About Cherie Altea Bitanga

Recent Posts by Cherie Altea Bitanga

Boston Love: Discovering Newbury Street

After almost 20 hours of traveling from Singapore to New York, we spent a couple of days in the Big Apple before taking the bus to Boston. As soon as we left the chaos and frenzy of NYC, we hit a calming, scenic route along the highway.

It was pouring when we left NYC, and it was equally wet and dreary when we arrived Boston. When the weather cleared sometime in the week, we decided to take a stroll around the quaint city.

Boston was simply breathtaking. It was like stepping back in time, with buildings and homes reminiscent of what I used to see in the books I read as a child. It’s like every corner had a story to tell. With streets lined with brownstone homes, shops with warmly lit windows, every inch of each structure was covered with beautiful architectural detail.

I wish I took more photos in Boston. It was difficult not because every single thing in sight was worth taking a picture of that I couldn’t decide. It was because the weather was so cold I didn’t want to take my hands out of my pockets. Aside from that, picking up my camera felt like holding an icy glass! As the evening drew closer, the gas lamps began to glow, and the temperatures started to drop. And fast!

How did we survive an outdoor dinner in 5C temperatures?

Several restaurants had these gas heaters emanating open flames strong enough to soothe chilled bones across tables. It was rather comforting, like eating in a kitchen with several stoves running! :)

Meals Without Photos by Ricci Guevara

It’s hard to blog about food when your hands are always caked with bits of dry dough or slivers of garlic. When the chatter over meals with friends stretch past midnight, it leaves empty wine bottles on the floor and the camera forgotten. Then, I came across an essay entitled “Meals Without Photos” penned by Ricci Guevara, a dear friend, accomplished wordsmith and fellow foodie.

We first met when her chaotic tower of test and essay papers spilled onto my obsessively spotless desk in the faculty room in St. Scho back in ’97. With that haunting painting of Ophelia floating before she drowned tacked in front of her, I remember her saying she likes it because there was immortality in death. Great. Well I thought it was just downright creepy. Her little nook juxtaposed with my cardboard decoupage toilet roll box of bright yellow smiley faces, it was to be the start of an unexpected friendship.

“Meals Without Photos” by Nerisa Guevara

I had recently, obsessively, started taking photos of the summer meals I had eaten. Other people do it. I’ve seen their sites. I think I share the same joy at these shots framed like still life paintings, reminders of some abundance. This is the memory one hoards for the future lean seasons.

It isn’t the meal per se, but the other objects in the meal in the painting/ photo that always sparks my interest. The scene the table, the chair, the life. Who ate these and why and how and where. I did my best to frame the meal first, zoom my camera in and out, sometimes i press my cheek to the table to capture something against sky or tiptoe over the plate to get the overhead shot just right. I hold my breath and then I take my shot. Then putting my camera down, I would move the plate closer then eat the meal slowly and look out at the scene in front of me and just be my self eating this meal. I’d let the architecture of the dish topple onto a fork. I’d smile to myself. Chuckle sometimes. Then I’d hummmmm in the bliss of the bite. Who would care about the meal? I guess, my friends who love eating. And those are the friends that matter.

I wasn’t able take photos of these beautiful meals because they disappeared too quickly off their plates:

In the city of Baguio in the Philippines, at Baden Powell Inn, Might S. Gupit’s partner Michelle made these domestic flavorful lunches in their room which was the warm wooden heart of traveller friends like myself. The Chowchow, Casper would warm my feet with his blue-tongued immensity. I got copious amounts of sweet brewed coffee and spicy salabat sitting down across Might as she did her business from the same table with great calm and sage like zen. Michelle, with equally poised royalty, would dance her slow dance around the pressure cooker. The rich flaky Binagoongan she served that one lunch, the sole meal, was silky with fresh bagoong alamang and the sweet pork meat flaked and fell away in lucious tender threads.

