Postcrossing PH Meet-up at Museo ng Sining, GSIS Complex in Pasay City

PostcrossingPH FB members and enthusiasts had a memorable eyeball, meet-up that was held at the Luna Room in Museo ng Sining in Pasay City.

Ms. Arlene Collado

The eyeball and meet-up is much anticipated by the members. There were over 30 members who attended the meeting. These also include PHLPOST Business Line manager Mr. Maximo Santa Maria and some Philatelic section employees.

postcards

A short program was held past 2:00 pm where a short introduction of each members.

postcards, stamps, postcard holders, key chains, ball pen were some of the items raffled-off to the participants

There was the regular swapping of local postcards, gotochi or shaped postcards, mini-raffle and meet-up autograph signing was held.

postcards printed on photo paper

There are also some self made PostcrossingPH meet-up postcards made by some individuals.

There was many familiar faces at the meet-up since some of the members also participate at the local stamp club meeting and auction.

We decided to leave the place past 3:30pm and head for the food review held somewhere in Quezon City.

 

Halo-Halo with Kesong Puti at Sweet Bulakenya

Sweet Bulakenya food had a lot of innovative products to offer, One of their product is their halo-halo with kesong puti as topping.

Sweet Bulakenya with topped kesong puti

Halo-halo had all the usual ingredients like the minatamis na saba among others, the shave ice is comparable to other commercial halo-halo restaurants in Metro Manila. What makes this special is the ingenious way of adding their kesong puti as topping.

Ms. Lani Buencamino at the 1st Pista ng San Miguel de Mayumo tiangge ( photo courtesy of Mr. Rodel Carating)

Ms. Lani Buencamino is also a science teacher and proprietor of Sweet Bulakeny Among the well-known products includes their empanada with kesong puti, macaroons, chicharon among others.

 empanada with kesong puti

San Miguel de Mayumo, Bulacan province welcome arch

They also tried to produce Native Pork Sitsaron/ Chicharon which made its best at different class- A restaurants and hotels.

Ms. Lani Buencamino together with media, bloggers and industry practitioners

Some of their clientele included Chateau (1771 Group of Restaurants) City of Dreams in Parañaque, Macau, Serye, Robinsons Supermarkets (selected outlets like Galleria, Ermita, Eastwood, Metro East, Magnolia ) and True Deli in Quezon City.

When you visit San Miguel, Bulacan, do not forget to visit this place !

Store and Restaurant: Maharlika Hi-way, Sta. Rita,San Miguel, Bulacan

Address: Sampaguita St, San Miguel, Bulacan

Contact : 0915 939 3526

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SweetBulakenyaFoods/

Tita Thess Home Made Delicacies

Tita Thess or Aunt Thess Felix is not your typical house wife, She started her online business at home about 3 years ago selling tibok-tibok, sapin-sapin and other well-loved delicacies thru Facebook and via word of mouth.

Tita Thess pours freshly made tibok-tibok in plastic containers

She was born in the province of Pampanga and learned the art of making delicious rice based delicacies.

stylish wooden frame greets visitors

Her loyal band of customers would keep Tita Thess busy for much of the day and sometimes through the night. The group had a privilege to be able to visit her home and see a demonstration of her famous “tibok-tibok” and “sapin-sapin”. But these two “kakanins” are not the only native delicacies that her loyal clients keep coming back for. Aside from these mouthwatering delicacies, she also makes “pichi-pichi”, “palitaw”, “puto flan” (rice cake) with custard, “pansit” (noodles), “kalamay”, “biko”, “maja blanca”, fish “lumpia”. As the holiday season nears, she only accepts an advance order. generous with the quantity and quality of the ingredients, her products are truly worth a repeat order.

tibok-tibok and sapin-sapin

Customers can also pre-order- her well known tibok-tibok and sapin-sapin in 1 bilao. One can also request that 1 bilao have 50% tibok-tibok and 50% sapin-sapin.

Some of the orders are from the parents and teachers at the nearby school and government offices.

tibok-tibok

“Tibok-tibok” is also called carabao milk pudding which originated from Pampanga.  It is the Kampampangan’s version of “maja blanca”.

preparation of tibok-tibok

“Tibok” refers to the heartbeat and as Tita Thess demonstrated to us, we can tell the “tibok-tibok” is cooked when the little bubbles on top start to pulsate slowly and makes little sounds like the beating of the heart.

