The Kitchenhand's Stories

Flowers for Ima

2011-05-09T01:20:00.000-07:00

It was Saturday. The next day May 8, the world would be celebrating Mother's Day.

At work that morning, there were seven of us seated at our long lunch table – six middle aged ladies and a young man in his 20s. Our conversation topic centered on Mother's day and what this young man would give his mum on this special day.

None, he said and added that he had no idea what else his mum wanted or needed. His mum, by the way, was a famous artist in NZ and according to him had been knighted and was now called a 'Dame'.

"Give her flowers," I suggested. A decent arrangement of roses here would cost a little less than a hundred dollars.

"Or if you want something affordable, there are flowers at the supermarket," Vanessa, the lady seated next to me seconded.

"Bring her breakfast in bed," Sue, the lady seated at the head of the table suggested. "It doesn't have to be something pricey, even simple things as doing something for her would please any mum," she added.

The young man did not respond to any of our suggestions, which I took to mean he was thinking about them.

But that conversation and my own suggestion reverberated in my thoughts. "Give her flowers." That was something I would love to do for my own mother.

I first thought about that – giving flowers to my mother - a long time ago.

It was during the early 90s and our Publisher/Boss was having another idea for a new weekly magazine in Pilipino. So, Tess, Glo and I were asked to come to her house in WackWack for a brainstorming session.

In the middle of that meeting, the Boss' daughter arrived with a bunch of flowers in her arms. (If I remember right, they were white lillies.) The younger woman apologized for disturbing the meeting, approached her mom to kiss her and hand the flowers.

I thought I saw the old woman's face glow with delight as she took the bouquet of flowers in her hand. She was obviously pleased with her daughter's thoughtfulness.

The Boss then excused herself, sprang from her seat and disappeared into the kitchen. She appeared again carrying a tall, crystal vase in which, she carefully arranged her flowers before placing them on the table where she was working. With a wide grin she looked at them admiringly. "Beautiful!" she blurted out. And then thanked her daughter, planting a kiss on the younger woman's cheek before bidding her goodbye.

That scene left me thinking to myself. Would my own mother appreciate flowers too? Would she be delighted as well to receive flowers on Mother's Day or even on her birthday?

She was not used to receiving flowers from us her children, but they would be something different.

I resolved to buy her flowers on Mother's Day. Several Mother's Days passed since then and even her birthdays came and went but no flowers were bought for our Ima.

Then all of a sudden in 1998, with nary a goodbye, she slipped away from us.

Finally, I was able to bring her flowers for the first time on Mother's day in 1999. They were beautiful white roses which I tearfully arranged on a simple vase and carefully laid on her tomb. Sadly, she was not able to see the flowers I brought for her. And I did not get to see her face light up at the sight of flowers, nor did I hear her thank me for them.

I would have traded anything in this world that day for that last chance to hear her call my name, see her face light up and smile at me as I bring her flowers on Mother's day.

Happy Mother's day to all mothers. And to everybody who still have their mothers around today, treasure them. You never know when you won't be able to hear her call your name again.

Imelda Cruz Wood

8 May 2011

Buskers

2011-02-18T00:02:00.000-08:00

Shortly after I arrived in New Zealand and my husband started showing me around, I would always notice buskers in big and small cities and sometimes even in small towns. I was curious about them and they never failed to fascinate me. On occasions when David would go to the capital city for business meetings, I would sometimes tag along and he would drop me off to where there were shops I could indulge in my "retail therapy". I would just walk in and out of shops or observe people moving about, birds on parks and everything around while he was having his meetings with clients.

One of my favourite hang-outs was Cuba Mall in Wellington. It seemed to be one of the favourite places in the city for buskers. Let me tell you first that Cuba mall was not like the SM malls of Manila which were huge, multi story buildings full of shops and people. Rather,Cuba Mall was a stretch of road where there were lots of shops on both sides.

I remember an instance when my eyes caught sight of something new in that spot of the mall where there used to be an empty space. There stood what looked like a newly-built monument. The 'statue' was that of a young man, tall and lean, donning a suit and a hat that I recalled seeing from pictures of men from a generation ago. The whole thing was the colour of bronze-y, muddy brown and was glistening under the mid-day sun.

Seeing that there were a handful of people milling about it, I took a cursory look, then a second glance. It was then that I noticed something unusual about the 'new monument'. The 'statue' in it was standing on a one meter by one meter platform and at the foot of the 'monument' was an opened overnight bag (containing some tools used by a builder or a carpenter) with the same bonze-y, muddy brown colour. When somebody from the crowd waved his hand on the face of the 'statue' some of the girls around started to giggle. A cheeky bird perched on his hat and other passers-by started doing their bits to distract the 'statue'. Another woman readied her camera and shouted, "Smile please!" That was when I saw his eyes moved! He was not a statue! He was alive! A real person busking as a stone monument! When onlookers started clapping their hands, I also clapped mine. Why, he was able to deceive me for a few minutes! Unbelievable! He looked like a real bronze monument to me! I was kicking myself though, for not bringing my camera and not being able to take a photo of that amazing busker!

I have since then made it a point to always bring my camera whenever we go out of town. But it was always awkward approaching buskers and asking them if I could take their picture while performing. The few shots I took of them, I would say, were not as satisfactory as the talents on display.

Another one that really captured my fancy was a young girl we saw at Alexandra in the South Island. She must be around 10 or 11 years old and she was making really beautiful music with her violin. Written on a piece of paper on the violin case at her feet was her reason for busking-'fund raising for a school trip'. After dropping two gold coins on the violin case at her feet, I asked her if I could take her picture. She didn't mind. An elderly woman who just could not keep her amazement to herself dropped two or more gold coins onto the violin case before giving her the thumbs up sign.

I would say, my fascination with buskers started when I was just starting as a beat reporter for a weekly tabloid in (sigh!) 1982.
On the right side corner at the entrance of the Santa Cruz Church in Manila (where I used to go to hear mass on Sundays), I would always see this man dressed in white shirt and khaki shorts with a white 'good morning' face towel on his shoulder. He was propped up on a square piece of wood with rollers underneath it, that enabled him to move around. He looked clean despite the fact that rain or shine, he was always exposed to the fumes and dust and grime on the streets of Manila. He had no hands and no feet. Birth defects, I learned later when I had the chance to talk to him. He suspected that his mother tried to abort him while still a foetus. But he never voiced out his suspicion to his mother, he said. His lower limbs stopped at his mid-calves and looked like stumps where legs were supposed to be. His arms were stumps from one or two inches from the elbows down. And to make matters worse, his empty eye sockets were mere slits on his face. It was a tough role assigned to him by our Creator. But he refused to be a burden, he said. So at a young age, he started to look for ways he could earn a little to get by. He learned to play the harmonica by pressing the instrument in between his stumps of arms and bringing it to his mouth. An empty tin can encased on his left leg stump was used to tap on the ground as accompaniment to his harmonica music. Church goers and passers-by would drop coins onto his second tin can that was conspicuously placed in front of him. Some other days when he felt like the people giving alms were tired of him, he would stray from his favourite post and would play his harmonica within the vicinity of that area. He could not stray far for obvious reasons. With the kindness of other people and his music he managed to get by on a daily basis. The second time I talked to him, I was with a photographer who took snapshots of him while performing. Pity that I did not keep any for myself. To this day, I am reminded of him whenever I see buskers around. Whatever happened to him after my interview with him, I have absolutely no idea. But one thing I was sure of, he was a brave man who lived to the challenges of his role in this world.

Surplus Tomatoes

2011-01-18T11:53:00.000-08:00

What to do with surplus tomatoes from your garden?
Well, there's tomato preserve, tomato ketchup, tomato jam...

Back when I have never seen nor heard of tomato paste and tomato sauce (and therefore, spaghetti sauce in tins), I would see my mother slice, deseed and boil tomatoes in a huge cauldron. (This she did when at harvest time, the prices of tomato would be too cheap, like, a bushel weighing eight to ten kilos would cost only Php2.00 to Php5.00. She would then decide to just cook them or feed them to hogs as picking and bringing them to market would cost more.) When the pulp is nice and soft, she would pour everything on a bamboo sieve (bistay in Pilipino and bikse in Pampango) to remove the skin. What remained was a watery tomato concentrate, which she would then pour back onto the huge cauldron, add a little rock salt, then bring to a boil again for several hours until a desired consistency is reached. By this time, the tomato concentrate has turned into dark red, almost brownish color and would be very thick in consistency. It looked very much like what we now use as tomato paste, which she poured into sterilized jars. Since we had no refrigerator back then, she would keep it in the wooden cupboard. She called it tomato preserve and we would use it in place of fresh tomatoes long after harvest season in May was gone. One time, she also experimented on "tomato jam" which she did by doing the same procedure for tomato preserve, except that she used sugar instead of salt and added grated young coconut to it. But we, her children did not really like it, preferring star margarine and a sprinkling of sugar on our pandesal or hot monay. The thought of using "sweetened tomatoes" as a spread on bread was something that simply did not appeal to us as we would always regard tomato as a vegetable.

