Undas 2024

This weekend we remember our beloved who passed away. I am sharing recent photos from my visit to our departed relatives at the Cabatuan Catholic Cemetery.

Main gate of the Cabatuan Cemetery

The Cabatuan Mortuary Chapel is a heritage site

The view behind the chapel near where our relatives are interred.

Inside is a simple altar aside from the tombs

Many of our beloved relatives from my father's side of the family rest here at different locations around the cemetery. The main tombs are near the mortuary chapel. Their names are listed there:

Nay Andang, an uncle and other aunts whom I have no memory of.

Tay Adoy is the first cousin of my father and Nay Vacion is the sister of my mother. My parents met at their home in Manila when they both lived there while studying in Manila.

Nay Agrong, Nay Pilar and Manong Edgar

Nay Paring who passed away early this year

Nay Nene, Nay Idad, Tay Puren (the Korean War veteran), my Lola Pinac (mother of Tatay) - Nay Nene's name is mispelled. It should be Enriqueta. Lola's date of passing is also incorrect. It should be December 23, 1983. I still remember us receiving the telegram informing of her passing on Christmas Day of 1983. That was devastating news for us then.

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Chocolate review: Lorenzo Farm 70% Dark Chocolate

We finally tasted one of the chocolates I bought in Iloilo. This is a dark chocolate from Lorenzo Farm tagged as Iloilo Premium Chocolate.

The wrapper for this 70% dark chocolate features Iloilo's Dinagyang Festival.

Details about the chocolate

Information on the maker - Lorenzo Farm - which is located in the town of Dingle, Iloilo. Dingle is located to the north, northeast of Iloilo City.

Nutrition information and manufacturing information. They claim to have only cacao, cacao butter and sugar as ingredients. These seem too few (Mayon Gold claims only two!) so you wonder if this is correct or perhaps they're not disclosing all the ingredients that went into this chocolate.

I thought the chocolate is better than the Mayon Gold chocolate. It is smoother in terms of taste and texture. However, I would say it is a regular or ordinary chocolate. I would buy it for novelty like the Mayon Gold chocolate but that's basically it. The chocolate retailed for 130 pesos and I thought that was expensive for a 56g bar. Perhaps I will try this again after a year or so to see if there's an improvement?

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Chocolate review: Mayon Gold 60% Dark Chocolate

The first chocolate from Bicol that we tasted is this 60% dark chocolate from Mayon Gold. The chocolate comes from Camalig. Albay, which is near the famous Mayon Volcano.

Mayon Gold markets this as a hand crafted chocolate.

Details about the chocolate at the back of the package

There's a story behind this chocolate. That was covered by the price tag, which I removed to show the work and advocacy of the Muravah Foundation that produced this chocolate.

Nutrition information. Note the emphasis on this chocolate having only 2 ingredients: dried fermented cacao and coconut sugar. They seem to have forgotten to declare others that would have rendered this product easily spoiled?

Revenues from the chocolate will go to the improvement in the lives of people in the communities supported by the foundation.

The chocolate was okay considering they used only 2 ingredients (as they claim). We thought the use of coconut sugar as sweetener affected the overall taste and texture of the chocolate. I am not sure that this is the taste and texture desired by most chocolate lovers though. And in the end, to be honest, the chocolate will not be judged by the maker's objectives and advocacies but by its qualities as compared (or benchmarked) with other, more superior products. The chocolate retails for about 140 pesos for this 50g bar. I would not mind paying for a bar or two the first time but have to reconsider a next time. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement for this chocolate if they want to get to the level of the Auros and Malagos chocolates.

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Chocolates from Iloilo

No, this is not yet a review. I just wanted to share these chocolates I got from a pasalubong store at the Molo Mansion across from the Molo Church in Iloilo City.

Dark and mil chocolate bars from Lorenzo Farm

Nutrition and other information on the chocolates.

The chocolates were made by a farm in Dingle, Iloilo. Dingle is an interior town of Iloilo locate to the north-northeast of Iloilo City past the town of Pototan. The climate and other conditions there might be good for growing cacao. I assume this can be classified as a single origin chocolate. I will give my reviews of each chocolate as soon as I have sampled or eaten them.

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Cabatuan Church and Mortuary Chapel, Iloilo

I was two churches short of a Visita Iglesia in Iloilo as of Saturday last week. Sunday concluded my travel with a stop at my father's hometown of Cabatuan and completing the 7 churches visited with the Cabatuan Church and Mortuary Chapel. I heard Mass in Cabatuan and entering the church brought back a lot memories mostly from my childhood days vacationing in the town.

Cabatuan Church also dedicated to San Nicolas de Tolentino was built in 1834. It survived the 1948 earthquake though 4 of what were 6 belfries were destroyed by the quake. The church has 3 facades with the signature red bricks that distinguishes it from other heritage churches in the province. As time was limited and it was already raining, I didn't get a chance to take photos of the sides of the church.

Main gate of the cemetery leading to the mortuary chapel. The view of the chapel from this gate used to be blocked by the tomb of former Sen. Tomas Confesor, who is arguably the most prominent son of Cabatuan.

Mortuary Chapel of Cabatuan, Iloilo. The chapel is of baroque style and octagonal shape. This was completed in 1894.

