The Unofficial Cook

I’ve been back from my vacation in the Philippines for almost a week now.  It was a nice 3-week reunion for all 7 siblings and my parents.  We have two new additions in the family whom I met for the first time…and dutifully fell in love with. Ohhh, I miss home and family everyday….

After more than a week of sleep-deprived nights and days, I’m still not all 100% here and have neglected my blogging and cooking.  So I decided to write this piece to help me get back on my usual schedule  and heal this heart that feels divided between two countries…

What a time we had!  All we did was shop, cook, eat, play with the babies and use the unbearable heat as an excuse to camp out  in our mom’s old bedroom in air-conditioned comfort.  It was such fun just lounging around with familiar faces and voices filling your consciousness…and marvel at the babies and the older pamangkins’s accomplishments.

The best part was gathering around the dining table (that cannot fit us all now) and sharing familiar food prepared by Mama or this or that sister.  We had Mama’s pinakbet with tons of homemade chicharon to satisfy everyone; nilagang baka with good, old-fashioned grass-fed beef and canned Purefoods Chorizo de Bilbao; Sinigang na Ulo ng Isda with the ‘busting at the seams with fat’ “mamaling” and only the freshest vegetables to accompany it; “dinengdeng” with that fresh fish bagoong flavor you can never get from a bottle that’s been sitting in some Asian store in the Continental US of A - loaded with fresh Ilocano vegetables like “himbabao”, not frozen mind you.  

The lechon manok sold a few blocks from our place was to die for - so succulent and juicy and not as fat as what you’ll get in any US grocery…and the longganiza and chicharon from good, old Aling Lucing was even better than my mind could conjure in my moments of pork fat and pork skin deprived days which I regularly have living here.  The Pancit Malabon sold behind the church is still the same - perfectly prepared and seasoned.  So was the Pancit Canton from the neighborhood Chinese restaurant….cheap eats that always go a long way.

Oh and the ice cream…familiar flavors like sweet corn and quezo.  Heck, the dirty ice cream man came by and I even stopped him.  The bibingka (rice cake) lady too….with her authentic sticky rice cutchinta and her excellent cheese-topped puto you could easily tell was made only from good rice grains ….my parents do live in Bulacan after all.

And buko juice….bought from the “buko man” who comes by every morning as sure as the “balut man” will come each night.  The buko was so fresh and naturally sweet, perfect to quench your thirst and your longing for everything familiar!