Last spring, David dug more plots for our veggie garden, so I was able to plant four different varieties of tomatoes--Russian red, Moneymaker, Beefstake, and Gardener's delight. Harvest time, we had more tomatoes than we could consume, harvesting an average of one kilogram per day. Seeing so much ripe tomatoes on our kitchen bench, waiting to be processed, I did what my mother did with our surplus tomatoes. This time however, I froze them whole, halved and quartered. I also made that tomato preserve. However, I did not have to use a sieve to separate the skin and the flesh. Plus, I did not add any salt as I would be freezing it anyway.

I learned how to skin tomatoes from a neighbor, so it came in handy when I had to do the tomato preserve and ketchup.

Here's how to skin tomatoes:

Pour enough boiling water on the tomatoes.
Then cover for two to three minutes.
Drain. Wash with running cold water.
The skin would break and should come off easily when peeled.

Searching for more ways to preserve the tomatoes, I found a recipe for ketchup from a book, "The Cook's Garden" by Mary Browne, Helen Leach and Nancy Tichborne (Mary Brown, Helen Leach and Nancy Tichborne, Published 1980) I altered some of the procedures to make it easier.

You might find it useful too, so I am sharing it with you.

KETCHUP INGREDIENTS
6 kg ripe tomatoes
6 medium sized onions
6 cloves garlic
25 g pickling spice
1 tsp celery seeds
basil (a large stalk and leaves)
marjoram (a large stalk and leaves)
2 bay leaves
6 Tb salt
6 cups sugar
30 ml glacial acetic acid

Skin tomatoes. Deseed if you like. Chop roughly and place in a large preserving pan. Add the sliced onions and finely chopped garlic. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring until there is sufficient liquid to prevent the tomatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Tie the pickling spice and celery seeds together. Add the muslin bag and herbs. Add the salt and sugar. Stir until dissolved.

Puree in a food processor. Pour the sauce back into the preserving pan. Add the glacial acetic acid and bring back to the boil. Boil until the desired consistency is reached. This may take from 5-30 minutes depending on the variety of tomatoes used, the degree of ripeness and the season.

Heat clean jars in a slow oven. Pour the boiling sauce into the hot jars and seal immediately.

If you're curious how sweetened tomato tastes here's how to do it:

Tomato Jam

1 kg ripe tomatoes
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups coconut milk
(You can try adding shredded young coconut)

Skin and deseed tomatoes. Chop coarsely then place in a preserving pan. Add brown sugar and coconut milk. Bring to the boil until the desired consistency is reached. Pour in sterilized jars.

Prawns and Celery Salad

2011-01-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

Is your tummy tired of take-aways and greasy foods? Give it a break! Here's one interesting dish without the grease. Served with steaming white rice, it is nice and light on the belly.

Prawns and Celery Salad with Ginger Dressing

500 grms prawns, raw
2 large celery stalks and leaves
15 ml (tbsp) rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
1 tsp finely grated ginger

Steam the prawns until they turn pink. Drain and remove shell.

Cut celery stalks into 2 inches long, then cut each length into very thin length-wise strips.

Fill a small bowl with iced water. Add celery strips to water and sit for 5-10 minutes or till they are crisp.

Drain celery and discard water. Dry with paper towels to remove as much water as possible.

In a large enough bowl, combine prawns, celery leaves, vinegar, sugar, salt, and ginger. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Transfer to a medium plater and serve with steaming white rice.
Enjoy!

Fiesta!

2010-10-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

Today, is the feast day of St Teresa de Avila, our patron saint here in Featherston. The church was filled to the brim and everybody was extra chirpy and cheerful greeting each other as they arrived in church for the 9.30 am mass. It was indeed a fiesta atmosphere with everybody joining in the choir, singing during the mass celebration. As every Sunday would go here, children – babies and toddlers – some wriggling from their mum's hold, others holding on tight to their toys, books and even security blankets were delightfully chatty. Of course our parish priest, Father Morrison himself was at his brightest even when his parting words and blessings to parishioners were drowned by a three-month-old baby boy's loud cry. After the mass, everybody proceeded to nearby Kiwi Hall for lunch. We were requested to bring a plate of food to share so there was enough for everybody. I brought a plate of crispy fried lumpia with fish filling and watched how they were snapped soon as I laid the plate on the table. There were performances after lunch. It was a shame I did not bring a proper camera to record the event, so I used David's i-phone which was of course, not as good. A group of little girls in baby pink dresses performed a dance number, students of St Teresa's Catholic school serenaded us with their colorful ukuleles, and four yummy mummies performed a Spanish dance to everybody's enjoyment.

This is the first time such an event was held in our parish, so maybe next year, we would be more prepared, there would be more attendees and it would be a better and more enjoyable fiesta celebration!

The Kindness of Strangers

2010-10-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

Last year, David and I decided to spend two weeks of our Christmas break on a holiday exploring parts of the South Island I hadn’t seen before. We drove along state highways, discovered back roads and crossed bridges old and new. Every now and then, we would stop to take photos of anything that took our fancy.

Cruising along State Highway 1 in our black Subaru, we stopped by a paddock between Cheviot and Greta Valley to take photographs of bales of newly-rolled hay lying on verdant hills against a backdrop of grazing flock of sheep. Thinking it would take only a minute or two, David left the car key inside, closed the car doors then crossed the road for the photograph.

A few photos later and we were back to our car, only to find out that we locked outselves out of the car! We were in the middle of nowhere with no houses nor people in sight! And everything that would enable us to get in touch with people who could help us was inside the car!

Frantically, we flagged down the first approaching car for help. In the car were three English tourists touring the South Island for the first time. After telling them our story and the help we needed, they agreed to let us use their cellphone to call AA for assistance.

After what seemed to be an eternity, we were able to get hold of an AA man who assured us that help would be coming in about an hour. We thanked our new friends for their kindness. Hearing that it would take us an hour outside the car waiting for help, they left us a bottle of water saying that we could go thirsty under that searing noonday sun.

It was heartwarming to know that there were people who were just too happy to be of help even to strangers like us. Come to think of it, we may never see them again. It was an awkward situation we found ourselves in, but the kindness of these strangers just made it possible for us to laugh about it.

Bracing ourselves for the long wait, we leaned on the car watching traffic go by. Then we saw a red four-wheel drive made a U turn. In a matter of seconds, it was pulling over beside us. In it was a couple, who introduced themselves to be locals and who sensed that something was not right. “Are you guys, okay?” they inquired "Is there anything we can do for you?" We told them what happened and assured them that help would be coming soon. We thanked them for their concern. Realising that everything was taken cared of, they bade us goodbye and drove off.

You could just imagine how relieved we felt when help arrived after thirty minutes and not one hour! The AA man was able to skillfully insert a special rod through the car window and fish for the car keys inside.

I was completely bowled over by the experience of meeting strangers who were just too willing to respond to other people's call for help without hesitation. Truly, the innate goodness of humans.

Giant egg

2010-07-18T00:13:00.000-07:00

What do you do with an egg as big as this one?

Driving through Waitomo Caves Road on our way to the Waitomo Caves to see the glow worms, we chanced upon a place that advertises ostrich eggs. Was it serendipity, I wondered. The previous night, David and I had dinner at the Chateau de Tongariro where David ordered a salad dish with ostrich meat in it for his entree. The meat was sliced paper thin and was served on a nest of greens, and dressed with a dash of vinaigrette. I did not really like the taste, maybe due to its texture which was quite slippery and not meaty at all. David said he could not really tell whether he liked it or not because it only teased his palate due to its thinness. So he decided that next time we find another restaurant that serves ostrich meat, he would try it again.

Anyway, because we were intrigued by the taste and texture of the ostrich meat, we wondered about the eggs! So we stopped by the place which turned out to be a B&B place as well. A bubbly lady by the name Ann Barnes (we presumed she owns the place) answered the door and our inquiry. She asked us whether we wanted the egg empty or whole. "We want to eat it, so we want a whole egg and not an empty shell" David said laughing. She led us inside her house and we were awed to see such huge eggs! Some were sitting on her dining table, and some were on special basket containers on the floor. But some of them were obviously just eggshells because they have a bore at one end of the shell. We later learned that she's also selling empty shells to crafters for 20 dollars each!

A single ostrich egg weighs an average of l.5 kg and is equivalent to 15 regular sized eggs, Ann explained to us. She advised against cooking it by boiling, saying it might not cook inside. "You can use it for omelettes, pies, quiche and any dish that needs eggs," she said, then showed us how to drill a hole into the hard shell to get the egg inside. The egg would keep for a month and could be divided into little containers and frozen for future use. It was such a useful information because it would not be possible for us to consume that big egg all at once.

