Good Food, Better Company

Earlier this year, I received an email from a blogger in the Philippines named Mila. After reading one of my adobo posts, Mila (who writes the blog, Watergirl) kindly offered to send me a cookbook comprised of nothing but adobo recipes. I replied to Mila and, of course, accepted her generous offer so that I could further my research into the salty and tangy subject of adobo cookery.

After exchanging a couple more emails, Mila informed me that she and some of her friends (other Pinoy food bloggers and readers of my blog) happened to be chatting one night and decided that they all would like to meet me if I ever made my way to Manila during my trip to the Philippines.

Upon reading this bit of information, I was initially excited at the prospect of meeting people that I had become acquainted with via their own wonderful blogs and through their helpful comments left here on my own blog. But then my ego slowly started to deflate as my inherent sense of suspicion kicked into high gear. Personal experience dictates that when a group of women talk about me when I'm out of earshot, the conversation usually revolves around how huge of a dork I am, followed by giggling, more conversation about my dorkiness, and then ending with uproarious side-splitting laughter while fingers are pointed at me from afar.

In spite of (or maybe because of) my dubiousness and low self-esteem, I cautiously wrote Mila back, said it would be wonderful for all of us to meet, then closed my eyes and hit the SEND button. Because this was still a few months before my trip to the Philippines, I promptly forgot about this whole exchange no more than 30 seconds after hitting said SEND button (my short-term memory is lacking in, I forget).

A couple months later though, I received "The Adobo Book" in the mail. Inside the book was a short note from Mila reminding me that everyone would still like to meet me and my wife for dinner in Manila.

By now, I had come to grips with the fact that perhaps there does exist a type of person who would actually want to take the time and meet other human beings in a friendly atmosphere rather than incessantly mocking them. These people are called "normal", whereas people like myself are referred to as "anti-social," "paranoid," or "surly hermits". Despite my usual status as a "surly hermit," I was again excited at the prospect of meeting other bloggers and lovers of Filipino food.

So, after much planning and organizing on Mila's part (thanks again, Mila), I was able to wine and dine with a wonderful group of people on one of my last nights in the Philippines.

The meeting place of choice was Chef Laudico's Bistro Filipino--a Filipino-Fusion restaurant in Manila that everyone agreed would be a fitting place to meet me in the flesh. In addition to my wife and myself, two of my cousins and my mother were also in tow. Considering the circumstances, I was already a bit nervous about meeting everyone. But because my mom was with us, I was doubly (No, triply. Nay, quadruply!) nervous as I was afraid she'd say or do something crazy to these strangers we were about to meet (I'm joking, of course! Well, partly joking. And yes, I'm a grown-ass man 30 years of age and I still worry about these things).

Any heightened notions of nervousness were quickly melted away though as soon as we walked into Chef Laudico's. Everyone that was there for our little get-together greeted us and gave us all a very warm welcome. After some hellos, handshakes, and howdy-dos, our dinner party sat down to a long rectangular table at the center of Chef Laudico's dining room. Who else was seated at this rectangular table of awesomeness you ask?

Mila, was there of course. Also joining us for dinner that night was Joey (of 80 Breakfasts) and her husband; Socky (of Tennis and Conversation); Katrina (a fellow food lover and frequent commenter on this blog) and her boyfriend; and Marketman (of Market Manila) and his wife. Needless to say, it was a wonderful feeling to finally be able to put faces to the names of these previously-mysterious internet denizens. I could post pictures of the group from that night, but then we'd have to hunt down and kill all of you reading this (well, at least make you all pinky-swear) to protect our super-secret blogger identities. Instead, I'll subject you to crappy pictures of dimly lit food:

Our table ordered a number of starters that night, one of them being the Crispy Kangkong you see above. Kangkong is a type of water spinach grown in the Philippines, and Chef Laudico's take on Kangkong featured the leaves encased in a type of dough and deep-fried. It was almost like a kangkong-filled fried wonton, or maybe that's exactly what it was.

We also ordered the Ubod Spring Rolls, which were cone-shaped lumpia filled with chorizo, shrimp, and other goodies which I do not remember. The kicker with these lumpia cones though were their topping of Sinamak Sorbet, or frozen spicy vinegar, that the diner is to spoon into the opening of the cone. The frozen vinegar proved to be a very nice and elegant touch to this unique and tasty version of lumpia. I thought the Ubod Spring Rolls were wonderfully executed.

There were also a few other appetizers from that night such as some little sisig tart thingies that were served with a quail egg. However, I didn't get to sample the other apps, and if I did, I don't remember them. It's not that the other appetizers weren't good, there was just a lot going on at the rectangular table of awesomeness--but I'll get to that later.

