Ever since I featured the  “Healing Through Healthy Food” lecture series of Kusinero Negrense Ronnie Guance, I received several inquiries for the next schedule. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait long.  This Friday, May 18, 2012 at 8am to 11am the Session 3 of Ronnie’s talk and cooking demo will be held at Aboy’s Restaurant.

The lecture will still be free so let the Kusinero Negrense help you start a healthy lifestyle!

Meet Ronnie Guance, he doesn’t want to be called Chef but rather wants to be referred to as Kusinero Negrense. I’ve known Ronnie since I started working here in Bacolod eight years ago as one of our clients. When he learned that our agency is assisting a group in developing a product from sugarcane juice he eagerly offered to help. That’s Ronnie, always willing to share his knowledge.

Once again, he has shared his knowledge on healthy cooking using his own resources through a series of lectures he calls Healing Through Healthy Food. He believes our food should not only nourish our body but heal it as well. With Mr. Aboy Evaristo opening the doors of Aboy’s Restaurant for his lectures, Ronnie has found a venue for his advocacy. It’s very personal for him since he has once been diagnosed with pancreatitis more than ten years ago. His change of lifestyle and diet helped him overcome his illness.

Ronnie never had a formal education in cooking. He has a degree in Agriculture, worked in a multi-national  food company, left the corporate world and started his bakery business. In spite of his lack of formal culinary education, his passion for cooking and natural innovativeness made him develop healthy food recipes from local ingredients. And he is all too willing to share all these so he can help other people start eating healthy foods.

Locally Available Organic Vegetables

Ronnie lectured on the benefits of healthy eating and demonstrated how to prepare different healthy recipes he has developed over the years which the attendees also get to taste. All these for free.

Ronnie makes healthy breads with a mixture of taro root and vegetables such as saluyot and malunggay sweetened with fresh sugarcane syrup. He didn’t use lard with the bread but instead used coconut oil. Lard has trans fatty acid which is said to cause hypertension. He also makes veggie siopao with okra and takway filling which doesn’t taste like vegetables.

Kusinero Negrense’s version of breakfast oatmeal is Pinipig Porridge with coconut milk and fresh mullberry toppings. Pinipig is more healthy than regular rice because it still has rice husks which has most of the nutrients.

Pinipig Porridge

He also concocts a delicious Organic Salad of  fruits, vegetable and rootcrop salad with mullberry, coconut oil and pure tuba vinegar as vinaigrette.

Organic Salad

Fresh Lumpia has fresh vegetables in it but Ronnie’s version has lots of fresh vegetables found locally with lots of nutrients and medicinal values – lupo, kulitis , alosiman, kangkong, malungay, cabbage, carrots, takway, saluyot, and okra.  For the sauce, he blends together taro , garlic, camias flowers , honey, and mulberry.

Kusinero Negrense's version of Fresh Lumpia

It’s already been two sessions of Healing Through Healthy Food with the Kusinero Negrense and so far there’s been a great turn-out of participants.

Health Conscious participants

If that’s an indication that more people are becoming health conscious then I guess our Kusinero Negrense is influencing more people to live a healthy lifestyle.

Subscribe to our feeds for the next schedule of Healing through Healthy Food.

Rinjin Japanese Restaurant opened only a few months ago at Eroreco Subdivision but it has already gained a lot of attention through word of mouth.  Rinjin means neighbor in Japanese and the fact that it’s located in a residential subdivision that makes it your neighbor if you live in the area.

The restaurant was on the former garage of a family and can accommodate around 30 people on a packed seating.  The restaurant is very cozy and you can see the kitchen area through the glass partition so you know how they prepare your food. It has no fancy decoration and what might catch your eyes is the large metal clock on the wall which is rather artistically made.

Rinjin Japanese Restaurant Interior

Bang Agustin, the daughter of the owner is a friend of ours so it’s a must that Team Tikim visit Rinjin Japanese  Restaurant.

