Gone with the Wind

If you want to be lucky, happy, healthy and wealthy—then making sure that you comply with the New Year Readiness Program as briefly outlined below.

• Are your containers for rice, sugar and salt filled to the brim? And while you’re at it, why not include the fridge, the pantry and the car’s gas tank.
• There much be 12 assorted (or is it 13?) fruits that are round on your dining table. This is definitely a challenge if we strictly follow the “round” rule.
• Don’t forget to have lots of coins to toss in the air. An assortment of international coins would definitely put you on a higher level.
• Make ready that polka-dotted outfit. The bigger, the bolder, the better.
• Be sure to turn on all the house lights as well as open all doors and windows of your house at midnight. Luck will be on your side as you breath in all that foul air from the firecrackers.
• The house must be squeaky clean and put in order. Scrubbed, waxed and buffed to a shine.

Over the years, I have done most if not all of the above. Best of all, I always made it a point to wear a polka dotted duster (house dress) while sipping some wine in my brightly lit home by 12 midnight. I figured that doing so would mean I would be comfortably, intoxicatingly wealthy.

Can you guess the results? Hint: Two out of three’s not bad at all.



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I sat yoga-style on my terrace floor after spending the whole morning weeding and pruning in a effort to put order to my tiny garden before the end of the year. With my hands on my knees, I closed my eyes and did some slow breathing. Random thoughts of the year that pass went through my mind— the mom moments, the travels, the detours, the laughter and the tears, the scare, the hugs, the mistakes, the faces of friends and family. Then a strong breeze came through my garden. And as I continued to close my eyes, it’s as if all that happened this year were swiftly blown away. All gone and taken away by the wind.

I open my eyes and everything seemed so bright.

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Looking back at the past week, I have to confess that I used the Christmas season as an excuse to over-indulge. Rich, gooey, and finger-lickingly food. Salty and sweet and everything else in between.

But that's in the past now and I sure am ready for some healthier eating habits. And if you are in the same mode I am in right now, you will like the following dishes I recently prepared.


Herb Infused Sweet Potato Greens (a tralala name for talbos ng camote ensalada)
A whole bowl of freshly picked camote tops
Chopped onions, tomatoes—about ½ cup each
Thumb-size ginger, peeled and minced
Some basil & tarragon leaves



Salad dressing:
Juice from 6 calamansi—about 3 tablespoons
3 Tablespoons water
3 tablespoons brown sugar (I like it sweet—as in very sweet) maybe substituted with honey
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Blanched the camote tops in hot water. Remove just short of their becoming very wilted.



Add the chopped veggies



and toss with the salad dressing. Who needs ice berg lettuce when you can have this!?!



Baked Tomato-Onion Stuffed Milkfish ( fancy Inihaw na Bangus)
1 whole boneless bangus
Juice from two calamansi
1 med-size tomato, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Pat your fish dry with a paper towel. Squeeze the calamansi over the fish. Add the tomatoes and onions in the stomach area. Season the whole fish with salt and pepper.



Drizzle with olive oil. Fold to close up the fish.



Wrap in tin foil. Put it in a pan and bake or set on your griller for about 20 minutes.



Serve with lots of steaming, white rice.

Hmmmmm.... New Year's eve is just around the corner. Some beef mechado would go just as well with steamed rice : )

Write-on Baby!

While cleaning out my closet one warm evening, I came across a box containing old letters dating back to my elementary school days; home-made greeting cards-- some with lopsided flowers and crayola hearts and some liberally sprinkled with silver dust; and, written bits and pieces of lives lived. There were letters from friends with stories of travel and announcements of milestones in their lives. Friends who vowed to always stay in touch. I pause and wondered where they are now.



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 (!).
•
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.