Foods I Sorely Miss

[chris49]

Where I am, I would consider cheese and decent bread to be the most lacking. Another one I find hard is lack of fresh herbs, the only herb that sometimes appears is parsley, which to me, seems the most unlikely one for this part of the world.

 

Cheese is there in Robinsons, even if I only get there once a year.

 

Get a freshly cooked pandesal off the rack and ask for tostao, will be very crunchy on the outside.

 

One thing that keeps me going is the occasional memory of something I absolutely cannot get here. An Aussie meat pie with sauce, but I'm sure I will have one, maybe next year, that's enough for me.

 

Anything else you can improvise as needed. Tacos are available in plenty of places if you seek them out.

[scott h]

Anything else you can improvise as needed.

 

Part of the fun Chris, I am with you,, Hey we are retired right? nothing better to do really.

 

I enjoy going to the local wet market, snooping around for ingredients, and whamo,,,,,,,,,,,,,,whomped up a batch of American potato salad from my Mom's recipe yum yum, and the natives all love it also, (or so they say :999: ) 

[RonHenk]

 

Anything else you can improvise as needed.

 

Part of the fun Chris, I am with you,, Hey we are retired right? nothing better to do really.

 

I enjoy going to the local wet market, snooping around for ingredients, and whamo,,,,,,,,,,,,,,whomped up a batch of American potato salad from my Mom's recipe yum yum, and the natives all love it also, (or so they say :999: ) 

 

 

Whipped up a batch of deviled eggs the other day. I thought they were quite good. So did my wife. Family took one bite and turned up their noses. Ended up eating them all myself.

[virginprune]

I don't have the luxury of a Robinsons or a SM, the nearest are in Gensan, an hour away. I have adapted fairly well and do not crave as such but sometimes it would be nice!

[scott h]

. Ended up eating them all myself

 

Their loss,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the philistines,,,,,,,,,,,,hmmm deviled eggs

[Mike J]

Prime rib medium rare, baked potato with sour cream and bacon bits,   Cheese cake and a Grand Marnier for desert.

[BrettGC]

As a follow up to my Lessons Learned after 5 Months in the Philippines post. I would like to relate the foods I truly miss since being here. There are alot of sandwiches on the list, as that seems to be the one food item completely overlooked by the Filipinos. Unless you count two slices of bread slathered with Cheez-Wiz. Someone needs to open a New York style deli near my house.

 

- Reuben Sandwich. Rye bread piled high with thin sliced corned beef, extra sauerkraut and plenty of Thousand Island dressing on the side.

 

- Hot Pastrami on rye with swiss cheese, carmelized onions and brown mustard.

 

- French Dip. Thin sliced roast beef on a French roll with a big cup of au jus for dipping.

 

- Philly Cheese Steak. Anyway you like it.

 

- Beef and bean burrito. Smothered in green chili. Covered with shredded lettuce, tomato and shredded cheddar cheese.

 

- Tacos! Although I have found taco shells and taco seasoning for the ground beef. I can't find taco sauce anywhere.

 

- A good ol', left over from Thankgiving, roast turkey sandwich with sliced tomatoes and plenty of mayo.

 

- A good steak. I had a couple of decent steaks at a restarant in Barrio Baretta Subic. But forget running to the super market to get a couple of T-bones to throw on the BBQ.

 

- Meat Loaf with mashed potatoes and brown gravy. You can't make a meat loaf if you don't have an oven. And you can't make mashed potatoes if you don't have milk.

 

- Real ham and eggs. Not the fried lucheon meat they call ham here.

 

- BBQ chicken with homemade potato salad. I have found the ingredients and aquired them to make this but I haven't yet. I don't have a BBQ (yet)

 

Anyways, now I'm hungry. "Honey Ko! What's for dinner? Is that fried fish I smell?" Oh well (sigh) time to eat.