Betsy and I ordered Miso Soup while waiting for our friend Pushpa. Miso soup is probably the most popular Japanese soup. Its ingredients are very simple, dashi soup stock, miso paste, tofu and chopped onions. Rinjin’s Miso Soup really tasted good, it’s not too salty and the serving size is just enough to prepare you for the next dish.

Rinjin's Miso Soup

We ordered Spicy Rinjin Salad as recommended by Bang since it’s one of their best selling dishes. It’s raw tuna with tugarashi sauce, bread crumbs and mayo. I love spicy foods, so it’s definitely a hit for me.

Spicy Rinjin Salad

We decided to have a light dinner so we did not order anything with rice. Instead, we had Soba which is cold noodles which you dip in a sauce with raw egg and wasabi.  Most of us are fond of eating hot noodles but Soba is served chilled so that the texture of the noodles is retained.

Rinjin's Soba

Soba is very healthy since it’s made from buckwheat noodles which have low caloric and glycemic values compared to wheat noodles.  Buckwheat is also gluten free, which makes it an ideal food for those with allergy or sensitive to the gluten found in wheat.  I love the texture and the balance of flavors when you dip the noodles in its sauce.

Fake or Authentic?

I’m not sure if it’s because it’s near the so called “fake Bob’s” why some people refer to Rinjin as the “fake Inaka”, a famous Japanese restaurant in Bacolod. For me, to call it fake Inaka would be unfair to both Inaka and Rinjin.

A fake is something that is not authentic and Rinjin does not try to be a copycat of Inaka. When I asked Bang of her opinion when people call them the “fake Inaka” she says it’s ok but then they want to make a name of their own. They do not compromise their quality and use authentic Japanese ingredients since using local substitutes just don’t make the taste the same. That’s probably why you can’t even consider their price as cheap, more like reasonable but definitely more affordable than the other Japanese restaurants in Bacolod.

How to get to Rinjin Japanese Restaurant

Eroreco may be a little out of the way for most people but getting there is very easy. Rinjin is along Margarita St., Eroreco’s main road. Take the Eroreco jeep  from downtown Bacolod and once you’re inside Eroreco Subdivision, watch out for the wall painted with dolphins on the right side of the road. Next to it is Rinjin Japanese Restaurant

Rinjin opens from  11:30am – 2pm and 5:30 – 9pm. For those in the neighborhood, they serve Filipino breakfast upon request.  Call them at 708-8188

Have you been to Rinjin? Tell us what you think of their food.

I can’t think of a better restaurant for our first Team Tikim review for 2012 than Delicioso, one of the newest addition to Bacolod City’s growing list of dining places , deli and cafe.

The team – Betsy Gazo, Bambi Borromeo, Maricar Dabao and myself,  were met by Delicioso’s Chef in Heels, Mari Stelle Estrella. Chef Mari Stelle was trained as Garde Manger at Kingston Plantation- Embassy Suites and got her education from the American Hospitality Academy.

Who says you can’t stay in the kitchen and be fashionable? Chef Mari Stelle may not be wearing high heels and couture clothes literally but she looks good enough to be in a magazine cover. She could be the next celebrity chef of Bacolod and it’s just as well that we have Channel 13 to cover our exploit.

Delicioso Chef Maristelle with Maricar Dabao

Delicioso is located near Convergys in Mandalagan where Café Breizh used to be. The owners travel a lot and would want to eat the food they love to eat abroad so there’s really no single theme for Delicioso. Delicioso’s ambiance is very relaxed. It can seat around 40 people and also has a small board room for about 10 people for a meeting or a small function.

Choices of cold cuts at Delicioso.

Choices of cheese at Delicioso.

Delicioso also sells cold cuts and cheeses. They have around 17 kinds of cheeses with gouda and sage as their best sellers during the holidays. They also sell pasta, paella rice and other condiments.

To Bambi Borromeo’s delight, Delicioso has a good collection of wine and he treated us ladies with a bottle of Chilean cabernet sauvignon. After a few sip of wine, we’re now ready for business.

