The Return of Fritson

Buhiiiiiii!!!

Written by Fritson

Fritson. Photo by: FP

Greetings, lovers of lechon rice! I have been quite busy over the many months since our last lechon rice report and those two seestars have been even busier! Snort!

The seestars and I are still on the quest, searching for the BEST lechon rice ever but many projects have cropped up here and there. I’ve made new friends, watched the girls scarf down their food, met their friends, and whispered ideas in their heads. Before we pig up from where we left off, let me now take the time to tell you about what we’ve been up to since September 8, 2009.

I spent most of September contemplating the essence of lechon rice. My meditations led me to faraway swine universities - I mean universes! I shall not discuss these adventures here due to the language barrier and heavy technicalities. Sweek, sweek! I will later introduce to you my friend Theo (short for Theory) whom I met in those far off universes.

Fritson and Theo. Photo by: LL

I spent October glued to the TV watching the news of the frightening floods brought about by Typhoon Ondoy and followed closely by the devastation delivered by Typhoon Pepeng on the Cordilleras. I whispered my ideas into the seestars ears and with the help of many friends we did what we could to help. My friends and I set up a soup kitchen out of the Café by the Ruins, producing as much food as possible for the evacuees of Typhoon Pepeng. People from all over Baguio and beyond sent us donations and help! The amount of help that poured in was quite overwhelming and filled our hearts to overflowing. Despite being the mastermind of the whole thing, I was impressed by the magic that came out of that kitchen!

Imagine, they were able to produce meals for some 25 in-house volunteers, 700+ evacuees and snacks for 200 on-site volunteers for about ten days! They were able to feed hundreds of people with just 5 kg pork and even the chickens and fish would be proud to find that their comrades were used well. Buuhiiiiiii indeed! Many of my favorite foods such as sayote, monggo and kalabasa were served in as many different ways as possible! Grunz!

Cafe by the Ruins staff preparing soup kitchen food. Photo by: LL

Of course the time came when we realized we could not keep on feeding the evacuees because they were also anxious to get on with their lives. Still wanting to help, the group had a brain storming session and thought it would be a good idea to give away piglets to families that had lost their homes and livelihood. Can you imagine my joy when this was suggested? Squeeeeeee!!! My fellow pigs would find great homes and they would be helping the people of Tublay in so many ways. I was quite confident that these people would put my brethren to good use after all, the people of the Cordillera know and value pigs!

Our team made an agreement with Tubtub the Tublay pig that each family that received a pig would give a contribution to an emergency fund once the pig was sold, eaten or bred. It was quite exciting! Popo, Tubtub's human friend, went all the way to Ilocos to find the darling piglets that would find their homes in Tublay.

Tubtub is a bit camera shy. Photo by: FP

Finally on December 22, I ventured out to Tublay with the seestars and our friends Theo, Lia and Andene. We were accompanied by some representatives of Child and Family Services, Inc., Philippines to distribute the piglets.
 It was great to see the people of Tublay happily taking my brethren into their arms!

Photo 1: P handing piglet's to residents of Sto. Niño, Tublay as our friend Popo looks on. Photo by: FP

Photo 2: Another Tublay resident receives his piglet with joy. Photo by: FP

And so that has been my adventure since our last encounter. I now hand over the keyboard to the seestars and we will all wait for the continuation of this blog! :) Oinks, seestars! It’s time for some lechon rice!

Cathy's Fastfood: 3 Pig Snouts!

Cathy’s Fastfood, 24 Diego Silang Street, Baguio City.

3 Pig Snouts! (Photo by: RS)

We can’t help but get sentimental about Cathy’s Fastfood as we mentioned in the previous post.

It is located on Diego Silang Street. For those people like me that aren’t always familiar with street names, Diego Silang is the street where the ukay ukay sells high-end bags. It’s the street behind Jollibee Session Rd if you’re coming from Harrison road, and the street behind Mcdo Session if you’re coming from Mabini or lower Session Road.

Upon entering, we found ourselves next to the cashier and curiously peering into the kitchen that is located at the bottom of the staircase. The walls used to be covered with vintage posters and old ads of Coca Cola but are now bare revealing the old wood panels. To the left of the entrance, there is a seating area with a good street view. Our favorite spot is on the second level and in the corner above the lower dining area. This is the best place to people-watch because you have a view of the whole upper dining room as well as the lower dining room. The mix of people in Cathy’s cover a wide range, cowboys coming home, students cramming over lunch, drunks having a last drink before heading home or families celebrating a birthday or baptism. The lovely mix of people provides a great ambiance and also good conversation material. Now, let’s get down to business.

