Consul General Bernardita Catalla again showed her wizardry in the kitchen when she served food she herself cooked, during the Independence Day breakfast gathering held at the Consulate on June 12.
The buffet-style breakfast she dubbed “Pika-Pika Almusal” included such unique canapes as mini pizzas topped with daing and beef tapa, as well as her signature miniature puto with cheese, and kutsinta topped with coconut shavings.
ConGen also served Japanese maki sushi stuffed with such Filipino dishes as embotido, chicken tocino and tinapa.
Another unusual treat was her “sari-saring sandwiches” which had different fillings, from the usual ham and egg, to chicken inasal with egg, and the melt-in-the-mouth delicious “kinilaw na samaral.”
Also on offer was an array of colorful hotdog cocktails with pickled carrots, singkamas, mango and pineapple complements.
Most interesting was a tray filled with hors de’ouevre or appetizer made of tiny slivers of toast topped with homemade chicken and pork liver pate, and trimmed with a tiny slice of bell pepper and black olives. The very light-textured pate melts as soon as the morsel of toast reaches the palate.
According to ConGen Bernie, the crunchy toast came from a Filipino snack brand, but the pate topping was her own concoction. – Jo Campos
