Panaad sa Negros 2011 Opening Day

It's the month of April and it's time for the weeklong celebration of Panaad sa Negros Festival. or also known as Panaad Festival. An annual celebration held in Panaad Park in Bacolod City.  Panaad which means "vow" or "promise" is a form of thanksgiving for good life and good harvest.  Participated by 31 towns and cities that composed the province of  Negros Occidental and for this it is called as the "mother of all festivals".

The 18th Panaad sa Negros Festival kicked off last Monday afternoon, April 4, headed by the governor and officials of different cities and municipalities.  The highlight activity of that day was the festival dance competed by 24 groups which showcases each town's and city's unique festivity.  Luckily,  I was able to witnessed this extravagant showcase of colors and gracefulness.  This week long celebration will commenced on April 9, 2011.

The program started off with a special number from Bacolod City's Masskara Festival 2010 dance parade winner followed by the presentation of Lin-ay sang Negros 2011 candidates.

But earlier, while waiting for the program to start, we had our taste buds filled with Manapla's famous Capulso puto cheese. Yummy!  Then we headed to the Panaad Grand Stand to take  some photos of the competing groups.

Street foods on the go...

     During town fiestas or any major festival as the place comes to life with colorful decorations, business comes to life as well.  From side street vendors to well known and high class restaurants or malls, in short business is in boom during this time.
     After watching the dance competition in the plaza, Audz and I went around to look for some bottled water to quench our thirst.  As we go around, we were fascinated by these local street foods in their little push carts that we commonly called.  This remind us of our childhood days how this street foods put smiles on our face every time they passed by in front of the house or after school hours.

 

     Popcorn isn't only a big hit in the movies but also during fiestas.  I remember when I was young after hearing the Sunday mass, I always asked my parents to buy me popcorn.

 

Byahilo posing with the cotton candies. =)  Made of  colored sugar then heated then swossh... a colored of webs came out.  The most common color of cotton candies you can find in this side of the planet is pink. LOL 

More Photos from Kadalag-an Festival 2011

  More of the photos taken from the recently concluded 13th Kadalag-an Festival in Victorias City.

Kadalag-an Festival 2011

        March 21, 2011 marked the date for the 13th Kadalag-an Festival in  the city of Victorias.  A small city in the north of Bacolod.  It is celebrated together with the city's Charter Day to commemorate how the town struggled to achieve its status from being a municipality to being a city.
     Kadalag-an or "triumph" depicts the hardship and the victory of the local people in facing the challenges of life. Every dance steps and every moves told a  story about their harvests and what they do for their daily living.
  

More Photos from Sinigayan Festival 2011

     As promised guys, here are the rest of the photos taken from our last Saturday trip to Sagay City to witness the 15th Sinigayan Festival. Enjoy!

Sinigayan Festival 2011

     Last March 19 I was able to witnessed another local festivity here in the province of Negros Occidental, the  15th Sinigayan Festival of the city of Sagay. Coined from the word "sigay", a white hard shell abundant on the shoreline of Sagay.

     Together with Audz of lagawan.com, we headed to Sagay City on a gloomy Saturday morning. I had breakfast over at their home before proceeding to the Vallacar Transit, also known as Ceres north bound terminal in Shopping. We decided to take the economy bus instead of the aircon bus bound for Escalante. After a few minutes after 10:00 A.M., the bus left the terminal and we're excited to get to Sagay City by noontime.  Economy bus fare to Sagay is Php 75.00.

      It would take two and a half hours travel time and pass by six cities and municipalities from Bacolod to Sagay City. Audz slept almost half of the travel time while I was enjoying the countryside scenery. The bus had several stop overs that made our travel time to almost three hours and my rear end started to complain when we finally arrived in Sagay City terminal.

      We had to make a short trip to the restroom before we start our quest to look for a place to eat. Our hungry tummy brought us to Tali-ambong Food Festival Village. A gym turned into several food stalls to satisfy your hunger for local delicacies. We had grilled pork liempo and chicken liver for lunch.

      After eating, Eric of byahilo.com finally arrived.  We waited for him to finish his lunch then head to the streets for the street dance parade.

      There were thirteen tribes who joined the street dance competition dancing to the beat of the drums. This years celebration was focused on  the preservation and protection of the environment. Costumes are made from recycled materials.

      Probably we were expecting too much that we got disappointed from what we saw.  I think the local tourism office needs to put more attention on how to improve the street dance competition because its the highlight of the said festivity. 

     After taking some photos we decided to head back to Bacolod City. We wanted to check the Vito church  and the Museo Pang Bata but we don't have much time left. But we'll surely go back to Sagay to visit this places.

     More photos to be posted from Sinigayan Festival 2011.

Starry Starry Chocolatey Cake

     When it comes to cakes, we Filpinos just couldn't resist a calorific chocolate cake.  Ruel's second cousin will be celebrating his 21st birthday today and they requested if I can make them a simple chocolate birthday cake.
     I don't know why I'm so addicted to chocolates, chocolate candies and bars, chocolate drinks and lots and lots of cakes with chocolate as one of its ingredients.

    Instead of the usual two layers with filling in between, I made it three layers of super super rich in Swiss cocoa chocolate cake. The filling is a vanilla pudding made of egg yolks, milk, sugar, cornstarch, butter and vanilla.
     For the frosting, I used Bensdorp cocoa, condensed milk, evaporated milk and butter cooked for several hours in a double boiler until it thickens in spreading consistency.  This is a very tedious job and next time i'll try cooking it in a heavy saucepan to lessen the cooking time.
     And my chocolate icing needs more time cooking because after a few minutes of pouring it on the cake, the icing started dripping on the sides leaving the top portion with a very thin coat. Good thing I didn't pour everything on the cake so I return the icing on the stove.
      Not much on the presentation, just star shape candy sprinkles.  I just hope that they would like the taste.  This is my first non fondant birthday cake and I hope that I can also make a cake with boiled icing but I think I need to practice more on making boiled icing. More egg white and sugar to waste (sigh).