Viajeng Cusinang Matua - A Capampangan Food Trip Pt. 1

My officemates and I recently took the Viajeng Cusinang Matua tour, a day trip to the old kitchens of Pampanga. Our guide, Tracey Santiago, who also operates the tour told us that we will be served traditional Capampangan food whose recipes were handed down from generation to generation.

Our first stop was at the Kusina ni Atching Lilian Borromeo in Mexico, Pampanga where we had our breakfast.   Atching Lilian (atching is a local honorific word for an older sister) is a food historian who has her own cook show on cable TV in Central Luzon.

She explained to us that Capampangan homes usually have a big kitchen because they love the cook.  She then told us what we were having for breakfast that morning.  Although some of the food looked familiar, Atching Lilian explained what gave these dishes the Capampangan treatment.

For example, the tidtad which is actually dinuguan. Their version was not as thick as what I am used with and the pig's blood was more solid.

My favorite in the lot is the kilayin.  It tasted like lechon paksiw but more sour and less sweet taste.

There's also the pisto, which Atching Lilian explained other families usually prepare using left over meat.  Her family's recipe uses fresh meat and also they added carrots and tomatoes.

There were also the chicken embutido.  We also tried the tocino and longganiza made of carabao beef that's why they were called tocino and longganiza damulag. Carabaos are called damulag in Pampanga.

For dessert, we were given the tejadang camatis or candied tomatoes.  They're sweet and the texture of the tomatoes was a little gummy.  Atching Lilian explained that they used three varieties of tomatoes for this: the red, green and purple.  She also gave us her secret how to keep the natural color of the tomatoes even when cooked: copper pans.  In fact she showed us a copper pan that she got from her grandmother and estimated to be more than a hundred years old.  It was also quite heavy.  But since such pans are rare now, she said that we could just put a copper coin in while cooking and the effect would still be the same.

After the main course, we had some tsokolate baterol and tamales.

After having our meal, Atching Lilian demonstrated to us how they make the San Nicolas cookies.  She said that the recipe calls for 6 egg yolks, some flour and water.  The resulting dough is then pressed in a mold similar to what Atching Lilian is holding in the picture.  The mold is almost like a family crest since each family uses its own design for their cookies.

And here's another interesting trivia Atching Lilian told us.  She explained that these special cookies were brought here by the Spaniards in the 1600s.  During that time churches were built in Pampanga using limestone combined with egg whites.  The yolk was thrown away and given the number of eggs used, they soon had a problem with the unpleasant odor brought about by the rotting material.  What the convent nuns did was  they taught their young convent girls how to make San Nicolas cookies.   The Capampangan modified the recipe to suit their taste and over the years, every family has its own version of the cookie.

The cookie is very much like the uraro.  But the locals believe that if blessed, the cookies have miraculous powers to bring a bountiful harvest, protect one from sickness, and other things.

We had to move on to our next stop though so we left Mexico for Arayat for our mid morning snacks.

Taal Heritage Town: Villavicencio Ancestral Home

There are other things to see in Taal, Batangas.  These are the old colonial houses that are still standing in the municipality.  Most of these houses, in fact, were witnesses to the many events of our country's history. We were lucky to get inside some of this former enclaves of the elite.

Our first stop was the Villavicencio House.  The house is an imposing bahay na bato built on a slope overlooking Balayan Bay.  It has a lush garden beside it surrounded by an iron-wrought fence.

We were lucky to meet the descendants of the original owner of the house, Gliceria Villavicencio, who personally toured us around the house.  We were informed that the house is still functional and is still being used by the family when they come to Taal.

As most houses built during the Spanish colonial period, the ground floor is a space reserved for the carriage of the owner.  It has now been converted to an office space. 

One thing's for sure, they don't make like this anymore.  The stairs, and the floors and walls of the second floor of the house are all made of wood.  Not just any wood but really hard, solid wood.

Our gracious hosts also explained that the walls of the house were covered by canvass, hand painted in Paris, France.  The tin ceiling, which is unique to the Villavicencio house among the heritage houses in Taal, was also imported from Europe.

Another feature of the house are the hallways or alleys surrounding the rooms. Our hosts explained that these halls have two purposes: one is that when there are many occupants in the house, some male members of the family would sleep there since there were only two rooms which were occupied by the female members; second purpose of these alleys was for members of the family to avoid being seen by guests they don't want to meet.

The main sala of the house is adorned by portraits of the original Villavicencio couple painted by Juan Luna no less.  Of course the ones hanging there are just copies with the original portraits stashed somewhere for security reasons.  From here, one has a great view of Balayan Bay.  Our host explained that Gliceria, who was a merchant, would look out of these windows to check whether any of her goods have arrived.

The Villavicencio home also played an important role in the Philippine revolution against Spain.  It was the meeting place of many clandestine meetings between Andres Bonifacio and members of Katipunan.  In fact, we were shown a trap door located under the wedding portrait of the couple at the far end of the dining hall.  This trap door was used by Bonifacio and his men to escape detection whenever the Spanish guards came to check on the family.  It led the Katipuneros to a tunnel that ends in a river nearby.

I am glad that Gliceria's descendants opted to preserve their ancestral home and open it to the public to give us a glimpse of our country's rich heritage.

Scenes from a four-hour trip

I recently went to the former Subic Base for a four-day seminar. The sponsors were gracious enough to provide us with a bus to get there. Even if it took us four hours to get to Subic from Manila, I still enjoyed the ride because it gave me the opportunity to get a glimpse of the countryside.

The Philippine countryside is wonderful. Forty-five minutes after our trip started, we were greeted by the green rice fields of the Candaba swamps. Far in the horizon is Mt. Arayat and even farther are the faint shadows of the Sierra Madre. I've been to other countries but I still say that the Philippine countryside is still one of the best. The bucolic views help a lot in untangling the frayed knots in a city dweller's body.

When we left the expressway, we were surrounded by more ricefields and rural folks doing their business. In a busstop, we had our fill of native delicacies, puto, bibingka and sago't gulaman. And their prices were really low!

There were also shops selling furniture and home decors made of wood along the road devastated by lahar flows from the Mt. Pinatubo. It's nice to know that people there have moved on after their hellish experience.

As we passed by barangays along the road, I was heartened to see graduation ceremonies being held in school grounds. Young kids dressed in white togas seated on one side and their parents on the other. In one school the graduating children were performing onstage in their togas. The scene made me smile. I remembered my high school graduation when, in the middle of a song, one of my classmates started to cry. It also made me sadly wonder how many of these graduating kids will go on to universities and fulfill the dreams their parents have for them.

Nevertheless, thoughts like those do not diminish the beauty of rural Philippines. Maybe one of these days I will take time off from work and take a bus to see more of our countryside.