Chefie’s World

I decided not to go out tonight for I am nursing something or maybe I am just plain lazy, I am here in another part of the Philippines teaching for three weeks. Life here is not as fast and a lot more calm and it has made me reflect if I should eat the Royce’s chocolate Len Len gave me for New Year……hehehe. I just had two pieces of the Chocolate Staff, it’s minute pieces of chocolate truffles but shaped into a rectangle that will melt in your mouth at first contact releasing exquisite flavors of cocoa, caramel, coffee, brandy and a little bit of shitake mushroom….what’s a mushroom doing in a chocolate, well it tasted like it so that’s what I am here for to write about.

I wanted to describe to you about a typical day in my life but that sounds a bit corny now and since I started by eating chocolate maybe that is the best way to describe my day, it is surrounded with food and people who love it. I teach in a culinary school, consult over five food companies and sleep less than five hours a day. I try to work out in the gym every day that I can and having a driver, Apple is the best thing that ever happened to me since I can sleep in between my trips to different places as well as do work in the car. I am also diabetic not due to my work but due to genetics, both parental sides real and fake have it but I got really good facial skin that’s all I can say.

I share and give a lot of myself, of my work and of my recipes. You will know as you continue to learn more about me through this site.

As a chef teacher, there is a multitude of French words and statements I have to know and learn since it is the basis of what I teach. It really is difficult to decide whether I should or should not say the “s” at the end or swirl the tongue whenever I certain letter exist. Hahaha. Sometimes, people ask me how to pronounce the basic French term “mis en place” even they don’t really know what it means. How words are said becomes difficult just like understanding food. Craziness too exist when it comes to desserts, crème reversee au caramel is actually France’s answer to our Pinoy Leche Flan with a twist in the ingredients and the caramel made differently, Hahaha. There are even dishes and some baked items that have changed versions when it reached our shores; some people even think that the galantina and rellenong manok are one and the same. But wow, can’t you just see and taste the Filipino’s creativity when it comes to food due to economy.

Another cake I can’t seem to understand is Strawberry Shortcake…when you have this in the Southern portion of the United States, it comes as a biscuit ( like Popeye’s Chicken ), whipped cream and tons of sliced strawberries but here in Manila, it is a very light chiffon cake layered with sliced strawberries and whipped cream as filling, some version even have thickened custard sauce…that’s our version and it taste better than the real one.
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I always had two sets of parents – the real one and the fake one, hehehe. That’s not true. As a baby, my uncle and aunt made me part of their family, so as a child, I just had one more set of parents. I lived with mama and papa ( aunt and uncle ) and I would see nanay and tatay every day since mama and papa’s business was home to nanay and tatay. My nanay cooked so well, she was the best cook ever and she had the passion for it. I would remember seeing her cook using wood, slowly blowing the fire to just have the right heat for rice. Rendering pork or beef fat as a base for our vegetable dishes. She was the cook and was she good at it. This was in Navotas and we had certain dishes indigenous to our area only, Batuta, Pinatisan, Toyoba, Mechado, Bopis, some Filipino favorites but when it comes to Navotas there was a difference. Our patis was fermented longer than others and we had a different fish to use and we will still do that today. My nanay would always cook for us. Mama always had her food in our table since she would bring it home from Navotas to Makati and we savoured it.

As I grew up, we always had good food because Papa always wanted the best. I remember when we would go on our quarterly trips to Nepo Mart in Pampanga to buy steaks, Philadelphia cream cheese and other items that can only be bought there, one Hi-Ace full of food. Yes, we were lovers of good food, we always had five to six dishes of different viands every meal and Papa hated repeats. We dined in good restaurants, Chinese food in The Plaza restaurant, Mr. Ho, Sing Ya; Italian Food in Italian Village, Cucina Italiana, French food in Au Bon Vivant, Champagne Room and L’Hirondelle and the best seafoods one can get for Mama and Papa had a fishing business. Exposure to good food was there. Ate Cynthia, my sister cousin took cooking classes and this would further our experience in good food and tremendous eating.

When I was of age, I started cooking every summer, frying should I say since we didn’t have any helps and this lead me to take a few cooking courses with Sylvia Reynoso-Gala. I was getting good at it and it started my undiscovered talent in cooking, later I was the one of the cook in Ate’s catering business even baking 12 chocolate cakes in one evening and the story goes on and on, some to follow later.

I miss my nanay – her cooking which cannot be replicated by anyone – her tochong bangus simple to die for….I miss mama and papa for they really enjoyed dining in the best restaurants in Manila and elsewhere but what is a better legacy than continuing what they left, learning and educating oneself about it and sharing it with all of you.

Let me share with you, my version of my nanay’s mechado which I call Mechadong Navotas. From my home to yours……..
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