Armed with that information form a lady who knows a lot about ostrich eggs, we went home with this giant of an egg and did what she told us. After David bore a hole at one end of the shell, I beat it and divided it into five small containers then froze four containers. Tomorow morning, I am planning to make a veggie omelette for breakfast.

Hearty Smoked Fish chowder

2009-07-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

Nothing beats fresh vegetables when it comes to good cooking. However, chopped, frozen veggies are sometimes practical, especially if you're pressed for time and you just can't be bothered preparing the ingredients--chopping, dicing, slicing, etc.--which is very time-consuming.

This smoked fish chowder was one of those recipes I saw on "Food in a Minute" (a one minute advertorial program to fill gaps between programming), which got me interested. However the recipe required for a packet of ready to cook frozen potatoes, capsicum and onions. Stingy me, would rather use fresh veggies (some of which may come from our garden), rather than buy the more convenient packets of frozen goodies. So I peeled, diced and sliced equal amounts of potatoes, capsicums and onions. Plus, I altered the quantity in the ingredients as the original recipe was meant for 4 - 6 people. I do not like using butter so much, so again, I used substitution--olive oil instead of butter. I'm sorry, I could not tell the difference in taste had I used butter, but there probably isn't much difference.

The picture may not have done justice to the taste of the dish because I took the photo in a rush before dinner, but David and I find it really nice. He asked me to do it again soon.

Hearty Smoked Fish Chowder

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil
1 leek, trimmed, rinsed and cut into 1 cm slices
1-2 stalks celery cut into 1 cm slices
1 tbsp flour
1 cup vegetable stock or water
3-4 pieces medium size potatoes
1 piece onion
1/2 cubed red and green capsicum
1 cup frozen sweet corn
250 g smoked fish fillet, skinned and flaked
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped celery leaves
1 cup of milk
1 tsp (optional) grated lemon rind

Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the leek and celery until tender, but not brown. Stir in the flour and cook over a low heat for 1 minute or until frothy.

Gradually stir in the vegetable stock and milk, stirring continuously as the sauce thickens.

Add the cubed potatoes, green and red capsicum and onions. Add sweet corn. Simmer gently stirring regularly until the vegetables are hot and tender

Stir in smoked fish, herbs and lemon rind if using. Season as wished.

This can be divided into four servings for small appetites.

Crispy Vegetable Rolls

2009-07-20T00:39:00.000-07:00

After three days my mung bean sprouts were ready for the harvest and for the wok. I don't know why but even after years of making this lumpiang prito, there would always be excitement and a feeling of satisfaction as I look at the pile of just-rolled lumpia on my kitchen table ready for frying and freezing. Moreso, if they were rolled properly and they are in uniform sizes.

Here's how I did them:

Lumpiang Prito
(Vegetable Spring Rolls)

250 gms ground pork
500 gms mung beans sprouts
1 medium size carrot (grated)
1 good size sweet potato (grated)
1/2 small cabbage (shredded)
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon cornstarch (for sealing)
soy sauce to taste
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons sesame oil
Vegetable oil for frying

Heat oil in a big enough wok, saute garlic and onion till fragrant. Add ground pork and cook until pork loses its raw color. Add the chicken stock and boil for five minutes. Add the grated sweet potato, carrot and shredded cabbage, Cook till veggies wilt then add the mungbean sprouts. Cook for five minutes more, turning the veggies to make sure they don't go soggy.
Remove from heat when veggies are cooked. Transfer into a colander to cool and drain.

Dissolve cornstarch with a little water, bring to the stovetop and heat, stirring until it thickens. This can be used instead of a beaten egg to seal the spring rolls.

Separate the spring rolls skin and cover with a damp cloth to prevent from drying. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the filling onto the skin about two inches from the bottom corner, then fold it over the filling and roll upwards encasing the filling. Fold in the corners and press down firmly to seal, creating an envelope. Moisten the left and right corners of the skin with the cooked cornstarch and seal. Repeat with the remaining filling and skins.

Using a deep fryer or a deep work, heat the oil until almost smoking and begin frying your lumpiang prito until they turn golden brown.

Drain with paper towel.

Vinegar Dip:

In a small bowl, combine half a cup white vinegar, 4 cloves or more garlic (crushed), half a teaspon ground black pepper and salt to taste.

Enjoy!

Mung Beans Sprout

2009-01-18T00:23:00.000-08:00

David loves crispy vegetable spring rolls (lumpiang prito) dipped in ketchup. Sometimes, he prefers Mang Tomas Sarsa ng Litson, while I am a vinegar dip (made with white vinegar, lots of crushed garlic, a little salt and black pepper) fanatic. I make lots of these and freeze them in packets of 10 pieces, ready for when he wants something crispy for lunch.

I am quite choosy with the mung bean sprouts I put into my vegetable spring rolls, though. I prefer them when they are just two or three days old--when the beans are still in their 'button' stage and the 'tail' is just about a centimeter long. At this stage, the sprouts have a nutty texture and are more preferable than the fibrous texture of long "tailed' sprouts. So I grow my own to make sure they are in the right stage of growth when I need them.

Mung beans are definitely one of our comfort foods when we long for the warmth of home. Unfortunately, they are high in uric acid and at a certain stage in our lives, we just have to accept that we could no longer indulge in 'ginisang munggo' every Friday. Not to worry though, we can still have 'lumpiang prito' since there other ingredients to it other than mung beans sprouts. With all that uric acid talk, mung beans are still a good source of Vitamins A, B, C and E, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium and Amino Acids.

If you want to start sprouting your own, here is how to do it:

First you have to have a bean sprouter. Mine is made of plastic--round, three layered. The first and second layers are transparent and there are small openings on the side where water drains so the beans are not swimming in water. The third layer catches the water that drips from the first two layers.

If you are like me who prefer more beans than roots: Rinse the beans and drain them every 8 to 12 hours for two to three days.

For long roots: rinsing and draining should be done in 4 to 5 days.

Article in Pampango

2009-01-16T19:49:00.000-08:00

Apulung Minutu King Arayat National Park
By Imelda Cruz Wood

"Pagnasan kung tuki ka
Batyawan te itang bunduk ning Alaya
Kareta ding batu manukluwanan kata..."
- Indung Balayan
(Arti Santa Rita,Kapampangan Ku CD)

Nung mipasyal kayu Mt Arayat National Park kening milabasan a pilan bulan, siguru apansinan yu ing makadismaya nang hitsura ngening kasalukuyan. Ing buri ku sanang ikutang, ninu na ing mamalakad king Mt. Arayat National Park?

Apat a beses neng tinuki keng pamanuli ku Pampanga i David. Pero e ke pa aturung magsalitang Tagalog o kaya Kapampangan mu man anya Inglis mu ing balu nang sabyan. At e ne pa ikit ing kabilugan na ning balen kung tibuan. Anya ing tauli ming pamanuli binalak ku talagang maglambat kami Santa Rita, ban kanita apasyal ke kareng lugar a pagmulalan keti Pampanga.

Ing mumuna nang diling buring akit, alang aliawa nune ing bunduk Arayat. Prumeru ya pamung minuli Pilipinas, apansinan na neng David ing bunduk Arayat a mayayakit ketang tiknangan nang matas a hotel king Cubao, Quezon City. Anya ginagad yang sinaling mapa ning Pampanga king National Book Store, Cubao. Karin, ikit na nung makananung miras king San Juan Baño, ing baryong sasakop keng entrance paukyat king Mt Arayat National Park.

December 30, 2008, alas kuwatro na ning gatpanapun inyang miras kami San Juan Baño. Menibat ke Santa Rita, dinalan ya ing sasaken ming karag-karag a jeep king Mexico kaibat Santa Ana bayu miya ikit itang arkong ating makasulat - "Arayat Malaus Ta Pu". Adwa keng pulu katao ketang kilub ning jeep - labing apat a anak a mangalati, edad apat anggang labing apat at anam a makatuwa.

Palub king parke adwa lang arko nung nukarin makasulat ing lagyu "Mt Arayat National Park deng abungaran mi. Muna kung apansinan ing mangabakbak a pintura karetang adwang arko. Tahimik, at alang tao ketang gate a makabuklat. Mapali, malisangan at maalikabok. Misumangid ating adwang tanaman a mengalagas na bulung pauli ning malanging gabun at angin.

