A Hundred Years of Tita Isa's Dulce Gatas: Sweet Memories of a Sweet History

It was now past 11PM, cold but not freezing. The airport bus finally arrived at Hannam-dong in the Yongsan District, my home in Seoul. My plane from Manila just landed over an hour ago. It was time to go back to work; my Christmas vacation was over. 

As I waited on the sidewalk for the bus driver to pull out my maleta from the luggage compartment of his bus, Seoul welcomed me with a drizzle. 

Wanting to get out of the cold, I started dragging my 30-kilo luggage with my left arm while my 10-kilo hand-carry bag burdened my right shoulder. 

The final leg (pun, intended!) of my journey to my home-away-from-home would require me to walk for 400 meters and traverse two pedestrian lanes that crisscrossed one of the busiest intersections in Yongsan. I was now very tired and hungry.😩

And as I stood alone waiting for the green light at the crossing, the exhaustion from my cargo was too much that I looked up to the dark winter skies, my face wet with mist, and wanted to wail as the honking city buses and cars drove past me.😢

I then realized that, among my clothes and shoes, were the prized contents of my bags: dried mangoes for my Korean friends, homemade brazo de mercedes from Tita Gamay, Salazar hopia from Binondo, Mary Grace chocolate truffle cake (in a plastic container) and ensaimadas from my friend Cielo, piaya from Bailon's, Dolor's sapin-sapin, El Ideal's bread snacks, packs of tablea tsokolate, Manapla puto, and Tita Isa's dulce gatas!😁

Instead of crying, I started to chuckle!😅 I wasn't carrying ordinary cargo. I was carrying goodies from home! These weren't burden; these were delights!😄

           (Tita Isa's dulce gatas from the maleta)

That was how these Philippine delicacies cheered me up in Korea. Even during freezing winter mornings in Seoul, when I couldn't go out because of heavy snowfall, I'd steam a pair of Manapla puto and melt tablea tsokolate in hot milk, and my day would feel warm and better. 

At times, after a busy day in the office, I'd try to forget the stress and irritating office characters with a bar of Tita Isa's dulce gatas! 

These flavors that reminded me of home always made me feel not so far away from home. 

But now that I am, it is a delight to be 'reconnected' again with Tita Isa's dulce gatas!😊 

Right in the middle of the 2023 Kaon Ta Festival at Balay Negrense in Silay City I met Tita Isa's daughter, Mrs. Sonia Javier-Tordesillas who has continued her mom's dulce gatas business. 'Tita Isa's Dulce Gatas' was one of the stalls of other Silaynon heritage recipes at the food festival. (According to my mom, it was Mrs. Sonia Tordesillas who took her orders when she phoned.😊)

And while the Silay rondalla was providing music to everyone, I told Mrs. Sonia Tordesillas that her Mom's dulce gatas was one reason I was at Kaon Ta!

And how did the story of Tita Isa's dulce gatas start?

According to one of her daughters, Sr. Vicenta Eloisa Javier, R.A., it all started with their Lola Hortensia 'Oten' Gamboa who made dulce gatas in the 1920s. With lots of sugar available in Negros plus the available supply of carabao's milk from their hacienda, it was easy to create such yummy delicacy. Back then, Lola Oten used milk cans as her dulce gatas containers.

(If you want to order, these are numbers to call in Silay City, Negros Occidental, Philippines)

In the 1950s, when Lola Oten felt she needed to turn over the dulce gatas business to the next generation, she passed it on to her niece, Eloisa 'Isa' Gamboa-Javier, who also added pili macaroons, merengue, pastel, and barquiron to her sweet creations. 

It was her dulce gatas that stood the test of time and the discriminating taste of her customers. Although branded as "Tita Isa's Dulce Gatas", it is also called "mazapan de leche" when her sewing teacher, Señora Montserrat Viaplana, asked her to make some so she could bring this sweet delight to Spain as pasalubong. Tita Isa named dulce gatas as mazapan de leche for her Spanish consumers. 

With Lola Oten's original recipe in the 1920s up to today, for a hundred years now, dulce gatas has been enjoyed by generations and has been a pasalubong to Spain, to Korea and to many other places and countries, I'm sure.

When I look back now, I'd chuckle again at those funny memories, but at the same time, I now have a bar to enjoy, and I know that any time, I could always order and travel to Silay City for those yummy Tita Isa's dulce gatas. 

How about you? What are your sweet memories of Tita Isa's dulce gatas?😍

#titaisasdulcegatas #dulcegatas #mazapandeleche #Silay #NegrosOccidental #bacolod #pasalubong #pinoyfood #food #foodblog

It's More Pan In The Philippines!

Yes, it is absolutely more 'pan' (bread) in the Philippines, so to speak!

Most Filipinos have sweet tooth. And I am one of them. Like everyone else, I grew up enjoying different kinds of breads, cakes, and other sweet pastries and delicacies. 

             (As usual, my domestic in-flight snacks of 
                 'salab' and mamon from El Ideal)

That's why when I fly home, I make sure I get to enjoy all of them, plus a few other favorites. I really don't mind gaining more weight. After all, it's only my luggage that gets weighed in at the airline's check-in counter, and not me. Ha-ha-ha!

                   (Brunch at Bizu in Greenbelt 3! Thanks, Tina!)

                              (Macaroons from Bizu!)

