Pindang Damulag ng Pampanga

Having Kapampangan relatives sure has its perks. For one, they're fantastic cooks. Two, Kapampangans never run out of stories. And three, they love to party! Combine all these and you get lots of fun (and loud) gatherings where many delicious nomz are served.

We just had a very Kapampangan reunion a couple weeks ago and like usual, it was full, it was noisy (the good kind), and the food was yummy! There were, of course, many delightful dishes served then (my favorite was the alimango and the suman salihiya but that's another story altogether), but what was new to me was this curious meat served in a bilao that looked to me like tocino.

Pindang damulag

Without asking anyone what it was, I put some on my then pretty full plate to try (home buffet lunches make me inadvertently eat more than usual o_O). It was definitely not tocino. What I was expecting to be the familiar sweet, slightly salty and chewy cured pork meat turned out to be quite sour and squishy soft meat (with a consistency not unlike sushi).

Isdaan Offers an Enjoyable Dining Experience

Sometime last month, my family and I found ourselves spending a Saturday morning somewhere up North. We were done with business come lunchtime but our grumbling stomachs told us to find a pitstop before heading back to Manila. This was when I forced convinced them to find that restaurant I've been hearing good things about- the one with the Tacsiyapo Wall.

Being pseudo-Kapampangan (my grandparents hail from the lovely city of San Fernando), I've always known 'tacsiyapo' to be a kapampangan term. In fact, I distinctly remember a video recording of my 1st birthday with my lola yelling "Mga tacsiyapo kayo!" to my young uncles when she found out they were filming her, eagerly cheering her granddaughter on with her hair disheveled and wearing one of her famous dasters. (To me, the video is gold.) 

Isdaan, Tarlac

Going back to the topic, I was telling my family to look out for a restaurant sign bearing the name Tacsiyapo, because that was what I thought it was called. Apparently, I was mistaken and the restaurant we were looking for is actually called Isdaan Floating Restaurant, thanks to one of my titos who had already been there. It's hard to miss as it's located right along the National Road of Gerona, Tarlac.

Northern Sweets – Tita’s Special Silvanas

My maternal ancestry originates from Pampanga. And although my mother and her brothers and sisters were born and raised in Manila, we still have relatives who live on that side of the country. In fact, on family reunions and gatherings, I often find myself lost in a babble of Kapampangan, barely understanding the gist of everyone's stories. I only know a handful Kapampangan words like matudtud (sleep), me keni (come here), mangan (eat), and most of the lines from the song Atin Ko Pung Singsing (I Have A Ring). What? That was the first piano piece I learned to play.

Anyway, it is because of this that we find ourselves spending time up north once in a while. For as long as I can remember, no matter how late, we would always stop by the delicacy store called Tita's before heading home from Pampanga. And it would always be a treat. The shop is designed like a mini grocery, with sections for meat products, pastries, candy, preserves and you push a trolley around to haul your loot. They would have fatless tocino, skinless longganisa, turones de kasoy, sansrival, taba ng talangka among others. All lovely. But of all their specialties, my absolute favorite would be Tita's Special Silvanas.

My mom recently went to visit some relatives and brought me this as pasalubong. Silvanas, for me, are best eaten cold and crunchy with a tall glass of milk on a rainy day. Tita's Silvanas are the best silvanas on the face of this earth! No contest. I say they're the best, because they simply are. These bite-sized silvanas are light to eat and not as sweet as the ones that can be bought commercially in the city.

What's unusual about them is that they're kept refrigerated, but they're crunchy, but also creamy inside, and melts in your mouth. It's weird, but it works. I can't even begin to guess how to make them, but maybe it's because I'm such a kitchen noob. Tried searching for recipes and how-to's online too, but no such luck. My friend said something about blowtorching but she can't be serious, can she?

Tita's oh-so-yummy silvanas!