Missing Manila.

Most of us can probably relate with my story. The weather has been very nice lately, one would think it's summer. In Calgary where weather is absolutely unpredictable, having a streak of sunshine for a week is a big cause for celebration! ;)

And summers (hot weather) remind me of Manila. And with hot weather means halo-halo (native delicacy of sweet beans, sweet potatoes, jackfruit, leche flan, ube, milk and grated ice), banana cue (fried plantain in caramelized brown sugar), turon, (plantain in spring roll wrap) and get this - peach-mango pie from Jollibee! :)

And because mangoes here don't come like how it is back home, I waited until the mangoes were really ripe before I diced them and made my version of the prized Jollibee dessert. :) Inspired by the peach blueberry crumble of Ina Garten, I used mangoes in place of blueberry to make a dessert reminiscient of my Manila days. For better consumption and food portion, I have them baked in a ramekin. hahaha Hey, B thought it was divine!!! And me, just a happy little camper having my healthy dessert. (I used wheat flour too! o-ha!) ;)

But, not to forget too that last week I made my first attempt of chicken with goat cheese. And since I'm useless doing paring with the main course, I just made a quick baked potato to go with it. The red ones you see are simulated bacon - so there's the health check right there.

In keeping with my story-telling, one big reason why I'm so missing Manila is because of the beautiful organic/natural decorative accents that we get for cheap. B & I attended a decorating class at Pottery Barn and most, if not all of their accents were - yes, you guessed it, from the shores of the Philippines. Do you remember those paper weight we used back then - the cowry shells (one that looks like a tiger print) are all over Pottery Barn! They were made into little salt & pepper shakers, or they were the major accents of the plate chargers, and our beloved capiz are what was used as salad servers. Imagine! I kept telling B (long before the speakers told us) that all of what they have in store right now (for summer) are stuff you can find in the Philippines. Grabe, they even made the lambat (fisherman's net made of sisal-jute material) as the 'table runner'. Very clever and stylish! ;)

So, my heart swells with pride because all those people could say was "whoa, beautiful!" and I'm like... "for sure!" ;) But on the same breadth, I can't make myself buy those when I know that the real price tag is about 1/10 of the real cost if I have them bought in Manila.