Panaderia Dimas-alang

Blast from the past! I've been thinking of dropping by the Panaderia Dimas-alang in Pasig for some time now. I've been hankering for two items from there that I remember eating as a child--pan bonete (bonnet- or bell-shaped "dinner" rolls) and brown bread. I don't know why I suddenly wanted to have a taste of them again now. I just felt like it. But I haven't had the chance to go to Pasig because I live a little farther from the area these days. And when I did get a chance to swing by the area, there's always a build up of traffic along Mabini St. (where the bakery's been located all these decades).

I finally got my chance today (Sunday). Good timing--no traffic and it was generally a nice day. Turns out, my good timing extended to the hour I arrived at the bakery--it was 1:00pm and the pan bonete had just come out of the ovens! When I arrived home, Mom told me that this bread is usually ready at that time of the day (and really early in the morning too, but that batch runs out quickly). Nothing like an longtime, old town bakery to still come out with freshly baked breads and pastries at the same time every day for the last 87 years. It's very comforting.

Mom and Dad used to buy my brothers and I pan bonete, brown bread, pionono (mini jelly rolls) and old style ensaimada on a regular basis, always freshly baked. Mom's favorite was the pan bonete and it became my favorite too. It's great warm and just dabbed with a little butter. Heavenly! Any bread that's freshly baked is a joy to eat. My favorite part, though, is the chewy-crusty flat bottom--I would eat a piece of the pan bonete by taking a bite off the top and working my way down until I'm left with the flat circular bottom crust. Then I'd spread a bit more butter on it and relish it to the last bite! *sigh*

The brown bread and pionono were memorable as well. There was something about the texture of brown bread that appealed to me. As a kid, I think I liked it because it had a lot more dimension of flavors and textures to it than just regular bread--it wasn't bland and had just a hint of sweetness that wasn't quite sugary (I was, and still am not, much of a sweet tooth anyway), the mouthfeel had just the right balance of moistness and dryness which made for an interesting texture. Each slice was thick and heavy, and it smelled great too.

Though I liked it as well, the pionono (which the bakery labels, until today, as "pianono,") was my least favorite of the three because it was just too sweet for my taste. I liked the sponge cake, but wasn't so hot about the sweet jelly that was rolled into it. The name used to crack me up too because I couldn't figure out what inspired them to name this pastry after a musical instrument.

I couldn't wait to get home to taste the pan bonete so I swiped one piece from the two dozens I bought and ate it on the drive home. Wonderful! It still tasted just as I remember it. When I got home, I had one slice of brown bread. I bought a pack of pionono as well but haven't open it yet. (It can wait...)

Maybe this little expedition wasn't just about the bread and pastries of Panaderia Dimas-alang. Maybe I was feeling nostalgic about my childhood too. But why that? And why now? Malalaman na lang natin. Then again, it could be just one of those wala lang moments. In any case, I'll be enjoying my goodies now. So, excuse me. :-)

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Wild Turkey Surpriiise!

No, this isn't one of those meals Bugs Bunny prepared for the Tasmanian Devil (dynamite-stuffed turkey, to be exact). It's just what I call those maskipaps meals--recreating leftovers or odds and ends using whatever ingredients are available.

So there was leftover crab from the crab relleno I made the other day. Turns out I had leftover clams, mussels, prawns and squid from the paella as well (they couldn't fit into the paella anymore). There was obviously a meal in there, waiting to be made. :-) Too bad I was out of taba ng talangka (aligue or crab "roe")--that would have made for a really tasty seafood dish. But much as I wanted to run over to Violex at Farmer's Market to grab a bottle of fresh, pure aligue, I just steeled myself and looked at what was in the cupboards and fridge to see what I could use.

A can of crushed tomatoes made me think that maybe a seafood dish cooked a la sopa de mariscos could probably work. That, plus lots of garlic, some onions, bell peppers, a little sugar and lemon juice. Not bad. You don't have to steam your seafood in white wine as I did, but I must say it enhances the flavor by a few notches. My food styling and photography skills have yet to be honed to perfection. You'll just have to trust me when I say that this dish tasted really good. :-)


Seafood Medley

about a kilo of assorted seafood (crabs, clams, mussels, squid, prawns or shrimp, fish, scallops)
white wine (or water with sea salt)
olive oil
1 head of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, minced
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
about 1/2 can crushed tomatoes
about1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
enough water to make a sauce (not soup)
some lemon or calamansi juice
salt and pepper to taste
flat-leaf parsley, chopped
toasted garlic bits

1) Steam seafood in white wine or water with sea salt. Once cooked, set aside.
2) Heat oil. Saute garlic and onion until soft.
3) Add bell pepper. Saute until soft.
4) Add tomatoes, sugar and water. (The sauce should only have a hint of sweetness.) Simmer to blend flavors.
5) Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, as needed.
6) Add the cooked seafood and stir slightly to cover seafood in sauce. Cover and allow to cook for one minute.
7) Transfer to a platter. Garnish with chopped parsley and toasted garlic bits. Serve with hot, steamed rice.

