Pattaraday Festival 2012

The Pattaraday Festival in Santiago City is a celebration of the founding of the city and the different ethno-linguistic groups who have settled in Santiago and makes it the melting pot that it is (source: tourism). The festival is aptly named, as Pattaraday is an Ybanag (pron. EE-ba-nag) term meaning unity. The Pattaraday festivities happen every first week of May, with tons of activities lined up.

I was able to watch the Pattaraday float parade and street dancing on its second to the last day. It was extremely hot that day, but I managed to stay alive despite the intense heat.

Some brought their own bench while waiting :)

tons of people lined up on the street to watch the parade despite the heat

If you do plan on attending the Pattaraday Festival, I suggest staying in Santiago for a week to be able to attend all the events. If you just want to watch the parade, which usually happens on Saturday, you have to be in Santiago by Friday since the parade starts early morning the next day.

For hotels in Santiago, the most decent one I can recommend is Hotel Amancio, which is just along the national highway. You can check its website here.

House 48 - Santiago City's Hidden Steak Heaven

Now, am not sure if House 48 is still open because I noticed two new steak houses in Santiago. I'm hoping it still is open because I want to go back and try out the other items on their menu.

The same day that I went to Bannawag Norte to check out the muscovado sugar production, I went to House 48 to have dinner. Why is the restaurant called House 48? Because its address is 48 Daisy Street.

When I arrived in the restaurant, it had just opened (around 5 p.m) and I was the only customer. I didn't mind that at all since I wanted to go around the place without having to bother anyone. As soon as I sat down, I checked the menu and was pleasantly surprised that the steak menu items were quite varied.

Besides the location, I think another downside to eating at House 48 is the pricing of the food. By Manila standards, the price list is acceptable but for a restaurant in the province I honestly don't think people are willing to spend that much on food. However, I think that House 48 has a niche market (i.e. upper middle class) which makes me assume it has patron clients already. I heard that this restaurant has been around for a while already, so I'm guessing business has been good regardless of its location and pricing.

For starters, I had tomato soup and homemade bread and butter. Absolutely delish! I couldn't get enough of the bread, but had to control my appetite before the steak arrived.

I got the ribeye steak with veggies and mashed potato. All steak set meals are served with the starter dishes and a choice of either coffee or ice cream after.

If you happen to be in Santiago City, try House 48. It's located at 48 Daisy Street, Santiago City. I will edit this entry as soon as I find the directions :p

Muscovado Sugar Production in Santiago

Finally am posting something other than semi-rants. Great! Now, what I'll be sharing with you now was my visit to Bannawag Norte, a barangay in Santiago City, Isabela. This area is known for muscovado sugar production and pattupat-making. Muscovado sugar is unrefined brown sugar. It is said to be 'healthier' than regular brown sugar because there are less processes it has to go through so it retains a lot of the natural minerals.

I visited Bannawag Norte about 4 months ago. It was a short trip, but I learned a lot about muscovado sugar production. I even met Manang Lita, one of the pioneers in muscovado production in Santiago. She herself toured me around her family's work area, where she and her sons labor over hot pots of sugar can syrup. Muscovado sugar is actually Santiago City's OTOP (One Town, One Product), and Manang Lita has even been awarded for her production of muscovado.  

Before you get the syrup, of course you would need to gather sugar canes

This sugar cane pressing machine has already been 'modernized' by the owner, since he hooked it up to a motor

See all these pressed sugar canes?

This is another way of 'modernizing' the sugar cane pressing machine. Manang Lita's sons hooked up the mechanism of their machine to a kuliglig (hand tractor) and let it run loose going around the pressing machine. 

All the sugar canes are put in this machine and pressed/crushed to release the sugar cane juice

see? :)

The sugar cane juice is then boiled for an initial 4 hours. The impurities are skimmed and thrown away, then the juice (now a syrup) will continue being simmered for another 4 hours.

While the syrup is boiling, pattupat are submerged so that the delicacy can absorb all the sugar, which is why pattupat is really sweet.

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This is Manang Lita. She has been making muscovado sugar for almost 2 decades already.

You'll know that the pattupat is almost done when most of the liquid has evaporated and you're left with the rich sugar syrup.

Nothing is really wasted. The pressed sugar canes are dried and stored . Dried sugar canes are used as source of fuel for fire for cooking and making muscovado.

Our finished product. One the left is the finely ground muscovado, whereas on the right is the 'rejected' muscovado because these weren't properly ground. That's just basically the difference between the two, but both are equally good :)

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Another by-product of sugar cane is, obviously, cane vinegar. They usually sell this mixed with chili peppers. 

Another by-product is this type of jam.

This is the finished pattupat. You don't really need to look up close to see how sticky it is. That's because these are submerged in boiling sugar syrup for 4 hours :)