Comfort Food: Leyte's Bulad (Dried Fish)

I love traveling, it's one of the perks of my work. I can't complain, really--not anyone is paid to do what one loves. I used to hate packing, but now that I've learned to devise a system, I'm done in less than 15 minutes.

One of the few things I'm not crazy about is bad hotel food--Continental cuisine done the wrong way. I prefer food fresh and simple. So after eating food drowning in sauces, I look forward to less uncomplicated viands, like bulad. Bulad means dried fish, and the one pictured above is sapsap, aka slipmouth fish or ponyfish. I always look forward to eating the dried fish of Leyte, because they're not as salty as regular ones.

For this particular meal I just had the fish with fried garlic rice--no need for tomatoes or vinegar to temper the saltiness.