Friendship Across the Miles Series: It’s Yesterday Once More

“All my best memories

Come back clearly to me
Some can even make me cry
Just like before
It's yesterday once more”  by the Carpenters

“Remember me? “, was the first line to a message I posted and sent off to a classmate who I found via FB.  She immediately responded the next day.  And we soon were sending off messages back and forth to each other.

The FB encounter is now a little over four years old.  Before FB, my contact with P was via slow mail probably more than 20 years ago before I lose touch with P again.  My lame excuse “life got in the way”.

When we were classmates during our elementary years, the school jeep (no bus or vans were used then) she was riding met a terrible accident.  P was thrown off her seat and she had a ghastly cut on her head.  As soon as the nuns of our school were informed, every student was instructed to go to the school hall to pray the rosary.  My classmates and I were frightened at the thought of losing P.  Thankfully, she pulled through and in no time was back being her funny self.  ( click  HERE for an earlier post about my school)

I considered her a very special friend.  She was always so bubbly and I loved how she laughed with gusto.  You can’t help but laugh along.  I liked hanging around her because she always had some funny stories to tell.  She was very good at doing teacher impressions—that had the rest of the class laughing so hard.  (The teacher did not think it fun though.  P was that good.)

Our houses were far from each other and much as we would have wanted to spend time together, we did the next best thing. Like all teens of our era (oh my! I am showing my age), we spent hours on the phone on topics I cannot remember anymore but I am sure were then important to us. 

It was a sad year when P and her family migrated to the US. 

Imagine how excited I was when I told P that I was visiting her neck of the woods this year.  But then it turned out it was a long neck.  She lived quite a distance from where I was staying. So we agreed to spend as much time talking on our cellphones at every opportunity we had.

And boy did we burn the lines! 

I was so happy to hear the same voice and the unmistakable laughter. She may have developed an American twang but she was P through and through when she spoke the Visayan dialect.  We reminisced about our classmates and teachers.  We shared our anxieties of being parents, about our health and getting old.  But we did not dwell on them too long as we both shared an optimistic spirit and are firm believers in the goodness of our Lord.  We agreed that laughing was better than crying.

I may have forgotten much of the details of our young friendship but I will always remember the happy feeling I have when I think of P.  Like a favorite song whose lyrics I vaguely remember, the melody will always stay in my head.

---xoxoxox---

Besides visits to relatives, to see P would be a good reason to go back to Florida some day.  Another reason to visit is the delicious Hispanic/ Latino cuisines.  I was told that Florida has a growing population of citizens with Puerto Rican and Cuban lineage. 

I noticed that plantain (saba or cardaba) is found in many Puerto Rican and Cuban recipes.  I went through my mind for a recipe that included this type of banana as a key ingredient.   And three immediately came up which you can find in my past musings:  POCHERO, ARROZ ALA CUBANA and ESTOFADO. 

I remember too a soup that called for this banana as the main ingredient. But for the life of me, I could not remember where I read it or who could have mentioned this to me.   Of course when memory fails, there is always the internet.

I came across one Pinoy version and a gazillion Hispanic/Latin versions.  This proves that there is such a dish.  Probably this was a result of Hispanic influences on our cooking culture.  Sadly, it is not so common to see this on the menu of modern Pinoys.

So to mark my visit to Florida and the reconnection with my relatives and good friend P, I share with you my recent efforts to come up with my version of Plantain Soup.

Who knows, there may be good memories waiting to come back and put a smile on your face.

Plantain Soup

Ingredients

1 T olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 1/2 cups chicken broth, homemade or from a chicken cube
2 plantains, peeled and cubed (preferably green/ not ripe)
1 bay leaf
1/4 t ground cumin (or less if you don’t like the scent)
Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Chopped green onions or cilantro for garnish

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions are soft and browned.  Add the chicken stock, plantains, bay leaves and cumin, and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cook at a bare simmer until the plantains are very tender.

Using a potato masher, press to mash up the bananas. (You can use your blender if you don’t mind washing up after and puree half of the mixture).  I like mine on the chunky side.

If using a blender, stir the pureed soup back into the pot with the remaining chunky soup, heat up and mix well. If the soup is too thick for your taste add more chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper and serve topped with chopped green onions.

Prepare to be embraced by happy thoughts.