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==Authentic HK Dimsum, Half-Price!== | |||
*Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/357457/authentic-hk-dimsum-halfprice | |||
*April 19, 2012, 10:05am | |||
:by SOL VANZI | |||
MANILA, Philippines — In the '60s and '70s, there was only one place outside of Chinatown for Manila dimsum lovers: Kowloon House on A. Mabini, Ermita, just off the corner of Herran (now Pedro Gil). The selection was limited: but it was the only show in town. The short dimsum menu listed siopao (asado or bola-bola), siomai, hakaw (shrimp dumpling), shark’s fin, beef balls, wugok (fried taro balls filled with chicken and mushrooms) and custard tart for dessert. | |||
Filipino Chinese businessmen, many born in Mainland China, often flew to Hong Kong for weekend R & R, to visit girlfriends or relatives. Highlighting their trips were dimsum binges at the ground floor restaurant of the Luk Kwok Hotel in Wanchai, setting for the Richard Mason novel that inspired the movie “World of Suzie Wong.” | |||
MANILA’S AUTHENTIC HK DIMSUM -- Today, there is no need to fly to Hong Kong to feast on a vast selection of authentic Chinese dimsum. Nor do we have to negotiate the narrow streets and no-parking areas of Binondo’s Chinatown. Families and friends now gather for traditional Sunday reunions, or weekday meals, at the Golden Bay Seafood Restaurant on Diosdado Macapagal Avenue off Roxas Boulevard. | |||
Not only do they enjoy the food, there’s the convenience of guarded parking spaces, and the assurance of enough tables, chairs and rooms capable of handling small, medium or large gatherings. | |||
A family of 10 would need several Sunday reunions to taste everything on the Golden Bay’s dimsum menu, which lists 81 varieties. China-trained Chef Hui Chun Yuk, better known to diners and staff as Chef Ben, prepares all the iconic dumplings (siomai, hakaw), steamed buns (chicken pao), rice (machang), congee, steamed pig knuckle and tripe (goto), among others. | |||
TRADITION AND INNOVATION – In addition to the familiar dishes, Golden Bay’s menu also carries dozens of dimsums incorporating non-traditional ingredients, which surprisingly blend perfectly with dimsum cuisine. | |||
Succulently reminiscent of the ocean are the uncommon Yuan Yang Dumplings, filled with fish fillet and topped with deep orange crab roe. Each dumpling, glistening in the steamer, is accented with a whole baby abalone. How many can claim to have eaten, or even seen, whole baby abalone? | |||
The small abalone comes from the clear blue waters of the Pacific, where fishermen from Aurora province pluck them from rocks and keep them iced for delivery to Golden Bay’s purchasing officer Joseph Wong. | |||
Joseph travels from extreme northern Luzon to the waters of Sulu Sea off Tawi-Tawi in search of marine products for the restaurant and for export. His knowledge extends beyond the harvests’ economic value; like an artist, he collaborates with Chef Ben in creating new dishes, transforming and reshaping the sea’s bounty to produce spectacular tasty delights. | |||
MINI BEGGAR’S CHICKEN – Golden Bay has a greaseless version of the common Machang (sticky rice, sausage, pork and mushrooms). Glutinous Rice with Chicken come as rectangular, single-serving packets of sticky rice layered with a filling of chicken, mushrooms and seasonings wrapped in lotus leaf. | |||
The heady aroma of chicken and mushrooms wafts as soon as the lotus leaf is opened. Unwrapped, the contents resemble a rice sandwich. The flavors are complex yet complementary, much like Beggar’s Chicken which was the inspiration for the dish. Imported Chinese dried lotus leaves impart smoky and earthy undertones which could not be duplicated if one used other leaves, such as banana or pandan. | |||
I took home a few pieces, kept them in the fridge overnight. The next morning, they were unwrapped and pan-fried until toasty crisp on the outside. Heavenly! | |||
GIGANTIC HAKAW – The regular bamboo steamer basket is hardly big enough for one order of Hakaw, which are definitely the biggest shrimp dumplings I’ve ever seen. The wrapper alone is worthy of note: shiny, transparent as cellophane, quivering in the rising steam. Inside are several pink shrimp, firm to the bite and with a texture implying they’ve never been frozen. | |||
“It is not a secret; to ensure quality tasting food, we make sure that we have fresh quality ingredients daily,” emphasizes Chef Ben. | |||
EXTRA-ORDINARY SIAO LONG – There is a unique system to eating Siao Long, lovingly described by experts as “soup in a dumpling,” one of the trickiest dumplings to assemble. | |||
Carefully, the dumpling is lifted to one’s mouth, making sure the skin stays intact. A small bite near the top would then allow the diner to slurp the juices before attacking the rest of the piece, composed of minced lean pork and herbs. | |||
As with the other Golden Bay dumplings, Siao Long dumplings are large, and take at least three bites to finish. The pork filling is so lean there is no hint of greasiness or oil either in the filling or the “soup” inside its wrapping. | |||
STEAMED GOTO – One item very few ever cook at home is tripe; even the most avid kitchen lover loses patience with the hours required to clean, soak, stew and simmer to make this animal part edible. Cooked well, though, tripe, or goto, is beyond description. | |||
Golden Bay’s Steamed Goto is a dish that looks deceptively simple; this impression quickly disappears with the first bite, which bathes the mouth with indescribable richness. To enjoy the dish fully, one should chew very slowly, savoring the nuances of dozens of herbs the tripe was simmered in. A few slivers of fresh green and red chili peppers enliven the meat, elevating the experience to sensuous heights. | |||
CONGEES AND OTHERS – Like many Hong Kong residents, I got used to congee breakfast, teamed with salty stuff. At Golden Bay, my favorite congee partners are Rice Roll with Abalone Sauce and Radish Cake with XO Sauce and Crispy Dried Scallops. | |||
The Rice Rolls are Ho-Fan, or sheets of steamed ground rice batter rolled and bathed in thick Abalone Sauce. The Radish Cake is cubed, fried, bathed in sauce and covered with a thick layer of crisp shreds of fried dried imported scallops. How’s that for decadent? | |||