Delicioso wine selection.

I love anything spicy so I was really delighted with the spicy Shrimp Arrabiata made of bavette pasta with Delicioso’s freshly cooked special tomato sauce. Arrabiata is a spicy pasta that’s where it derived it’s name which means angry in Italian. It has a few ingredients but tasted really good with just a hint of herbs.

Delicioso Spicy Sshrimp Arriabata

Truffled Jamon Serrano Panizza which came with lettuce and spicy hot pico de gallo. Panizza is originally served with arugula and alfafa sprouts but alfafa is hard to source locally. Chef Mari Stelle advised that Panizza should be eaten while hot so you can still roll the ultra-thin dough.

Delicioso Truffled Jamon Serrano Panizza

Here’s how you eat panizza, get a slice, put some lettuce, top it with a little pico de gallo, and roll it. We had a fit laughing because it reminds us of old folks rolling their betel nuts. We loved the panizza, it’s novel (at least for me), spicy and the flavors blended well with herbs.  Just a little caution to those not accustomed to spicy dishes, you can advise the waiter to make the pico de gallo not too hot.

Chef Mari Stelle confessed she love herbs but she knows not a lot of Pinoys are accustomed to herbs so she has adjusted the taste to the local palate. This love for herbs was evident in her Baked Chicken Maryland which is chicken leg stuffed with sausage and wrapped in bacon. The stuffing has just enough herbs for the usual Filipino palate and it was sprinkled with herbs as well.

Delicioso Baked Chicken Maryland

Of course we had to try the Paella which is already a complete meal with paella rice, clams, squid, pimento, jamon Serrano and chorizo.  We really loved it especially since the rice was cooked just right.

Delicioso Paella

The serving of the Philly Cheesesteak with its thick meat and cheese was fit for an American appetite so it’s already a meal itself.

Delicioso Philly Cheesesteak

We had two choices for dessert – Lava Cake and Bailes Cheesecake.  But of course, we tried both. Lava Cake is a round moist chocolate with a molten chocolate inside that oozes out when you slice it. This one is best be eaten while hot so that the molten chocolate still retains its gooey consistency.

Delicioso Lava Cake

Don’t worry if you don’t drink Bailey’s, the Bailey’s Cheesecake will not get you drunk but will give you sugar high instead. It’s a unique offering of Delicioso.

Delicioso Baileys Cheesecake

Well, what can I say? Delicioso was aptly named since all we’ve tasted so far were muy delicioso!

Fresh Start Organics in Silay City is more than just a business. It’s a social enterprise helping hundreds of farmers in Negros Occidental with impacts on consumers’ health, fair trade and environmental conservation.

The organic movement in Negros Occidental started in the 1980s with players from the NGO sector. It gained a stronger support from the provincial governments of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental in 2005 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding of the governors Joseph Marañon and George Arnaiz to make Negros Island the Organic Food Bowl of Asia.

With her late grandfather as one of the supporters of the organic movement, I guess it’s no coincidence that Francine Marañon-Uy would herself be involved in organic agriculture. She and husband Ramon “Chin-Chin” Uy, Jr.  started Fresh Start Organic farm in Silay City as a demo farm in 2005 in order to showcase the benefits of their organic fertilizer. Their efforts were met with criticisms since they were then competing with commercial fertilizers which cost P500 per bag while they were selling their organic fertilizer at P300 per bag. Then the cost of commercial fertilizer increased dramatically since it is dependent on the price of oil.  That’s when they confirmed that they are in the right business. Why depend on foreign products when everything you need for farming is available locally?

Today, Fresh Start Organics farm in Silay City has been featured in many agriculture magazines since their farm can be considered a model. Their farm earns more per square meter than a regular sugarcane farm.