For the main courses, one of my cousins and my mother each opted for the Paella Stuffed Squid pictured above. I had a taste of this dish and thought it was just OK.

My wife had the Duck Two Ways, which was a dish of duck served, uh, two different ways on a taro cake. If I remember correctly, one of the ways was Duck Inasal, and I don't know what the second style of duck was. Either way, my wife loved this dish.

A popular choice at our table that night was the Adobo Overload--which is what I and my other cousin chose, as well as a couple others from our group. The Adobo Overload featured a huge (HUGE!) plate of pork adobo flakes, chicken adobo flakes, coconut sticky rice (at least I think I tasted coconut), kangkong leaves, and a giant hunk of foie gras on top--perhaps the biggest piece of duck liver I've ever had as part of a dish. Even without the slab of foie, this dish was already quite rich--which is why I guess it was called the "Overload".

I started off enjoying this dish very much, especially because I attacked the foie right away. But then I realized that the foie served no real purpose in this dish other than to say "Hey man, there's some expensive duck liver on this plate, so you better like it, sucka!"  Maybe it's just me, but I thought the foie was overpowered by the adobo, so I ended up eating the foie by itself (Yum, sucka!) and then eating the rest of the dish. And on top of all that, a special dessert of Spanish Chocolate ganache/mousse/(insert rich chocolate something or other here) was served to those who ordered the Adobo Overload. Ugh. The chocolate dessert was good, but it was just overkill for me at this point--I was ready to burst.  Overall, I still liked the Adobo Overload, but in the end it was a bit of an overindulgence for me. I would definitely try it again, I would just share it with someone else and keep all the foie to myself.

If that all seemed like a terribly unclear description of the food I had that night, it's because, try as I might, I really couldn't focus on what I was eating because I was preoccupied in my attempts to follow all the conversations at the dinner table. Because there were so many of us there that night, it was difficult for me to fully interact in each and every conversation going on (there were a lot of them). And it may be an obvious thing to say about a gathering of food bloggers over dinner, but most of the chatter centered around food (GASP!).

In the end, the food at Chef Laudico's was wonderful, but the true highlight of that dinner for me was getting to know (if only the smallest of details) Katrina, Mila, Socky, Joey, and Marketman.

I found out, for instance, that Katrina is as opinionated (I mean that in a good way!) and knowledgeable about food in real life as she is in the comments section of my blog and countless other food blogs.

Aside from being a super generous giver of cookbooks, and organizer-extraordinaire, Mila joked with us that she gets a strange feeling towards the back of her head whenever she eats too much foie gras or bone marrow. I get that same feeling too, and I call it "me want more".

Socky seemed to be the designated wine afficionado of the group, as no one wanted to order wine until Socky arrived. And when she did arrive, Socky picked out a great red wine and told me that there are some wonderful up-and-coming producers of biodynamic Rhones (at least that's what I think she said to me from across the table, for all I know she was probably telling me I had something in my teeth).

Marketman regaled us all with the latest findings of his ongoing Lechon experiment. He even gave me some tips on how to make my own bagnet at home, something I hope to do in the near future.

And Joey, lover of chicharron and brussels sprouts, asked me a burning question that she said she had been wondering about me for the longest time: "Do you like hip-hop?" she asked me. I then proceeded to pour some of my wine out onto the restaurant floor, fashioned some W's with my hands, and screamed "Thug Liiiiiiife!"

Thanks again to Mila, Joey, Katrina, Socky, and Marketman, for letting me into their inner circle--if only for one night. By all accounts, I think everyone had a wonderful evening. I didn't even have to kick my mother underneath the table, and no one pointed and laughed at me.  Good Times.

Comments

[Just a Plane Ride Away]

I have that book, autographed no less! I had no idea there were so many versions of Adobo.

BTW, I recently met two blogging friends here in England at a Fourth of July dinner. Though I was a little nervous about the whole thing, it turned out wonderfully. Glad you had a good time! :-)

[manggy]

A pox on you all! I was not invited! :P Just kidding. You know, your fears kind of mirror mine... Except mine are valid because I actually look the part of a dork, you know...? Hahaha. I'm in a fighting mood today, aren't I? Sorry.
All the food looks fantastic!

[dhanggit]

i just love the idea of this cookbook!! love the ingredients on the cover!!

[iya]

that's a nice looking book!

i'm already lucky if i know at least 2 versions of adobo.

[joey]

I had a wonderful time and was so glad to finally meet you in person along with you lovely wife, mom, and cousins! :) Your mom is really charming! And so generous with her longanisa making tips too!

