St. Jerome Church
Morong, Rizal
St. Joseph Church
Baras. Rizal
St. Peter of Alcantara Parish Church
Pakil, Laguna
St. John the Baptist Church
Liliw, Laguna
Our breakfast, lunch, and dinner were served on the bus, so no food trips for this pilgrimage, but, when we arrived in Liliw, we were given ample time to explore the Gat Tayaw street. It was there that we spent a lot of time checking different shops, but we also got to buy a few food items in Pakil. Some of the foods we took home are:
It was in Pakil where we ate lunch, and because we would walk to the pool after eating, some ambulant vendors offered different goods. Since we just finished lunch, some of our companions were craving for fruits, and seeing vendor selling the fruit, some inquired and ordered. Well, it was very cheap at 30 pesos per kilo, so we bought two kilos. Some fruits were red, the others were yellow, and although the yellow ones didn't look good, those were actually the sweeter and juicier ones.
Espasol is a native delicacy made from rice flour cooked in coconut milk and sweetened coconut strips, dusted with toasted rice flour. Typically, tourists are discouraged from buying this food item from ambulant vendors because some packaging would look big, but it was all paper inside (very little espasol), but because the vendor opened one pack and offered free tasting, we were encouraged to buy from him. This was one of the best espasol we have tried... if we see this product with the same label, we would definitely buy again.
While roaming the stretch of Gat Tayaw street in Liliw, I saw a 7-Eleven branch and immediately craved for Slurpee. Unfortunately, they ran out of Slurpee, but just outside, we saw some young ladies selling fern. We do love to eat this as a salad, but because this was difficult to buy in nearby marketplaces, we decided to buy a big bunch worth 50 pesos. I will share our salad on the next post.
While buying the fern, some vendors asked if wanted to buy snails and talangka (small shore crabs). Talangka has a lot of cholesterol and it would be difficult to take them home, so we opted to buy these snails instead. Mom cooked them in coconut milk the next day, and it was so delicious!!!
Literally meaning "white cheese," Kesong Puti is a soft, unaged, white cheese made from unskimmed carabao's milk, salt, and rennet. Comparable to cottage cheese, kesong puti has a soft close texture and slight salty taste. We don't normally eat this kind of cheese because we find it expensive, but buying the fern, we thought it would be great to add some kesong puti on our salad, or find other recipes to try with this product.
We also bought footwear in Liliw as well as some Budin (cassava cake) for afternoon snacks, but I wasn't able to photograph my budin. I hope the parish would organize another visita iglesia; not only was it a great way to visit churches and offer prayers, it was also a good way to learn about the town's history and culture.
I come from a family who loves cooking and eating. I never had any formal training in cooking and that I taught myself how to cook based on the handed down recipes, but I could say that I can cook good food. In 2008, I started documenting my food trips for my