an apple with mango taste or a mango that looks like an apple in appearance, whatever..
We used to have an apple mango tree in front of our house when I was a kid. My father planted the tree and I guess he had a green thumb that even when the tree was very young, it already bears a lot of fruit. At that time, it was always noticed by neighborhood and passers by because of its fruit with pinkish and apple like color.
We love the apple mango tree but not the fruit. We were not really interested to harvest because we don’t like the taste at all. Yes, we eat, but it’s not our favorite fruit, as we find it dull for our taste bud.
It was just some years ago when we decided to cut down the tree as the old folks said that it gave us bad luck based from Feng Shui, and that a sour tree is never good planted in front of the house. if only I could turn back the time, I wouldn’t have let them cut the tree. Poor tree, my children would have enjoyed the fruit and the shade would have provided a cooler temperature especially during summer.
The taste of apple mango gives me a different taste like a medicinal herb. I would always prefer a ripe carabao mango. However when unripe, I liked it better as it isn’t as sour as carabao. I can eat it without shrimp paste or salt.
A few days ago, I bought a kilo of apple mango. Surprisingly, I like the taste now. Do taste buds change? I guess, yes! I find it sweeter now just as much as carabao.
I usually buy fruits that are only common to us like mango, water melon and orange. When I buy a certain fruit like kiwi, passion fruit and dragon fruit, that means I only crave to buy a piece or two and not because it is included in our diet. Dragon and kiwi are kind of expensive and thought that I could get all the vitamins from other fruits that give the same nutrients.
When I watched a documentary show that features dragon fruit, I listed down dragon fruit in my supermarket list. I thought about the many benefits we would get from this fruit. It has little black edible seeds inside like kiwi fruit, sweet and crunchy. It is low in calories and rich in nutrients like Vitamin C, phosphorus, calcium, plus fiber and antioxidants.
While touring around Baguio, we stopped by at vendors selling fruits and vegetables. It was my first time to see Passion Fruit and this fruit is really strange to me. My friend Joy, knowing the benefits of this fruit, bought a kilo and had me tasted it. It is juicy with numerous black seeds inside, hollow yet crunchy. I could say it is exotic, sweet yet sour in taste.
Passiflora edulis (Passion Fruit) is a vine species of passion flower that is native to Brazil, Paraguay and northern Argentina. Its common names include passion fruit (UK and US), passionfruit (Australia and New Zealand), and purple granadilla (South Africa). In the Philippines passion fruit is commonly sold in public markets and in public schools. Some vendors sell the fruit with a straw to enable sucking out of the seeds and juices inside. It is not very popular because of its sour flavour, and the fruit is very seasonal. Source: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
There are a lot more benefits of passion fruit. All parts are used including the leaves, flowers, peels, stems and passion fruits. The passion fruit contains phytochemicals. The juice especially the leaves contain the alkaloids that lower blood pressure, as sedative and as antispasmodic. The leaves are used for medicinal purposes while the flowers has sedative effects that can induce sleep.
How was your school break? Ours is awesome. We spent our semestral vacation at Casa San Pablo together with Mendiola family. Indeed, the reviews that we read from other families who have stayed in the resort were all excellent. These families all came home very relaxed and energized. Our children enjoyed the activities a lot, which they said were unforgettable and they never experienced in other vacation.
Casa San Pablo offers a lot of fun activities. Native cooking demo, Clay Art Making and Camp Adobo Bonfire are some of the resort’s sem-break activities lined up not only for the children but adults as well.
During the native cooking demo, the children participated and were very eager to know of the past and how the coconut became favorite as basic ingredient of Laguna dishes. The kids showed interest during the whole session. There’s also a Native Cooking Tour at Lake Pandin but our time prevented us to do so. In Lake Pandin Tour, you may choose hands-on or educational cooking tour and will experience to harvest fresh shrimps and fishes like tilapia and bakuli, then cook in traditional way.
Before we proceeded to native cooking demo, the owner of the resort, An Alcantara shared the rich history of San Pablo and the story about the coconut.
The setting where the cooking took place is quite like my old hometown with typical Filipino kitchen. We cooked Adobo sa Gata, Kulawo and Pinaltok.
You could tell by the photos above that they were happy but it was the experience in native cooking demo that make them the happiest.
Adobo sa Gata‘s main ingredients: coconut cream, chicken, dahon ng
sili, dried kamyas.
Pinaltok or
glutinous rice balls: coconut milk, tapioca and jackfruit for added flavor.
And here are the native dishes with coconut as the main ingredient that we cooked that day.
Adobo sa Gata
Pinaltok
Kulawo
Casa San Pablo is a B & B resort at the heart of Laguna. The place is perfect for family getaway, retreat, reunion, wedding, anniversary celebration or just traveling alone for me-time.
The owners, Boots and An Alcantara run Casa San Pablo as husband and wife team. Boots is an avid art collector while An is a magazine writer and editor.
Each room has different themes and can accommodate small or large group.
They got their inspiration during their travels in Europe and other countries.
How Casa San Pablo started.
From a day resort called “Kay Inay” Boots decided to put up his own country inn inside Gomez compound, a family compound where Boots grew up. He built the first six rooms together with his friends using an old house in Quezon. They rebuilt the house using antique items, doors, windows, old flat irons. Every piece in bedrooms in Casa San Pablo has different pieces of art. Casa San Pablo can accommodate 130 guests. There are rooms that can accommodate 2 to 4 people, 8 people, 16 people and more. The price for overnight package is quite affordable including 3 meals, (lunch, dinner and breakfast). Check the website for the rate.
What to do at Casa San Pablo?
Check out this video I provided below. The video below is from Casa San Pablo.
For more photos during our vacation, please click here.
I suggest that you book now for early Christmas vacation. Don’t go far to smell the fresh pine trees this coming season. Casa San Pablo is just an hour and few minutes away from Manila.
Casa San Pablo
Barrio San Roque, San Pablo City, Laguna Philippines
It was my first encounter with this kind of delicacy, Inutak. It was unusual to me but I bought one box when the lady offered a slice or a small part to taste and my initial taste was great, not too sweet and sticky. I didn’t bother to ask the lady anymore why it is called Inutak because obviously when you eat it, it’s like eating a very soft creamy brains (excuse me for the term, but it really looks like brain).
While we we’re waiting for our order at Casa Reyes Restaurant, we ate a portion of Inutak and my two tasters couldn’t stop and almost finished the pack. Only half was left before our ordered food came so we took home only a portion of this delicacy.
Eating Inutak while waiting. Dessert comes first.
What is Inutak?
Inutak originally came from Taguig from Kristina’s Inutak perfected recipe, a recipe from their great grandparents but just improved and flavored. It is made from “galapong” with coconut cream (gata), baked with charcoal fire. Others want it while still hot but I preferred eating it cold or set hours on the ref. We tasted the other half the next day from the ref. It tastes real good. We had Vanilla and Ube Macapuno Ice Cream that day but we weren’t aware that it’s also good for toppings. I only knew it when I made a little research and they all agreed that Inutak is perfect with Vanilla Ice Cream.
Well it all depends on your taste bud. You can also have Inutak with Salabat or Coffee on the side. It is so nakakaumay if you eat it plain. Two thumbs up to the owner of this recipe for making this perfect kakanin. I might be over rating Inutak but I may simply say it tastes best for me like Macapuno and Bilo-bilo. It tastes no different as they have the same ingredients, just improved and presented with creamy toppings.
We love the apple mango tree but not the fruit. We were not really interested to harvest because we don’t like the taste at all. Yes, we eat, but it’s not our favorite fruit, as we find it dull for our taste bud.
