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When life gives you pandemic, make "pancit batil patong"

Pancit batil patong is a noodle (pancit) that originated from Tuguegarao City located in the valley of Cagayan, the northern part of the Philippines. The noddle used is miki (egg noodles) that may come in different thickness depending on who makes it. It is mixed with minced/chopped vegetables and meat. The main meat used is usually carabao meat but it can be substituted with other meat mostly pork. Batil patong is loosely translated as beaten egg on top. "Batil" means to beat an egg and "patong" is to place on top. However, the egg put on top of the noddle is not beaten.

I placed the additional chopped onions on top of my plate before realizing I haven't taken a photo of the food yet. Also, the dish comes with an egg soup as you can see in the photo above. There used to be a place that we like to eat this one for it was by far the most authentic that we have tasted. Also, it is worth every penny. The serving is a lot it could be shared between two people depending on how big or small of an appetite you have. It is packed with ingredients not just topped with it but also mixed in it. However, when pandemic hit, that business closed. When things slowly started going back to normal and we were craving for that one time, another business was already in its place. We tried other businesses selling the same kind of pancit but nothing comes close to that. Not until yesterday. We were craving for batil patong. We could have ordered from the usual but then decided to search in fb to see if there are other choices. We found a post about this place located in the next town. According to the post, the owner who was a former overseas Filipino worker (OFW) was here in the city but then COVID hit and lockdown was imposed. Instead of going home to Tuguegarao, she set up a business instead in the next town cooking pancit batil patong. https://www.facebook.com/groups/831305850787780/permalink/1025391788045851/ According to the comments there, it is better than one of the popular places here in the city that sells that kind of dish. So we tried our luck. It was just one ride away from the city anyway, less than 4 km. It was easy to find the place for the post in fb gave enough directions to follow. We were the only customers when we went there and waited no less than 10 minutes for our order to be cooked and served. It tasted as authentic as it can be. While it did not match the quantity that we were used to in the place that I mentioned above, the taste is good. I also like that the amount of saltiness in it was just right. For Php100.00 per serving, it was a great find. We were satisfied and will surely go back. With the little chat I had with the owner, she mentioned that they are making their own noodles (miki). They also have another branch somewhere in town which I am familiar with the place when she gave the directions. That was our food adventure yesterday which was all worth it. With what the owner have done, it reminded me of "whenever life gives you lemons, make lemonade" and that is what she has done. It is a reminder to us all that just because things don't go our way, we give up. We have to find ways to continue on with life. We take risks for that is what life is all about. It is all about risks, wins and losses. Let us be resilient, resourceful and creative.

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