Bicol Region

Bicol Region is famous for its spice cuisine.



Bicolanos is very good in cooking spicy dishes and eating as well.
And when go to Bicol region, I had taste the bicol express. the red chili pepper is very good for the combination of different vegetables and coconut milk.Even though it's very spicy dish.you should try this dish.

This is the history of bicol express that I had search on internet.

History of the Bicol Express

The original Bicol Express was the last opened part of the Dagupan-Legazpi Railway known as Philippine National Railway (PNR). The first railroads had been built 1875 by a royal decree issued by King Alfonso XII of Spain. A first concession for the construction of a railway line from Manila to Dagupan was granted to Don Edmundo Sykes of the Ferrocarril de Manila-Dagupan on June 1, 1887. So the first railway line led from Manila northwards to Dagupan. The railway was 195 kilometers long at the time of its opening on November 24, 1892. The maiden voyage of the Bicol Express was on September 13, 1931. The track from Dagupan to Legaspi was completely connected on May 8, 1938. Later the Ferrocarril de Manila-Dagupan became the Manila Railway Company. It was nationalized and its assets were acquired by the Philippine government, which expanded the rail network, only to have most of those improvements lost during World War II. Of the 1,140 route-kilometers before the war, only 452 route-kilometers were operational after it. The extensive damage to the system took several years to repair. During the 1950s the Manila Rail Company fleet of trains was converted from steam to diesel engines. Natural calamities such as the 1973 and 1975 floods disrupted services and forced the closure of several parts of the northern main lines. PNR used to operate over 479 km of route from La Union up to Bicol. However, continued neglect in past decades reduced PNR's efficiency and railroad coverage. Persistent problems with informal settlers in the 1990s contributed further to PNR's decline. On November 12, 2004 a train derailed in a ravine in Quezon province south of Manila. 10 passengers were killed and over 100 people injured. On September 27 and Typhoon Milenyo (Cat.3) on November 30 in 2006 caused severe damage to the network, resulting in the suspension of the Manila-Bicol services. PNR needed 5 years to repair all the tracks and overhaul the rotten machines. On May 22, 2011, a test run from Tutuban to Naga proved successful. On June 29, 2011, the Bicol Express from Manila to Naga startet in a new era. On March 13, 2012 PNR extended the network from Naga City to Ligao. There are only 20 miles left until the train arrives in legazpi City. How to cook Bicol Express? Ingredients 800g pork belly, diced (small) 1/2 cup dried shrimps or 3 tbsp  (shrimp paste) 6-10 finger chillies, julienned 6 cloves garlic, minced 1 red onion, chopped 3 cups coconut milk salt freshly ground black pepper Method 1. In a pan sauté garlic and onions. 2. Add the pork belly stir fry for a couple of minutes. 3. Add the 2 cups of coconut milk and dried shrimps then bring to a boil and simmer in medium heat for 20 minutes or until the coconut milk had reduced to a thick oily gravy. 4. Add the chillies and add the second can of coconut milk and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. 5. Add salt and pepper to taste.  its very enjoy to eat Bicol express together with you family.

Baguio Delicacy

Baguio City is the most popular souvenir items or food  in the Philippines. Because of the abundance of strawberry in there province they begin to make is as a jam.
Strawberries are very good for skin . It is very good for balancing the PH level of skin . The skin which shows pale color strawberry mask repair it. Skin get glow and pink texture after using strawberry mask . paste of strawberry with its seeds is a very good scrub for skin.The phenol in strawberry is very effective for skin it repairs tan skin ,It reduce acne spots , it reduce freckles on skin and nourishes elastic collagen cells of the outer layer of the face skin.Because people love jam they think that is hard to make.It is easy to make your own strawberry jam.