Of course, one should not miss what we call Pata Tim, listed on the menu as Steamed Pig Knuckle with Preserved Beancurd. Melt-in-the-mouth pig trotters come with bone marrow that’s to die for, stewed in cubes of preserved beancurd which we call tahure. This is a welcome twist from the ordinary stew using salted black beans or tausi; it’s complex in flavor and more authentic. Makes one want to pour it over plain steamed rice. | |||
CHEAPER THAN FASTFOOD – The Golden Bay’s dimsum menu regular prices are lower by half compared to dishes of the same quality in five-star hotels. This summer, there is an ongoing promo that is offering 50% off the regular dimsum prices. | |||
Bottomline? Golden Bay’s authentic Hong Kong dimsum are now discounted to only P63 to P75 per order. This is definitely cheaper than most fastfood outlets considering the larger servings and superior quality. | |||
“We are not after profits. Our aim is authenticity, pleasant ambience and to bring Hong Kong dimsum to Manila at prices that will be more affordable for more people,” Joseph Wong says, laying out the goals of the country’s premier dimsum destination. | |||
==Roperos: Cost of living pains== | |||
*Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/opinion/2012/04/18/roperos-cost-living-pains-216824 | |||
*Wednesday, April 18, 2012 | |||
:by Godofredo M. Roperos | |||
Politics also | |||
YESTERDAY, there was a story in this daily about the city’s waterworks system being the subject of complaints by some subscribers who suddenly found their water faucets dry. They realized that the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) had interrupted its services to repair pipe leakage in some parts of the city. | |||
Of course, the subscribers failed to realize that what they experienced was one of the hazards of urban living. It is the way we live today that sometimes subjects us to certain discomforts. | |||
When I was still a kid in the countryside, I often went with my grandfather to his farm about three kilometers away from the poblacion. There was a concrete tank on a promontory overlooking his cornfield. The Tangke was the source of the piped water to the houses in the poblacion. | |||
No wonder the water turned brackish when there was heavy rain, and we were warned not to drink the water when it was brackish. Then, when it was election season, I remember candidates promising to improve our water system so we would not get sick when the water would turn brackish. | |||
Many years later, when I started covering the rural areas from Aparri of the Cagayan Valley in the north, to Tawi-tawi in the Muslim country of the far south, I realized how gravely had water grown to be a national problem. This despite efforts of government to initiate various projects to provide water in our communities. | |||
But then only recently, there was the typhoid outbreak in Tuburan that was generally blamed on water. It really seemed as if the problem of providing safe water source to our rural communities would drag on across the years as a continuing problem seeking solution. This is, of course, one of the basic political issues that our government is constantly challenged, just like the problem of power and the environment. | |||
Not very long ago, our drainage canal was unable to function effectively. Imagine my surprise one morning when we awoke with rainwater flooding our ground-floor. Since rain went on for days, water also stayed on in our ground floor, until we sought the help of the mayor who had the highway drainage canal cleared of debris and plastic waste. | |||
Now, it is my power bill that I am concerned with. But my request to Cebeco III to change my power meter has not been heeded in the past two months. With the cost of living having gone up, even the cost of kitchen gas going up a thousand pesos a tank, we pray that our basic services suppliers would listen to our appeal for help. But then, the contemporary existence is something we can no more avoid than we can climate change. It is a reality of our present urban existence that we just have to suffer through, and coyly live with. | |||
==Tawi-Tawi peace council convened to address Sitangkai conflict== | |||
*Source: http://www.zambotimes.com/archives/46406-Tawi-Tawi-peace-council-convened-to-address-Sitangkai-conflict.html | |||
*Tuesday, April 17. 2012 | |||
:by (PNA) | |||
LAP/FMS/mec | |||
ZAMBOANGA CITY — Governor Hadji Sadikul Sahali has convened the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) to settle a clan war in that otherwise peaceful province in Southeestern Philippines. | |||
Sahali, who chairs the PPOC, said that his agenda in convening the council was to address the armed conflict between two groups in the Municipality of Sitangkai that has been reportedly escalating. | |||
The PPOC chairman has directed the Police Provincial Director Sr. Supt. Rodelio Jocson to provide him with regular updates on the situation in the area. | |||
Initially, Jocson confirmed that there has been armed engagement between the two warring factions, which were not identified. | |||
However, he said that the groups have agreed on a ceasefire and settlement of the conflict is under negotiation. | |||
He also said that the peace and order situation in the Province of Tawi-Tawi is manageable and there is no cause for alarm. | |||
In the same manner, Task Force 62 Commander, Navy Captain Renato Yongque also said that Tawi-Tawi in its entirety is peaceful, “that is why there is no military movement,” he stressed. | |||
Yongque also cited that the military has made changes in its approach and has adopted the so-called “Internal Peace and Security Plan or the Bayanihan,” composed of teams of selected soldiers to help work for peace in the community. | |||
Meanwhile, Sahali said that the conflict in Sitangkai between the two groups is purely a clan war, which is normally occurring in the province and elsewhere. | |||
He stressed his optimism that such conflict could be addressed soon, just like incidents of the same nature that have already occurred in the past but were given solutions. | |||
“We have peace in Tawi-Tawi, and we will protect that peace,” the governor stressed. | |||
==Rescued== | ==Rescued== | ||
*Source: http://www.tawitawi.net/rescued/ | *Source: http://www.tawitawi.net/rescued/ | ||