“Mana, mana” talaga. My mom was a “tsitserya” addict. She had this image of being a gourmet because of television. Funny what an image can do. Little did many people know my mom’s favorite food was corned beef and pork and beans. She also loved eating them straight from the can. She loved potato chips, popcorn and from my sisters who lived abroad, her order was white cheese Cheeze-it and poppycock. She had boxes of those beside her bed. The help was forever cleaning the crumbs off her bed.
My sisters are exactly the same—tsitserya addicts. Bels from Vancouver loves chips of any flavor. Mariles from San Francisco has all sorts of snacks and so does our youngest Nina. I am a self-confessed tsitserya addict too.
This is my set-up at home. In front of my TV is my La-Z Boy and within arms’ length on my right is my massage chair. I use that chair once in a while but most times it is a holder for all my tsitserya. There I have banana chips from my friend Cora (+63 975 844c8052), one of eight bags of champuy, beef jerky from Costco, truffle chips from Singapore, beef sausages from Japan, and a few others. I cannot imagine trying to lose weight with all these within reach from my comfortable seat. To make things worse, I discovered a new addiction: Barbecue-flavored kamote chips. I was given a bucket of chips by my daughter-in-law Ban and when I first tried it, I almost fell off my chair. It was that good. I first tried it during the pandemic. After that, I never came across it again. But it did made such an impact I kept looking for it.
Every day that I go out, I drive and almost always pass by White Plains in Katipunan. That street is a row of great food choices. One place I walk into occasionally is Michelle’s Ube Puto. I love her putong ube. But this time, not only did I see puto, she had her version of barbecue-flavored kamote chips too. They are simply the best tasting kamote chips. Get the barbecue flavor! When I first tried it, it immediately made me remember my sister Mariles. I know her taste and know she will love this. I sent the chips through a friend and true enough, a few days later, I get a call from my sister in San Francisco telling me she loved the chips and I should get more when we see each other when we visit Singapore.
I had to get a whole balikbayan box just for three huge tubs of these kamote chips. In exchange, she gave me packs of cone chips—churros flavored, stuffed turtle chips, boxes of Reese’s peanut butter, and many kinds of chocolates.
I step back and observe all of us kids and just smile. My mom’s genes certainly rubbed off on us all. Check out these snacks that make me and my sisters smile: Banana chips +63 975 844 8052
Michelle’s Kamote Chips +63 917 823 7886.