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| Cathedral of St. John The Evangelist |
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| This church of St John the Evangelist is located in Tanauan Batangas.Built in 1881, the design is heavily influenced by Romanesque architecture. Rounded arches, strong pillars, the wide open central nave and circular niches housing the many religious figures inspire awed serenity in those who enter. Extensively damaged during the war, the church has since been restored to its former glory. Lining the area behind St. John the Evangelist Church is a foot path commemorating the Passion of Jesus Christ. The larger-than life cement statues depict the 14 stations of the Cross with imposing and emotive precision. The trail’s highlights are the climatic crucifixion hill, the eerie burial grotto, and the inspiring monument to Christ’s Resurrection. |
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| Pantoja Bakery since 1950 |
In 1950, the couple Aurelio and Celinda Pantoja arrived for the first time in their inherited house in Barangay IV, Tanauan City, Batangas and found out a worn out oven in the backyard. The oven inspired Aurelio to start a bakery business. Now they have major branches and open for franchise for those who would like to venture in bakery business. My all time fave is the Ensaymada with brewed coffee so with Pan de Ube and Pande leche. Pantoja Bakery marked the success by applying simple strategy and following high standards thru exceptional customer service. One cannot go wrong when buying a bread at Pantoja bakery- its freshness, high quality and reasonable price paved their way to be one of the successful in bread making industry. So the next time you visited Tanauan where the birth place of the Legendary bakery, drop at Pantoja bakery located at A. Mabini Ave., Tanauan City, Batangas.
Ala eh Festival was one of the famous festival held in the province of Batangas City. This time, it was Tanauan City sponsored the said event with the help of the Local Government and the Tourism Industry. This was held On December 1-8 2012 where all the cities of Batangas province joined the said event showcasing their respective products that exclusively available from the city of origin. Said event is one way of showing what products that different cities in the province of Batangas offered and not only that the Ala Eh Festival is one way of attracting tourist both local and Foreign thus adding the revenue of the province thus bolstering their Tourism Industry in terms of revenue and business opportunities for every Batanguenos. Pictures of different products were presented during the festival that empowered every participants to showcase their fruit of labour. Take for example the Passion fruit wine locally made so with passion fruit concentrated fruit juice, jam and the pulp as desserts. Dried fish a product of Mabini were one of the products that were sold easily to the visitors due its freshness and high quality(free taste ) The kakanin made of malagkit ( glutinous rice) like Suman Yakap, bibikgka and the original Puto Maya from the city of Tanauan were praised by local and foreign tourist-including myself made from fresh and high quality ingredients you cannot go wrong and a worth to buy, the exquisite taste of the products tells me that we Filipinos are talented and gifted when in comes to culinary including exotic foods. The Bangus Gato(milk fish )cooked for about 12-15 hrs to soften the bones of the fish with spices -garlic, onion, pepper,salt , garlic and vinegar that made this product tempting and mouth watering, doubled with Sinaing sa Asin made of tulingan(Tuna), with the same ingredients of Bangus Gato.
Another exotic foods I have encountered is the Sinuam- It is a salty and spicy egg soup usually prepared for women who have just gave birth. this originally from San Jose Batangas wherein they held their own festival every April 25 as part of thanks giving as well. So, my next assignment is to visit San Jose to find out more about Sinuam festival.
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| Tamales |
I know now that it is made of ground sticky rice, and comes in banana leaf wrap similar to suman. But unlike most rice-based snacks, Batangas City tamales is not sweet. It is salty, with a bit of spice. It is double colored, with a white part, and an orange colored part. The spicy, salty, nutty taste is concentrated in the orange portions. I've been told that these two parts are prepared separately and combined only at the point of wrapping. On top of the tamales is a few shreds of chicken meat, and a small slice of hard-boiled egg. One of the local tourist told to me that Bulacan, Pampanga and Taal have their own Tamales version as well but not sure about it, guess need to research about it.
Atsara from Calaca Batangas usually Atsara is made of green papaya by this time products are made of ampalaya and ubod. They taste perfectly without any sting on the tongue. A native appetizer of every household and a common gift or “pasalubong” to its visitors.
Another products that Batangas is famous for is their Kapeng Barako, planted in rich soil and perfect topographic location. Cultivated and pampered in the hands of hardworking farmers whose goal is to produce one of the best coffee in the country that every local and foreign tourist love to drink. I met a balikbayan based in Belgium visited Batangas to buy Kapeng Barako and according to him he cannot afford to miss Batangas just to buy his favourite coffee. There is an adage that " coffee drinkers are high achievers." For some drinking coffee in the morning is one way of starting the day right, making the day light and bubbly. Ala eh kape tayo!
