Amigos de Santiago on Camino -- Day 1 Triacastela to Furela

Day 1 of the Camino and I woke up early and with much trepidation -- what did I get myself and my amigos into? A 134 km walk sounded daunting, particularly for unfit, unready me.

But it was too late for second thoughts.  Putting myself and my amigos in the hands of  Santiago, we set off in the still cool Triacastela morning.  

First of all, I had to make sure my little henro was on board for the journey.  This is a little 

wooden charm of a traditional Japanese pilgrim, called a henro.  I found him on a pilgrimage 

to Koya-san, most sacred Buddhist mountain in Japan.  He would be my good luck charm, 

looped around the strap of my trekking pole.   Together, we would walk and finish this Camino.

A few hundred meters after we started, I came upon this shoe placed on one of the ubiquitous camino markers we would see all throughout the way.  Someone had written on it -- Santiago or Bust.  I took as a sign from Santiago -- whatever happens, we would get to our goal!

Day 1 took us from Triacastela, passing first through the small village of  San Xil.  We saw this lovely stone chapel along the pilgrim road.  Unfortunately it was still closed so we were not able to get our sello or stamp for the day.

The scallop shell is a symbol of the Camino. Along with yellow arrows and camino markers, scallop shells guide pilgrims along the way.  We came upon this giant scallop in front of a water trough and surprise, surprise,  we met a fellow Filipina,  walking the Camino by herself.  She quickly became an honorary Amigo.

The scenery along the way was just breathtaking.  Galicia is known for its lush greenery --  due to the cooler climate and frequent rainfall.

The uphill climb on the first day was gradual and as I took frequent short breaks to catch my breath, the view uplifted my spirits as well.

These centuries old stone farmhouses blended so well with the backdrop of rolling hills and woods.

I was completely awestruck by the marvellous Galician countryside.  I kept stopping for photos and that kept me well behind everyone else.

The cloudy morning made for a cool walk -- which certainly helped me as I huffed and puffed along.

Part of the walk included climbing the Alto de Riocabo and we moved onto dusty paths.  Beautiful yellow blossoms called Scottish brooms lined our way.

Halfway through the walk, right in the middle of nowhere, it was a surprise to see  this familiar vending machine signalling  that it was time to take the pause that refreshes.

There were benches and a long table -- time to bring out the various "baon" ... energy bars, nuts, candies, cookies ... you name it, the Amigos had it!

Then it was time to press on -- now through more dirt paths and tree lined narrow walkways.

Cows would be a constant presence, particularly in the early days of the walk.  I always marvelled at how fat and contented they seemed to be.

We crossed a pretty little stream, stepping over a stone path.  The cows watched us, perhaps hoping one of us would take a dunking and they'd have something to get excited about.

We made it to the 120 km mark!  At Triacastela, we had started off at 130 km so we were now 10 km closer to Santiago de Compostela.

San Miguel Beer!  There was much joy and exultation at the thought of a cold cerveza at the end of the 10 km walk.

We stopped at Casa Do Franco,  a charming albergue with food and drink for passing pilgrims.  Of course most of the pilgrims would be going straight to Sarria but for the Amigos, this would be the end of the walk for the day.

The long slate table was a picturesque spot for our al fresco lunch at Casa do Franco.  The scenery certainly helped improve our appetites.  Whatever calories we had expended after the 10 km walk were definitely replenished by all the cafe con leches we imbibed.

My little henro looked on, enjoying the cool weather and the lush green views around him.

We were also observed by this quiet and friendly perro -- who looked quite puzzled at the merry making of the Amigos.  Who were these noisy, laughing people -- were they really peregrinos? 

Amigos de Santiago's free day in Triacastela - Day 0 of our Camino de Santiago

My epic walk of a lifetime would start on June 10 and to acclimatise our little group to the Galician countryside, where we would walk 134 km to Santiago de Campostela, I asked our Camino travel planners,  FollowtheCamino to arrange a full free day in Triacastela where we would begin the walk.

