Lasang Pinoy 3: Streetfood

Stef invited me to join Lasang Pinoy 3, hosted by Kai with Streetfood as this month's theme. The beaucon question is: "If you were a Pinoy streetfood, what would you be?" I'm quite predictable on this one, yes, I will be food found on the streets of Ilocos, particularly at the plaza of Vigan. I am an Ilocos empanada. I don't look orange at all, but my mind is always bursting with ideas. The true Ilocos empanada, THE empanada to end all empanadas, including Sandy Daza's anemic version, consists of a matrix of sauteed vegetables and a piece of longganiza and topped with one whole egg before packing everything up in a wrapper made of flour. My mouth is watering as I type this, because the best Ilocos empanada can be had in Ilocos alone, and not in other locales, not even in Manila. Even in the searing heat of a March sun in Vigan, sinking my teeth into warm empanadas (and a cake of okoy as you can see in the picture) soaked in cane vinegar gives a different high. I could marry empanadas if possible. We tried shipping them back to the metro and reheat them but to no avail, as what you can do with chicken empanadas at Empanada Royale. You can take Ilocos out of the empanada, but you can't take an empanada out of Ilocos. Something that leaves me with ambivalence if I am to become an expat in the near future. *I could also be the helmet (barbecued chicken heads) which you see in the thumbnails, animal heads are probably the tastiest parts. Slightly gross. I'll stick with being an Ilocos empanada.