What's your rainy day comfort food?

It's been raining incessantly for over a week now and Metro Manila has turned into a virtual water world! Water is just about everywhere, causing 
inconvenience and moreso, laziness! Haha! 
Going out is far from my mind when I'm off from work and it's raining cats and dogs. I'm happy just staying in bed for most of the day, and go out of the room only when my tummy growls. And when hunger strikes amid cold 
weather, I crave for some rainy day comfort food. 

These are my typhoon season favorites:

Mami
Whether chicken or beef, this Pinoy noodle soup dish is a winner on any rainy day. The broth is just perfect for warming the tummy. I add some chili ro amp up the heat! With all those noodles, this dish is no doubt filling while some veggies (cabbage and spring onion) 
and toasted garlic bring in additional flavors. 

Chicken sopas

This is a favorite in our home and my kids always request for it. With shredded chicken and lots of carrots and cabbage plus a can of evaporated milk added to the pot, this soup is both yummy and healthy. My youngest child even puts some parmesan cheese on top of his helping for extra goodness.

Champorado with tuyo

Everyone seems to crave for this pair when it's rainy and chilly. And that's perfectly understandable! Chocolate porridge with lots of milk is just perfect to go with tuyo. The salty dried fish provides a balance of flavor to the sweetish champorado.

Dinuguan with puto

This is another duo that seems to make a cold, damp day just alright. I could just get lost in the lusciousness of soft puto (rice cake) dipped in the thick soup 
of dinuguan (pork blood stew).

Arroz caldo

Porridge, be it arroz caldo, which has chicken, or goto, which has tripe, is my ultimate rainy day comfort food. Truth to tell, I love it too even when the sun is out! With lots of toasted garlic and chopped spring onion, it's delicious, warm and comforting to the tummy. If there's fried tofu on the side, then there''s nothing more I could ask for!

Tuyosilog

I don't know exactly why tuyo seems to be the perfect thing to eat with sinangag or fried rice when it's raining and the wind is howling outside. Maybe I associate dried fish with typhoon because going to the market to buy fresh fish is a rather difficult task amid bad weather and flood. But whatever the reason is, "tuyo, sinangag at itlog" or "tuyosilog" is the unbeatable rainy day trio and I think 
many Pinoys would agree with me.

What about you? Do you also love to spend rainy days just at home, perhaps reading a book and warming up with a bowl of hot "lugaw" (porridge) or a plate of fried rice and tuyo?  I would love to know what your rainy day comfort food is. Meanwhile, 
bundle up 'coz wet weather is still upon us. 
Happy eating!

Pinoy food at its best at Isla Cafe by XO46

When loved ones who work abroad come home for vacation, expect them to be craving for and eating a lot of Filipino food. When my sister, who has lived in the US for 30 years came last summer (she does come home almost yearly since 2007 because our parents are now very old), the restaurants we went to to eat Filipino food favorites included Aristocrat, Red Ribbon (for their delicious palabok), 
Mangan and Isla Cafe by XO46. 
The latter is not really a restaurant but a kiosk with some tables and chairs in an obscure corner at Robinson's Place Manila. We discovered it while wandering about after having our hair and face done at a salon inside the mall. Well, the first thing we saw when we stepped out of the salon was a stall selling "chicharon bituka (pork intestines deep-fried to a crisp)". We each got a small pack of this very sinfully delicious and quite exotic treat and munched away as we walked. And then we saw this Isla Cafe and my sister liked that they have arroz caldo (their menu was printed on a standing tarp so we knew at once what they offer) so we sat in. And I couldn't forget what happened in the next few minutes. When her arroz caldo was served, my sister poured all her left-over vinegar in the chicharon pack into her porridge and ate it with gusto. I tasted some of it and it was sooo sour! My sister finished it with a breath! Sisters could be a bit weird sometimes. Hahaha! 
Anyway, we also ordered sapin-sapin ala mode, pancit sotanghon and puto. Sis finished her food off with mango shake while I had kapeng barako. We both loved the food here though I wished the sapin-sapin was softer and chewier. Still, I think eating sapin-sapin with ice cream was a unique idea, giving this popular "kakanin" a whole new twist. Plus, I think its name here is cute - Sapin-Sapin 
Bahaghari, owing to its rainbow of colors. 

All in all, "merienda" at Isla Cafe by XO46 was a delicious way to cap off 

our "me" (or was it "us"? hehe.) day.

Sapin-sapin bahaghari, P75.

Arroz caldo, P125.

Binawang na Sotanghon (served with puto), P175.

Extra order of puto

Ripe mango shake, P155.

Kapeng barako, P45.

Isla Cafe by XO46

XO46, by the way, is the XO46 Heritage Bistro in Makati City (2 branches there, I believe) that is listed among Philippine Tattler's elite group of top Philippine restaurants. Their Isla Cafe has three branches that I know of, two in Quezon City and one in Manila, the one we went to at Robinson's Place Ermita. Pay it a visit soon for some good Filipino food.