Triacastela is a small sleepy village that comes alive because it is along the Camino.  The town has   amazing views of lush greenery.  I woke up to this picture perfect scene and could not believe that I was indeed in Triacastela -- about to begin my Camino.

Most of the old stone houses in town had "Se Vende" signs -- perhaps they can be turned into small albergues or refugios for peregrinos?  I can imagine what a fixer-upper that would be!

It was completely relaxing to just stroll through the town, particularly in the still cool Galician weather.

The small church of Triacastela is dedicated to Santiago -- I didn't know that when I decided that our Camino would start here, instead of the traditional and more frequented Sarria.
What a good sign, Santiago would be with us from the very start of our Camino.  Surely he would take good care of his amigos!

The church is small and lovely and each evening, a pilgrim's mass is offered at 6:15 p.m.

On our free afternoon in Triacastela, we also paid a visit to the Monastery of Samos, a 10 km drive away. We would not be passing by this route on our first day so I thought we should  see this famous Benedictine monastery which has been around since the 6th century.

Samos Monastery was nearly razed by fire at the start of the 1900s.  The stone structure remained standing but the cloisters and interiors had to be rebuilt.

The monastery houses various treasures and has  gorgeous murals painted along the cloister walls.
But because of the fire, these murals are relatively new and have been completely restored from the originals.

After the monastery visit, we sat down to dinner at Cafe Bar Fernandez in Triacastela.  Here are the Amigos de Santiago -- waiting to be fed.

My dinner started with Caldo Gallega,  a typical Galician dish.   This is comfort soup at its best, flavourful soup stock with loads of vegetables ... potatoes, leeks, cabbage and grelos, a Galician dark green leafy vegetable.

For my segundo plato, I enjoyed one of the best pork chops I had ever eaten.  Thin,  tender and seasoned with rock salt, it was perfectly fried  -- and it came with potato wedges that bested french frittes, hands down!

Fortified with fried food, it was time to head back to the hotel and get a good's night sleep.
The Camino would start tomorrow.  But for now, in the still bright Galician evening at 9:30 p.m.,
I could still stop and smell the roses growing profusely from almost every garden in Triacastela.

With the green Galician hills before me, I took one last photo of Triacastela.  I am grateful for her warm and hospitable welcome -- a good way to start our Camino tomorrow.

Kim Suy -- Delicious Discovery in Lucena City

My husband is from Lucena City and his mother and sister still live in their old family home.  

On the long week-end of Labor Day, we all drove down to pay them a visit and I invited everyone out for dinner.  Lucena is the capital town of Quezon, a booming and bustling city and has quite a number of good places to eat.

My mother in law said that one of her favourite places to eat was right in the heart of "downtown".  Kimsuy is a Chinese restaurant on the second floor of the  new annex of Queen Margarette Hotel.  

There is outdoor seating along the wrap-around balcony but perhaps not tonight, not with the heat and the humidity.

This hot prawn salad is my mother-in-law's favourite and while I don't really eat this (as I cannot tell if it is supposed to be a sweet or a savoury dish), the prawns were large and fresh and well flavoured.

Kimsuy's yang chow fried rice was tasty and not at all greasy.  It was just so easy to keep
eating cup after cup!

We ordered sweet and sour fish and yes, even lumping shanghai.  The sweet and sour sauce had the right balance and the fish was just lightly battered so you could really enjoy its fresh and firm taste.
The lumpiang shanghai was a big surprise -- the ground meat filling was well seasoned and again, this fried dish was not oily at all.  I think it was my favourite of all the dishes that we ordered.
Kimsuy's food  brought back memories of old style comida china at its best!

Even the special fried chicken was well cooked -- the skin was delightfully crisp and melted in the mouth.  One whole chicken, cut up, was more than enough for all eight of us.

