What happened to all my breakfast posts? This blog is called 80 Breakfasts after all. I started with some, and continued with others, but after too short a while they petered off into lunches and dinners, and even desserts. Holidays and big events came and went, and not a breakfast in sight. Did I stop eating breakfast? Did I suddenly have another favorite meal?
No, I still love breakfast. And yes, I still have them. But (sigh) this girl has gotten a bit weary of working late into the night to have the energy to make breakfast before C goes off to work. Yeah, I know, tut-tut and all that.
I, however, hate to wallow in melancholy…not matter how seductive and tempting it can sometimes be. So thank goodness for Rosa and her fantastic Sunday Brunch Meme…just the kick in the tush I needed!
Now, there are a myriad of wonderful things I can think of having for brunch, things involving smoked salmon and champagne, eggs benedict and mounds of pancakes. Instead, I decided to make something, well, something more Filipino. When it comes to Filipino food I am just a guppy in a sea of dolphins. Everyone swimming faster and better than me. A situation I have been trying to rectify. So what better place to start than breakfast…ok, brunch but let’s not quibble.
This is a very typical “-silog” type breakfast called tapsilog. What it is, is tapa (cured meat), sinangag (fried rice), and itlog (egg). Filipinos are breakfast fiends! We know how to make sure our bellies are filled before starting a busy day. And that means rice. There is a ton of different versions of this…just change the first syllable. Substitute the tapa with tocino (cured pork that’s kinda sweet) and you have tosilog, use longganisa (local sausage) and you have longsilog, and so on and so forth. Check the Lasang Pinoy round I hosted for a slew of Filipino breakfasts (and you will see just how popular the "-silogs" are).
This breakfast makes a wonderful Sunday brunch (we had it last Sunday), especially if you have been out dancing the night before. Truth be told, this will more likely appear on our Sunday brunch table than a bunch of breakfasts sweets because C is not much for sweets (I must have mentioned this before…). Although sweets will make their appearance during the week, after C has left for the office, hehehe :)
The tapa I used here is not the usual beef tapa, but tapang baboy damo (wild boar tapa). A gift from the mum-in-law again (thank you mum-in-law!) :) It was extremely tasty and had a stronger flavor than regular pork. As is customary, we doused the meat with my homemade vinegar mix that has pieces if sili (bird’s eye chili…what you see in the photo), ginger, garlic, and pepper steeping in it. I don’t have tapa without it.
Rosa, I owe you a big thank you for getting something close to a breakfast post back on the program. Once again, my head is filling up with all sorts of breakfast ideas. Is the return of breakfast posts on 80 Breakfasts imminent? No promises! (A new alarm clock might be a good first step though…)