 

Ron

​

 

 

Maaaate, after living in the US as long as I did I'm feeling that pain even here in Australia so your chances of fulfilling those cravings are probably buckly's and none, but there are solutions to a few:

 

1.  The Rueben, make your own corned dog (that's an old Aust navy name for it).  It's not that hard.  Rye bread you can buy those bake your own kits there.  Sauerkraut I've seen in the supermarket there, same with thousand island dressing, not sure if it's up to scratch though. 

 

2.  Pastrami, sorry, I think you're just going to have to live without it. 

 

3.  See number 2, I've yet to have a decent steak or cheese in Phils. But see point 7 for steak. 

 

4.  I can't remember the name of the restaurant that Frosty and his GF took me to in Cebu (its was actually on Mactan, LLC, Basak Grand Mall to be specific) but they did an awesome fajita, Tex Mex at its best.  So I'm sure they could cater.  Not sure if the resto was a franchise or not so may not be able to help you out in Manila.

 

5.  See point 4,  but make your own sauce, it's pretty easy. 

 

6.  Turkey, start breeding them, may be a growth industry?

 

7.  Steak, give up.  Keep going to the resto's you found unless you live on Masbate where they actually have a fledgling cattle industry.  Been there, it's actually pretty decent.  This from an Aussie that is happy to admit you yanks have the wood on us when it comes to a good steak. 

 

8.  Meatloaf.  Buy an oven, use uht.  Other than that, nup.

 

9.  You are never going to find good bacon/ham there unless you grow your own pigs and smoke it yourself. 

 

10.  Buy a BBQ, kill your own chooks or if you don't have the facility to be able to do that, go to your closest chicken breeder.  I think the hardest thing to get used to is the fact that the fresh chicken is a little stringier than we're used to, i.e. it's not hormone laden crap.  If you can get over that, you'll be good.  Having said that, I do love me a bit of spicy Jolibee chicken and rice.  

 

 

The longest I've been there is 3 months.  The things I miss when I'm there are:

 

1.  Vegemite.

2.  Meat pies and sausage rolls with real tomato sauce, not ketchup.

3. Roast lamb and leftovers.

4. Good roti bread. Nope, not Aussie but you can't get it in Phils, even in the rare Indian resto I've found it is garbage. 

5. Decent cheese with flavour, not the pre-packaged cheese slice almost mayo slop.

6. Beer battered fish and chips.  The flavour of a bit of dead shark (flake) battered with a bit of lemon squeezed over it...

 

Anyway, just my take on it. 

Edited November 10, 2015 by BrettGC

[Tukaram (Tim)]

One of our local specialty shops sells pastrami.  I forget how much it is - only bought it once in 3 years.  Wonderful stuff!  Crazy expensive, though.  No one else in the house would even try it after my wife told them how expensive it was ha ha  :tiphat:

[chris49]

I can wait.

 

Going home next year and will have all of the above, so it's not that far away.

 

Tentatively a visit to the USA in about 3 years. That also keeps me going. 

[Jake]

As a follow up to my Lessons Learned after 5 Months in the Philippines post. I would like to relate the foods I truly miss since being here.

 

Anyways, now I'm hungry. "Honey Ko! What's for dinner? Is that fried fish I smell?" Oh well (sigh) time to eat.

 

Ron​

If I may, I would like to put a spin to this topic (sorry Ron).  The Filipino cuisine is what I truly miss, being away from PI for a long time now (since 1997).  Any form of fried fish or any kind of seafood and shellfish, it's all good chasing it down with some cold San Magoo. Maybe that's it.......a cold local beer, not the export kind.  

 

But I do remember my craving for some nice greasy burgers, thick chocolate shakes and chilli french fries. And then around midnight, those wonderful donuts freshly baked for the 0h dark thirty watch standers on board a warship. Remember Ron, those fresh fat pills that seem to be endless in the goat locker.  And then the infamous navy black coffee that could make your toes curl.

 

Cravings?  Hell yeah!   

Edited November 10, 2015 by Jake