Kalagpas ning jeep karetang adwang arko linto la ring apat a kelalakian at metung a babae. E ku ikit nung nukarin la menibat. E la karagulan a katawan detang lalaki. E la mikakandayu edad - siguro atilu keng 30 anyos o mahigit. E marayu keng limang talampakan at limang pulgada ing katas da. Paka-salol lang putut at sinelas a goma. Itang kabud babae, bilugan ya at makuyad ya buwak. Kulang lang metung deng ipan na keng lalam at makasulud yang malutung kamiseta, kule asul a korto maki bulsa king arap at gulut at lawe ku, maskup ya ing salol na. Ating makakuwintas a ID kaya pero balamu e ne buring ipakit malapitan.

Tinakiki la keng jeep ming sasaken. Mipakirutu ku pa inyang bigla na la mung sinalambo keng jeep a sasaken mi - ding atlung lalaki sinabit lang king estribo, itang metung pa keta naman gilid na ning driver at itang kabud babae, sinabit neman ketang passenger side nung nukarin makalukluk ya i David.

"Tsa-beinte pesus balang metung a katao," nganang sinabi ning babae.

"Ali, treinta pesus balang metung!" masiyas nang salabat nitang metung karetang lalaking makasabit king estribo anyang apagmasdan ne i David. Inisip ku iya ing tatalakad lider na ning grupu da.

"Aba, ninung tutu kekayu?" ngakung mengutang, medyo mesora ku king kagarapalan dang asal. Mataram ya paglalawe itang lalaking balamu lider, medyo mipakamakama ku. "Basta, treinta balang metung." Kaibat nang memilang sinabi nang 480 pesus ing bayaran mi. Mayap namu e ya masyadung biyasa keng kuwentahan. Binye ke ing metung a Ninoy at sinabi kung karela ne ing sukling beinte pesus. Pero matsura naku aiisip tungkul karening lalaki.

Menguldas ke ngan kaparada na ning jeep ketang masalilung a gilid na ning parke. Bandang kailli nung nukarin migparada ya ing jeep, ikit ko retang mengalumang kubu-kubuan a ilib. Siguru, manayun la reta anyang bayu lang gawa at marakal a mag-piknik. Ngeni, lupa nung mengapaburen at e na malyaring gamitan. Keng arapan mi, ating metung a swimming pool nung nukarin atin limang anak a mangalati magtampiso keng danum.

Manibat king kagulutan mi, atin pang adwang lalaking dinatang. Maibug kung mapuput anyang palibutan da kaming miyasawa. Pamilitan da keng mukyat karetang eran a matas. "Karin akit yu ing malagung view na ning bunduk. Ala kong akit keni lalam," nganang sinabi nitang lalaking lider da kabang makalawe la mu reng aliwa. Malangi ing tonu nang magsalita. Balamu utusan na kami pang tuki keng buri nang malyari. "Tara na! Dakal ko pa akwang letratu karin," ngana pa nitang metong anyang apansinan ne ing kamerang dadala ng David.

Miglalawe ku ketang direksiyon a tuturu da. Mangalabung la at mangatas ding tanaman dutung a ikit ku keng misusumangid na nitang eran. Masukal at madalumdum. Menalakad ku buwak kayagnan na ning aisip kung matsurang eksena. Aganaka ku pa ing ababasa ku keng diyaryo keng internet, deng miyaliwang tau pangidnapan da at patubus maragul a pera. Makananu nung mabisa ke ping manik? Makananu nung marok la palang tau rening kasabi mi? Makananu nung atyu na kami ketang babo, kaibat bigla rang sinabing "e ke malyaring magbaba anggang eke mamiye maragul a pera?" Mengilabut ku. Telanan keng masalese i David, pota bigla reng abitan. Pero lalu kung mengilabot anyang aisip ko reng anak. Agyaman dakal kami karela, puro no man anak a mangalati reng abe mi, makananu nung panasakitan da la nung ala kung aibie pera? Ay rugo.

Kakabug naku salu, pero e ku bisang payalata lalu na kang David. Pepaliwanag ku kaya ing buri dang malyari detang lalaki, pero siyempre, eku sinabi ing kutub ku uling makarine kaya nung matsura ing maging karanasan mi keng kanakung balen.

"Pilan mong minutu bayu tamu miras ketang babo?" ngakung mengutang, agyaman e ku interesado.

"Saguli mu."

"Makananu kasaguli?"

"Siguro, metung oras ati ta na ketang babo."

"Ay, rugo…ali na. Maina no reng tud ming miyasawa, e mi na agyu ing matarik a ukyatan. Saka e ku bisang mabengi. Siguru muli na kami mu. E bala nung mesayang ya man ing kekaming biaje papunta keni".

Kasabi kung muli na kami mu, pengulait ko reng anak at pepasaken kung pasibayu king jeep. Tinerku la at migtaka. Ala la pa kanung ikit keng pasyalan a ita. Bakit kanu kasaguli ming mumuli. Tunggal-tunggal, ginulut la retang lalaki at e ku no ikit nung nukarin la migbanda. Melakwan ya itang babai makalawe kekami kabang kukusad ya ing jeep paluwal king parke.

Malaut na ing pilai na ning jeep, makanyan man eku pa mu rin mikuldas a salu. Malyap la pa mu ring maglalawe reng kanakung mata. Makananu nung ati lu mu pala keng gilid-gilid detang lalaki, kalupa nandin at bigla na lamung sulput manabat pala keng pagluwal mi? Nung malyari ya mung sulapo ing jeep, siguro, sinabi ku na keng driver mi ing pasulagpon ne ing sasaken mi ba keng agad milako karin. Inyang abatyawan miya ing boundary ning Sta Ana, karin ku pa mu mipangisnawang saldak. Pepasalamat keng Diyos at alang nanu na mang matsurang milyari kekami.

Pero siyempre, mekaramdam ku naman lungkut. Agya mung keng isip ku, menyawad kung tawad king Apung Ginu keng pamanisip kung marok tungkul karetang kabalen ku. Pero nung ikayu ing atiyu keng lugar mi at makanyan ing milyari, nanu kayu isipan?

Buri ku sanang sabiyan, nung ibilang deng metung kareng pasyalan Pampanga ing Mt Arayat National Park, sana naman ayusan de at linisan mu man bang kanita maglupa ne mang pasyalan. Matsura ing meging karanasan mi ketang lugar a ita at e na ku siguro magbanda pa karin. Lalung e ke irekomenda kareng kanakung kaluguran.

About the writer:

Imelda Cruz-Wood is a native of Santa Rita Pampanga. A graduate of BSC Economics, she was able to use her Economics course for two years and from then on pursued her real interest - writing. She was first employed as product researcher for Graphic Arts Service Inc., then one of two major publishing companies in the Philippines. When opportunity knocked, she grabbed the chance to be trained as writer and editor for the same company. For eight years, she was writing and at the same time editing Comics scripts and short stories in prose (1988 to 1996). From 1996 to 1997, she was appointed food editor for a weekly English women's magazine, called Chic magazine, and eventually became its editor for eight years prior to migration to New Zealand in 2004. She continued writing a monthly colum for St. Paul Publication's Homelife magazine until July 2009. Apulung Minutu King Mt Arayat National Park was her first attempt at writing in her native diallect.

Ampalaya

2008-01-18T00:29:00.000-08:00

For the past weeks my body was signaling that I had been indulging in too rich food. The sign? I was craving for bitter melons. I don't know why, but after having rich and greasy food day after day after day, I would always want to eat bitter melons. This stemmed from our belief that eating something bitter will help purge the system of any impurities. Problem was, bitter melons are not common in the area where we live. So it's been weeks since I started craving for this bitter veggie. Last week I was so desperate that I asked David if we could check that Asian food supermarket in Petone, some thirty minutes drive from our place to see if they had any. The store did carry it, albeit frozen and the label was marked, 'product of Vietnam". Oh well, ampalaya from anywhere else in the world will be just as bitter and good. I was happy to bring home a packet of three pieces, cleaned and pitted.

I decided I would do 'relyenong ampalaya' since it's been ages since I last had this dish. So I stuffed two of them with cooked minced meat, rolled them in batter then shallow fried them. With ketchup and steaming white rice with, I had a feast! David did not like bitter melons so I had them all for myself.

Here's how to do relyenong ampalaya if you are interested:

Ingredients:

2 -3 pieces ampalaya cut in half or quarter (depending on the length of your ampalaya)
batter (1 egg, 1 cup of flour, water)
Oil for frying
Ketchup

Filling:
1 tbsp cooking oil
3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion finely chopped
1/4 kg minced pork
1/4 kg (or less) shrimps, shelled, chopped (optional)
2 tbsp raisins
salt and pepper to taste
1 small carrot shredded (optional)
2 tbsp of chives chopped

Boil the ampalaya pieces until half-cooked. Do not overboil as this will make them soggy.

Meanwhile, heat oil in wok and sautee garlic and onion. Add the minced pork. Add shrimps. Stir and make sure pork is no longer pink. Add carrots and raisins. Add chives just before removing from heat.

