Lifeline

Now that I am back home, I have started to settle down to my normal routine. My interment presence due to several long trips have earned me the moniker “stewardess” from my church group. I must admit that I enjoyed the chance to get away— from the routine, the responsibilities, the sameness. I only pray that I don’t develop anything from all that exposure to airport security x-rays.

And in the time since I returned, I have attended a series of get-togethers with different sets of female friends. And in those gatherings, there were a lot of catching up from where we left off. There was joyful exuberant at the chance to let our hair down and be ourselves. The laughter went from giggles to knee-slapping boisterous glee. We marveled at how fast time flew— kids growing up, age creeping in and how there seems so much to be done with out lives. There were some poignant moments of stories of heartaches and pain too. But humor always seemed not far away to shake off any melancholy mood. And so much quotable quotes that would make any movie script writer proud.

“Remember, you chose me and not the other way around.”
“You can always say enough.”
“Is that intuition or sixth sense?”
“I read, I watch teevee, I do whatever I want to do.”
“They gave me everything except for that one thing that mattered to me.”
“Don’t hesitate. We should be the first ones you should call for help.”
“He's leaving everything behind to be with me.”

In my opinion, it would be possible for a woman to go through life without a man. But life would be impossible without the love and support of women friends.

“><” “><” “><” “><” “><” “><” “><” “><” “><”

No talk-fest is complete without food. And food there was a-plenty in all the bonding sessions I attended. Coincidentally, it was Korean cuisine for two of the gatherings. An assortment of appetizers, chap chae (glass noodles), grilled beef and pork wrapped in pechay leaves, bulgogi (beef bbq), fried tofu and kimchi kept the conversations going. Opening up to friends is easy. The hardest part is saying good-bye.

What follows is a recipe for Korean spareribs shared by a couple who have been my friends for ages now. This dish will have you welcoming it to your table like a new found friend.

C&J’s Korean Braised Spareribs (Yukkae Jang Kuk)

Ingredients
2 kg. Beef spareribs
¼ cup cooking oil
6 cups water
¾ cup soy sauce
6 pcs. Spring onions, sliced
1 tbsp. Ginger chopped
3 tbsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Black pepper, ground
7 cloves garlic, peeled and chop
¼ cup sweet or Chinese rice wine
2 pcs. Chopped spring onions for garnish
1 tbsp. Sesame oil
½ tbsp. chili oil (optional)
2 pcs. carrots, cut into bite-size pieces

6 pcs. dried mushroom
(wash, then rinse with hot water. Soak until soft, reserve liquid then cut into halves)

2 tbsp. Prepared sesame seeds
(Brown one cup of sesame seeds over low fire, stirring constantly. Save about 1/8 cup toasted seeds for garnishment, then mix the rest with 1 tsp. salt and pulverize in a mortar with pestle.)

Procedure:
1. Wash spareribs, separate with a sharp cleaver, then chop into 3-inch pieces. (or have your butcher chop the ribs for you)
2. In a frying pan, heat cooking oil over high heat and brown spareribs a few pieces at a time. Drain off oil and set aside.
3. In a big wok, sauté the garlic, ginger and spring onions until fragrant and garlic starts to brown. Add in the sweet wine, sugar, ground pepper, prepared sesame seeds, soy sauce and 4 cups water. Stir blend.
4. Let the mixture boil first, then drop the spareribs one at time, basting each piece with the soy sauce mixture. Allow to boil once more, then lower heat, cover pan and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Turn the spareribs once over and add 1 cup of water and simmer for another 30 minutes.
6. Add sesame oil, mushroom, reserved mushroom liquid, another cup of water and season to taste. Cook for 30 minutes more, remove cover and continue simmering until meat is tender.
7. Add carrots and chili oil, if desired, until tender. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and garnish with spring onions. Serves 6 to 8.

Not only is the dish delicious but the resulting mix of colors—orange accents, specks of green & dots of ivory on a dark brown canvas-- says it all.

Unfortunately, I do not have a picture to go with this dish. I hope to edit this post with some pictures as soon as I cook the same dish again.