Tita Thess showed the group on how she put latik over the tibok-tibok

She purchases about 20 to 30 bottles of fresh carabao milk in the market in the morning to fulfill her orders for the day.

latik

She would also order 30 to 35 coconuts (niyog ) in order to make toasted coconut meat, toasting the gata as early as 4:00 am and would take about 2 hours to made it reduce consistency called “latik”.

Tita Thess pours glutinous rice mixture

She uses commercially available glutinous rice powder mixed with non-glutinous in a fix proportion.

 sapin-sapin in steamer

sapin-sapin with jackfruit and latik as toppings

“Sapin-sapin” is another native kakanin she demonstrated to us, is a layered glutinous rice ( ube and green)  The colors have corresponding taste and Ate Thess’ version has no red because she doesn’t know what flavor to give it. She also does not have a yellow colored layer which is traditionally a jackfruit flavor.

Tita Thess’ white layer is coconut milk, the blue layer is ube, and the green layer is pandan. Unlike “tibok-tibok”, The sapn-sapin is soft and chewy. Her sapin-sapin version is topped with latik and sweetened jackfruit.

Tita Thess and Mr. Ervin Garcia together with industry practitioners, bloggers, media

Most of her products can be pre-ordered via their FB page and for pick-up.

Special mention : Sir Ervin Garcia and Tita Thess Felix for the warm accommodation.

Tita Thess Espesyal Kakanin atpb.

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/titathesskakaninatbp/

Contact : 0917 540 3188

Tales from La Sampaguita Mansion

La Sampaguita Mansion is another ancestral house that is located within in poblacion area. It had a strategic location which is near the Saint Micheal of Archangel church and few meters away from the municipal town hall.

La Sampaguita mansion

 The original owner is Dr. Mendoza around 1908. The current mansion had several commercial stalls located in front of the old house. One cannot clearly see the details of the house unless one enters the premises.

Photo courtesy of Mr. Gilbert Diño

It was in 1925 when Ms. Lydia Paulino opened the famous Sampaguita Bakery was named after her favorite flower and she had several planted at her properties in Barangay Salangan. Another feature of the house were the sampaguita designs at the eves of the house.

Certificate of award from Manila Carnival 1930

Another piece of document of the Philippine Food (Bread) History – a diploma of award of the Manila Carnival of 1930 from the Philippine Carnival Association conferred to E. Paulino for the SINAMPALOK BREAD as grand prize winner. SINAMPALOK BREAD is a cylindrical log about 6 inch that reveals a yum-like sweet tamarind filling. On the otherhand, Sampaguita Bakery was named by the owner after its famous and best selling biscuit SAMPAGUITA – a white six-sided, flower-shaped biscuit from the same family as the uraro cookies. It has a firm and creamy texture that crumbles in one bite….well, those were the days for San Miguelenyo. -Jimmy Corpus-

Mrs. Lydia Paulino viyuda Del Rosario ( courtesy of Sir Gilbert Diño)

Old magazines and newspaper clippings would show that she is a philanthropist, entrepreneur, devoted mother and greatly loved by the community.

commercial stalls in front of  La Sampaguita mansion

She use to be Propagation of Faith ( president) which sponsors free communion services to children.

door leading to the grand staircase

The architectural styles and furniture inside the ancestral house is a combination of bahay na bato, neo classical, art deco and modern elements. The most notable are the iron grill works, wooden calado, altar pieces and period furnitures inside.

mini altar

We were greeted by the current owner upon entering the house, despite last minute arrangement. Although this is my 5th time entering the ancestral mansion.

grand staircase

old photos with wooden calado

Christ the King inside urna

art deco style lighting fixture inside the main living room

sala set and colored windows

Saint Micheal of Archangel church

The window also overlooks the historic Saint Micheal of Archangel church and other ancestral houses within the town.

painting and plateria cabinet

Mrs. Lydia Paulino died in 1996 leaving the old La Sampaguita bakery without anyone to manage. The ancestral house and some of her properties were assigned to her caretakers.

old bedroom with furniture and fixtures

wooden calado allows the circulation of air inside the house

a side room where old photos, certificate and period religious statues were kept.

religious statues

certificate of recognition

There are many juicy stories and tales behind the four corners of this ancestral house. The ancestral house is well kept by the current owners.