Dry the ampalaya and stuff them with the cooked filling. Coat them with batter then shallow fry them. Just before serving, cut each piece into 1 inch slices then serve with ketchup.

Just remember when seasoning whatever you're cooking, go by your taste. Adjust any ingredient or alter if you must to suit your taste.

Lasang Pinoy 17: Salted Eggs

2007-04-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

This topic about eggs really got me egg-cited. Eggs, are no doubt a perfect food. An essential ingredient in every kitchen, they are inexpensive, available at any time of year, nutritious, easy to prepare, and can be added to just about anything you're cooking.

Growing up in a farm, my siblings and I have lots of fond memories about eggs. The most vivid and probably exciting was that of "stealing" them from the nest (made from old baskets we call kaing, in Pampango), while the hen was still incubating them. Another one was discovering ducks' eggs under the haystack, or in a dark corner of the barn concealed under rubbish, or under piles of used bamboo poles where predators, meaning, dogs and children, wouldn't notice. Likewise, finding tiny quail eggs in equally small nests nestled in between rice stalks in the middle of a rice paddy, really thrilled us. But what was amazing for us as children then was my father showing us how to cook eggs in a different way--wrapping them in clay and throwing them in a bonfire. After a few minutes, when the clay had dried and had visible cracks, the egg inside was ready.

And of course pleasant memories about how eggs are used in Filipino foods also abound, like the sinful leche flan during town fiesta or Christmas season, the soft and still warm bibingka topped with salted eggs and grated coconut meat during the misa de gallo, spanish omelette in the morning and of course, balut, penoy, red, salted eggs, etc. etc.

Indeed, there are endless ways we could prepare eggs, but for this Lasang Pinoy 17, I would choose salted eggs.

Food we grew up with would always have a special place in our tummy, you know, so even the nicest and yummiest pasta dish would not beat the satisfaction you get from eating salted eggs, ripe fresh tomato, slices of green mango and steamed rice wrapped in fragrant banana leaves.

I remember, the last days of classes during my primary school years were always fun. Our teacher/adviser would tell us to bring our lunch to school so we could all have lunch together inside the classroom. I normally would have lunch at home on ordinary days because school was just a few minutes walk from home. Aside from that, I felt miserable eating a cold meal during lunch time. For that "special" last day of classes, I would bring my lunch to school, which would often be steamed rice wrapped in banana leaves and at the center of it was a shelled salted egg and a very ripe, fresh tomato. If I was lucky and pico mangoes were on sale, I would buy one from the public market on my way to school.

As a teen-ager, the salted egg also figured in our picnics with friends, especially if the invitation was sent on a short notice. Salted eggs were always available, they do not spoil easily, were easy to prepare and very cheap compared to meat, so they would almost always be included in our picnic baskets.

Some two months ago I chanced upon huge geese salted eggs at a farmers' market here and didn't think twice about buying two because for several days prior to that I had been craving for salty eggs with ripe tomatoes. The eggs were huge, probably twice the size of a medium-sized hen's egg. Not satiated with just two, I decided I would try doing them myself so I asked from among my friends for a recipe for salted eggs. I got one and this was what I used for my salted eggs using chicken eggs.

Salted Eggs

1 1/2 c Rock salt
4 c Fresh water
12 Fresh eggs, preferably duck eggs

Bring water and rock salt to a boil. Let cool. Place eggs in a crock or glass jar. Cover the eggs with the salt-water mixture. Let stand in a cool place for 21 days. Remove eggs from salt bath and store them in the refrigerator if not ready to use immediately. Yolks should be a bright yellow-orange color and quite firm. The white should be slightly cloudy and still runny. Eggs without a firm yolk should be discarded. To hard cook, cover with fresh cold water and simmer for 20 minutes.

Maybe I was too excited or too anxious that the recipe would not turn out right, or the eggs would become overly salty, so I tried one after 15 days. The egg yolk was allright, it had a nice color to it, the white was not too bad either, but it was not as salty as the ones commercially sold. So I waited six more days and the result was satisfying. Needless to say, I had a feast!

New Zealand grown ampalaya

2007-04-22T00:31:00.000-07:00

I finally had bittermelon fruits from the vine I planted October last year. Actually, this was the last one. I picked three others some weeks ago and was quite pleased, but not too happy about them as they are so tiny compared to the bittermelon we grew in Pampanga. But since it's autum and the temperature has gone really low these days, I worry that the frost would beat me to my bittermelon so i also picked some of the leaves. These will be nice in sauted mung beans soup later this week. Well, semblance of food from home.

Pancit Bihon with Bittermelon and sardines

2007-02-24T20:37:00.000-08:00

I chanced upon some ampalaya (bitter melons) in one of the Chinese stalls at the Riverside Farmers' Market last Saturday and decided to buy a piece which cost me three dollars. I had given up hope of producing my own ampalaya this year because to this day, the bitter melon vine I planted last October (which I kept well-watered and well-fed under the hothouse), hasn't produced any single fruit. It was a well-looked after plant, maybe even "spoiling" it with organic fertilizer once a week and making sure it is protected from any predator insects. In return, it grew lush, healthy leaves and the vine has almost filled the length of the hothouse. I was excited seeing its first bud burst in January, although it was quite late considering that it's been four months since I planted it. I anticipated to pick the first bitter melon fruit in February, but to my dismay, the first bud which was just about an inch long, turned yellow just as February was about to start. There were lots of buds that sprouted since then, but the same thing happened - they wilted just as soon as their flowers dried. Not a single fruit survived. And autum has set in, meaning colder temperature which the ampalaya wouldn't like. So last week, I picked all the young leaves and cooked them into a bitter soup with lots of tomatoes in it.

Anyway, I decided to use the bitter melon I bought in a recipe called, "Pancit Bihon with Bittermelon and sardines" or "Pancit Bihon Maki Apalya at Sardinas" in Pampango. You probably have not heard of this dish, but this is one pancit recipe from our barrio whose main produce back then was bitter melon. It's a farmer's recipe. It's something my mother would prepare as soon as the first few fruits of our bitter melon plants are ready for picking. These first few fruits, which develop near the base of the vine are called "bungang pun" in Pampango or first fruits. These are plump and short and are not too bitter. For farmers back then, the sardines is the most readily available ingredient, especially if you live far from the market place. Toiling in the farm from sunrise to sundown gave little time for us then to do our shopping (which would have to be in the next town) as vegetables are a very demanding crops. Sardines and bihon can be bought from the neighborhood sari-sari store at a very cheap price, whereas, if you wanted shrimps and pork to go with your bittermelon, you have to go to the next town's producer's market.

To cook this dish you will need:

1/4 kg bihon
1/2 kg ampalaya sliced thinly
1 tin of sardines
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 cup chopped tomatoes (optional)
1 medium sized onion thinly sliced
2 tbsp cooking oil
salt to taste
1 cup water

Soak bihon in tap water until soft. Heat oil in a wok. Add garlic, onion and tomatoes. Pour the sardines then add water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the bitter melon. Boil until bitter melon has turned a nice green color. Remove from the pan. Add more water if needed, then add the bihon. Cover the pot until bihon is cooked. Return the sardines and tomato mixute into the pan and mix well. Serve warm.

Salted eggs

2007-01-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

I found these huge, salted geese eggs at a farmers' market in Lower Hutt last Saturday. I was so pleased because for days, I've been craving for salted eggs.

Nostalgia. The last days of classes during my primary school years were always fun. Our teacher/adviser would tell us to bring our lunch to school so we could all have lunch together inside our classroom. We normally had lunch at home on school days because school is just a few minutes walk from home. Aside from that, I feel miserable eating a cold meal at lunch time. And because there were no jollibees yet during those days, students' lunches would almost always be steamed rice with deep fried bangus belly with ripe, fresh tomatoes, or fried chicken/pork chop, adobo chicken/pork, etc. It was proper food, you know. Nothing from fast foods. Some years, I would have steamed rice wrapped in banana leaves and at the center of it was a shelled salted egg and a very ripe, fresh tomato. If I was lucky and pico mangoes were on sale, I would buy one from the public market on my way to school, or else, I made do with the indian mango.

The salted egg also figured in our picnics with friends, especially if the picnic was just a spur-of-the-moment decision. Salted eggs were always handy - they do not spoil easily, are easy to prepare and very cheap compared to meat.

Food we grew up with would always have a special place in our tummy, you know, so even the nicest and yummiest pasta dish would not beat the satisfaction you get from eating salted eggs, ripe fresh tomato, slices of green mango and steamed rice wrapped in fragrant banana leaves.