How to make strawberry jam:

You’ll need:

• One big, deep stew pot (like a two-gallon pot)
• One big, deep saucepan
• Two medium-sized glass jars with metal lids or three to five smallish jars. These can be any kind of jars: old salsa jars, old jelly jars, pickle jars, anything at all. (Because I’m a hoarder, I scour garage sales for vintage canning jars, which look extra authentic and adorable when you give jam as a gift.)
• Two pounds of fresh strawberries
• Two cups of sugar. White or raw sugar works best.
• One lemon 

 1. Wash your strawberries and hull them (cut off the green part on top, so nothing but fruit remains).
 2. Dump them all in your blender. Add about a cup of water.
 3. Blend on high until you have liquid strawberries.
 4. Pour the liquid strawberries into your saucepan. Add the two cups of sugar and the juice from one lemon. (You can squeeze the lemon by hand.)
 5. Turn the stove on medium heat and boil the mixture for 30-45 minutes. Stir this often—you don’t want the jam to burn to the bottom of the pan!
 6. While you’re stirring and skimming foam, wash your glass jars and lids. Fill your big stew pot with water almost to the top. Put the stove flame on high, drop your jars and lids into the water, and boil them for 10 minutes in a rolling boil. This is so we can sterilize the jars, keeping nasty things
7. You’ll know the jam is nearly ready when the color changes from light pink to a rich, deep red and the boiling noises start to sound a little…different. Instead of the wet noise of strawberry juice boiling, you’ll start to hear the jam go “blorp” and “pop.” The jam is getting thicker and losing liquid, so it’s making grosser noises. Keep stirring!like mold from spoiling your jam.
 8. Carefully take the jars out of the boiling water. Don’t touch the inside of the jars or the inside of the lids, that’s how bacteria/mold gets in! You can dump out the water into the sink and wait for the sides of the jar to be cool enough to grab and lift out, use tongs, or use a clean, folded paper towel to handle. And pour the hot jam into the jars. Fill them almost completely up to the top. Leave about a half-inch of room.
 9. Put the lids on really, really tight, then flip the jars upside down on a clean kitchen towel for 10 minutes. This seals them.

And when you are ready for your sandwich just spread it and you will experience that you just in Baguio in the Philippines.

Laguna Delicacy

If united States have creamy coconut pie. The Philippines has its own version which is “buko pie”.

Some part of Luzon especially in Laguna is very famous on making delicious buko pie. Traveling in Laguna is not complete without buying a box of pie.Buko pie is made with a pastry crust with a filling of young coconut meat.

Buko pie is a traditional Filipino baked young coconut custard pie.we known that buko pie is very popular to eat among our country.because of the abundance of coconut tree.There are also variations of the pie,which are similar but use slightly different ingredient,such as macapuno.that uses special type of coconut as it is thick and sticky.

 For those who want to make their own buko pie, here is a buko pie recipe I got from the internet. 
Estimated cooking time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Buko Pie Ingredients
Crust:
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tsp. salt
* 2/3 cup shortening
* 1 piece eggyolk
* 1 tsp. vinegar
* 1/4 cup ice water

Filling:
* 4 cups coconut meat
* 1 cup coconut water
* 1 300 ml. can Sweetened Condensed Milk
* 2/3 cup cornstarch

Buko Pie Cooking Instructions
* Blend flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in shortening using two knives or a pastry cutter.
* Combine yolk, vinegar and water; slowly add the liquid to the flour mixing until dough can be handled.
* Divide dough into 2 parts with one part slightly bigger than the other. Roll bigger dough to about 2 inches larger than a 16-inch pie plate.
* Fit dough into a pie plate, letting sides hang.
* Roll out remaining dough for the crust.
* Set aside.
* Combine filling ingredients in a thick saucepan.
* Cook stirring constantly until thickened. Cool then pour into prepared crust.
* Cover with top crust; flute or crimp edges together to seal.
* Bake for 1 hr. at 425 degrees F.

  The addition of young coconut meat to buko pie gives the dessert its rich, unique flavor. Several variations of the pie filling exist with some recipes calling for sugar, some for condensed milk, and some for a combination of the two. Using condensed milk gives the pie a richer, sweeter flavor. Most recipes use a homemade crust made of flour, egg yolk and shortening. Store-bought pie crust can be substituted for quicker preparation.According to internet.