i can't seem to stop talking about food
Written on a hot and humid Wednesday after the first weekend of the month of March, in the year 2025, in Manila.
Friday
We tried a new taco place for lunch. Our first experience with Mexican food wasn't that great and we didn't like it at all. Then, our second taco from a different restaurant was lackluster either. Third time's the charm! We finally got to try the birria tacos from El Poco Cantina. The service was fast and the place is beautiful. We had take-out so we're looking to dine in on our second try.
For dinner, we went to our first food fest. We availed a feast pass where we could eat samples from all 80+ booths of local small businesses and pop-ups. The ticket cost 100 PHP (1.73 USD) per person and I'm glad we bought it early since it was sold out by the day arrived.
Some notable experiences/tastings:
- r drank alcohol for the first time. We wanted to try everything and went blind with the booth of Coffeexmead. I don't drink alcohol anymore1, as well, so what an experience it was!
- A very, very smooth brew from Just Coffee PH.
- A stationary bicycle that can power a blender where you will have to pedal for your fruit shake.
- Potato chips with seaweed flavor.
- Sugarcane and avocado juice. 100x better than the one in Binondo.
- A booth selling a sweet and modern take on the atchara.
- A mussels dip (?) Gosh, I wish I didn't forget it, but their product was in a small jar and one of them had mussels inside and it looked like it was pickled but it was really tasty2.
- A tofu lasagna sample. Me and r are not the biggest tofu fans, and she missed it when the owner told us it was vegetarian and made of tofu. Their sauce was really good. Imagine the shock on her face when I told her so.
- We had tacos again. Twice. We liked the one from the Fil-Mex booth better. Our taco count on that day: 3.
- There was a booth selling barbecue meat/jerky with only 2 people in. A lot of people were lining up and we witnessed one of the customers pulling a Karen because his food still isn't out3. We felt really bad for the guy prepping and taking orders. Our samples came after some wait and we were shocked at the portion sizes. We had chicken jerky and a slider, it was very generous compared to all the other booths. It was good and worth the wait.
- There were several booths that were members of the Philippine Hot Sauce Club and we tried one of their sauces. I'm not a fan of spicy food but I pushed my luck with a sauce named Soul Eater after trying their mildest one. r, however, picked a sauce from their hottest shelf after also trying one of the milder ones. I thought what amazing craft it was to make sauces that hot but our tongues are still intact. We concluded that we would not be great participants at Hot Ones.
Saturday
r had class and the rest of my day I dedicated to meeting my parents and brother in the city then joining the ride back home. Before that, I had a solo date. It's becoming a monthly tradition at the end of the month for me to take myself out on a date. I took a midday nap after r left and then washed up and prepared for my date. I had shawarma rice for 65 PHP and an iced spanish latte for 150 PHP. Please don't judge me.... I wrote an entry on my journal at the cafe (a staple of the date) and reflected on February happenings and what's on my mind.
I had a purple eco bag where I put my wallet and journal in. It's this small bag that really doesn't vibe with any style and not aesthetically pleasing. I got it from a fruit giveaway at work. You wouldn't think something important would be in it, so r called it anti-theft. I have yet to have a purse that would be my go-to bag for outings.
Went to the new rooftop football pitch with my parents. We chilled on the artificial grass and ate boiled peanuts and they caught me up with the gossip again. The weather was great that afternoon. I treated them to dinner at Manam - they're popular for their twists on traditional Filipino cuisine, which are all interesting and delicious on their own, but I wanted to highlight that they sell the best sisig I've ever had (House Crispy Sisig). We tried their shakes - buko pandan for me and my brother, ube for my dad and mango / pomelo for my mom. Buko pandan is best as always.
We then watched fireworks competing at the pyromusical competition at the rooftop parking lot (free) then went back home. In the expressway, the competition was still ongoing and we saw the Germans' fireworks from the car across the bay. It was so small. Space and distance and perspective go crazy.
Sunday & End of weekend
r came over for bingo night and we had sopas for merienda. It's been a while since we stayed up late - but we won! Again! Thinking about how a win streak at bingo will not only earn you money but also the titas' side-eyes.
My monday meals are most of the time cooked by my dad. I'm always very grateful for it and know that nothing can ever beat his cooking. If you must know, he cooks for seafarers in container ships. His day-to-day job when on board a ship is making sure 20+ people are fed for all three meals of the day. It's not always that he's back home and I try my best to cherish all the moments he is here and cooking for me. I guess this is also why I consider this role food has in my life and my updates will always have a mention of a meal. I'm always interested in food and cooking4. We also finished S24 of Hell's Kitchen together.
With that, I wanted to share this hack on how to clean a tupperware5 in honor of my Monday meals that come on plastic tupperwares my dad packs for me.
- Put liquid dish soap on the tupperware
- Add a little bit of water
- Put 1-2 pieces of kitchen paper towel
- Cover the tupperware with the lid
- Shake the tupperware (until you feel it has covered the surface area of the tupperware)
I think this has gone viral at some point. There are tons of tutorials on Youtube. Let me know if you try this. I hope it works and your containers are stain and oil free.
There's a little bit more structure in this update. Also: how is it already March. Still actively looking for book recos, your favorite book, maybe?
05 Mar, 2025
I started drinking when I was a teenager (underage drinking is very prevalent here). I've already had my fair share of wild moments while drunk and decided to stop before it became a weekly thing. I've been sober ~5 years before the food fest.↩
I don't know if it was really a dip or what kind of food it was but r said it was similar to pastil (shredded meat on rice) in a way that you can probably eat it with rice or put it on bread.↩
We felt bad for the 2 guys there because the rude customer asked for their money back. They're literally in front of you cooking/preparing the food and you already paid for!↩
Yesterday, r asked if what activity I liked more: cooking or eating. Our preferred Youtube videos/reels might have had the answer to that - I love watching cooking videos and r prefers mukbangs.↩
I just realized/remembered Tupperware is a brand. I honestly did not know this growing up so it just stuck with me. I probably call all plastic containers tupperwares because that's how it's always been in our family and everyone else I know. There is no direct translation of plastic container in Filipino.↩