Stuffed Marrow

2007-01-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

Last year, we had a bumper crop of golden zucchini and we tried several recipes using this. We made zucchini pickles, zucchini fritters, zucchini and mint soup, zucchini this and zucchini that. This year, we decided that we want the green one. Zucchinis are fantastic to have in the garden - they are easy to grow and need little attention. But not when they have begun fruiting because the zucchinis seem to grow vigorously and could become marrows overnight.

Two weeks ago, we noticed an overgrown zucchini and so allowed it some more days of sunshine before we decided to pick it. David suggested that we stuff the marrow and bake it like we did with the yellow marrow last year. The recipe is called Stuffed Marrow which was from the book "The Cooks' Garden" by Mary Brown, Helen Leach and Nancy Tichborne.

For this recipe, you will need a large vegetable marrow (1.5 kg). Cut it evenly in half and use a spoon to remove the seeds and the soft pulp inside.

For the stuffing:

1 small onion chopped
2 tbs butter
250 g mince
60 g fresh mushrooms chopped
1 tb chopped parsley
1/2 tsp chopped thyme
50 g soft breadcrumbs
freshly-ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 small egg
2 tbs butter, melted

Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the onion and saute for a few minutes. Add the mince and mushrooms and continue to cook until browned. Remove from the head. Add the remaining ingredients except for the melted butter. Mix thoroughtly with a fork.

Pack the stuffing carefully into the marrow. Place in a large roasting pan and brush with melted butter. Cover with a piece of foil. Bake at 190 degrees. A large marrow will need 1 1/2 hours and a small one will need 45 minutes in the oven, Serve with Neapolitan sauce.

Neapolitan sauce

250 g ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste
1 tb cooking oil
1 tsp chopped basil or parsley

Saute the tomatoes, garlic and seasoning in oil for a few minutes. Do not allow the tomatoes to become pulpy as the fresh taste will be lost. Add basil or parsley and serve with the stuffed marrow.

This sauce also goes well with spaghetti and topped with grated cheese.

Suman

2006-12-29T20:13:00.000-08:00

Suman is another native delicacy that we associate with the festive Christmas season. Or at least in the farming village where I grew up. Rice being abundant in our place, different delicacies with rice as the main ingredient were almost always present on our noche buena feasts--kalame ube, kalame nasi, tibok-tibok, tamales, puto, suman, kutsinta, etc.

This suman I am telling you about is what we call suman tili in Pampango and is made of glutinous rice half-cooked in coconut milk and sugar then rolled in banana leaves. The resulting cylindrical suman - sometimes the size of cigars - are then boiled for hours to complete the cooking process.

Last November, I was just too happy to find the newly-opened Filipino Mart in Lower Hutt selling banana leaves among other Filipino food items. The banana leaves were frozen and cost quite a lot if you're thinking in terms of its abundance where it came from. Yes, banana leaves are readily available back home that we almost always take it for granted. It is only when we want to use it but could not find it anywhere else that we realize how precious this thing is.

Fresh coconuts, are available here in bigger supermarkets, thanks to Samoa and Fiji islands who export the coconut in different forms - fresh, dried, dessicated or in tins. And glutinous rice sold here comes from Thailand.

The ingredients for this suman:

2 cups glutinous rice
1 cup sugar
4 cups coconut milk
pinch of salt (optional)
banana leaves

Preparing this suman is quite fiddly and tedious. First step is cutting and trimming the banana leaves in uniform size before wilting the pieces in fire (or boil them) for a wee while so they do not break when you roll the rice and do the folding. Next, the glutinous rice is washed and cooked with coconut milk in slow fire, careful not to burn the bottom of the pan as this will impart a burnt taste to your suman. Halfway through cooking, add the sugar. This is so because if sugar is added beforehand, the rice will never break and won't get cooked no matter how long you boil your suman. When cooler, a tablespoon or two (depending on the size of your banana leaves), is rolled onto the leaves. This too, needs skill because your suman may get flattened instead of having a nice cylindrical shape when rolling is not done properly. Pile the suman in a large wok or deep pot, add enough water and steam the suman for 30-45 minutes or until cooked according to your desired doneness.

This suman goes well with sabaw ng nilaga or tea during cold and balmy mornings.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Lasang Pinoy 16: Holiday Food Gifts (Tamales)

2006-12-27T20:47:00.000-08:00

Several of my attempts at joining Lasang Pinoy's Food blogging event in the past failed, but this time, I am determined to finish this entry because I am raring to tell you all about our family's favorite Christmas food gift--the tamales. But first let me give you a brief introduction of this Pampango delicacy and its importance to our family.

The tamales is a native rice cake that is popular in Pampanga, especially in Bacolor where, the best tamales, they say, come from. It's an offshoot of the Mexican tamal (tamales is the plural form), which are packets of corn dough with a savory or sweet filling and typically wrapped in corn husk. I surmise that substitution of ingredients through the years, resulted in this Filipino version of the tamales.

Anyway, the tamales is cooked by mixing ground rice and coconut milk and thinned with water, then seasoned with powdered black pepper, anato seed water (for coloring) and salt. The mixture is cooked in slow fire until a certain consistency is reached, then when cooled is wrapped in squared banana leaves, topped with slivers of chicken meat cooked asado style, slices of boiled eggs and ground peanuts. The final product is then steamed for an hour or until it has settled and the tamales has taken shape. A melt-in-the-mouth tamales has a jelly like consistency after steaming, with a hint of green from the banana wrapping.

The tamales has become my mother's 'signature dish' and our Christmas wouldn't be complete without it on our noche buena table. Placed side by side with ham, queso de bola, roasted turkey or chicken on your dining table, the tamales would look very 'out of place', but to us, it is the 'star' of our noche buena feast, something we would always look forward to having during this festive occasion. Let me tell you why.

Father’s roots were from Bacolor, hence his fondness for tamales. When he and mother got married, they settled in nearby town, Sta. Rita. Mother knew how much Father missed the tamales. For love of him, Mother, who was the youngest among 12 siblings and who knew nothing about cooking, decided to learn how to make the tamales. But since it's such a tedious and fiddly job, she would only make them on special occasions like Christmas and included them on our Noche Buena feast.

However, the first Christmas she tried to make tamales was a disaster. Since she relied only on calculation for the ingredients, the resulting tamales were soggy and salty. Out of politeness, father ate the tamales and appreciated her efforts and good intention.

The following Christmas after that first attempt, she was armed with the measurements courtesy of her eldest sister. This time, there was an improvement. The tamales had the right taste, but were too firm, looking more like kalamay-wrapped-in-banana leaves instead of tamales. That was because she used newly-harvested rice. That was another lesson learned.

Since she would make a lot of tamales every time (five gantas of rice would yield 80-100 pieces of medium sized individually wrapped tamales), she would offer them to our relatives who would come visiting on Christmas day, and sometimes would send some more to those who did not come.

Determined to make the perfect tamales, mother would make her attempts Christmas after Christmas, and each year, registering an improvement. Until finally, she was able to come up with neither salty nor soggy, but melt-in-the-mouth and really delicious tamales. By this time we have become accustomed to having tamales on our noche buena feast, not to mention we have acquired the taste for this native kakanin. Even our relatives who come visiting would also ask her for more tamales. Every year thereafter, she would make lots of them a day before Christmas, anticipating more of our kins and later, some of our neighbors clamoring for her tamales. And thus, started a tradition of giving tamales as a Chirstmas food gift.

Five years ago, mother left us to be with our father who went ahead seven months earlier.

The very first Christmas as orphans was the saddest Christmas for all ten of us, their children. Needless to say, the first Christmas in years that the tamales was not on our dining table, and no tamales to offer to visiting relatives and friends.

Two years ago, our eldest sister, decided that we have to bring back the tamales tradition in remembrance of our mother. So, all of us women siblings set to work for that one goal--tamales on our Noche Buena feast. We were confident that years of observing mother cook tamales has taught us how to do it ourselves.

Unfortunately, our first tamales two Christmases ago, were soggy and salty.

Last year, our tamales were soggy but no longer salty. This Christmas, as I celebrated Christmas away from home, I tried to make some, but these too were not perfect.

Next Christmas, I will be home in Pampanga, and we are determined to make the perfect tamales for us and for our visiting relatives, the way Mother did them, with so much love and patience.

Lasang Pinoy 16

Lasang Pinoy, which could mean ‘tastes of something Filipino’ or short for ‘the Filipino taste’ is a monthly food blogging event to promote Filipino food. It is a product of e-mail brainstorming sessions of several Filipino food bloggers who thought it was time for a Filipino event in the tradition of Is My Blog Burning. The blogger organisers of Lasang Pinoy and participants strive to make the events reflective of Filipino culture.

Zucchini Fritters

2006-12-07T10:33:00.000-08:00

Zucchini Fritters

We had a good harvest of fruits and veggies from our garden last summer so I had to freeze most of it. So glad I did because fresh veggies are quite pricey during winter if they are available at all.