The pale peach rarity of a Trout raised and bred in the Sagada mountains prepared simply smoked on a bed of wood chips( Villia had precious culinary knowledge of the particular local wood perfect for smoking from Sagada forests, Alder i think it was) was served on a bed of greens in House on the Rocks. The kitchen where this was prepared was nestled safely between Sagada cliffs. Walls millions of years old were draped with pots and pans. An industrial oven was wedged between its knees. I ate the head of this Trout with a lot of reverence, relishing the soft ash flavor, pushing the eyeballs to the side of the plate for the last luscious bite. Dressing them with lashes of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Mickey Ybanez’s and Mark Valenzuela’s saucy pork adobo, almost like hungma, and the side of boiled squash crescents with extra virgin olive oil, cracked black pepper and balsamic vinegar dressing on that Rainy Dumaguete night just kept everyone lit up inside. Mark and I preferred the adobo dry (childhood stubbornness, all that crunchy garlic fierceness) and Mickey courted all of us with the stewy idea. The dirty kitchen of this teracotta sculptor’s home roared with the laughter of hardy cooking men. We women watched. And the magic began all vinegary and spicy and the rain fell cold and hard. The squash was sliced into crescents to be roasted, but were simmered instead and dressed in extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh-cracked pepper. Anna, Mark’s partner’s Austrailian blue eyes fluttered with pleasure. The sweet ochre slices spread easily like butter on the turgid tang of pork. We didn’t even leave the green squash rind. The small cannon balls of pepper were left rolling on our plates.

I was let into the heart of each house to partake these meals. I thank all of them immmensely for these meals in my memory’s eye.

 

The Moon Says Hello

Singapore’s Glowing Charlie Brown Cafe

The Peanuts Gang shows up in Singapore of all places with its own Charlie Brown Cafe glowing amidst the row of noisy pubs and ginormous ceiling fans at Orchard’s 313@Sommerset.

Discovering Teochew Cuisine

What I love most about Singapore is the availability of authentic Asian flavors from all over. Last Sunday, we meet up with our favorite foodies along with Greg and Viv at this nondescript eatery in Chinatown that serves Teochew cuisine called Ah Hoi.

Ah Hoi has been around for more than three decades and is currently being managed by the second generation of family owners. For 30 years, Ah Hoi’s has been serving its Cold Crabs — boiled, sweet crabs that are chilled then dipped in a clear plum sauce. This dish is light but packed with the natural flavors of fresh crab and is mouthwatering even on its own!

For starters, Greg ordered a plate of Pork Belly served in bite size portions set in cubes of gelatin and stock.

A very interesting blend of textures and crunchiness of the pork meat! I’ve discovered that Teochew cuisine somewhat reminds me of the food I had in this hole-in-the-wall Hunan restaurant in the Rockwell area in Manila. Unlike the typical deep-fried, sesame oil-based Chinese fare that is most common, Teochew cuisine is healthier with its mostly braised, boiled and steamed food and uses more seafood and vegetables.

After hearing so much about it, we finally got a taste of Ah Hoi’s Prawn Paste Balls and the only-one-per-person Money Bags — fried dumplings wrapped in fine dimsum wrappers stuffed with minced vegetables and chicken (I think). Amazingly, the dish was not greasy and the wrappers were firm and crispy.

The dish I enjoyed most that night was the Braised Duck — soft duck meat served with a light, sweet and fragrant soy-based sauce. I enjoyed this together with the Boiled Cabbage With Scallops — a plate of very soggy cabbage in a delicately flavored sauce served with boiled scallops bursting with home-cooked goodness.

Whether in its interiors or food presentation, there is nothing frou-frou about Ah Hoi Everything is straight-up delicious flavors and dishes that are comfortable and hearty.

Through the decades, it’s probably this dedication to good food that has kept its committed patrons happy and coming back for more.

The Colors Along The Way In Haji Lane

Stylized Motorbikes of Singapore

This motorbike, with a multitude of miniature figurines, old coins along with odds and ends covering every surface, can probably give jeepney drivers’ creativity a run for their money :) Even Mario and Luigi get to ride this bike together with butterflies, a skull and crossbones and a couple of fairies. Check it out!

The Writing On The Wall In Haji Lane

Next Page »