Foot and Fire

           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 . 

Ganduyan Museum is a private collection of Christina Aben. It is a small collection but I got amazed with the leglet, a bronze coil jewelry worn around the legs for health benefits and as badge of wealth where the longer it is, the more affluent the wearer is. At first, I even thought it is worn around the neck just like the Karen Tribe in Thailand. It was one nice thing to know from this museum.  In the museum one can find baskets used for farming and cayching snails. There are old cloths too because Sagada is know for weaving too. Jewelry consisting of beads used for dowry can also be found.  Ganduyan is the old town name of Sagada, a name taken from a farm tool because of language barrier it was the thing used by a native was first asked what's the town name. A booklet is lent containing descriptions of the items but it would have been nice if the lady in charge is explaining and interacting. Check my instagram for more photos of museum finds....

Thanks to my airfryer I get to cook sisig. I don't like to deep-fry so I avoid making sisig. I also can tolerate chili so I used some aise from sweet bellpepper. the secret of sisig is in the complex flavor of the sauce, not just salt and pepper hiding in the shadow of sizzling butter and drizzles of mayonnaise. Here, I'm sharing my recipe: 500g airfried tofu 1T olive oil (or butter) 3 cloves garlic, chopped 1 medium onion, chopped 2 bellpeppers, chopped 3 stalks spring onion, chopped 3 long chilis, chopped seed incuded Sauce mixture 1/4 C soy sauce 1/8 C mirin (or any cooking wine) 1T oligosaccharides (or any sweetener) 2T pickle relish 2T fish sauce 1T sesame oil 1T nutritional yeast salt (optional) Airfry the chopped tofu at 200F for 30 minutes to brown it. For softer texture, I suggest 20 minutes and for crispy version, add ten more minutes.  Prepare the Sauce mixture. Set aside. In a pan, add oil and saute the garlic and onion and add the rest of ingredients. S...

Having a firm tofu in the house is a joy because it's easy to cook and enjoy. I also feel the need to review the Season 1 of Culinary Wars because that highlighted the ways on how to enjoy Tofu when the chefs developed several dishes out of it. So far, I did Tofu Sisig and this. If tofu comes in blocks, I can do some White Spoon/Black Spoon kitchen moves.  Tofu and Kimchi Stew 1 T Olive oil 3 cloves garlic, chopped 1 medium onion, chopped 250 g tofu, cubed 1 cup water 3T kimchi 1T Kimchi juice 1t chili paste 1t Oligosaccharide (or any preferred sweetener) 1t Mirin (or any cooking wine) 1 t fish sauce 1T nutritional yeast (optional) Salt In a pan, saute garlic and onion in oil. Add the cubed tofu and brown the sides a bit.  Add water, kimchi and kimchi juice. Let boil. Add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer. Adjust salt according to preference. Serve on top of rice. Serves 2.