Fresh Start Upholds Fair Trade

One of the things I was glad I did was when I introduced an organization of small organic rice farmers I assist in Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental to Fresh Start Organics. Fresh Start buys organic rice from various farmer organizations at a premium. They usually agree on a certain price with the farmers even before the rice are harvested.  This way, the farmers already know how much they’re going to earn and that’s usually above the prevailing farm gate prices so the farmers earn more if they sell to Fresh Start than to conventional rice traders.

If the farmers lack capital for inputs, Fresh Start provides them with organic inputs and the payment would be in the form of products during harvest. This way, the farmers no longer need to borrow from loan sharks. They also assist the farmers gain more knowledge on organic agriculture through trainings.

Fresh Start Helps in Environmental Conservation

Fresh Start Organics source their coffee from small organic farmers from Sag-ang in La Castellana and Yubo in La Carlota nurtured by the rich volcanic soil of Mt. Kanlaon. Fresh Start Coffee naturally grows under the shade of dipterocarp trees and do not need chemicals to grow thus the biodiversity in the forest is protected. Each red coffee cherry is hand-picked to select the best quality. The Fresh Start coffee is available in Mt. Kanlaon Premium Blend (Arabica and Robusta) and Negrense Native Organic Coffee (Robusta). I prefer the Mr. Kanlaon Premium Blend because of its rich flavor and aroma.

Chin-Chin believes that as you nourish the soil, it will nourish the plants which in turn nourish the body. As the soil becomes healthier, you will need lesser and lesser inputs. The conventional method on the other hand, gives nutrients to the plants but destroys the natural nutrients and helpful organisms in the soil. As the soil nutrients diminish, more inorganic fertilizers and pesticides are needed.

Fresh Start Encourages Consumers to be Healthy, Inside-Out

Fresh Start Organics produce organic salad greens and herbs, fruits and vegetables, free range chickens and grass fed pigs. Salad greens are harvested, washed, packed in ziplocks and delivered fresh to supermarkets and restaurants.

Fresh Start also has a processed food line using organic and locally sourced ingredients. They have already reached Iloilo, Cebu and Manila market supplying their fresh produce and processed jams to the likes of Gaita Fores of Pepato.

To be healthy inside out, Fresh Start also has a line of personal and home care products. Their soaps are based in virgin coconut oil while their massage oil is based in virgin lemongrass oil produced in Negros Occidental. Their linen and room deodorizers are also based in lemongrass oil and are very affordable.

Fresh Start is Doing Good While Doing Well

I remember once asking Chin-Chin how their business is doing since their price is really competitive. He said they may not profit as much as they could have but it doesn’t matter as long as more small farmers benefit through Fresh Start Organics. He believes it’s an irony that it’s the farmers who work the most in the organic value chain but they remain poor. He wanted to change that and help the farmers earn more since they’re the ones responsible for putting food on our table.

No wonder Chin-Chin and Francine Uy were listed in the Town & Country magazine’s 101 People You Should Meet Right Now.  Their commitment is admirable and their dedication to their advocacy is very contagious. Not all businesses have money as their bottom-line. Fresh Start Organics invested in our small farmers and more than profit, they are now slowly reaping their rewards in terms of healthier consumers, fair trade promotion and biodiversity conservation.

Fresh Start Organics products are available at the Fresh Start Organic and Natural Store at the Robinsons Central Citywalk and at Echostore branches.

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Fresh Start Organics will be inaugurating their Organic and Natural Store today December 14, 2011 at the Robinsons Central Citywalk coinciding with the birthday of the owner Chin Chin Uy. Organic consumers will now have a place where they can buy organic fresh produce, rice, coffee, fruit jams, and personal care products of Fresh Start Organics.

Fresh Start Organics is one of the pioneers in the organic movement in Negros Occidental. Their organic farm in Silay City is a showcase on sustainable farming and a proof that organic farming is the way to go especially for small farmers.

Fresh Start Organic Grocery

Fresh Start Organic Coffee

Customers can also enjoy organic food at the Fresh Start deli such as taro-malunggay pandesal, artisan piaya, organic ice cream and fresh fruit juices and dine al fresco at the Central City Walk.