Anyway, now is the time to dig the freezer and make an inventory of frozen veggies for immediate use. Problem with frozen veggies, your choices of how to cook them are limited as they get really soggy when thawed. But that is a non issue.

So, first to come out from down under the cold were the grated zucchini and I decided to make zucchini fritters for lunch. Served warm with your favorite chutney, this dish will surely warm your cold, cold days.

Here's how to do them.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini
2 tablespoons minced onion
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil for shallow frying

(If you're using fresh zucchinis, you don't have to thaw anything). So you can now squeeze the grated veggie using a clean cheesecloth to remove as much water as you can.

Mix together all the other ingredients except the oil to make the batter.

Heat oil in a skillet. Spoon batter--2 heaping tablespoons per patty--into skillet. Brown both sides.

Serve warm with your favorite chutney. Enjoy!
posted by Mel @ Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Ampalaya at last

2006-10-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

Green Tomato Chutney

2006-08-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

We have yet to experience the first morning frost this year. although, temperatures have gone down to single digits. This means, winter is just a breath away and so, it's time to thank summer plants for a good harvest and do some clearing in the garden. Sad eggplants and stakes used for the runner beans had to be plucked out, kamote and jerusalem artichokes dug up for any tubers, and the remaining tomatoes still hanging on (mostly green) had to be picked and the wilting vines cut up for the compost heap.

A good problem again just came up--what to do with still green tomatoes. I suppose, I could just put them on a basket and wait for them to ripen. But no, there is a chance they would just rot and not ripen. I searched for ways to use green tomatoes and found lots of recipes. I was intrigued with the "Green Tomato Chutney" as I have never tried it. So I weighed, measured, chopped ingredients and turned on the stove.

From Mary Browne, Helen Leach and Nancy Tichborne's book, "The Cook's Garden", here's how to make use of green tomatoes.

GREEN TOMATO CHUTNEY.
Ingredients

1 kg green tomatoes
1kg cooking apples
500 g brown sugar
500 g onions
250 g raisins
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tb salt
600 ml vinegar

Quarter the tomatoes and remove the hard cores. Peel, core and quarter the apples (I find grating the apples better so you eliminate coring). Peel the onions Chop all these ingredients finely. Place in a preserving pan and add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and then simmer uncovered for 1-2 hours until the chutney is thick and well cooked. Stir occasionally, Pour into clean, sterilized jars.
Like our own achara (pickled green papapaya), this is a nice accompaniment for anything fried, and a great substitute for ketchup.
posted by Mel @ Monday, May 08, 2006 1 comments links to this post

Filifest 2006

2006-05-09T00:43:00.000-07:00

Filifest 2006 A Celebration of Filipino Culture

Wellington, New Zealand--Filipinos in the Wellington region and the South Wairarapa area, gathered together at The Little Theatre in Lower Hutt, to celebrate the 2nd Filipino Festival (Filifest 2006) laat April 1, 2006.

Organized by the Wellington International Filipino Society (WIFS) headed by Ms Nilda Campbel, Ms Anita Mansell and Ms May Young, the annual event presented different regions of the Philippine islands, through songs and dances.

Choreographed by Ms Gina Reid, (adapting the choreography of Dr Paz Cielo Angeles-Belmonte), the Filifest showcased young Filipino New Zealanders’ talents in singing and dancing..

Highlights of the evening were dances from various Philippine regions, grouped into four: the Igorot Suite (Kayabang, Pinanyuan, Sayap and Bumayah); the Maria Clara Suite (Scarf Dance and Estudyantina); the Muslim Suite (Silong sa Ganding and Asik); and the Rural Suite (Subli, Binasuan, Sayaw sa Bangko, Sakuting, Maglalatik, Itik-itik, and Tinikling).

Awed at seeing such amazing talents in the young performers, the Honorable Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, Minister for the Community and Volunteer Sector of New Zealand, advised the New Zealand Filipinos, especially the younger generation to “…hold on to your culture, learn your language and your dances…”

Equally impressive was Master of Ceremony, Bless Sutherland from Christchurch, who delighted the audience with her hosting savvy and trivia about the history of each song and dance presented.

Well-applauded number was the “Binasuhan sa Bangko”, a combination of “Sayaw Sa Bangko”, a dance native to the the barrio of Pangapisan, Lingayen, Pangasinan, which demands skills from its performers who must dance on top of a bench roughly six inches wide, and “Binasuan”, a colorful and lively dance from Bayambang, Pangasinan, which shows off the balancing skills of the dancers gracefully maneuvering glasses half-filled with rice wine.

PHOTOS BY DAVID WOOD
www.pixelpump.co.nz

For more photos of the Filifest, visit:
www.pixelpump.co.nz/photos_filifest06.php

Carboot sale (One fine autumn day)

2006-04-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

I have always been interested in how car boot sales are being conducted. Several times, David and I planned to participate in the local one, (in fact, he has put together some old stuff--pre-loved things we could not find use for anymore--in a big box ready to go into the car boot any time), but the not-so-pleasant weather every time, would always prevent us from going.

Last Sunday, we decided to go for a drive to Queen Elizabeth Park in Masterton, (a 30-minute drive from our place, Featherston), where we hoped to get some good photos of autum leaves, or at least of those fallen ones being tossed and turned by the autum breeze. On our way, we called by a mushroom farm and bought a box of huge, flat, fresh mushrooms!

It was mid-morning when we reached Masterton but had to stop first at the car boot sale on Essex street. It was in a large vacant space where several cars' boots were opened and makeshift stalls were set up, and just about anything was on sale.

Car boot sales, according to Mr. Google, "are a mainly British form of market in which private individuals come together to sell their unwanted household items".

Since some of these people want to get rid of old stuff (like books, kitchen utentils, used toys, used clothes, pre-loved books, old tools, magazines, memorabilia, plants, herbs in pots, etc,) almost everything was sold at almost knockdown prices.

In New Zealand, the car boot sale has evolved into a combination of a garage sale and a flea market, where not only private individuals who want to get rid of their unwanted household things participate but commercial sellers as well. Like, Jack, who was selling eggs from his chookie farm. When we found his car at around 10:30 a.m. he had already sold at least 40 trays of his eggs. It was also brisk business for a group who were selling fresh veggies like cabbages, water cress, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, etc., which were unloaded from a truck in several plastic crates.

Wandering around the area, we found several items of interest to us. David fancied a plate made of alluminum with interesting old photos of a lake in Queenstown printed on it. I was delighted to find an old couple who were selling at least four kinds of nuts harvested from their garden--chestnuts included. The chestnuts were not being "roasted on an open fire" though. They were fresh. Just the same, I bought a kilo for myself.

David bought for me a pack of figs, a kind of fruit which has a bulbous shape with a small opening (the ostiole) in the end and a hollow area inside lined with small red edible seeds. I have never seen nor tasted this fruit before so he wanted me to give it a try. But I was more excited about my chestnuts (it's been years since I last had a taste), so soon as we arrived home, I tossed a handful into a pot and roasted them on the stove top. The old woman from whom we bought them told me to toss them for about ten minutes, so I did, humming "chestnuts roasting on an open fire...". It was just disappointing that they were not as fragrant as the ones we see being roasted in big woks in Quiapo or elsewhere during Christmas season. Anyway, they were still uncooked after ten minutes, and since the pot where I cooked them has burned at the base, I thought of just giving them a wee zap in the microwave. Which was a bigggg mistake! A few seconds after pressing the start button, the chestnuts started popping up like firecrackers being fired up, giving me a wee fright. Lesson learned, never, ever cook chestnuts in the microwave.

Dinner that day was baked mushrooms, tomato soup and toast, plus popped chestnuts.

Here's how to make those yummy, baked flat mushrooms:

4 flat mushrooms
4 tsp olive oil
4 tbp grated cheese

Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees. Lay mushrooms upside down on a baking tray. On each piece, sprinkle a teaspoon of olive oil. Then top with grated cheese. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot.

By the way, strolling at the Queen Elizabeth Park at this time of year is just amazing. Each time the wind blew, huge trees would let go a rain of leaves in red, gold and yellow, adding to the pile of already crisp, brown leaves that has carpeted the lawn. And as the winter season approaches, more leaves will let go of their hold on the twigs to give way to new growth next spring.

Feijoa (Also known as Pineapple Guava)

2006-04-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

First to fall on to the ground were a couple of medium sized fruits from the tree by the veggie garden. That was March 27. Every day thereafter, we gather an average of one and a half kilos a day. Almost a month since then, we still gather as much amount of feijoa every day, but expect the quantity to gradually diminish until the feaijoa season ends in June.