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Practical "Crab Mentality?"

crab relleno
Originally uploaded by Foodfarer.

I had this brilliant (haha) idea for paella. Of course traditionalists will probably cringe at this. But I thought it was a pretty practical thing to do at the time.

You see, I celebrated a birthday recently and decided to make pancit (for long life) and seafood paella (because I felt like it). I served pancit bihon at home. (I like making my own pancit because I like it with a lot more sahog. But that’s another story.)

I decided to make paella for the girls at work because they haven’t tasted my paella yet. Since we don’t have a formal pantry at the office, it would be too complicated and messy to actually eat whole or even cut-up crabs—which I like to have on my paella—on our desks. So I decided to just make crab relleno and use those instead of whole crabs.

I used alimasag (blue crabs), steamed them in white wine, separated the shells and cleaned them. I didn’t bother flaking the crab meat and bought lump crab meat instead. I just cut the crabs’ bodies in half and froze them along with the claws for another seafood dish. Of course, I could have just sprinkled crab meat on the rice, or made crab cakes or croquettes. But I wanted the crab shells to still be part of the whole design of the dish. Well, it worked! (In fact, we liked it so much that I decided to make crab relleno to serve at home this time.)

Too bad I forgot to take a picture of the paella. We had all devoured it before I remembered to take a shot. Oh well. Won’t be the last time I’ll make paella.

Crab Relleno (stuffed crab shells)

alimasag (blue crabs)
white wine
olive oil
lump crab meat
scant garlic, minced
scant onion, minced
scant red bell pepper, minced
scant carrots, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
1 egg, whisked
cooking oil

1) Clean the crabs, then steam in white wine.
2) Heat olive oil and add garlic and onion. Saute until onion is soft.
3) Add carrots and peppers. Saute until soft.
4) Add the crab meat and mix. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
5) Taste the mixture and adjust seasoning as needed. Let cool.
6) Stuff the crab meat mixture into the crab shells. Brush the stuffing with egg (or, if you don't have a brush, use a spoon to drizzle the egg onto the stuffing.)
7) Heat oil (about 1 to 2 inches deep) in a wok. Cook stuffed crab shells in hot oil, stuffed side down, until the egg forms a layer to seal the stuffing in. Serve.

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"You Poke It, You Own It." Oh Really?

That's probably one of the statements that's offending some people in that series of Miller Lite ads. I think it’s because, after a while, it tends to sound sleazy, especially since they repeat that statement a few more times in the ad—to the point that, after a while, you start to think maybe they’re not referring to beer bottles anymore. You start thinking, “Is it me, or are they now referring to women?”

That’s the kind of thinking feminists all over the world have been trying to discourage all these decades—emphasizing that women and their bodies are not properties to be owned by other people (men OR women). Perhaps that is why some groups are now reacting indignantly towards those ads. It’s become quite a touchy issue, I’m told.

As for me, the “you poke it, you own it” line made me cringe a little. But not as bad as the Napoleon Brandy billboard’s “Nakatikim ka na ba ng kinse anyos?” copy two years ago. (Now that was really offensive.) The Man Laws concept of the Miller Lite ads? In general, they are a little funny and amusing but they don't hold my interest for long. After a while, and after seeing a few other versions, the whole concept began to sound tired already. But as long as this Man Law concept is not taken seriously, and that kids don’t take it to heart, I think things are going to be okay.

The question is, are the beer-drinking consumers responding positively to the ads? (I understand they’re being shown at the NBA playoffs.) They're advertising a light beer. Manly men, I think, don't drink light beers as much as they do regular varieties. So they're macho-fying the product now. Assuming it's the so-called metrosexuals who are drinking the light version, what do they think about the product now that it is trying to be more macho? What do the so-called macho men think about this? And will these efforts translate to higher sales for the product?

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