Way Down South.

Besides going to Boracay in 2006, this was the only time I get to ride a plane and leave Luzon. Davao was extremely beautiful. The air was clean, people were extra kind and nice and Samal Island was a real sight for sore eyes. Forgive me, I haven’t done this for a while but hey, let’s start with the food.

You can’t visit Davao without trying some durian (good thing you can’t smell ‘em now, right?). On the second day of our trip, we went snorkeling in Talikod island and getting there required you to get on boat. After getting to Coral Park and done with a little snorkeling, John, my cousin was given a big piece of durian. The boatman insist that John eat some since it will be his first time tasting the stinky fruit-city slickers don’t just eat durian right away. When I got back to the boat, John already had two bites of durian and he wanted me to try it-so I did. It tasted like a very sweet slab of corned beef, I kid you not. I suggest you try it; I’ll let you know if I ever try eating it again. Haha!

If you’re not the stinky fruit type, I suggest you try a little more something extreme. Eat a croc. Yup, C-R-O-C, the animals that Steve Irwin was always wrangling with. It was not that taboo for me since I look at it as if crocodiles were farmed for multiple purposes like getting their skin, eating their meat and preserving the species. It’s all good. We had Crocodile sisig. Sisig is a Filipino dish made from parts of pig’s head and liver, usually seasoned with calamansi and chili peppers, but in this case, they used crocodile meat. It was good since crocodiles are really meaty, like almost no fat. I only felt muscles in my mouth. It was a really hard meal to chew but it was worth a try. I was actually looking for frozen crocodile meat that I can take to Manila so I can crocodile adobo, but there was none available.

Getting back to the city proper, we hunted down the best place to eat since we would want to steer away from the regular McDonald’s and Jollibee, we ended up eating at Coco’s and Lyndon’s. Coco’s had a T.G.I.Fridays vibe to it, they have great food. I had their Chipotle Burger. I expected good food since the place is visually appealing-plus it tastes impressive and the serving was huge. What surprised me were Lyndon’s ribs; the local told us that you’d be able to eat baby back ribs/steak for less than 200Php. That Davao local was heaven sent because those were the damn best ribs I had-ever. It was so juicy, flavorful and it was cheap beyond imagination. We had the 500gms ribs; it had corn and a cup of rice with it. The ribs were already covered in sauce but they still gave us extra sauce in case we still want more. Let me tell you now, I’d go back to Davao just to have the ribs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I have one happy tummy. Hopefully we’d have more food adventures to come. Here are some pictures of our trip.

The stinky but delicious fruit.

The Binturong, a popcorn smelling bearcat. It smells like buttered popcorn.

The sea eagle. It's a bad boy with big ass wings. I got to touch it. Rock on!

Lyndon's Worst Ribs, as they call it. What an irony.

The Batman style zipline position.

Monfort Bat Colony. Estimated to have 2million bats ion this colony.

Crocodile Sisig. Crikey!

Turning JAPANESE

Moshi moshi! Here's the thing, I've been crazy over burgers lately. It doesn't matter if it's cheap or it's expensive-I want it. Well, most of the ones I ate were pretty cheap (Hahaha). Anyway, after getting my burger fix, I'm a little obsessed with Japanese food. Everybody likes tempura so I veered away from it. What I do like are the different kinds of maki, sashimi, and what have you. I do it more because I get amazed on the chopstick and/or sushi etiquette. I think I’m ready for the real sushi bar experience. Having that said, where can I find a sushi bar? Konnichiwa! Arigato gozaimasu! Terriyaki Boy will help me with my sushi lust for now.

Here are some of the things I ate just to fulfill my stomach of it's Japanese craving;

California Maki

Philly Cheese Steak

Norwegian Salmon Sashimi

Gyoza

disclaimer: I'm as lazy as an old dog. These are not my pictures. :)

Everybody's Manang (Old Lady)

               Firstly, I would like to apologize for the crappiest picture of this blog’s entirety. I got some pictures from the net just so we can have a clear picture – pun intended. My sister and I went specifically to buy Mexican hand wraps since she was about to start boxing. I emphasized Mexican just because of the comfort and performance it provides when you’re engaging in a full-contact sport. Anyway, it took her about 10 sports shops and she still can’t find any. I know for a fact that there should be at least one Mexican hand wraps since I had one before unfortunately leaving it at Elorde. Bummer.

                Anyway, the first part of our search went dry, I was just craving for a burger; but my sister insisted that I need to try Manang’s Chicken. One cool fact is, a few weeks or days back, she gave me the company’s story on how Manang’s recipe became Manang’s chicken. It’s definitely a good buy and it’s not the regular chicken you can make at home especially if you can’t grab a hold of the recipe. Hope I gave you an idea and try experimenting at home. Haha, I’ll try getting in touch with my friend who studied culinary in the states.

Here's how it should look like.

Here's the crappy pic I took. I'm sorry.