Of course the best part was the "Thug Liiiiiiife!" part...I think that restaurant had yet to witness something like that ;) Haha! Just kidding! So glad you had fun! (ok, I'm still laughing)

Hi to B and tell her I liked the duck too :)

[Veron]

Oh my goodness. what a fun time that sounds. Oh...I did not know there was an adobo cookbook. I'll have to tell my brother to go find it for me.

[Mila]

Thanks for overcoming your caution and joining us for dinner Marvin! Next time we gather for dinner, we're going to eat at a chinese restaurant with lazy susans!!! Long rectangular tables just don't do conversations right.

You have to blame MM for starting all these food meetups! Joey, Katrina and I met at his first eyeball, and life's never been the same since. Glad your mom got to make sure you and your wife weren't meeting insane food people.

[caninecologne]

Wow, that sounded like so much fun - meeting fellow food bloggers! paella stuffed squid sounds delicious too.

btw, i have that book - i bought it at Tatak Pilipino (when it was still in SD). there are so many interesting recipes in there!

i WAS going to type in that readers could probably get it at amazon.com used for a cheap price. HOWEVER, i just checked,
and it's going for an astronomical $324.91! WTF!!!!

it's probably cheaper to have a relative in the Philippines buy the book for you and send it to you. that book cost me $10. i hope your readers can find it somewhere else and not pay over $300 for it! : )

FYI - one of the authors of The Adobo Book, Reynaldo Alejandro (he's based in NYC, I believe) is also the author of several other Filipino cookbooks which are more accessible (pricewise): "The Philippine Cookbook", and also "Authentic Recipes of the Philippines" and "The Food of the Philippines - Authentic Recipes from the Pearl of the Orient" (which is just the 2nd book with a different cover and different size format). You can find these at amazon.com, abebooks.com, or alibris.com

[Burnt Lumpia]

Wow, an autographed copy, Plane Ride! And yes, it is amazing that there are that many variations on adobo.

Next time I'm in the Pinas, or when you are a fancy shmancy doctor here in the states, we will definitely meet up manggy!

It's a great cookbook, dhanggit. If you could find it, you should get it.

2 versions is plenty, iya! Even one is good if you are a master at it;)

I'm glad you had fun, joey. It was great meeting you and C! And although I do primarily listen to hip-hop, I do listen to a lot of other music as well. Ah, who am I kidding: "West Cooaaaaaast!"

Hi Veron! I'm guessing it's fairly easy to find in the Philippines, but elsewhere, not so much.

Hi Mila! Lazy susans is a wonderful idea! Thank you again for the cookbook, and for arranging the dinner. And I didn't know that you, Joey, and Katrina met that way. You all seem like life-long friends.

Thanks for the info caninecologne! Geez, over $300 for a book?!! Now I'm really glad Mila sent it to me.

[caninecologne]

you're welcome. :)

hey, i know adobo is good food and all and it's great having so many recipes in one volume, but $300? who do those sellers think they are? that book isn't that rare - it's not like it was hand lettered by monks, illustrated with gold leaf and bound with diamonds, rubies, and corinthian leather. i feel sorry for the suckers who would actually fork over that kind of $$$.

[Katrina]

Honestly, I don't know what you mean, that I'm opinionated...in fact, I'm quite hurt you would say that. :-(

BWAHAHAHA!!! Don't worry, there was no need to even cushion the blow by saying you "mean it in a good way" because I've heard myself described as opinionated so frequently, that I seriously think the first time I ever heard the word is when someone called me that -- probably when I first learned to talk. ;-)

I'm glad you enjoyed (most of) the food at Bistro Filipino -- it really seemed the perfect place to take someone who's done so much experimentation with Filipino food. The Ubod Spring Roll, especially, was so appropriate for you, so it's terrific that you liked it. I had the duck, too, though I'm not sure it was the same as B's order. Mine was called Pato-tim, which I thought was a cute pun. I wouldn't have thought to combine duck with taro, but it worked.

That dinner was actually typical of what we're like whenever we get together -- several conversations going on at the same time, and each one as raucuous as the other. It was such fun to finally meet you! Let's hope there'll be another time, and that we get to chat much more then. And next time, try and get more sleep first! ;-D

[foodhoe]

sounds like a good time! we'll be looking forward to you posting some great adobo recipes too eh?

[oggi]

I love thet adobo book! I'll ask my sister in Manila to get one for me.