The first time I saw a feijoa fruit in 2004, I got really excited because it looked very much like the guava, which I love and sorely miss to this day. I wasn't particularly impressed the first time I was introduced to its taste though. My husband, David, cut one feijoa in half and scooped the jelly-like pulp in the center and asked me to try it. It didn't taste too bad, but found it a little bland and unappealing. Or probably, because it looked like the guava, I was expecting a sweet taste with a hint of tartness that we find in most of our fruits back home. It did not meet my expectations so I did not give it another try that year to my husband's disappointment. He soooo loves the feijoa --on its own or with ice cream and whipped cream (!!!) and wished we would enjoy it together.

The following year, there were just too many fruits falling on to the ground, it was a pity I couldn't appreciate them. But David never gave up asking me to give it another try. So I did, to please him. But this time, instead of cutting it in half and scooping the jelly-like pulp, I peeled the thin skin, sliced it thinly and sprinkled a little salt like I would with guava or mango. And it worked! It tasted so much nicer than the first time I tried it. I have since been enjoying the feijoa with my husband, although, I still do not like it with my ice cream.

But here is a better way to enjoy feijoa:

250 gms feijoa peeled and chopped coarsely
1 cup milk
2 cubes glazed ginger (or a thumbnail size fresh ginger)
1Tbsp honey
2 cups cubed ice

Put everything together in a blender and process to a smoothie. Adjust sweetness according to taste.

Rich in Vitamin C with a sugar content of 6 percent, the feijoa usually falls on to the ground before it is ripe. So they have to be gathered and held in store until their flavor has fully developed. When the fruit has turned slightly soft and the jellied sections in the center becomes clear, (which may take 2 to 5 days after natural fruit drop), it is ready to be eaten. the feijoa is still unripe when the jelly-like pulp is still white, but past its best when it starts browning at the center.

I don't really know how to describe the taste, but the jelly like substance in the center of the fruit has a distinctive sweet/sour flavor and the flesh around it is granular and a bit tart. Its other name is "pineapple guava", and some say it has a rich, guava-like flavor with a hint of strawberry and pineapple, but I can't really tell.

Depending on its variety, the feijoa, which is about 5 centimeters long, may be oblong or round and looks very similar to the guava. It is green in color even when ripe, with a thin, tough, waxy skin. Cut in half, the fruit has white or yellow-green flesh around a jelly-like pulp, in which very tiny seeds are embedded. The feijoa, byt he way, is native to southern Brazil, northern Argentin,a western Paraguay and Urugua. In the 1920's it was intoroduced to New Zealand where it is now grown organically.
posted by Mel @ Wednesday, April 19, 2006 4 comments links to this post

Tamarillo

2006-04-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

Tamarillo (The fruit that tastes like tomato)

The sun struggled to come out this morning after what seemed to be endless wintry blasts that brought about heavy snow in the South Island and in some parts of the North Island as well. Green pasture farms turned to vast snow fields. Farmers in the highlands had to use helicopters to gather and feed their stock. Over here at the Wairarapa area, incessant rains caused heavy flooding, damaging roads and cutting bridges, isolating some communities. There was loss of fragile lambs too, for some farmers.

It was a welcome relief to finally see the sun after days and days of dark clouds and pouring rain. I had the chance to go out to see how the garden was doing. The hothouse was under water--the ampalaya vine which I had been keeping inside with the hope of it surviving the winter was showing signs of surrender, the pepino plant's leaves were eaten by frost, exposing its fruits, most of which were yet to get ripe. On the positive side, the garlic bulbs and the shallots we planted on the first week of June have started to spring up. They seemed to love the cold and the wet weather. Even the broad beans looked happy despite wet feet.

Under the tamarillo trees were several of their fruits that fell onto the ground. They were either forced by the wind, or maybe, they were about ready. Like the feijoa, the tamarillos are not picked off the tree, they do a natural fruit drop when they are about ripe.

With its oval shape and an outer skin that is either red or purple toned, the ripe tamarillo really looks nice and appealing. Cut cross-wise, the fruit reveals an orange-y flesh and an interesting dark pattern formed by its edible seeds. But the thought of a fruit tasting like a tomato and using it as a dessert, did not really appeal to me. Well, at least, the first time I tried it. But David really, really loves it as a topping for his hokey-pokey or vanilla ice cream!

Like the feijoa that I also did not like initially, I tried the tamarillo as a fruit shake. Cutting the fruit into half, I scooped the flesh out and prepared the rest of the ingredients. I was surprised to find a very appealing purplish colored smoothie that was a hit for both David and me.

Tamarillo Shake

2 pcs ripe tamarillo
1 cup soy milk
2 cups cubed ice
1 tbs honey or brown sugar
( Variation: You can use a ripe banana if you do not want to use honey or sugar)

Put together all ingredients in a blender and process to a smoothie.

Tamarillo Tidbits

The tamarillo (Cyphomandra) is a member of the Solanaceae family, with the potato, tomato, eggplant and capsicum peppers as relatives.

These egg-shaped fruits were formerly called tree tomato, and were originally from South America, until New Zealand's Mr W Thompson of the New Zealand Tree Tomato Promotion Council coined the term "tamarillo", from a combination of the Maori word "tama" and the Spanish word "amarillo" for the color yellow. The term stuck and has been in use since then.

There are two varieties: one is the yellow/orange toned and the red/purple toned. Red tamarillos are more acidic (tart and tangy ) than yellow or gold tamarillos. The difference can be likened to non acidic tomatoes and normal tomatoes. And speaking of likeness with tomatoes, tamarillos can also be skinned easily like the tomatoes by blanching the fruits in hot water for a couple minutes or so, then rinsing them with cold water. The skin should come off easily after this.

Both types contain edible seeds, and the flavor of the flesh within the two types vary considerably. Because the red or purple toned tamarillos have a more tart taste than their yellow or orange toned counterparts, they are more frequently used as a vegetable than as a fruit.

I have yet to discover the other uses of this fruit/vegetable, although one book I have read said that the red or purple toned tamarillo can be used as you would a tomato--peeled and sliced and served as a cold side dish, added to sandwiches and salads, baked, frozen or eaten raw. The yelllow or orange one can be sliced and added to fruit salads and other deserts.

For the meantime, we would have to enjoy the tamarillo as a fruit shake. And yes, as fruit topping for David's vanilla ice cream.

Zucchini, courgette or marrow?

2006-02-02T10:37:00.000-08:00

Zucchini, Courgette or Marrow?

Until recently, I did not know the difference between a marrow, a zucchini or a courgette. David pointed out that all three come from the same plant (summer squash of the cucurbit family) and are given names depending on their stages of growth. They can either be yellow or green and generally have similar shape to a ridged cucumber. The word zucchini comes from the Italian zucchino, meaning a small squash or immature marrow. Courgette, on the other hand, is French term for zucchini. The term squash comes from the Indian skutasquash meaning "green thing eaten green."

These days, commercial growers have standardized their terminology relating to courgettes, zucchinis and marrows:

Courgettes are the baby fruit of several types of marrow, harvested when they are 14 x 4 cm long, the size of a cigar.

Zucchinis are the fruits of the same plant harvested when they are 15 to 20 cm long.

Marrows are the semi-mature fruits which have reached full size.

We grew the yellow zucchini this year and were blessed with a good harvest. The first few zucchinis we picked were nice and tender, with blemish free skin and bright yellow color. They had a light and delicate flavor and are best steamed and served with other veggies as side dish. Once, we overlooked an overgrown zucchini probably because it was shaded by the plant's huge leaves. David suggested that we leave it and see what would happen.
A couple weeks later, it grew big and fat measuring 15 inches long. It was a marrow. A few days later, we harvested it with the intent to bake it. Unfortunately, we lost the recipe passed on to him by his sister, so we had to do some research for ways to cook marrows. We found several from the net but settled with this recipe from "The Cook's Garden". The procedure was altered to simplify it.

RECIPE FOR STUFFED MARROW

1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tb butter
250 g minced pork
60 g mushrooms, chopped
1 tb chopped thyme
50 g soft breadcrumbs
fresh-ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 small egg
2 tb butter, melted

Slice the marrow down the middle (lengthways) and use a teaspoon to dig out the seeds.

Saute onion in butter, then add mince pork and mushrooms. Cook until browned. Add remaining ingredients except for the melted buter. Mix thoroughly.

Pre-heat overn at 190 degrees. Spread remaining butter on a tin foil. Pack the stuffing into the marrow, then wrap it with the foil. Bake. Small marrow will need 45 minutes. A larger one will need 1 1/2 hours. Slice and serve the stuffed marrow with Neopolitan sauce.

NEOPOLITAN SAUCE

250 g ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp cooking oil
1 tsp chopped basil or parsley

Heat oil in pan. Saute garlic, then add the tomatoes. Add basil or parsley and serve.
This sauce is also great with spaghetti and topped with grated cheese.