Foot and Fire

Instantpot has become my bestfriend these days. It definitely can slay thick cuts of meat. I bought beef knuckles  1 kilo beef knuckle 1 pack 200g tomato paste  6 pcs bayleaves 2 bellpeppers sliced 1 chopped onions 6 cloves of garlic 1t Chili powder 1t Paprika powder 1Tcnutritional yeast Dashes of pepper & salt Lightly toasted & ground Spices 1t each: anise seeds, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, whole peppercorns 2 cups water 2T soy sauce 2T fish sauce Wash and pat dry the meat. Rub tomato paste over meat.  In a bowl, mix the rest of dry spices. Too bad, got no cumin for this one.  Massage the spices all over meat.  Set Instantpot to Meat Stew setting. You'll get fork-tender beef after 35 minutes pressure cooking & 15 minutes natural cooling down.  Separate meat strands with fork before serving. Serve sauce together with meat or in a sauce server. Serve piping hot over rice or Pita bread. TIP: If desired, thicken sauce b...

ON APPLICABILITY OF GCTA: I beg to disagree in part on the decision reached in Guinto Case In excluding the persons charged with heinous crime, who agreed in writing to abide by the same disciplinary rules imposed upon convicted prisoners, in availing credits for preventive imprisonment through the decision reached in Guinto v DOJ, En Banc , GR 249027 and 249155, 3 April 2024[1] and the consequent issuance of 2024 IRR of RA 10592 thereafter, disregard the intent of RA 10592. The Guinto case was brought by the convicted prisoners who were released by virtue of RA 10592 but were excluded in the 2019 IRR. The portion of the 2019 IRR was nullified in so far as it disqualifies persons deprived of liberty who are subsequently convicted by final judgment. Justice Leonen has a dissenting opinion while Chief Justice Gesmundo and Justice Caguioa have concurring opinions and all support the dispositive portion. It was a surprise how our esteemed justices missed another way of giving l...

Our Strawberry with a garnish of yogurt, just kidding. Sagada Strawberry Cafe won our palates & tummies.  Three days and two nights are not enough to explore all of SAGADA's yogurt and lemon pie hang-outs. As someone who drinks caffeine as an antidote to migraine, I dont drink coffee every day so we skipped the cafe-hopping. But as someone who loves yogurt, I can eat a cup every day.  Well, because in Sagada not all lemon pies are equal, my sole sisters and I decided to go yogurt & lemon pie hunting. Majority of restos serve yogurt and lemon pies, in-house made or not, we couldn't be very sure.  Also, the peddlers in the terminal have the yellow boxes of lemon pies and if you look closely, there are variations in the label but only three words are consistently present, SAGADA LEMON PIE. So far we tried 4 lemon pies and 3 yogurts in different places, we found our unanimous preference.  MARIE'S YOGURT PLACE - We had Y & L. Best Lemo...

           Phallic Ashtrays of Sagada ANOTHER Top Only-in-Sagada finds. You'll 1. SEE this Old Man with coffee irises carved out of the stump 2. HAVE Free Cabbage that weighs 3-4 kilos a piece (Thank you Labanet) 3. SIGN up for pottery sesh & find yourself guarded by a fat black cat which reminded me of Netflix's The Time That Remains which stars Carlo Aquino as a Pinoy vampire who started as a black cat with many lives 4. FIND not only Hanging Coffins but also Nestled Coffins on the cracks & crevices of the karsts 5. ENJOY backyard bonfire because branches/wood of pine trees were used and the smoke smelled like Frankincense and we all became smoked gals after. This bonfire is reminiscent of the Mang-aapoy (or Panag-aapoy / Panagdedenet ) tradition of the Indigenous Igorot community where they light a bonfire beside the tombs of their loved ones on Nov 1 as they believe it provides warmth and light to the souls, comforting them an...

Happy to have done the Sagada Trip in 2026. I had been raring to go there as early as 2010 and planned to do it in 2022 and 2024 but circumstances didn"t cooperate. Finally, May 2026 gave in.  I did this tour with my sister and cousin. We took the CODA Bus in Cubao at 9pm as it has a CR and arrived Sagada at 9am. I booked via their website. The bus is comfortable with medium aircon as it had a trouble on our way. The site warned of coldness so we went in warmed, only to take our jackets off. Travel time is 11 hours, given the troubleshooting, we had 12 hrs with 2 or 3 stops. Fee P1,400+ per pax one way with insurance When we arrived at 9am, we directly went to the Tourist Information Center. We paid 50 (100?) pesos each and kept the tickets for reference during the tours, and we also took an optional insurance for 100 each for 3 days.  We checked in early to our homestay SAGADA LABANET (P1,500/3pax/night) which had welcome freebies of giant heavyweight ...

Found Yogurt and Lemon Pie in one place in Sagada. As one who makes yogurt at home, I find their yogurt at Marie's something different. It is not tangy and the texture is a bit like silken tofu or even like a slimy version of taho. We tried the honey yogurt topped with fruits in season and granola. Other variants are strawberry and blueberry yogurt as base of the parfait. It's worth coming back for more! Sagada is home to lemon pies but in Marie's the lemon pie is worth a try too. The merangue is fluffy and not too sweet as to contrast the lemony custard. The crust is not special enough to be impressive but the combination of the three layers blend well. Not so sugary and very lemony so I liked it.  Shall try other lemon pie houses. Stay tuned. More photos in my instgram .