I myself am compiling all the adobo recipes of friends and family that I will make into a cookbook. I will also attempt to cook as much as I can with the recipes I already have in my file. I can't wait for the adobos you'll be posting THE ADOBO BOOK!:-)

[Mila]

I normally don't double comment, but $300+????!!!! That's insane! It cost P190 ($4) here at Powerbooks and that's probably the most expensive copy I found! Even with shipping fees, you wouldn't be paying $300 for it! Golly, give me the $300 and I'll send you a box load of the books. (I checked Amazon because I couldn't believe it, and yes, it's $324.91 plus $3.99 for shipping!! The mind is truly boggled.)

[socky]

Next time it's going to be cocktails, marvin, cocktails! No long tables, not even round tables with lazy susans. We'll all be moving around, wine in one hand and fusion ubod in the other. A lot of - hopefully less inhibited - conversation with good wine and good food in between. But my kudos to Mila for getting this together. It was great fun!

[joey]

300$???

[Burnt Lumpia]

Caninecologne, I'm not sure if there is anyone that would actually pay that price. There's absolutely no reason to.

Ha! Better to be opinionated than to be a follower, Katrina;) And it's likely that my wife and I confused that duck dish with another duck dish on the menu, it's been awhile so we've both forgotten. And I will definitely get more rest for the next time!

More adobo down the road for sure, foodhoe!

That's such a great idea to collect all your adobo recipes, oggi!

I didn't believe it at first either, Mila. And I am just as boggled as you!

Ah, cocktails! Of course, Socky! It would be great to meet everyone again and do drinks first, rather than last. I'm glad you had a good time.

$324.91!!! to be exact, joey. :)

[quiapo]

It is wonderful you had such an experience! That restaurant must be at the cutting edge of where Philippine cuisine may be headed - after all we cant expect our food tastes to remain static through the years, so its definitely on my list for my next visit.
Adobo has such universal appeal - 40 years ago,in the UK, my flat mate, Raffi Zulueta, and I entertained a delegation of Russian newsmen with their french interpreter to a Filipino lunch and the adobo was such a hit. The French interpreter was sure we had cooked the chicken in wine. It certainly facilitated the pleasant social event.

[Jude]

It's by Reynaldo Alejandro.. It's bound to be good and well-researched. I like how it has the spices on the front.
Looks like a fun dinner. Post the pics of those bloggers for fun! :)

[Beth]

Wow, the Adobo Book. Hmm... just wondering, is there a recipe of the "original" adobo (ie. with no vinegar)? If there is, it would be awesome if you could make it and tell us of your results. :)

You're so lucky to have met other food bloggers ... including the famous Marketman himself. I frequent his blog a lot, although I must admit, I didn't like his latest lechon experiment that much ^_^; . The intentional scoring and blistering of the pig's skin is blasphemy! :D

[White On Rice Couple]

How amazing, a whole book on adobo. This is a serious culinary treat to have it. I bet Carina (my favorite filipina customer) would love this book.

[Burnt Lumpia]

Hello Quiapo! It sounds like you've had quite a life, entertaining Russians and Frenchemen!

Hi Jude! It's definitely a good book, and no, I still won't post any pictures of the other bloggers ;)

I'm not sure if there are any recipes without vinegar in the book, Beth. But I think there are a couple that don't use soy, and just salt.

Hi WORC! Yes, I'm sure Carina would love this book, but she probably already has a couple adobo recipes up her sleeve;)

[Beth]

Oh my bad. Yes, I meant without soy.

[G_mirage]

wow! That sounds fun! Pinas has all the great event happening wtih all the great food too! (inggit!)

[manju]

What a great night! I just discovered Marketman's blog, too, he sounds like someone we could eat with! All these great folks you met do. You lost me at foie gras on adobo, but I think your solution was the best way to go... hmm, and I thought my dad adding worcestershire to adobo once was a bad idea... I'm sending this restaurant review to my bro and family who will be in Manila next week.

[Farina]

Hi, hopped over fr Rasa Malaysia. i too love adobo! although so far i only used it on my steak and prawn. no other stuff added. hubby loved loved the steak and i loved loved the prawn!

[caryn]

this is such a cool odea for a bookcover! ;-)

[cat m.]

man, so i went looking for this book, cuz I have alejandro's other book and was really interested, the book is $350 on amazon!!!

>_<.

[Jenn]

I discovered your blog via Steamy Kitchen and I'm so glad I did! I'm always on the lookout for fellow Pinoy bloggers who LOVE food. I've a feeling I'm going to be a frequent commenter here. Thanks for sharing your stories.

[Charles]

Wow thanks for writing an article about adobo! It's one of my fav filipino dishes.

Charles
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