Category Archives: Flashback

Remembering the Butterfly Iced Tea

16 Tuesday May 2017

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In the midst of this intensely hot and oppressively humid summer, my thoughts turned to iced tea. Not just any iced tea, but… the legendary Butterfly Iced Tea.

Those of my generation would know what I’m talking about. That sweet, frothy, and refreshing iced tea concocted at the Butterfly Restaurant — by day, the watering hole of golfers along U.P. Diliman’s long University Avenue, when there used to be a large golf course there, and by night, a folk house where the hippies and musicians of the 60s and 70s loved to play and hang out. I don’t remember which hole the restaurant served as I’m no golfer, but I do remember my avid golfer uncle, Tito Mars Allas, once or twice took us kids there and I had my first taste of that delightful iced tea.

Allmytea Iced Tea à la Butterfly

With this summer’s heat index rising to around 41°C (105°F) and humidity at ridiculous levels, I turn to Allmytea Iced Tea concentrate to fix myself an à la Butterfly Iced Tea. Of all the iced tea products, this for me approximates the taste of that iced tea concoction of my youth.

It is recommended to pour 1 part Allmytea concentrate to 6 parts water, but I just usually wing it. What I do is pour a mixture of Allmytea and water 1:2 into a thermos or any long sealable container filled with lots of ice cubes. Then I close it tight and shake it vigorously like Tom Cruise in “Cocktail”. I pour that icy, foamy mixture all into a tall glass with the right amount of cold water and more ice and drop in lots of lemon slices. Ahhhhhhh, that’s what I call an almighty refreshing drink! Take that, summer!

I usually find Allmytea iced tea concentrate at the Landmark Supermarket.

Dim sum Diving in Hong Kong

13 Thursday Sep 2012

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The “ber” months have arrived. And the slightly cooler temperatures get me dreaming about going over to Hong Kong soon for a food trip.

There is no dining destination in Southeast Asia quite as full-on satisfying and culinarily comprehensive as Hong Kong. Last August (appropriately the month of the Chinese Hungry Ghost festival), my friends and I joined the Pinoy Eats World food tour to eat our way through Hong Kong. Although the Philippines and Singapore are great foodie ports of call, they cannot match the wide-ranging diversity and deliciously extensive range and depth of both Chinese and Western cuisines that Hong Kong serves up. From the dingy dai pai dong stalls in Wanchai and yum cha restaurants in Causeway that serve steaming-hot bowls of hand-pulled noodles swimming in broth made from rich mother soup stock that may have been stewing continuously for years to the excellent seafood palaces near the waterfront and the most exciting and even innovative Western restaurants this side of the world.

The term dim sum literally means “point of the heart” because these tasty nibbles were originally intended to be snacks, not main meals, and thus only meant to “touch the heart”. According to Wikipedia, “the unique culinary art of dim sum originated with the Cantonese in Southern China, who over the centuries transformed yum cha from a relaxing respite to a loud and happy dining experience.” And, indeed, our Pinoy Eats World group definitely enjoyed a loud and happy dining experience throughout the length and breadth of that tummy-and-soul-satisfying morning.

Our first foray into our food trip was at the small hilly streets and back alleys of Central. There, among the noodle and dim sum houses along Stanley and Wellington Streets, we went “dim sum diving” — sampling roast goose here, spicy beef brisket there, some Beijing-style mutton xiao long bao here and other specialities there. Yat Lok, Nam Kee, Wang Fu, and Maks — we visited all 4 restaurants, with a walk or a hike in between each restaurant to keep our appetites sharp and at the ready for the next nosh. And yet, we had barely skimmed the surface of the dim sum treasures that this fine city has to offer. That is why I want to go back. Perhaps the next time, I will dive a lot deeper and spend 2 or 3 days exploring the hidden dim sum gems of Hong Kong.

If you are interested in joining a food tour organized by the Pinoy Eats World group headed by JJ Yulo, just click on the link, which should take you to their Facebook page. Aside from Hong Kong, they also do Pampanga, Bangkok, and Turkey.

photos from Kinabuhayan Cafe/B&B

02 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by in Come Taste My Philippines, Flashback

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We came here to Kinabuhayan Café and B&B way back in 2005. Owned by movie production designer and self-taught chef Jay Herrera, it is one of the destinations of the Viaje del Sol art and culture tour of the Southern Tagalog region. It is located in the Herrera family’s ancestral estate and sits at the toe of sacred Mt. Banahaw.

The second photo shows a 3-storey treehouse built on and around a tall and ancient sampaloc (tamarind) tree. It’s so high up, the mountain breezes provide free-flowing natural air-conditioning while you snooze!

You can tell by the offbeat arrangement of artwork and decorative objects that you are in a very creative space. No corner is left unimagined or artistically put together. A broken blue vase half sunk in a duck pond. Mountain breezes play music on the wood and metal chimes which hang from every cabana. Ornately carved wooden chairs and tables usually found indoors are set out in the open.

