MY HOMETOWN city, Talisay, is known as the bedroom city of Negros because of the unstoppable mushrooming of subdivisions.

If Talisay is the bedroom city, then proximal Silay, according to Sally Ledesma, should be dubbed as the kitchen city of Negros with all the delicacies that practically saw its birth in this elegant ancestral city in the North.

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The day of our supposedly mentoring the tour guides of Silay ended not only as a familiarization tour but an eating binge as well. Starting with breakfast sumptuously prepared by Lyn Gamboa, tourism and cultural consultant to Mayor Oti Montelibano, and assisted by Maida Jison, we enjoyed true Ilongo "pamahaw." Then we set out to what we were in Silay for and that was to observe and comment as Girlie did a running tour of the city.

Apparently, there are 31 ancestral homes in Silay and most of them are recognized by the National Commission of Culture and the Arts (NCCA). Since it was a Monday, we were unable to enter all homes but marveled at the stories that went with each home. Locsins, Ledesmas, Gastons, Gamboas, Jalandonis, Jisons and many more old rich family homes stand side by side, row after row.

What is charming about Silay is that in this day of "care I less" and "mind your own business," there still exists in Silay the neighborhood kinship. Friends and families knock on each other's door to say hello or to visit tito and tita, lolo and lola without benefit of a written invitation and still be warmly welcomed with a cake or pastry or whatever is fresh in the oven served to the guest!

As I said...the kitchen city of Negros. I truly miss the women and men who would go around Bacolod with that "bilao" of goodies balanced in the heads. But with the advance of commercialism and better facilities and amenities, these goodies now find their home and readily available in most food and pasalubong outlets.

We visited Mariel's and their Cookies Melt was absolutely kanamiton! We even entered their kitchen to see their operations. They had other delicacies that were practically wiped out by the time we left their establishment.

We were not content on merely looking at these ancestral homes so we requested Lyn if we could have a "look see" at one of the homes. We visited the home of Vicente Conlu Montelibano, who married Teodora Locsin. Sole heir to the home is Louie Garcia, son of Luis and Lourdes Garcia, who is also the heir of his childless aunt and uncle Teresita Gamboa and Benjamin Esquerra Estacio. The house is very well preserved. I love the pieces of furniture that breathes of the life of over a century ago.

The "Pink House" of Bernardino Jalandoni has most of its pieces truly authentically original. There are carriages and many furnishings that are very rare and the ones you can find in most curio stores and antique shops now are mere reproductions. Ramon Hofileña has the longest running cultural tour in the province. He does this every December to a bus load of tourists both local and international. His home is also filled with antiques and precious paintings by famed and national artists.

After circling the heritage homes, we dropped by El Ideal, with its ancestral edifice and home of ancestral recipes too. El Ideal being a hub of many travelers has finally air-conditioned its premises. My all time favorite in El Ideal is their Pasensya. But it is been most popular for its many pies and cookies as well.

Before we knew it, it was again time to go back to the Balay Negrense for lunch which was being hosted by the Mayor. We binged ourselves to gluttony. Sorry gid Lord!

To top that, Tess Golez, mom of Vice Mayor Mark, invited us to 1925, a quaint restaurant owned by Denise Gaston where we had heavy dessert like chorros con chocolate (daw indi man na dessert?) plus cakes and pastries. Denise has fabulous entries and meals in her menu and she serves breakfast to dinner. A must stop over in Silay!

By the time we went home, we had a total overload of beauties of antiquities, a wealth of Silay information and our tummies having truly a bursting with yummy blessings!