Aling Cely’s Kinalasan

As they say around here, “Another day, another bowl of kinalas.”

Yep, no such thing. Made that one up just now haha. Lately, I’ve been struggling for lack of better words and then there’s lack of energy left after doing other stuff (like my day job). Thing is, I have another kinalas story to tell because, well, I live in Naga anyway where it is hands down the most famous delicacy.

This time, we tried the locally famous Aling Cely’s Kinalasan in Dimasalang St, Brgy. Sta. Cruz, Naga City, it is located very near Naga Metropolitan Cathedral. The place is very simple and basic, just like every other local eatery, but people are drawn like moths to the flame.

People come to Cely’s for their famous kinalas, of course. For those who are not familiar with this local delicacy, that is what Bicolanos call this bowl of goodness. It is a noodle dish with thick rich broth, pork or beef, topped with onion chives and boiled egg (by request). For a more detailed description, you can read my previous post on kinalas.

There are also those who prefer to eat Loglog (just noodles and broth, no meat and eggs). It costs less and parents often order this for their small kids.

When Naguenos think of this dish, they almost always think of Cely’s Kinalasan. Yoy said it is because many students frequently eat there as it is close to UNC and Universidad de Sta Isabel. Even he himself frequently ate the dish at Cely’s along with his closest friends so he’s got a lot of good memories associated with the place. He always ate kinalas paired with baduya (fried bananas).

Julienne herself has become partial to eating kinalas. The Sorsoganon in me though prefers to eat stuff like a lot of dried fish, dried squid, mud crabs and balaw (fermented shrimp). So, kinalas is not my all-time favorite, but it is a yummy Nagueno delicacy that is a must-try when in Bicol, particularly in Naga City.

By the way, if you notice, sometimes the quality of my photos are different with every post. When my photos are really nice and clear, it means I used my digital camera but when the pictures are somewhat pixelated like in this post, it’s because I used my phone to take the photos.

Thank you for reading! See you again soon! ❤

 

 

 

White Bean Cafe

This is a late post. Apparently, I thought I already posted this some months ago when in fact I only started it then put it away in my archive files, completely buried and forgotten. And when I was re-categorizing my posts yesterday, I was looking for this post about White Bean Café and even thought that maybe I deleted it by mistake. Turns out, I never got to finish it and never posted it in the first place.

This is how I originally started to write it:

“I have been off the grid for a few weeks now. Then, I was practically sick these past three days. I learned only too well that I’m not getting any younger, and the hard way too. The truth is that I’ve been busy stressing at work during the day and barely sleeping at night watching my K-dramas. It all ended up with me having the worst kind of migraine attack for three whole days. I was barely functioning and had to sleep and sleep until my brain was able to repair the damages I caused it. Yep, the signs of aging.

So, last week, I was just at White Bean Café with Ate Franz, Jael and Mabel, all friends from work. When Jael invited me to have lunch together, my mind suddenly wondered where we might go. I thought of White Bean Café almost instantly, it’s somewhere I haven’t been but was always curious about.

The café’s location is a prime spot, right smack in the center of the Centro Naga, it is situated inside Nagaland Hotel, just across from E-Mall.

The place has a nice ambience, it is a cafe after all.

Whenever I get invited to eat out, I used to feel lazy and would rather just go home and rest, or I used to think that maybe I should be spending money on more important stuff instead of eating at a pretty café or resto. That only changed when I started blogging. Sure, I can blog using information that I can find on the internet, grab some pictures from reputable sites and cite them as source, but I had to experience it for myself, I had to have eaten it or seen it in person to be able to talk about it. I guess it would not make me feel confident to write about something I haven’t experienced first-hand. So, blogging made me want to eat out, try new things and go to places I’ve never been.”

As much as I wanted to write something different, say something new, I figured I cannot just throw away my thoughts and feelings during that time because, honestly, that was just how it was. So, I decided to keep them.

As for the food and drinks, these were what we ordered. I have to say sorry that I might not be able to remember the exact names now. The first one was a Matcha Milk Shake,  then the rather simple but yummy Mango Shake and my Iced Tea, which was just a perfect blend of tea and lemon.

As for the food, they offer lots of choices from Filipino fares like Kare-Kare to the usual favorites like filleted fish, pasta and chicken dishes (like the one we ordered which was buffalo wings).

I would say the price range was not the cheapest, but the food, drinks, the nice ambiance and the service made up for it. It was a good first experience for me and I hope to come back again soon. For each person, one might spend around Php250-Php300. Next time, I will discover if they have more affordable meals for those of us on the budget, just like me on most days haha (wink wink).

Thanks again for visiting my blog!