Randomosity

It is at this point that I advise most hungry humanoids and dinosaurs to turn away, for the following passage will set your stomach aflame with want for food.

Dinner was at a seafood restaurant called Mágdaragat, with my mom and her friends, a few of whom are my Ninangs, or godmothers.

Here I sit, in a cold, cozy room, ACs blaring. My fingers are near frozen, but I sit here and relish at the extravagant meal I’ve just devoured, whilst my mother and her cohorts converse.

The rice was normal rice, and so was the calamari, but the grilled pork, fish curry soup and cheese mussels were all heavenly. They accompanied the rice oh so perfectly, much like Temence and Kezia accompany each other perfectly :”>

The soup was the first to arrive, and it was just like that shown on AFC, with Mr. Fancy Fat Filo. The fish was served in the broth it was cooked in, much like curry, but not as thick. Not as runny as soup, however. It had a consistency, somewhere in between. I’m guessing it was slowly simmered that way, over a heat below boiling. Flakes of the fish would melt away from the main cut, and turn itself into a sort of fine powder which would remain in the curry/soup and go down your throat along with it. So when it arrived, you’d have the main cut of soft fish, along with tomatoes and onions, and the semi-thick soup with a savory taste of its own. Now, imagine that savory soup taste, with the extra flavor of fine powdered fish. It doesn’t taste like fish, but it gives it a brilliant light, milky texture to the soup. And for this, I prize the soup more than the actual fish.

The cream cheesed mussels, perfection. Basic steamed mussels, except they were served with melted cream cheese on top, lightly toasted so as to turn some of the cheese a wooden brown. Taste of the sea and of cheese, at the same time.

And finally, the greatest accompaniment of the rice, the grilled pork, or as we call it, Liempo. The Liempo was cooked, again, to perfection, and then sliced into thin chunks. Not thin like bacon, but imagine pork cutlets the size of salmon sashimi cutlets. And of course, this is the pork belly. So it came in one strip, but one could distinguish it into three parts; the meat, the fat, and the skin.

The meat of the Liempo had the consistency of a medium rare beef steak, and wasn’t too chewy. It had, however, the savory and salty taste of pork, with the smokey aroma of a wooden flame. Imagine every bite of that, and every occasional piece of meat dipped into a sauce mix of soy sauce and Kalamansi (a filipino lime, with a slight more tang than lime, but less than a lemon). This sauce would border just finely hinges on the edge of being overly sour, but it adds a zing to the meat.

The fat is an oilier version of the meat, a small cube attached to the meat. Upon biting into that soft fat, the flavors are all released into your mouth, much like that of the meat, but even more so intense. And it just finely melts in your mouth.

The skin has the consistency of ear cartilage. Inedible.

And of course, all of the above (minus the pork skin) is accompanied by a nice tall glass of Coca Cola brand Coke and ice.

Perfect dinner, taste-wise. Only thing missing is my darling love, Kezia. I vow to bring you here sometime, love. And we’ll have a romantic, candle-lit dinner :)