ARE YOU "OKOY"?

Have you ever been in a tight situation where money is a big issue and yet you crave for food that satisfies your hunger? Look no further! 
THE OKOY! 

As they say simplicity is beauty, and there is nothing more beautiful and simple than the okoy. It is a blend of flour, egg and shrimp with potato fritters and fried to a golden brown crisp. I have never had a better meal on a budget than this. The humble okoy though its simplicity is full of flavor. Best paired with our very own "puso" and a cold bottle of mountain dew. Now doesn't that make your mouth water just a little bit? It may be simple yet elegant in flavor.

"BISTEK" IS THE BEST

Bistek Tagalog is a strips of sirloin beef slowly cooked in soy sauce, calamansi juice, and onions. Since it is a Filipino dish, we used calamansi instead of lemon, we put a lot of calamansi and onions to have a unique and delicious taste.

Bistek is very typical to Filipino families because of its mouth-watering taste.

 As for my family, this dish was one of our Sunday lunch traditions. This happens to be one of my favorite dishes. My mom and my sister prepares this dish for us. I remembered hating this dish when I was young and until now because I didn't like the pieces of the meat that get stuck in between my teeth, but I don’t regret eating this amazing dish because it is delicious, I could say that it satisfied my cravings  for the traditional Sunday lunch bistek. 

IT'S GOOD TO "GOTO"

The "GOTO", this dish is a different version of the Cebuano which is called  "LUGAW" or “ARROZ CALDO”. Instead of using chicken, which cebuanos use, they use beef because "GOTO" means beef tripe in Tagalog. It is also one of the main ingredients of the delicious "congee". In my childhood days my mom cooks lugaw during the siesta time. I always look forward to eating lugaw  when I wake up after my nap.

It was so delightful and I often ask myself how does a simple "lugaw" taste so good? I found out that it is mixed with spices, a wonderful chopped batch of spring onions, a salted egg which adds color to the lugaw and an aromatic spoonful of fried garlic, and if you would want to add more flavor my mom always says add garlic oil. It was mouthwatering every spoonful I took was bouncing with flavor and the creaminess of the rice feels good on the tongue. My sisters would run to me and ask for my bowl, but I would never share it. I may look selfish but i couldn't resist taking it all for myself. MY afternoon would always be perfect when I would have my mom's siesta time GOTO.

THE COLLAGENOUS "CALLOS"

Before, I never had the guts to eat or even just taste callos because of the way it looked and how it was cooked. Some callos also had a weird smell, like a dish almost at its expiration. I also couldn't stand the orange color of it. But everything changed, when one day my dad brought take away from his event, and it was callos.  I didn't want to disappoint my dad so I tried eating it, AND IT WAS AMAZING! I never knew beef skin and fat or what we called a beef tripe could taste that amazing. My palate was exploding with flavors. 

I had to figure out what I was eating.  My brain was thinking about “balbacua”,  which seemed like it was true at first,  but then I bit into the soft beef skin, which my dad explained to me was called "LIBRO" when you buy it at the market. I had a wonderful time eating it and I ate the whole take away, leaving no trace of a single callos dish. Every time I eat callos I always remember my dad, and how we spent time together eating this wonderful flavorsome dish.