Peanuts and Chocolates: Stuff to take home from Bohol

When going on a vacation, one of our main concerns, aside from where to eat of course, is what to take home. The safest thing to take home is food, provided it's airplane-approved and it's not such a hassle to bring home. For one thing, we all love to eat so we can't go wrong with food items. The souvenir foods we got from Bohol though, were sure hits and something we'd like to share to all of you.

Pasalubong finds are found in tourist shops or if you have the time and patience, the local supermarket. We got our souvenir items from a tourist shop during our tours. Aside from these, the Tagbilaran airport also has a little stand in the waiting area where you could shop for last-minute finds.

Wallets or keychains inspired from tarsiers or knicknacks or whatever reminds you of Bohol, they got it.

Of course I'm here to talk about food of course. One thing I noticed about the snack finds are the abundance of peanut products - peanut crisps, peanut fingers, star peanuts. These peanuts are a result of alternate cropping, which means after a period of planting just rice, the soil needs to rest. In that period though, it's time to plant peanuts, which requires less water than rice. And what to do with those peanuts? Make peanut products of course, like the Peanut Kisses, another specialty of Bohol:

This picture here was taken in the airport where we both needed a little munchie.

It's so cute shaped like a Chocolate Hill, except it's peanut. It tastes like peanut brittle too. I do suggest to have water in handy while munching this one.

The peanut kisses are already available in filipiniana shops here in Manila, but not the star peanuts, which are clusters of peanut meringue shaped like stars.

The taste is similar to peanut kisses, except this one's texture is smoother. If the thought of too-sweet meringue makes you gag, this one's not too sweet. As with all peanut products, I do recommend a tall glass of water to wash this down, if peanuts tend to make you all scratchy. Needless to say, those with gout or peanut allergy should stay away from this.

I do have a solution to you guys though... CHOCOLATE! You could take home a Hillcolate, which is a chocolate-hill shaped chocolate snack that can't get any cuter.

If snacking isn't your thing, then nothing beats good ol' tablea, which are blocks of cocoa powder that you melt in boiling water before lacing it with milk and sugar. Swear that and broas or homemade cinnamon sugar butter biscottis and I'm all set! I prefer my tablea the way my mom makes it: thick and mild with a 2 tablets:1 cup ratio. My first attempt at tablea making had me at the 1:1 ratio that I saw when I googled recipes on how to make tablea drinks but I found that I could taste it better with a 2:1 ratio, or maybe it's because the discs are so small. I like the tablea so much, I actually felt bad we only got little of this, since we were just going to try it out. thank God there's tablea in the supermarket or Kultura shops here.

Of course there are other mentionables like kalamay, dried mangoes, and broas. Inasmuch as we'd like to take the whole tourist shop with us, we had a baggage weight limit so we had to keep it at that. In buying souvenirs though, it really pays to buy from reputable shops and supermarkets with strict quality control.

What's Cooking At Amorita Resort

If you have read my makeup blog, I'm currently in Panglao Island in Bohol. Much of my adventures could be read there but here, I talk about what I ate there, specifically in our resort, Amorita Resort, which is along Alona Beach in Panglao Island. Amorita's a pretty new resort, and it's got super first-class amenities and tour packages depending on your budget or preference. It's a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for - from remembering your names to making sure you're hydrated with complimentary water bottles in your room and refreshing water by the front desk up to being conscious with your health by lighting citronella burning oils to ward off mosquitoes.

Amorita's breakfast buffet comes with every stay. Breakfast is only from 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM. What's nice about it? They do not keep the same menu every single time. Yesterday, they had daing na bangus, ham, sausage, fish fillet, pork schnitzel, and chicken for protein source. Now it's tapa, tocino, longganisa, tuyo, fish fillet, and herb chicken. They have fresh fruit juice with their fruit bar that also changes. Yesterday, I had mango. Today, I had watermelon. All the juices are real and made from real fruit. The buffet is available at the Saffron Bar and Restaurant. If you're a first timer and don't know where it is, look for the infinity pool. Do you see the chairs and dining tables and the bar near it? There you go! If not, memorize the look of this picture:

Another thing I saw in the breakfast buffet is their honey buffet.... sweet honey infused with flavors to make them more interesting. There's lemongrass honey, pandan honey, apple honey, tea honey, and coffee honey. The coffee honey was quite interesting but I gravitate towards the lemongrass honey for quick shots of it followed by a glass of water. Pandan honey I use to sweeten my plain yogurt and cereal.

Yep, Winnie The Pooh sure would love to see this.

For lunch, here are some of our tried-and-tested mentionables:

Carnivores would love The Prime (Php 320), the burger with half-pound beef patty with grilled onions, fresh tomatoes, melted cheese, and salad.

The grill has also variety of choices to try, from seafood, red meat, and white meat with your choice of starch (rice, potato, or fries), and dressing. If you have no idea what to get, your attendant could suggest.

My Blue Marlin (Php 300) tasted good with Lemon Caper Butter Sauce. It melts in the mouth and you don't get that "fishy" odor or taste.

The grilled pork belly (Php 240) I liked, for someone who doesn't eat pork. It had a good amount of meat and the sauce we chose to go with it was tangy peppercorn butter.

For dessert, I loved the Turon De Bohol (Php 145) so much that we had to have it twice. It's got not one, not two, but five turon rolls with jackfruit and banana. If that's not enough, vanilla ice cream and nuts seal the deal. How do I describe it? Basta, masarap sya. Yun lang. Walang tatalo promise.

Another mentionable for those who love spicy foods but are in a budget is Spaghetti Aglio Olio, which is a simple spaghetti dish made of garlic, chili, and olive oil. It's so good that we didn't get to take a picture of it to think we ordered it twice. I warn you of the spice. Guaranteed you will need water here. Lots of it. Then pee later. The pasta they used here is fresh, so it's kinda curlier than the pasta we use at home.

Of course we couldn't taste all the dishes but so far, these are our favorites. The food's really good but their service is remarkable. During each meal, they ask you how your food is. They're very conscious as well for each client's personal concerns, like saying beforehand that all dressings contain patis (fish sauce) and/or anchovies. That, and a whole lot of nice stuff to see for yourself. :)