Rodney eats BALUT!!!!

Check out the video of Rodney and I eating chicken brains and Rodney getting his first taste of BALUT!!!!! Also...check out the post below "Images of Boracay" for a virtual video tour of our house here on the island.

F.Y.I. For those of you who don't know or have not seen the Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman episode where he goes to the Philippines, balut is: (according to Wikipedia) a fertilized duck egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. It is commonly sold as streetfood in the Philippines. Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, balut are mostly sold by street vendors in the regions where they are available. They are often served with beer. Balut are most often eaten with a pinch of salt, lemon juice, plus ground pepper, though some balut-eaters prefer chili and vinegar to complement their egg. The eggs are savored for their balance of textures and flavors; the broth surrounding the embryo is sipped from the egg before the shell is peeled and the yolk and young chick inside can be eaten. All of the contents of the egg are consumed, although the whites may remain uneaten, due to its cartilage-like toughness depending on the age of the fertilized egg.

So Rodney and I helped our friend "Sir" Don celebrate his 38th birthday Filipino style. Don manages a bar here called Balero and Rodney and I have made friends with some of their staff. Rocky and Ley are probably the two friends we've gotten to know the best and hang out with. The night was crazy with lots of drinking and eating really good traditional Filipino food consisting of marinated pork and tofu, sauteed squid, freshly caught and killed chicken (prepared adobo-style), and deep fried chicken intestine (Rodney's favorite, I preferred the squid). In the middle of the festivities Ley disappeared only to show up with 2 balut for Rodney and him to eat...it was great. Ley says that this is the first time most of the people there had ever seen a "white" person eat balut! Go Rodney!

This is Don...he manages Balero and it was his birthday...
Ley and Rodney...
Rodney, Me, and Rocky...and Jose, aka THE DEVIL!
Richie and some of the other Balero staff...
(sorry about the angle on this one)


Chicken intestine on the left and marinated pork and tofu on the right...
Me eating freshly killed chicken adobo...this picture just happens to be of the chicken's neck I'm chewing on...
Me eating fried chicken intestine...
The remains of the balut experience...