24. Bibingka Vendor

It was a nice Saturday morning and since i have no work, i decided to have a journey to Misamis Oriental. I usually passed this place but i never had the chance to explore its beauty aside from Cagayan de Oro City.

I started my journey in Iligan City's Centennial Park. I paid P15.00 for the fare (mahal na pala pamasahe ngayon) and took pictures of the beach, the lovers and anything nice.

yummy berries

ang sarap maligo

I was entertained with how the lovers shared their kilig moments while watching the beach and it made me remember sometimes being single is not fun at all especially when you see places which is best seen when u have someone beside you. However since i started the journey alone, i must finish it all by myself. After taking a few more shots, i waived goodbye to centennial and proceeded directly to Initao. But then, i saw some bingkahan at Manticao and decided to have a stop for a while to have a bite.

ang sign board

Since it was already lunch time, i became hungry after seeing the delicious bibingka. I bought several pieces and made a chika-chika with the vendor while waiting for a bus. There, i knew her name as Ate ging, she's been selling bibingka for quite a long time na and awakening my curiosity, i convinced ate ging to teach me to cook bibingka.

ang bibingka

For how many years, i thought bibingka was made from glutinous rice (malagkit na bigas) and thanks to aling ging i found out that the main ingredients are ordinary rice, coconut milk and sugar. (She did not mention her secret hehehe). You must have an oven too she said while pointing at her oven. It was an improvised "oven" made from galvanized iron.

Aling Gings "Oven"

Then, she said "after combining all the ingredients, you must first put some woods under and above the oven. You must also put some banana leaves on the molder since the leaves add aroma to the bibingka".

Si ate ging

That's it, i learned my "how to cook a bibingka" from an expert. However, i noticed that there were only few customers. At that time, i was the only one buying bibingka from her maybe because it was not yet snack time. And ate ging must have read my mind, she told me that selling was not as good as before since the price of the rice today increased terribly. They just hope that rice prices will lower down soon.

I was not able too saw her put some bibingka mixture in the molder since a bus arrived and i must continue the journey. So i waived bye bye to aling ging and headed my way to Initao national Park.