I wrote about the mortuary chapel many years ago. The article may be found here. I will post more photos of the church and chapel in future posts.

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Five heritage churches along the Southeast of Iloilo

A highlight of this trip to Iloilo are the

San Joaquin Church was constructed in 1869.

Miag-ao Church or Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Parish. Church was completed in 1797. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.

Another view of Miag-ao Church showing the buttressed walls along its side.

Guimbal Church or San Nicolas de Tolentino Parish was first built in 1774 and also survived many events that damaged it. The current church's last major repairs were after the earthquake of 1948.

 

Tigbauan Church or St. John of Sahagun Parish was established in 1575. It also survived the 1948 earthquake.

Molo Church or Sta. Ana de Molo was completed in 1888 is said to be a feminist church as it only features images of female saints.

There was supposed to be an old church in Oton. Unfortunately, that church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception was destroyed in the 1948 earthquake. The current church dates to 1972. I will write about these churches individually.

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Local delicacies - dugos (wild honey)

Our first meal back in Iloilo was at the Tatoy's at Villa, in the Arevalo District of the city. Before I post about that and its environs, I wanted to write about a local delicacy that's actually quite common elsewhere in the country - wild honey. Dugos as they call it in Ilonggo is sold by ambulant vendors though you may also find them in bottles in some shops. The ones by the vendors might actually be better and collected by the vendors or their kin themselves.

Vendor selling dugos or wild unpasteurized honey for 50 pesos per container. He approached our group as we waited for our order of lunch from Tatoy's.

What the honey looks like - dark and viscous.

The taste brought me back to childhood days when we dipped pandesal, suman sa ibos or puto manapla during breakfasts at Tatay's home in Cabatuan. Those are happy memories I will cherish. The container for the dugos while usually (maybe traditionally) using bamboo, would have banana leaf as a lid rather than the Manila paper used here as shown in the photos. There was actually another vendor who passed by with his dugos covered by banana leaves rather than paper. The paper tends to absorb the honey and so now I have to get a container if I am to bring home some for later consumption.

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Back at Buto't Balat, Pison Avenue, Iloilo City

I'm back in Iloilo City but before I write about our most recent meals here, I'm posting a late one from the trip last July. This one is about our dinner at Buto't Balat, which is located in the middle of the Plazuela buildings near the Diversion Road. Friends here made the reservation.

Entrance to the restaurant

Steamed lapu-lapu in soy sauce

Grilled tanguigue

Their version of the popular molo

Shrimp sauteed in garlic

Lechon kawali

Native design lamps

Another native inspired lamp at the restaurant

We have not eaten at this restaurant for over a decade so it was a welcome alternative to Tatoy's and Breakthrough. The ambience was still good and many families and groups of friends or officemates patronize the restaurant. It should be no surprise because the food is good and priced right.  Buto't Balat is definitely a place you would like to come back to for a nice meal.

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Goodies from Biscocho House

I recently posted about pasalubong or souvenirs from Iloilo. Here are the usual ones that I got during the most recent trip there:

Pinasugbo, barquillos, and, of course, biscocho

I would have gotten some piaya, too, but we still had some piaya from Negros Occidental from when my brother-in-law was visiting from Montreal and made a stop at his wife's hometown in Kabankalan to check on their house that's still under construction. I already look forward to the next trip to Iloilo, which is coming up very soon!

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Pasalubong from Biscocho House

A trip to Iloilo, no matter how short, requires pasalubong or souvenirs. The usual stuff includes food like piaya, pinasugbo, barquillos and biscocho. The go to place for these can be according to one's preferences but for me the one stop shop is Biscocho Haus. While they have many branches in the city including kiosks at the malls, the usual store I go to to buy pasalubong is along the national highway en route to the airport from the city. The roadside store is a convenient place to purchase pasalubong.

Store sign along the highway

Inside the store are various goodies for pasalubong displayed inside wooden cabinets.

The most popular are the biscocho, butterscotch, piaya, barquiron, banadas and pinasugbo.

There are many products to choose from for pasalubong

There are small and bigger packs depending on the quantity you want to purchase and/or distribute as pasalubong.

Most of the items can crumble or can be crushed if not handled or packed carefully. I would suggest that you prepare your bags for these whether you plan to hand-carry them or place them inside the luggage you will be checking-in. Another option is to have a separate bag for the pasalubong or to have them placed inside a carton box.

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DITS - Desserts in the Sky, Atria

After our meeting at UP in Iloilo City, we decided to go have some snacks. Our friend took us to what he said was a popular cafe at the Atria. DITS stands for Desserts in the Sky and a nice place to have some snacks over conversations not to mention meetings.

Store front

Their halu-halo is highly recommended and reminded us of Razon's

They also have baked products like cakes and pastries

The interior was welcoming. There is a second level or mezzanine.

Breads and pastries

Various baked delights including cookies, otap and crinkles. You can get these for souvenirs.

The otap and cookies were really good. I brought the cookies home but started eating the otap at the hotel. I thought the otap was among the best I've tasted (no, Shamrock is not the best though it's good enough and better than many, ordinary otap). I will probably buy their otap if I get a chance to go to DITS the next time I'm in Iloilo.

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