MEMORY LANE OF FOODS
Hello, Foodies! Welcome once again to another of my Food Memories Series Posts where I showcase the food I've had and the memories that come with them. You can check out my previous posts through the links below:
- Food Memories #1: Early Heartbreaks Over Burgers and Ramen
- Food Memories #2: Reliving Old Moments with More Ramen
- Food Memories #3: Breakfast Beckons
- Food Memories #4: My Love for Buffets
- Food Memories #5: Don't Click If You're A Sucker For Desserts
I was able to conceptualize this series when I realized that everything was content, even my experiences from the past. I have a habit of snapping photos of food before eating and through the years, I have compiled so many pictures of food on my gallery. When I go through them, memories associated with the food come back to me.
It's a different experience when you remember the past with the food you've had.
A BIT OF HOME COOKING BEFORE EATING BRAINS
May 1, 2021
May 1 is Labor Day in the Philippines. Before the pandemic, some would call it "LaBoracay" because people would flock to the world-famous Boracay Beach in the Philippines during this holiday. But in 2021, Labor Day was on a Saturday in the middle of a pandemic. Most people spent their Labor Day at home.
My girlfriend asked me to go to her hometown on this day. She invited me to go with her family to a Mountain Resort scheduled for the next day. During this visit, I was able to go around her hometown, experience more of her home cooking, and finally, had a good tuslob buwa or brain gravy.
Before we set out to try the tuslob buwa, we had lunch at her house and she cooked some creamy mushroom pork chops. It looked really good and was delicious! We even shaped the rice with a cup and sprinkled some parsley to make it more presentable. We might have drowned the pork chop with the mushroom sauce but it still looked really inviting.
COOKING AND EATING 'BRAIN GRAVY'
And we were off! After visiting my girlfriend's friend, we went to a local restaurant that offered tuslob buwa.
Tuslob buwa is a street food that originated in Cebu City, Philippines. It loosely translates to bubble dip. And that's how you eat it! You dip your rice in a bubbling pool of pig's brain and eat it. Sounds disgusting, right?
My tuslob buwa experiences have not been really good. Until this day. Who knew I would have my best tuslob buwa experience in Carcar City? That's five towns away from Cebu City.
You normally order tuslob buwa in a set. You're given the ingredients that are good for 3-4 people. You're also given a small stove to cook the ingredients on your own. I think that's one of the appeals of the dish. You get the satisfaction of putting all the ingredients together and cooking it while everyone waits for it to be done, kind of like how samgyupsal works.
The basic ingredients for a tuslob buwa are pig's brain, pork liver, garlic, onions, broth, cornstarch, soy sauce, and cooking oil. Of course, there's got to be rice and it's served as a hanging rice. Hanging rice is rice wrapped in palm leaves and normally hanged to be displayed.
Cooking the dish starts with sauteeing the garlic and onions in cooking oil. We then followed it with the pork liver. I really like pork liver and the smell of it cooking with the garlic and onions was starting to make me hungry.
My first tuslob buwa experience was not good because I was confused with what I was eating. It tasted strange and I think there was shrimp on it. I think it was also burnt and since then, I haven't been a fan of it.
After cooking the liver, we then added the main ingredient, pig's brains. I'm not really familiar with what pig's brains look like. If I didn't know what it was, I'd say we just added cream to the pan. I was not able to take pictures but we then added the broth, some chili powder, and the cornstarch. We let the whole mixture simmer and bubble. We added soy sauce to adjust the taste.
My second tuslob buwa experience back then was terrible. I remember looking forward to trying it since I would be the one to cook it. I already knew what to expect because I saw the ingredients for myself. The only problem was that our ingredients were lacking. We didn't cook the garlic and onions well because we didn't have cooking oil. We just used the broth. We mixed everything right away and I think the brains were not fresh. It didn't smell so good and when we tried it, it was horrible.
My girlfriend said our tuslob buwa was already cooked. We turned off the heat and unwrapped our rice. I dipped the rice and took a big bite. It was amazing! I knew that was the kind of tuslob buwa I had been looking for. It tasted like a hot liver spread but creamier with a (sorry for the word) 'brainy" aftertaste. I know it sounds a bit disgusting but it was good. It may not be for everyone but if you're a fan of street foods, you definitely need to try this. We finished all our rice and wiped the pan clean!
MILK TEA TO DROWN IT ALL DOWN
The restaurant we went to was actually a milk tea place called Boba Buttea. In Cebu or the Philippines, milk tea has become so popular that you can find it in any major city you are in. I'm not really a fan of milk tea anymore ever since I found out I might be lactose intolerant, but since we were in a milk tea place, we had to try their milk tea. I ordered brown sugar Hokkaido Milk tea and my girlfriend had chocolate or Oreo cheesecake (I forgot). It was good to have a sweet and milky drink after having that surfeit of pork internal organs. We call this feeling, bidli.
AFTERNOON STROLL
It was already afternoon when we finished our tuslob buwa and my girlfriend wanted to bring our milk tea while we stroll to the city plaza. It was my first time walking around the streets of Carcar the led us to the plaza and the church. We passed by some old houses. You could tell that the city is quite old because of the proximity of the plaza to the church. During the Spanish colonization, towns were designed like this. You'd often find the church, the school, and the city hall around the plaza.
The plaza was deserted when we arrived. My girlfriend told me this place used to be teeming with people. You'd also expect a crowd to be present because of the holiday. But no. There were only a few people around. We got to enjoy our milk tea in peace while watching the afternoon lights turn to a soft shade until the sun had set.
I will remember this day as the day I had my best tuslob buwa. It might be because I knew what I was eating or that the ingredients were complete this time. But maybe it's also because of the company. I should try a different tuslob buwa with my girlfriend and see if tastes as good as the one we had at her hometown.
And that's it! Thanks for stopping by to read my post. Shoutout to my gf for the pork chops, the best tuslob buwa experience, and the short city tour. Thanks a lot, 
I will be continuing with my Hive Cake Day celebration post. You can read Part 1 here. I still can't believe it's been a year. Time flies so fast and I know everything I've put out here will stay in the blockchain for who knows how long.
See you in the post. Cheers!