Yes, I'm Thirty!

It was my 30th birthday yesterday but there was nothing grand. It's enough that I have my family to celebrate it with. I am also grateful for having wonderful friends and I want to thank all those who remembered. I love you all!

This is not a speech nor a "Thank You" letter. LOL! What I really wanted to show is the food I got from Mama (Cagayan Valley) when she arrived yesterday. She is always sending/bringing us food even if there is no occasion. She sends it through a provincial bus then my husband fetches the "box" from the bus station.

Inside the box are local delicacies like suman and bibingka. Our own version of suman is triangular but it is also wrapped in banana leaf. We call our bibingka "royal bibingka" because it really is special--I was not able to take a picture of it though.

Mama also brought pop rice which is my daughter's favorite and longanisa which my husband and my mother-in-law really loves.

Cagayan's longanisa is the same as Ilocos' when it comes to taste. It is a bit salty but you dip it in vinegar, it becomes perfect! The ground pork has lots of chopped garlic and other seasonings then it gets stuffed inside a pig's intestine. I know for a fact that the pig's intestine is clean because I saw our neighbor once while cleaning/scrubbing the said part. I was amazed by it's elasticity because it does not break.

I did not like longanisa when I was younger but I am now a total convert!