Cooking Demo at the 5th Negros Organic Farmers Festival

The 5th Negros Island Organic Farmers’ Festival held on December 2-4, 2010 was to celebrate the gains that the local organic food stakeholders and organizers have achieved since the festival started in 2006.

The three-day festival which is considered as the first and the longest running festival of its kind in the country featured cooking demonstrations of organic food by famous Negrense chefs, among others.

One of them was famous restaurateur Margarita Fores,
whose roots come from Bago City and Valladolid.
She prepared 5 recipes in 2 hours.
All from scratch!

Margarita "Gaita" Araneta Fores is the President of food-related ventures like Cibo Inc., Cafe Bola, Pepato, Sostanza Health Line, and Fiori Di M.

Cibo is a restaurant that offers affordable and delicious Italian cuisine. This venture is the fruit of her passion for Italian food. She even went to Florence in 1980 and had two Italian married women teach her about Italian ways and really entangled her with the culture. She studied their language and toured the markets and restaurants. She, together with her siblings, Veanna, Joe, Oye and Bledes, borrowed a million Pesos from their mother, Maria Lourdes Araneta Fores, to open the first Cibo restaurant. It was just a small restaurant between Landmark and Glorietta, with a staff of seven. It was a success that after a year, they were able to pay the money lent by their mom and transferred to a bigger place in Glorietta. They branched out and have 8 branches in Metro Manila: Glorietta 4, Shangri-la Plaza Mall, Alabang Town Center, Rockwell, Megastrip A of the SM Megamall, Greenhills, and at the Loop at ABS-CBN.

Marinated tomatoes setting in.

Pappa al Pomodoro
Rustic Tuscan Tomato and Bread Soup

.....and here's the recipe!

Grilled Organic Chicken Breasts & Eggplant with Basil & Peanut Pesto

Grilled Organic Milkfish with Tomatoes, herb Salad & Green Tomato-Pineapple Salsa

Herb Salad

Marinated Organic Tomatoes on Pasta

Chef BJ Uy of Planta Hotel and Business Inn was accompanied by his LCC students, who recently won in a national culinary contest

Asian Rice Pilaf

Fishcake Camote and ube salad

Gazpacho is a cold soup

Soon to be chef Sandy of ICA testing out the green salad with edible flowers.

Chef BJ Uy's Roasted Chicken

Aboy Evaristo peeling off the puso ng saging.

Catholic Churches

St. Joseph, the Worker at VMC Compound
Victorias City, Negros Occ.
mosaic made of broken bottles

St. Joseph the Worker

VMC, Victorias

Adoration Chapel at Queen of Peace

Queen of Peace Parish

San Vicente Ferrer

Brgy. Vito, Sagay City

Adoration Chapel at the Sacred Heart Shrine

Sacred Heart Shrine

San Antonio Abad Parish

Lacson St., Bacolod City

The altar features the 'Risen Christ' done by National Artist Solomon Saprid.

Our Lady of Candles

Pina St., Capitol Heights

Bacolod City

Parish of St. Jude

Alijis, Bacolod City

Triumph of the Holy Cross

Triumph of the Holy Cross

Built in 2001 on the lot donated by Luis Gonzaga & Family.

It is located in Burgos Ext. Camingawan, Bacolod City.

Fr. Mauricio Ferrero, the parish priest who started the construction of the San Sebastian Cathedral. He was also the one who built the road network South and North of Bacolod City.

San Sebastian Cathedral

San Sebastian Cathedral

The construction of the church started under Fr. Mauricio Ferrero in 1876 and made of coral stones from Guimaras Island.

What's to see at Bacolod Central Market

DUYAN. A hammock.

buyo, bunga, dried tobacco leaf and lime.

This is chewed to extract the juice and spitted out.

Dried tobacco leaves

The woman trying out an unlighted cigar.

Assorted native bags in different designs.

Handmade bags made of pandan leaves.

SUNGKA. A popular traditional local board game of calculation over skill which may have been brought by Indonesians when they migrated to the Philippines. Shells, pebbles, or seeds are used as tokens.

http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Sungka

These colorful fans would come handy on a warm day.

Coconut husks used to scrub our wooden floors.

clay stoves

NIGO. Used as a food tray or basket when vending food or vegetables. This is carried on the head with a rolled cheesecloth as cushion.

KALALAW. A winnowing fan. Used to fan out the husks from the rice by raising the 'kalalaw' a little bit up in the air and the rice gets thrown up a bit. Usually done before cooking the rice.

Various ornamental handicrafts.

An assortment of hats made of pandan leaves and others.

This type of hat is called the 'salakot'. Worn by Filipinos in the 1800s. Now, these are mostly use as part of costumes, props or decors.

Welcome to the Dried Fish Section occupying the west sidewalk of the Central Market. There is a connotation that only people from the lowest income class eat dried fish.

Various types of 'balingon uga' using different sizes and types of fish.

This type of fish is called 'tabagak'.

Lucos. Dried squid. Best when deep fried.

sapsap

Danggit. filleted and dried.

Pinakas na gusaw. Filleted gusaw.

Balingon uga using 'gurayan' fish. Cooking procedure is pan fry it in little oil. Best when served with your favorite vinegar. Another cooking suggestion is as a salad. After pan frying it, add them to a bowl of cubed tomatoes and onions with vinegar and salt.

KALKAG. Dried baby shrimps. Suggested cooking procedure is to toast it on a hot pan. Best when peppered over your fried rice.

Dried fish is best served for breakfast. With fried rice and eggs. A truly Filipino breakfast.

Pickled mussels

peanut butter, piaya & kalamay hati

SHRIMP PASTE. Locally known as guinamos or bagoong in Tagalog. This is added to flavor some food recipes. Or it can be eaten as a side dish, when sauteed in lots of garlic and little vinegar. In some variation, pork fat is added.

IBUS. Glutinous rice soaked in coconut milk and wrapped in coconut leaves and cooked in boiling water. Eaten with some sugar preferably muscovado.

Comes in bundes of 5.

A lady vendor heaping the muscovado sugar into a neat mound.