And while I usually enjoyed chocolate cakes, brazo de mercedes, ensaimadas, fruit cakes and other sugary recipes on land, I also bring my own snacks on my flights back to Manila and then to Seoul, to make sure my enjoyment continues...up there at 30,000 feet, or higher!

                                    (Puto kutsinta and 
                     ready-to-fly-to-Korea ube halaya!)

                               (Dolor's sapin-sapin and 
        Cafe Mary Grace's chorizo and green olive pasta!)

My check-in luggage would always be full with sweets, aside from my clothes and toiletries. Perhaps, if the Customs would x-ray my suitcase, they'd always find that half of it is garments, and the other half is...diabetes. Ha-ha-ha! But I can only bring so much, which would only last for a couple of weeks. 

(Checking in my luggage with all my brazo de mercedes and              sweets; my weight allowance was 30 kilos.)

        (A sunny afternoon flying out from Manila to Seoul)

        (The best in-flight snacks ever: turon, sapin-sapin and             Jamaican beef patty. And soda with ice, of course!)

But thanks to thoughtful friends, I am able to enjoy these goodies in Seoul a few times in a year. And just last week, I enjoyed the best cheese rolls in the Philippines again! Thanks to Cielo and Mary Grace for bringing me some Mary Grace cheese rolls, suman and banana chips. A shout-out also to Marlu for the Salazar hopia, which I'm digesting as I upload this blog. Ha-ha-ha!

                     (And maybe Salazar hopia and 
                      Bizu macaroons before landing.)

(And I won this pouch during CebuPac's in-flight game!)

Just like the cool spring weather in Korea, these delights are always welcome any day...and night! I sometimes microwave a piece of the ube-pinipig suman for midnight snacks! The cheese rolls were reserved for breakfast and a pack of the Salazar hopia was for afternoon snacks.

               (Mary Grace cheese rolls arriving in Seoul!)

          (Mary Grace cheese rolls as breakfast in Korea)

Although there are also a lot of sweet delicacies and fancy pastries here in Seoul, having these goodies I enjoyed growing up is an entirely different thing on its own. The local desserts and snacks here just can't compare.

From ensaimadas to otap to piaya to panara; let's throw in bibingka, barquillos and empanada, puto manapla and hopia...I could go on and on, but I'm salivating now! I have to stop! Ha-ha-ha!

With all that variety of baked, steamed or fried goodies, it's indeed more pan in the Philippines!

                   (Mary Grace goodies arrive in Seoul!)

Philippine Travelblog: Silay City's El Ideal Restaurant and Native Delicacies

When I was a kid I remember reading a feature of Silay City (in Negros Occidental, Philippines) in Reader's Digest describing this city as the Paris of Negros because of its numerous artists and artisans. But what Reader's Digest failed to mention was that Silay City is also a haven of native Negrense delicacies which everyone loves until today. 

Well, I stopped reading Reader's Digest, but I haven't stopped craving for these delicacies. 

   (That's my favorite salab - the brown-colored                              delicacy wrapped in plastic.) 

         (Bitso-bitso is another favorite - cruller made of
         ground sticky rice and brown-sugar coating.)

Growing up in Negros Island in the Philippines, I remember an old lady vendor from Silay City, whom we called Tía Bodók (unfortunately, we didn't get to know her real name). 

During the week, she would travel from Silay City and roam around my hometown, Victorias City, selling native delicacies. 

My two favorites from her wide basket were salab and dulce gatas! Salab is a fried pancake made with coconut strips with a gravy-colored spread with garlicky and semi-sweet flavor, while dulce gatas (also known as dulce de leche) is a very sweet dessert made from fresh carabao's milk. 😊

She would sell the delicacies by walking around the town center throughout the morning, balancing her wide, winnowing basket full of yummy goodies on her head. The basket was covered by a white, muslin cloth that she opened only when someone wanted to buy. By noon, all her goodies would have been sold out and she would go back home to Silay City.😍

But now, Tia Bodok is no longer around, and I miss all the salab and dulce gatas. Luckily, there are some shops which still sell dulce gatas but I hardly had seen one selling salab, until I dropped by one time at El Ideal in Silay City!

              (Cassave cake and buko pie, too!)

It's not just a store where you can buy all those barquillos, puto, and other baked goodies to bring home.

And you can enjoy their yummy salab, fresh lumpia and bitso-bitso sitting down (read blog here)!

And whenever I was flying to Manila from Silay and I had time, I would always drop by El Ideal to get some salab. And one time, I happily finished one inside the pre-departure area of Bacolod-Silay Airport, and another one in the plane (read blog here)! It was the best domestic in-flight meal I ever had!😃

                           (Ube-flavored puto!)

But one late afternoon, I dropped by El Ideal to get some salab, but unfortunately, walâ na! Salab was all sold out for the day!😢

But I cried not! There will be salab tomorrow and the next day...and the next! And perhaps, when I drop by again this week, I would finally get some while I am home in Negros Occidental. 😀 

        (They also have my mom's favorite, fresh lumpia!                         And sandwiches!)

And when that moment comes, I will offer the first bite as a tribute to Tía Bodók, wherever she may be. So, thank you, El Ideal, for letting me enjoy all those memories again of Tía Bodók, her salab, and other native delicacies.😍

(El Ideal Restaurant)

El Ideal is just next to the Silay City plaza, near the intersection of the road going to the Silay-Bacolod Airport. 

So, if you happen to land at that airport, or if you're catching a flight, you can always swing by El Ideal. Those yummy snacks and delicacies are just a few minutes away! 😀