There were three diaries of different years-- all started at different months of each year; all ending abruptly; all written in my small, tight and heavy penmanship. I read once more my impressions of the people and events that passed thru my young life then. The more I read, the more I remembered.
And there were letters I wrote but never sent. Letters filled with intense youthful angst -- hate, anger, disappointments. Reading them now, I am glad I never sent them out. Time does heal all wounds (or in some cases, dulls the pain) and what seemed to be so important then becomes so petty in the present light.
Amusingly there were also little scraps of paper with scribbled to-dos; a list of items to take on a trip; and even a crumpled note that definitely was passed around during a boring class. There was a famous quote on torn rule pad and a short poem I wrote about a cat (!).
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With modern technology, writing or chronicling has evolved. But whatever the chosen mode, the value of putting thought to paper or ,now-a-days,to blog stays the same.
It is proof of ones existence.
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One notable find from that box is the following recipe given to me by a former office mate, C. C used to share her homemade lunch at the office. At one time, she brought bangus sardines. It was so good that I asked her repeatedly for the recipe. She finally gave it to me before migrating to Canada. I have not heard from her since. I tried the recipe out last weekend and it was as delicious as I remembered it to be. (Thanks C!)
Bangus Spanish-Style Sardines
1 k bangus
1/2 c olive oil or corn oil
1 c water
4 T sugar
1 t peppercorn
2 t salt
1 small crushed garlic clove
3 bay leaves
5 sili labuyo
5 small tomatoes (seeded and sliced)
3 slices of ginger (as big as 1-peso coins)
1 green or red bell pepper (sliced into thick strips)
1 small carrot (sliced into rounds)
pickles for garnish
If you are lucky, have the fish vendor clean and scale your bangus. It would be ideal if the fish is about 6 -8 inches long.
At home, wash your fish, cut off their heads and set aside to drain if they are small in size or if large,cut into 3-4 pieces.
Measure out all the ingredients.
Place the bangus pieces into a pressure cooker. Arrange the tomatoes, bay leaves, ginger slices, sili labuyo and sliced bell pepper in the pot.
Add the oil, water and seasoning (salt, sugar, peppercorn).
Seal and pressure cook for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, cool the cooker down based on pressure cooking instructions. Open and turn each bangus slice over. This will enable the flavors better penetration. At this point, I suggest that you taste the resulting broth and adjust seasoning accordingly. Seal the cooker and resume cooking for about 25-30 minutes. Cook 45 minutes longer if bangus are large.
Once done, cool the cooker and carefully open the lid. Let the sardines cool down. Since they are very hot, they will tend to crumble if transferred out of the pot. When the fish slices have been removed to a container, add the carrots into the pot with the remaining sauce and quickly bring to a boil. Do not over-cook as the purpose is to retain the crispiness of the carrot. Pour the sauce and carrots onto the sardines and garnish with some sliced pickles.
Note:
• You must have a pressure cooker to try out this recipe. This type of cooking quickly softens the bones of the fish.
• You must know how to use a pressure cooker. Explosions or accidents occur from opening the cooker without properly releasing all of the pressure.
• Add or decrease your sili labuyo depending on how hot you want your dish to be. As the sili I added were not crushed, the resulting dish was not at all hot.
• Best to double the recipe and use 2 kilos of bangus to make all that effort worthwhile.
Trust me, it will be worthwhile. I served the sardines to a Spanish priest and he thought it was good. That’s enough reason for me to do this again.
omg, you've kept them all these years! where could my box be?! nice blogs!
ReplyDeletefrom your once upon a time travel bud, ssh... :)