The taro-malunggay pandesal is sold for P8 per piece and it’s composed of 60% taro flour. Taro flour is derived from taro (Colocasia esculenta) a root crop we locally call bisol or palawan. The taro-malunggay bread is healthy, very filling and goes well with Fresh Start Organic coffee.

Fresh Start Taro-Malunggay Pandesal

Fresh Start Organics Ice Cream has several flavors to choose from and it’s sold for P85 per cup. The flavors were created by Pinkerton Ice Cream for Fresh Start Organics using organic ingredients.

Fresh Start Organic Ice Cream

The Fresh Start Oraganic and Natural Store opened in November without much fireworks but it has already attracted the attention of organic consumers. I have been to the store several times already and guess who I caught buying organic products at Fresh Start? No less than Margarita Fores and Silay City First Lady Marissa Montelibano.

Chin Chin Uy, US Peace Corps Volunteer Rachael Saler and Margarita Fores

Chin Chin with Silay First Lady Marissa Montelibano

Happy birthday to Chin Chin Uy and congratulations to you and Francine on the grand opening and inauguration of Fresh Start Organic & Natural store at the Robinsons Central Citywalk! I hope you continue to convince more people on the benefits of living an organic and healthy lifestyle.

The 6th Negros Island Organic Farmers Festival is no doubt the most anticipated organic event of the year. You don’t get to see all of these world-class chefs and restaurateurs in one event very often. Don’t miss to attend the various lectures on different topics on organic lifestyle and see various cooking demo by the country’s top chefs using local organic ingredients.

Meet the Chefs

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The venue of the Cooking Demo is at the Organic Market Restaurant while the lectures will be at the Provincial Capitol Social Hall.

Other activities include Daily Trade Fair, Daily Night Events, Daily Organic Cocktail Demo by Culinary Students, and Daily Organic Farm Tours (pls email viajenegrense@gmail.com for rates & schedule).

The organizers of the first and longest running organic festival in the country once again invite organic producers, retailers and consumers  to the 6th Negros Island Organic Farmers Festival to be held on December 16-20, 2011  at the Negros Occidental Organic Market and Restaurant at the back of the Provincial Capitol.

Negros Island is the Organic Capital of the Philippines. There’s no doubt about this if you consider the breakthroughs that the organic movement has made since the provincial governments of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, agreed to make Negros island as the “Organic Food Bowl of Asia” in 2005.

The following year, the 1st Negros Island Organic Farmers Festival which was held in front of the Negros Occidental Provincial Admin building.  I was able to attend the 1st Negros Island Organic Farmers Festival and since then I see to it that I get to attend the activities every year. The 5th Negros Island Organic Farmers Festival last year attracted thousands of visitors and generated a lot of sales for our organic farmers.

The 6th Negros Island Organic Farmers Festival will include the following events:

• exhibits of organic, healthy, local and vegetarian food, and eco- friendly products and technology
• talks by nationally and internationally known experts on organic food production and business and related topics
• agri-tourism health and wellness fair
• cooking demonstrations from celebrity chefs, well-known restaurateurs, and culinary schools
• night concerts with live bands

Every year more and more exhibitors participate in the fair and we can expect more this year since the organizers invited various organic groups from different regions.

This year’s theme is “Food for Peace” which is in line with the food security thrust of Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon, Jr.  Sustainable organic agriculture is geared towards providing livelihood opportunities to small organic farmers to help alleviate poverty.

Christmas is the time for bazaars where you can get big discounts and hard-to-find items. However, aren’t you tired of the usual fashion bazaars? Bacolod is a haven for the foodies yet there’s no food market where you can find great-tasting, artisanal food in a venue where you can also enjoy great meals with friends.

A group of young Negrense students who are starting out in their food business or simply just have a knack for cooking thought of starting Comer.Cio food market in Bacolod City. The food market will open at 4:00pm and will end at 1:30am this December 16-18, 2011 at the Central District.

