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Sunday is family day and one of our best bonding moments is eating. Eating Mongolian barbecue at Kublai Rock was a treat for my hungry daughters. Since I didn’t want to stuff myself with rice, I used mongo sprouts and added squid and mussels along with my special combination of spices, soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil . The chef grilled all my condiments, and my “own creation” though it wasn’t grilled directly in front of us. I ate 2 bowls and was pretty full after. My husband was able to eat 3 bowls. View photos of Mongolian Barbecue

There are many creative ways to eat durian. Of course as a fruit, it’s not a pleasant experience because of the strong smell. Durian is most best enjoyed fresh immediately upon opening the fruit. My favorite Durian experience is the durian candy from Davao City. I know it’s bad for my diabetes . But I just couldn’t resist the Arce Durian Ice Cream. The Durian flavor didn’t come in too strong and the sweetness was just right. Durian Ice Cream is definitely an experience.

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A fish ball vendor by Muralla St, in Old Manila, Intramuros. For only 50 centavos per fish ball, a whole stick can easily cost 5 pesos. Quite an affordable snack for students in nearby colleges.

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If you’re like me age 40 and above, you must have known the “Kimchi” Korean fastfood. How I love the spicy sweetness of their korean beef stew. Tonight my husband and I trooped over to the Food Court of the SM Mall of Asia just to feast on Beef Stew. For only 99 pesos , one gets a bowl of KIMCHI’s specialty beef stew, rice, sesame flavored mongo sprouts.

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Crabs in Coconut Milk (Guinataang Alimasag)

(From the Filipino Cuisine: Recipes from the Islands
by Gerry G. Gelle)

Crabs in Coconut Milk
(Guinataang Alimasag)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ginger, minced
2 12-ounce cans coconut milk
6 whole blue or rock crabs, well cleaned or 1 pound crag legs
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
4 green onions, cut into 1-inch lengths

Heat the oil in a large pot and saute the garlic and ginger.

Add the coconut milk, bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by half, stirring occasionally.

Add the crabs, salt and pepper to the pot and mix well. Cover the pot and cook for 5 minutes. Add the green unions and simmer for another 3 minutes or until the unions are just tender.

Serve with hot rice. Makes 3-4 servings.

This food stall at the Salcedo Saturday Market provided free sampling of their Galician Octopus. Curious on how it tasted, I took a little sample. Hm, not really that much of a difference with squid. I found this Galician Octopus recipe and it also talks of the origins of “Pulpo a la Gallega”.

the octopus need not come from the costal waters of Galicia. It may come from anywhere–from other coastal regions of Spain, from Portugal, or even from Morocco. (The latter country exports a large quantity of octopus to Spain.) Octopus from the Philippines can be used for the recipe too.

These are just one of the many unusual dishes you will encounter at the Salcedo Saturday Market

The “buco” (young coconut) drink has many varieties. One can drink it straight from the coconut shell or poured into a jug full of grated coconut meat. Another way to drink it is mixing lychee juice to create a sweet concotion of buco-lychee juice. The best is the buco-pandan where the young coconut juice is mixed with a little evaporated milk and cubed pandan gelatin. One thing for sure, buco drinks are a favorite treat during a hot summer month .