We stayed in two cabanas — the ground level area has only 3 walls. What should be the 4th wall is left open. A room-sized net provided the buffer from mosquitos while allowing the mountain night air blow cool and fresh. No TV, no phones or cable (I’m not sure if Jay provides wifi now) – just the pets and other creatures and your traveling companions to provide entertainment. Each cabana has its own ensuite toilet and bath, which has no roof. In the morning, the sun shines right through while you take your shower and other ablutions.

If you wish to stay overnight, you can. For FREE! Simply pay for the day’s 3 meals – lunch, dinner and breakfast, which Jay prepares himself. Each meal costs around P500.

The food Jay creates and serves are singular in every way, using locally-grown ingredients. He made us a fantastic dinner with tricolore pastas made up of Penne Arrabiatta (with hot chillis fresh-picked from the Kinabuhayan garden) + Spinach Fettucine with Laing as sauce (Laing is a classic Southern Tagalog dish made of gabi or taro leaves and stalks cooked in fresh gata or coconut cream and chilli) + Fresh Papaya Salad that looks like pasta but is actually made of sweet and semi-ripe (manibalang) papaya fruit, shredded and topped with salsa. He even makes his own desserts like this one that we had: Sweet yam (camote) – baked, caramelized, and diced – topped with fresh coconut cream and chocolate sauce. Accompanied with wafer-thin
crisp camote chips! And the breakfasts are simply hearty and wonderful.

To contact Jay Herrera, you may call or text him at +63916.2215791

Flashback to Kinabuhayan B&B and Cafe

29 Wednesday Aug 2012

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By the end of 2012, the Multiply community site will be closing down. Which means we members will lose all our posts, photos, albums, blogs, etc IF we don’t back them up now. As in now na now na! Since there are precious memories and special experiences chronicled in that site that I simply do not want to lose, I am reposting some of my favorite pieces here, starting with my trip with the family to the town of Dolores in Quezon province one weekend in May of 2005. We stayed at…

Kinabuhay B&B and Cafe, owned by production designer Jay Herrera and his friend Winston Herrera. Here was my original piece about it:

It’s not at all your typical touristic B&B. Of course, each cabana — or kubo, if you will — has its own ensuite toilet & bath and a loft as sleeping quarters, complete with mosquito net. You can even choose to stay in the 2-storey treehouse! But don’t expect the usual “hotel” amenities like air-conditioning, etc. Think RUSTIC, although I did hear that they now have cable TV in each cabana. There was no such thing when we were last there. Kinabuhayan is for people who don’t mind roughing it a little (just a little) and are open to taking in unfilteredly clean and cool mountain air and communing with the great outdoors (and its denizens, too, if you’re “open” enough). It can be as close to nature as you can get, albeit comfortably. If you are open to trying the place, I suggest you bring insect repellent, though, unless you want to be THAT close to nature and have bites to prove it. Don’t worry, there are mosquito nets provided in each kubo, whether you like to sleep up in the loft or downstairs in the veranda/lounge area. And you will sleep. Soundly, deeply. The dark of night is very dark. And you cannot help but be lulled by the slumberous sound of swaying bamboo trees that surround you.

But the “roughing it” is more than compensated by the amazingly delicious gourmet meals that Jay Herrera whips up from his own secret recipes. He describes his dishes as “Pinoy food with a European twist”. This was the first place I had discovered the delicious combination of pasta with classic Laing (fresh taro/camote leaves cooked in spicy, coconut-creamy sauce)! And breakfast? OMG, the breakfasts! Divine!!! So good that even if you’re not a breakfast person, you’ll eat it all up, especially if you intend to go hiking, trekking, exploring, photographing, biking, jogging, etc.

The hostel looks pretty plain and ordinary outside. But inside, it’s like entering another world. Unstudied bohemian. Quaint in an offbeat, very artistic way. Faded photographs of family. Antique chairs and tables and decor. Imaginative and well-selected dinner ware. A broken blue vase lying on the pond. Ducks and dogs strutting aimlessly everywhere. And especially at night, the place feels as mystical and mysterious as the magic mountain of Banahaw that it looks up at. Do not be perturbed if you hear footsteps and laughter in the dark and find no one there. Just say “good evening” to the darkness and go back to sleep.

“You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?”

To this day, Mt. Banahaw is still closed to trekkers and pilgrims. It has been closed and guarded since 2004. To help the mountain cleanse itself and heal from the desecration, destruction, and indignities wrought by negligent, irresponsible, disrespectful, and litterbug visitors. But we did manage to get to the “first level” at the foot of this mystical place, which remains open to the public. It is called Santa Lucia. One just has to climb up and down the 259 steps that have been roughly and unevenly carved onto the mountain to get to the streams. Hell on the thighs and calves, but my mother (who was 78 back then and considered the oldest city-lady to make the arduous trek) managed it, with the help of a swig from water drawn from Santa Lucia’s springs every now and then. The people at the entrance to the mountain applauded my Mom when she finally took her final step onto level ground at her return from Santa Lucia, unscathed and unfatigued.

I did discover, to my dismay though, that my photographs of the various puestos (sacred prayer spots) were all blanked out, except for one. I remember the Banahaw people who watched me take shots had looked at each other knowingly but I just shrugged it off as the indulgent amusement of rural folk. Now I know they knew something I didn’t.