other and utter "CM!". We would go to a eatery, carinderia, stall at the outskirts of the palengke. They usually sell CM, BM and Palabok. Yes! for breakfast. I never thought it was weird til now. CM is for Chicken Mami. BM is for Beef Mami. I am not sure why its called Mami? We are so used to using the CM and BM names that we got the people selling the food call it the same way. hahaha Yes, we kinda re invented the name. I usually buy palabok becuase,,,,, I love palabok!
Here is an ingredient that I always buy whenever it is available. Malunggay. I am not even sure what its called in English. And when I see malunggay, I think Monggo! Monggo is Mung Beans soup. Cooking this dish reminded me how tedious it is to take the malunggay from the stem. Super easy to cook. My brother likes his monggo thin. Meaning the Monggo is not mushed with the broth. I like mine thick. I like eating Monggo with fried galonggong. It is also really good with chitcharon or pork grinds. Very hearty soup.
Longganisa, like Tocino, is a kapampangan cuisine. Its another form of curing meat. Well, its a sausage. But it is sweet, not salty like other sausages. I am not as fond of longganisa, as much as tocino. But I remember that there is a slightly different longganisa, its called skinless longganisa. Skinless meaning it doesn't have the casing. I prefer this kind of longganisa. Probably because when cooked, the fatty parts are cooked more with the direct heat than ones with the casing. Longganisa is eaten with rice. Some people has vinegar or chopped tomato on the side.
Tocino or Pindang is one of Pampanga's contribution to Filipino cuisine. I believe that this is our version of cured meat. But instead of salt like bacon or pancetta, kapampangans used sugar. My grandma makes the best tocino, among other foods. I believe that tocinos are made with thinly sliced meat, either chicken, pork, beef and water buffalo. I know it has sugar and some kind of pink powder?.... Sorry I don't know what it was or what its for. I remember asking my grandma once, but I can't remember. Foolish me. My favorite tocino is the Tocinong Damulag (water buffalo). It's probably processed a bit different because it's sweet and also sour. There are lots of different brands of tocino. Most of them claims they are from Pampanga. None of them as good as my grandmas's. Well being a kapampangan living in California, I had to sort through these different brands and found a 'good enough' product. What I would say off the bat is that Tocino don't have black pepper. So avoid buying tocino with black specks on it, its black pepper. Also, tocino is not red. Tocino is actually black in color when cooked, almost like burnt looking. It's the sugar. I always thought it's weird that the tocino sold here in California has a red tint on it. But I don't have any choice do I? I didn't ask my late grandma her recipe. One of the biggest regret of my life. sigh. Anyways, another tip is choose the chicken tocino if you don't like the fatty part of a pork tocino. Lastly, here is how I cheat. I add sugar so that it would carmelize and would give a burnt sweet crust. Tocino is best eaten with newly cooked rice and a side of tagilo. This is torture!
The picture was a bit dark, but I like it! Its just my kind of place. The room had too much light when I took the picture. See the water cooler? Best buy ever!
