Confessions of a Madcap Foodie

Artwork: Because of Toast - Joe Sorren, 2008

(Cross-posted from my food blog!)

Since starting the year calls for living with a clean conscience, I'm taking a cue from Lorraine over at Not Quite Nigella and posting up a few confessions from this brutally die-hard foodie:

• I will try anything once - and sometimes, if I didn't like it the first time, I give it a second chance. My list of second-chancers includes ampalaya [bitter melon], Buffalo wings, orange marmalade, English-style fruitcake, poultry giblets, and bagoong isda [native fish paste];
• I'm a sucker for all manner of Filipinized Spanish dishes; I admit that I'm a caldereta junkie who will kill for that beef stew enriched with pureed tomatoes and liver spread. However...
• I steadfastly refuse to eat the local take on menudo. I can't explain why, seeing how I will willingly wolf down afritada (chicken stewed in tomato sauce), mechado (beef pot roast larded with a wick of pork fat), morcon (stuffed beef roll), and pochero (pork and chicken cooked with cabbage and potatoes in tomato sauce). I just don't like the stuff.
• Bread is a non-negotiable for me - but it's actually a recent non-negotiable. In the days before I knew how to bake bread, I could actually live without it. In fact, I was the sort of kid who detested bringing sandwiches to school for recess. Croissants were a treat and baguettes were something you could break your teeth on. However, I learned how to appreciate the staff of life when I felt that deep frisson of pride at taking my very first batch of cinnamon buns from the oven.
• If it's Oriental, I'll eat it. It started out with tempura over at Kimpura in Makati. Then it grew to include Chinese noodle soup with wontons, pata hamon, and ngohiong (pork-stuffed bean curd rolls; known as kikiam to some). Then came the sushi and the okonomiyaki I'm seriously addicted to. Which brings us to...
• If you tell me we're going to either Binondo (Manila's Chinatown) or Greenhills (where there are a LOT of fab Chinese restaurants because of the sizable Chinese community), I'll be ready in a second flat. I plead guilty to the fact that I will make a beeline for this Chinese grocery just a short walk from Binondo Church and buy stuffed mochi (well, daifuku, actually) in a whole spectrum of flavors, sungsong peanuts in the shell, and a wealth of spices and pork / fish floss. Then I'll head for Shin Ton Yong to get several lap cheong, meat rolls, smoked pork, and machang. Lunch will be at Wai Ying on Benavidez and will consist of a heaping bowl of tausi spareribs and chicken feet on rice and a glass of cold Hong Kong-style milk tea. Now, if we're going to Greenhills, that will call for any of the cold, milky drinks at Diao Eng Chay plus one of their fab chicken mushroom pies. Then there's a bowl of combination noodles and a bottle of soy milk over at Le Ching...
• I'm a Little Tokyo habitue. I recommend the o-nigiri bento over at the Yamazaki Grocery, any of the o-bento at Choto Stop, the takoyaki sold at Hana, the Sapporo-style ramen at Shinjuku, and the burgers at Sango: The Burger Master. And I also suggest that you stockpile on DARS and LOOK chocolates, all sorts of Pocky, instant noodles, and Japanese snacks at Yamazaki.
• I love men who look good whilst browsing through restaurant menus. Click here; enough said. :D Oh, and I love them all the more if they love pizza, pasta, Nestle Crunch bars, and have to qualms about trying anything new. [Giggles; hi, Wayne...]
• I'd love to marry someone who would be a joy to cook for; it'd be non-stop fun, I think. :) Even more so if his mother loves to eat! That would be a LOT of fun. Which means...
• I would opt for either Paris, Singapore, or Rome for my honeymoon. Food-trips in these culinary capitals are my idea of a romantic getaway!
• Strangely enough, I don't eat when I'm depressed.
• My friends accuse me of fattening them up. Hey, it's not my fault my recipes include copious amounts of chocolate, butter, cheese, cream, eggs, or bacon!
• If there's nothing good to eat in the fridge and I'm too lazy to cook for myself, I put slices of cheese on rice and melt them in the microwave.

Quite a list, isn't it? :D