Comer in Spanish means “to eat” so expect to enjoy great-tasting food and even heirloom recipes from these young Negrenses. December is perhaps the only month where we have a lot of excuses to eat. Tag along your friends so you will not be the only one to gain weight.

For more details and if you want to apply as one of the exhibitors, you may contact the organizers at 0922-8291049 or email them at comercio.bacolod@yahoo.com.

Allow me to borrow the title of a photo album in Silay City‘s Official Facebook page for the title of this blog post because that’s exactly what the bloggers discovered during a heritage tour of Silay as part of the activities for the Philippine Blog Awards Visayas.

We are very familiar with images of Silay with its grand ancestral mansions but what really make Silay special are beyond those landmarks. It is its people, their culture and traditions which make the “Paris of Negros” stand out.

A guided tour personally facilitated by no less than Silay City Tourism Officer Ver Pacete made the bloggers discover a different facet of Silay that we don’t usually see. Some of it may not be positive but it will give any visitor a more understanding of life in Silay City.

Who are the Silaynons? What makes them tick? From the time the Spaniards landed on a village known as Carobrob in 1565, it has become a melting pot of people and culture. Silay has perhaps more than any other town in Negros Occidental, is where most Panayanons (people from Panay Island) migrated to. It was Fr. Eusebio Locsin of Molo, Iloilo who was instrumental in inviting his family and friends to come to Silay where the land is fertile. And so came the Locsins, Lacsons, Jalandonis, Lopezes, Javellanas, Montinolas and other affluent families who became the hacenderos of Silay.

Hacienda Adela residents

Silay not only attracted the affluent families from Panay but also the seasonal workers we call the sacadas. We were brought to Hacienda Adela where the people still practice old Ilonggo oral traditions such as the composo and luwa. Most of the residents trace their roots to Panay and these traditions were handed down to them by their forefathers.

Silay Pottery

There are also traditional crafts that still exist today. The maninihon (artists) of Brgy. Guinahalaran still make clay tiles, pots, stoves and garden accessories. Although pottery is an ancient art, it is on the verge of disappearing. In fact, the pottery makers in Guinhalaran are the remaining three groups still existing in Negros Island.

Just like any community in the Philippines, stories and legends abound in Silay to explain mysterious incidents. Stories of enchanted trees and places refused to die especially when fed with our rich imaginations. There exist two century-old trees in along the highway going to Silay which nobody dared cut-down lest they earn the ire of its “residents”.

It’s also always interesting to talk to locals who spent their childhood in Silay.  It’s from them that you get to hear what only get to be whispered. Family secrets would almost always be far more interesting than the architecture of their houses.

One never goes to Silay without sampling its native delicacies. The oldest bakeshop in Silay, El Ideal, opened in the 1920s. In Silay, you get to taste the best piaya, lumpaiang ubud, pili squares, and other local delicacies not from pasalubong outlets but from the kitchens of its makers. Most of these are family recipes handed down from generations and are not available anywhere. Aside from the local institutions like El Ideal, there’s the manuglibod who goes around Silay selling local delicacies. Most kakanins traded in Bacolod are from the manuglibods of Silay.

Fresh Star Organics Farm

Silay is a microcosm of a society undergoing change constantly. The opening of the Silay Airport opens a lot of opportunities for industries within Silay City. With the priority of the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental to make Negros the organic food bowl of Aisa, the vast land of Silay is a resource waiting to be tapped. One of the first companies to into organic agriculture was Fresh Start Organics whose farm is located in Hacienda Maquina. The company now produces and markets its organic produce not only in the province but even to Iloilo and Metro Manila.

Clearly, there’s more to Silay than meets the eye. All of these are just waiting for you to discover and experience. As what we bloggers discovered, beyond Silay’s landmarks is a Silay pulsating with life and a culture that’s unlike no other. No wonder migrants have found their home in Silay. Life is definitely sweeter here.

Stay tuned for more features on Silay City.