the other day my husband and i came home and found our son complaining loudly "subay!" subay is the ilonggo word for ants and that was one of the first words he learned to say since he learned to walk. because he liked to play on the beach, he was prone to getting bitten by ants.
but the other day was different, he had rashes even on his tummy and on his back and the itch was unbearable, apparently, for he couldn't stop scratching himself and had trouble falling asleep that night. he did not want us to put calamine lotion and just complained again and again of the itch.
finally, my mother-in-law told me to slap my hair on his body seven times, which i did and surprisingly, my son stopped complaining and was able to play for a while and sleep soundly afterwards.
my mother-in-law explained that what she told me to do was the best remedy for higad, the hairy worm that victimizes unsuspecting children (and adults) who just happens to be under a tree that plays host to the buggers. i have often been a victim in my childhood and i remember distinctly that applying vinegar on the rashes was the best cure for the itch.
i used to scoff at quack treatments such as this one but i cannot help thinking that if only we had known of this barrio remedy, my sisters and i should never have had to endure the pungent smell of vinegar on our skin.
no, it was not pakbet and fried chicken unfortunately. what i had instead was gabi in a thick coconut sauce and a piece of chicken adobo. it was good, but not that great. maybe because it was saturday. or maybe it was just because i was expecting to eat something else. oh well.
our favorite kalan-an (ilonggo for carinderia) was closed today so i made it a point to cook a dish at home and bring it for our lunch today. i bought half a kilogram of squid last night and made squid adobo, nothing fancy but my husband agrees it tasted great. we just sauteed garlic, onions, and tomatoes in a pan, tossed in the squid, threw in some seasoning including soy sauce and some dried chili flakes (i like it hot) and let the squid cook in its own juices. i made sure not to overcook it so it came out tender and not chewy.
last night my mother-in-law cooked chicken tinola. chicken is sauteed first in garlic, ginger and onions. about two cups of water is poured in the pot, along with salt, pepper and other seasonings (my husband sometimes uses soda especially for mussels). when it boils and the chicken is tender, peeled & sliced green papaya is placed inside the pot and the stew is left to simmer just until the papaya is cooked but not overly tender. we prefer our vegetables crisp and just a little bit undercooked. overcooked papaya is simply yucky. if we want we could put in chili leaves but those weren't available. still, the stew was a big hit and my 2-year old son enjoyed eating rice with it.
tomorrow's the start of the annual fiesta here in our town. the thing with us pinoys is we love our food. preparing, cooking and eating is a ritual many of us filipinos enjoy. and nothing proves our love for food than our world-famous fiestas when the best, most scrumptuous, and most extravagant dishes are prepared. whole pigs are killed, turkeys and chickens are roasted or cooked adobo style, and people, strangers or friends can come in any house to enjoy the feast.
and because i love food, i am looking forward to the festivities the coming week.
meanwhile, my son has been asking to eat pork. i wonder what i'll be cooking for dinner tonight. maybe i'll cook my own pakbet with pork cutlets. hmmm, i'm getting hungry already.i have never been an ardent journal writer. i would keep a diary for weeks, or months, and then, suddenly, laziness would set in. either that or life would go too fast for me to document it in whatever pretty notebook i happened to be writing in.
i remember having a journal when i was in grade school and reading it afterwards (when i was in high school) made me cringe. it was torture having to go through the pains of puberty again! the topics were of course juvenile, to say the least, and the writing pathetically crude. (i am my worst critic, believe me.)
i don't recall keeping a journal in high school, except for the one i had to have because it was a course requirement in freshman english. having a journal like that -- where you knew your teacher would read through everything -- pretty much censors the thoughts and things you'd really love to write, but it also polishes your writing skills. besides, high school for me was all about writing anyway. as a member of the school paper's editorial staff since my sophomore year, i had more than my fair share of writing to do. i find, to my chagrin, however, that though my writing skills have improved, my ideas about life were still, well, childish.
in college, i was again fortunate enough to be in the school newspaper's staff and was forced by my editor to go out and write about other people's thoughts and feelings. i had to interview total strangers. i am by no means an outgoing person so it was scary at first but doing so made me a better writer, i think. or at least, it widened my horizon and made me realize how i can write even more entertaining articles when i go out of my own sphere of experience.
the skills and confidence i gained during those long years of writing earned me a post as a scriptwriter for a TV documentary program. i remember my very first foray as a TV reporter (off-cam)/writer. i had to interview the new widow of a bomb technician who became one of the many casualties during the rizal day bombings many years ago. it was an emotional assignment for me, having lost my father when i was in freshman year in high school. luckily, i was able to go past my empathy (it sometimes gets in the way of being impartial) and produce a script that earned the admiration (aherm 
) of our director.
i stayed in that job for almost eight years and when blogging became popular some years back, i tried it and though i found it enjoyable, i also found it tiring. with my job as a writer, i knew i had to find another outlet to relax and unwind and thus let this blog slide.
when my husband and i quit our jobs in media (he was a cameraman in the same production outfit i worked for) more than a year ago, we settled in his hometown in negros island and put up a small business that, thankfully, has been growing slowly in popularity.
the itch to write about my experiences here in small town, philippines has broken through once again and here i am.
just last week my husband and i had the privilege of touring the island c/o a project we are doing for the negros island sustainable agriculture rural development foundation and i shall write about that next time.
so enough of the backstory, my stomach is growling for a lunch of pinakbet and steamed rice, possibly with fried porkchop or chicken, whichever is available at our favorite carinderia. will tell you which one later.