Fritson checking out the menu and prices. (Photo by: FP)

The prices of the rice meal range from 80-65 PHP. Upon entering we already knew that we were going to order Lechon Rice! But friends, Gino, Marian, Shanti and Fritson looked over the menu first to see the other options. Gino opted for a Cathy’s rice, standard in most places that sell lechon rice. This dish changes name depending on the establishment but has basically the same things in it -- EVERYTHING. Cathy’s rice has a fried egg, fried chicken, fried beef, a few pieces of lechon and a lot of vegetables. Marian opted for the chicken mushroom rice, a simple dish that is practically self-explanatory. Shanti decided on the classic lechon rice and we were hungry and set to order.

Da Guests! Nope, they're not rating! They're just excited. (Photo by: FP)

We explored the drinks list and the condiments while waiting for our food to arrive. It’s the usual soft drinks and canned juices but they do have fresh (plus points!) calamansi juice that you can order either hot or cold. The beer, Pale Pilsen and Red Horse (the only 2 we really care about) cost 35PHP and 40PHP respectively. Good price for beer! If you ask nicely the waitress will give you soy, a platito, calamansi and a bottle of vinegar with more sili than vinegar in it. The mixing of these condiments are usually done by one person and the order in which they are mixed varies.

Fritson inspects the meal (Photo by: FP)

The arrival of our meal caused a visible and audible wave of excitement. The steaming cup of rice surrounded by a moat of vegetables, sauce, and lechon was a quest we were all ready to conquer. The lechon rice had five pieces of pork and two kinds of vegetables, namely carrots and petchay. Free beef soup with onion leeks also comes with the meal. We scrutinized the crunchiness of the meat, the fat content, the parts of the vegetables used, the quality of sauce. Gino and Marian discussed their chicken as well but the lechon was the main topic and Fritson kept note of our comments and helped us remember them later on. Our total bill for 5 people’s drinks and meals was 430 PHP.

LECHON! (Photo by: FP)

We gave Cathy’s Fastfood three snouts! The meat wasn’t that crunchy because it was drowned in the sauce and the vegetables were made up mostly of the white tips of the petchay. It was still quite tasty, the serving size was huge and besides, Cathy’s definitely still holds the crown for sentiment, for being the establishment where we were first initiated into the pleasures of lechon rice.

For the love of...

This blog begins here. This is Cathy’s Fastfood, our first lechon rice love.

Photo by: PP

And this is Fritson the multilingual pig. We bring him with us because we like to be reminded where our food comes from so we can send gratitude in the right direction. Fritson likes to come along because he likes living life on the edge… of the plate. Hahahaha! But seriously, he likes the fact that we’re so appreciative of what pigs do for humanity. *Bu-hii, bu-hii* (Japanese pig squeal)

Padma: When I was in high school we would go to Cathy’s on special occasions. Meaning, when we were flush.

Fifi: Lechon rice at Cathy’s was always an expedition because we would forget about if for months on end then suddenly remember and obsessively plan the next lechon rice session. The troops had to be called in and the timing had to be right.

Padma: Yeah, for the longest time Cathy’s was the only place we would go for lechon rice.

Fritson: *Snort snort*

Fifi: We’d call in our own personal gang of nasty Baguio Boys to feast with us and finish our leftovers (if there were any).

Padma: And if the mood was right we’d order a round of beers. YUM lechon rice and beer. BURP. There’s something definitely comforting about eating lechon rice in Cathy’s. Whenever I come back from spending a long time away from Baguio, a meal in Cathy’s is part of my “Things I Have To Do When I Get Home” list.

Fritson: Oink?

Padma: Once on my way home from spending six months (or something like that) in the Netherlands, during the layover in HK I noticed two men in jeans, cowboy boots, cowboy hats and leather jackets. Definitely from Benguet. Confirmed when one of them shook his head as an attractive young thing walked by and muttered to his companion, “Ukinana, napintas! Huu!”. When we boarded the plane to Manila, I found myself seated by the two manongs. So we struck up a conversation. They were on their way back from six years – six years! – working in South Africa. They were building roads and dams, if I remember right. They complained that people hardly ate vegetables in South Africa. It was always meat, meat, meat. We got to talking about what we would do when we got home and all 3 of us had Cathy’s on our minds! We parted ways after picking up our bags in the airport. I finally made it to Cathy’s two or three days later and wow, one of the manongs was there too, already tucking into his plate of lechon rice! We waved to each other and laughed in recognition. We were home!

Fifi: The comfort of Cathy’s made it a fitting choice to be the first stop for our new lechon rice reviews. Over the years, we have found other spots through friends or as a result of a hunger that needed immediate satiation. Watch this blog for reviews of these other lechon rice hotspots. It’s all part of the Baguio experience.

Padma: Yeah, “Fly The Butterfly”.

Photo by: SP

Fifi: Yeah, “Be Proud. Be Baguio.”

Padma: Yeah, we’re doing our part, “fostering a culture of caring”.

Fifi: Yeah, for lechon rice. Through this blog!!!

Fritson: Sweek (Dutch Pig Squeal)