With a lot of assist

Today's meal, Sweet and Sour Meatballs, I owe to Chef Mike Tatung of the FB page Simpol and the YouTube video of Panlasang Pinoy with a lot of gut feel and assist. My little kitchen assistant is Kai who can chop and quarter carrots with aplomb and can now slice bell peppers and remove the seeds with ease. She also peels and pounds the cloves of garlic.

Taking the cue from Tats Ernesto V Enrique who advised that I shouldn't cook when I'm tired as the tendency was to end up with a salty dish, I just placed a pinch of salt in the ground beef round but lots of black pepper and liquid seasoning. In went the whole carrot I grated, minced onions and leeks. I formed balls out of the meat, then my daughter Kimi Fernandez placed them in her air fryer but not without first drizzling them in olive oil so they didn't dry out.

The sauce came with sauteed garlic and onions. I threw in the carrots, which Kai chopped into tiny quarters (I still have to teach her to make florettes out of them), and the bell peppers. In went a little soy, a little vinegar, water with flour dissolved in it, two teaspoons of brown sugar and finally, the pineapple chunks with a little of the juice in the can they came in.

Kai gave the dish a rating of 4.5 over 10 which is still not passing. But the adults ate con gusto, and we planned on repeating the making of the sauce, this time to pour over fried lapu-lapu.

Rolly's role in all this? He efficiently washed the dishes.

Photo by Kimi

Some things I miss

On this throwback Thursday, I look back to the year 2015 when my family and I took eating out for granted. I also took for granted that the natural curls on my grandchild's head would stay there for good, but we enjoyed them for less than a year. The minute she had a haircut, the curls refused to grow back.

That was also the year I wore my "Mrs. E sunglasses" all over the place until one day at the UP Infirmary in Diliman, while I was distracted, I placed the pair down a side table and forgot about it.

Wearing Mrs. E (as in Epistola) sunglasses with curly-haired Kai behind me

Al fresco dining at Chaya Baguio

Matcha ice cream with red mongo

Baguio used to be known as a restaurant hub until COVID-19 put a stop to our frequent dining out. Although we're glad to learn that CHAYA Baguio remains open for take-out and delivery, my daughter Kimi, the expert on the subject, says Japanese food isn't quite as good as when you eat it in situ with all the elegant ceramic ware. The food doesn't travel well, and we live outside city limits.

What I terribly miss is the free after-meal matcha ice cream that Chaya serves in a mini bowl with a sliver of red mongo beans. Don't even say the word "sukiyaki" or else I will weep copious tears.

Postal mail resumes

All collages by Ogot Sumulong

A hint of normality returned to my life when my daughter Kimi brought up to Baguio from our house in Pasig some letters addressed to me. They all came from one source: Ogot Sumulong of Chicago, Illinois.

Ever since we reconnected a few years ago, he and I have been exchanging postcards and letters apart from emailed messages. Although he's in FB as Agu Sumulong, for some reason we can't be friends here. Besides, I'm too analog to want FB communication with him.

Ogot is highly skilled in making collages from anything, including a Twinings herbal tea label, a picture of Martin Luther, among others. I don't know if his use of the Andy Warhol picture of actress Elizabeth Taylor is a play on my name. What matters is he allows himself to be playful in his retirement years and during this pandemic.

He confessed in his letter dated April 22 this year that he had "really nothing to share." I beg to disagree, dear O. You don't know how your mailed collages have given my spirit a huge boost.

Will reply to you soon as I go around the ruling that disallows senior citizens from leaving the house.

Aurora's Mananita

Auring Bautista sauteeing the meats and tomatoes

The paella is a staple fare when Rolly, my husband of 36 years, and I have a meal out. We are partial to the paella de marisco of Mario's Baguio and Alba’s Estancia, Capitol Commons.

Ever since I learned how to make Arroz a la Valenciana during the lockdown, I thought I could confidently make my own paella for family consumption. But from whom can I learn how it's properly done? There was no doubt about who should it be--birthday girl Aurora "Auring" Bautista. We've feasted on her table many times in our Baguio lives and her paella always hit the spot.

We arrived at the Bautista family home on Happy Glen Loop past 11 a.m. yesterday and the electric paellera was already steaming with olive oil and Auring cooking the pork and chicken cutlets to a nice brown. In between she annotated how her paella was learned firsthand from Maria Pedrosa, wife of Upsilonian Lito. The recipe has Catalan origins.

I noticed two whole unpeeled garlic bulbs were tucked on a side and remained there while the other ingredients (quartered tomatoes, onions, red bell peppers, eggplants) were mixed in. Then it was time to put in the uncooked jasmine rice (eight cups) followed by nine cups of water, the threads of saffron and a whole pack of seasoning labelled El Unico Paellero (available in better stores and delis like Mother Earth).

Waiting for the paella to boil

"How do you know when it is done?" went my ignorant query.
Auring patiently replied, "Cook it like you're cooking rice." And if you want that delicious burnt rice (tutong), let the rice simmer for a few minutes longer after it's done.

Meanwhile, my grandchild, the curious observer, inhaled the aromas wafting from the paellera and declared she was hungry. Later, she had two servings of the dish.

There's something else I learned from the making of the aioli sauce that we put on top of the paella. For the garlic to achieve a mushy quality so that it blends smoothly with the mayonnaise, mustard and sugar, pound the cloves with a tablespoon of salt. This adds to the sweet-salty flavor.

Garlic and salt being pounded to a fine mush

Portion of the cooked paella

As added viand to the already rich paella, there were fat prawns cooked hilabos style.

Need we say more?

All throughout, Auring smiled as if the effort in passing on her culinary knowledge was as easy as pie. It really was.