FISH THAT DOESN’T SMELL FISHY
August 1st 2008 00:00
I had a rather tough decision to make before writing this post. The difficulty came from the fact that this is intended as a piece about Tagaytay City, located in the Province of Cavite, Philippines. One, however, cannot write about Tagaytay without mentioning Taal Volcano and, in my case, without mentioning Tawilis – a freshwater sardenilla.
So, I decided to write this post “Pinakbet” style. Writing about “Pinakbet” itself is not within my expertise since it is a kind of viand, and the only thing I know about cooking is limited to boiling water, so forgive me if I only describe it as a "favorite dish" in the Ilocos region, which is basically a mixture of different kinds of vegetables.
Now, let me try to make a pinakbet of a city, a volcano, and Tawilis.
Tagaytay City is a favorite summer tourist destination just 55 kilometers away from Manila because of its cool, windy climate (due to its elevation) and a spectacular view of Taal Volcano.
Taal Volcano is known either as the world’s smallest volcano, or a volcano within a volcano as the picture would show. The ridge where the city of Tagaytay is located used to be the mouth of the volcano, so they say, and the lake where the world’s smallest volcano is now located only formed in the caldera as a result of a major volcanic eruption.
And that’s how you get an amazing view of Taal Volcano when you are in Tagaytay.
The lake that formed in the caldera became known as Taal Lake. Taal, by the way, is a name of a town in the nearby province of Batangas.
What about the fish? Well, Taal Lake is the only place in the world where you can find Tawilis (the freshwater sardenilla). And Tawilis is included in this post because…?
Actually, because of our title for this post, it is the only kind of fish that I know that DOESN'T smell like fish. So, when you smell something “fishy” I am quite certain you are not referring to this kind of fish – whatever it is that you think smells fishy!
And how do you get to Tagaytay, Taal Volcano, and the Tawilis (in case you want to try it)?
The shortest way would be via the Aguinaldo Highway, but it is now teeming with malls along the way and therefore the inevitable volume of traffic that usually come along with them. So, I would suggest another route that passes thru the South Luzon Expressway, exits in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, proceeds to the Canlubang estate and on to Tagaytay.
There are other ways going there but I would suggest that you take the simplest route available if you don’t want to end your day trying to get out of a maze.
So, I decided to write this post “Pinakbet” style. Writing about “Pinakbet” itself is not within my expertise since it is a kind of viand, and the only thing I know about cooking is limited to boiling water, so forgive me if I only describe it as a "favorite dish" in the Ilocos region, which is basically a mixture of different kinds of vegetables.
Now, let me try to make a pinakbet of a city, a volcano, and Tawilis.
Tagaytay City is a favorite summer tourist destination just 55 kilometers away from Manila because of its cool, windy climate (due to its elevation) and a spectacular view of Taal Volcano.
Taal Volcano. Pic source: Wikipedia
Taal Volcano is known either as the world’s smallest volcano, or a volcano within a volcano as the picture would show. The ridge where the city of Tagaytay is located used to be the mouth of the volcano, so they say, and the lake where the world’s smallest volcano is now located only formed in the caldera as a result of a major volcanic eruption.
And that’s how you get an amazing view of Taal Volcano when you are in Tagaytay.
Satellite pic of Taal Volcano. Source: Wikipedia
The lake that formed in the caldera became known as Taal Lake. Taal, by the way, is a name of a town in the nearby province of Batangas.
What about the fish? Well, Taal Lake is the only place in the world where you can find Tawilis (the freshwater sardenilla). And Tawilis is included in this post because…?
Here's how Tawilis look like. Pic source: Wikipedia
Actually, because of our title for this post, it is the only kind of fish that I know that DOESN'T smell like fish. So, when you smell something “fishy” I am quite certain you are not referring to this kind of fish – whatever it is that you think smells fishy!
And how do you get to Tagaytay, Taal Volcano, and the Tawilis (in case you want to try it)?
The shortest way would be via the Aguinaldo Highway, but it is now teeming with malls along the way and therefore the inevitable volume of traffic that usually come along with them. So, I would suggest another route that passes thru the South Luzon Expressway, exits in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, proceeds to the Canlubang estate and on to Tagaytay.
There are other ways going there but I would suggest that you take the simplest route available if you don’t want to end your day trying to get out of a maze.
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