The current owner of the ancestral house is the family of Mr. Mark Adduru

Note: We would like to “Thank” Mr. Ervin Garcia, Adduru family and San Miguel municipal town tourism officers for arrangement and facilitating the tour inside the ancestral house.

References and Sources:

Personal interview with Mr. Gilbert Diño, Mr. Ervin Garcia, San Miguel municipal hall employees and current owner of the ancestral house.

SMDMKATKKK : https://smdmkatkkk.wordpress.com/

Inspirational Tales from Tita Olivie’s Bilao and Lechong Manok

Tita Olivia Roura- Buencamino is the person behind the famous Olivie’s Bilao, Binalot Foods and Lechong Manok. Whenever you are in San Miguel, Bulacan – try to visit her restaurant and try their specialties.

boodle meal

Our group was able to see some of her well-known dishes at the 1st Pista ng San Miguel de Mayumo within the Saint Michael of Archangel compound.

menu board

She is a nurse by profession while her husband is a physician. Our group were able to visit her in restaurant that has the ambiance of rustic nipa hut ( bahay kubo ) theme.  The sitting capacity is between 70 to 85 people at any given time.

interior

We were later joined by a friend Joseph Cruz from the plant society. Some people would think that Tita Olive is an old woman in her 60’s, which sometimes would left her at awe.

beautiful wall decor

special boodle fight

The group were served several of her well-loved dishes boodle style. There were three additional adobong isaw ( chicken intestine), balun-balunan ( chicken gizzard) and adobong puwet ng manok  (chicken ass).

left to right and top to bottom : adobong leeg ng manok, adobong balun-balunan, adobong isaw ng manok and adobong puwet ng manok

We also tried their boodle fight sa bilao eal which consisted of pork and chicken barbecue, itlog na maalat ( salted duck egg) chopped tomatoes, sisig, pork liempo and large portion of rice. There are also condiments like soy sauce, bird’s eye chilies, calamansi and vinegar to  match one’s taste preference.

Customers are encourage to use bare hands in eating at the restaurant.

lemonade

We also tried their own lemonade and puno’s ice cream from nearby Nueva Ecija province.

Inspirational Story

Tita Olive is one of the few individual that treats her lechong manok business more of ” laro-laro” (a mere play, where she finds joy and happiness rather than being pressured to make a profit).

She used to be a very shy person before becoming a medical sales representative.   where the art of marketing skills and talking to ordinary people were acquired.

lechong manok

She started her business way back in 2006, with an initial capitalization of just Php 20,000. She bought a lechon manok stall within the town which had closed down. Without much knowledge, she tried her luck asking friends and relatives who knew the recipe of making roasted chicken.

lechong manok with special sauce

They would give her the ingredients but the measuring system would rely on  personal estimate (tantiya) rather than exact measurement. She also attended some short courses. She has all those measuring spoons and cups in the house so that when the volume of the restaurant’s particular dish is increased depending on the order, she can maintain the expected quality and not lose the so-called magic of the taste.

One key element that amazes the group was that she keeps a low-profit margin, relying on sales volume to keep the business running. Sir Lebon Ong said that her style is like the Chinese.

Tita Olive, showed us her own style of marination and the way she prepares her own roasted chicken (lechon manok). She would order them every other day in chicken farm and she made it sure that all the chicken are freshly killed. This is also to assure quality and freshness that makes her customers coming back. She also have her on style of special chicken sauce.

Her roasted chicken is similar to a popular roasted chicken in the country.

Tita Olivia Roura- Buencamino together with media, bloggers and industry practitioners- photo courtesy of Mr. Rodel Carating 

The restaurant and roasted chicken earnings from peak seasons would just go to year-end bonuses of staff (for December). While payment of business permits and taxes (for January). What is worth emulating is her attitude towards her employees,  dynamism, positivity and creativity. She would also accepts new ideas, suggestions and feedback from her customers.

Tita Olive’s roasted chicken is sold in 21 branches throughout San Miguel and other parts of Bulacan and Nueva Ecija provinces.

Tita Olivia’s Bilao and Binalot Foods ” Kamayan sa Bahay Kubo”

Address: San Jose, San Miguel, Bulacan, San Miguel, Bulacan 3011

Contact : 0917-576-2828 / 0922-878-2405