I wanted noodles and the waiter recommended the birthday misua, even if no one was celebrating a birthday.  Our misua  came fully loaded with orange coloured quail eggs, squid, shrimp, chicken liver,  sea cucumber ...  more sahog (ingredients) than noodles!

This is my sister in law seated at the far left and my mother in law, seated next to my husband.  Mama will turn 95 this October and I look forward to taking her to dinner at Kimsuy to celebrate that momentous occasion. And yes, we will feast on hot prawn salad, lumpiang shanghai  and birthday misua!

Alfredo's Steakhouse -- a tender bite of the past

A dear childhood friend and I had arranged to meet up for lunch in Quezon City and while driving around Tomas Morato wondering where to eat, we spied a familiar place.

Alfredo's Steakhouse -- "the steak place" for our generation  in the  70's was still standing at the corner of Scout de Guia and Tomas Morato!   It looked pretty much the same as we remembered it.  Would the steak still be as good?

The main dining room is on the second floor.  The red-checked tablecloths and dark wood interiors brought me  back to what "wild west" themed steakhouses looked like many years ago.

The dining room looks out onto Tomas Morato, now full of buildings housing all kinds of commercial establishments -- restaurants, banks, coffee shops, massage salons, nail spas ...
I remembered my Alfredo's date nights, way back in college -- the view from the windows and specially from the outdoor tables was definitely more attractive and romantic then.

Warm soft dinner rolls are set before us.   They're so good, slathered with butter, that I had the waiter take them away after a few bites lest I finish them all off!

Alfredo's offers both local and US beef.  The prices are very reasonable, nearly half of what you would pay in a fancy  steak house in Makati.
My friend and I split the house special, the tenderloin steak.  We decided it would be worth a splurge and opted for the large order of US beef which cost  P950.
The beef was cooked perfectly at medium doneness -- tender and seasoned just right -- no need for the house gravy!  For our split order, we each got a small serving of buttered vegetables and potatoes.

We also ordered,  but didn't really need,  a half rack of barbecued baby back ribs which came with a generous side of potato wedges.   The ribs were smoky, juicy and falling-off-the-bone tender but our half a steak each was more than enough.  We had to take most of the ribs home, in a "doggy" bag.

However, we still had room for dessert -- as always.  Alfredo's french apple pie was slightly tart and not too sweet with a warm crumbled crust topping.  It was the best ending to an impeccable meal.
I am happy to say that like its steaks,  Alfredo's is still prime grade!

Adobong "Siling Duwag" with Bagnet - featuring no heat sili from Ilocos

Ilocos is a cornucopia of  traditional local vegetables -- small round eggplants for pinakbet,   

big green eggplants (perfect for grilling), native less-bitter ampalaya, curly string beans called alucon and my absolute favourite  -- the no-heat, no-spice slender green chilies  also known as "siling duwag".  On this last trip to Ilocos, I found some in the market to take home.

I included most of the "siling duwag" in my pinakbet but kept some in reserve to make another dish, where it would be the star.

 Because it has absolutely no heat but has even a faint taste of a pimiento pepper, these chilies make great adobo.  Since I had a lot of bagnet, I decided to slice up a chunk to make a one dish siling adobo meal.  
All the main ingredients for this adobo were sourced from Ilocos -- the sili from Vigan, the bagnet and suka (vinegar) from  Laoag and  the garlic and shallots from Pinili.

First, remove the stems from the chilies.

Then sauté the garlic and shallots.

Stir fry the sili and let it cook till soft -- we are not going for crisp adobo here.

Once the sili has softened, add the bagnet, the soy sauce and suka and a piece of laurel.
Let simmer until suka is cooked through. Cook just as you would your regular adobo.

And here is my siling adobo with bagnet!  It can be made completely vegetarian, just leave out the pork.   It will work well as a one dish meal or as a side dish for fried fish.
It was a delicious souvenir of our North Road Trip!