contrary to what you probably assume, i am not suffering from kwashiorkor. i have a very healthy appetite, mind you. i love food! (who doesn’t?) a lot of people ask me if i’m on a diet. i am — high calorie, high fat, high carbo diet, baby! i eat everything, although genetically, i feel like i’m more attracted to vegetables than i am to meat. but that doesn’t mean i don’t have more than my fair share of lechon. (i could go vegetarian but the only hindrance to that is lechon. i can’t give up lechon. not now, not ever!)

so when we went to macau, of course i just had to sample the local delicacies — after starving myself in hong kong with only a few nameless fishball-looking white meat on a stick for dinner. (don’t ask.)

my very first authentic macanese meal?

vitasoy soya drink! bought fresh from the vending machine in macau’s ferry terminal. well, looking back, it shouldn’t really count but i will give the melon-flavored drink its due recognition because not only did it taste good, it saved me from potential hypoglycemia too.

in largo do senado, i noticed a crowd of people gathering around this elderly man making what looked like flattened cookies. with such number of followers, i gathered whatever it was he was making must taste really good. so i bought a little bag of those freshly-made cookies and judged for myself. turns out that it tasted so much like the bland version of our very own rosquillos.

lolo obviously has a lot of fans, as suggested by the illustrated reminder clipped in front of his work station. he doesn’t mind the picture-taking too much. it’s the flash that gets to him.

another hit in macau is the pork chop burger, which is, well, a pork chop burger. if you want me to get technical in terms of my definition, then it’s a pork chop sandwiched between a pair of burger buns. what makes it tasty is the tenderness of the warm meat which deliciously sticks in between your teeth after every bite. it’s a little oily but it’s good. =)

a lot of stalls offer these barbecued, uh, thingies which they then cook in boiling water before adding in some unfamiliar brown sauce.

sad to say this lady wasn’t the friendliest of vendors. she couldn’t speak english so i don’t know if she was cursing our ignorance on how to order or if she was encouraging us to go ahead and try some of it. or maybe her language isn’t something that is spoken gently. either that or she was PMS-ing. or maybe her husband left her for another woman? who knows?

so we moved on to another stall with a friendly-looking face whose unconditional acceptance for ignorant tourists welcomed us as long as we pay. she couldn’t speak english either but at least she knew one word — spicy?

truth be told, their display was overwhelming. i had zero idea what they were although i was drawn to those candy-looking yellow balls and those shaped like fish. being the adventurous type of traveler, i chose broccoli and quail’s eggs — spicy!

this is what my food looked like. i know it doesn’t look very appetizing, with the murky brown sauce and all but it wasn’t bad. and when they said it was spicy, they really meant spicy because i have never yearned for a bottle of cold water my entire life!

if being practical is your main philosophy in life, you don’t need to spend anything on food at all! simply walk through the streets going to the ruins and vendors there would literally push a piece of beef jerky samplers into your mouth. no kidding. too bad they don’t have puso there. it would’ve come really handy. hehe.