The story of my recent life is this: I just returned to my folks’ house, to my old room after renting a condo unit on my own. I figured that they needed my help. When I got a bad case of runny nose last month, I realised how much I needed them, instead. There I was, all helpless, bed-ridden, and had no appetite… until my mom served me a bowl of her fantastic pansit, a forked turon (fried banana dessert), and a serving of my childhood favorite snack which is sliced avocado in milk and ice cubes. For someone who’s so used to eating fast food, being able to sample home-made snacks again somehow revitalized me like a kid who just watched Batibot (the Filipinos’ Sesame Street).

Karl Acepcion is also your Fine Life Folk and The Philippine Guild Guide. For more of his blogs, visit Fine Life On A Budget and The Philippine Guild.

Just now back from a short visit to MSRI, where I spent four invigorating days collaring participants in this semester’s special program and asking them various algebro-geometric questions I’ve been storing up for just such an occasion.

Also, I ate a lot.  Wednesday went something like this.  I was meeting Akshay Venkatesh in the Mission to talk about Galois groups;  I set off the wrong way from the 24th and Mission BART, which had the good effect of bringing me past Dianda’s Italian-American Pastry, where I got a good and toothsome cannoli (but with a maraschino cherry lodged in the filling at each end — why?)  I met Akshay at the agreeably full-of-itself Ritual Roasters, where I had a fine, but not outstanding, swiss-dill-scallion scone.  I wanted a torta for lunch — Mission burritos are fine, but it’s a real Cal-Mex torta that I miss here in Madison.  But on the way I was distracted by something I’ve always wanted to see — a Filipino restaurant!  This one was called Kababayan and most of the offerings were big, gristly-looking pieces of meat swimming in various chafing trays.  I dodged those and got some pansit and an ukoy — the former a slightly sour dish of short glassy noodles, the latter a kind of shrimp latke — and ate them on the way.  Greasy, satisfying, but mostly of ethnographic interest.  The torta de pierna at La Torta Sabrosa, was tasty, but a little subdued, not offering the glorious sloppy excess I get from torta at its best.

That was all for the Mission.  On the way back to Berkeley I got off at the Embarcadero and wandered through the Ferry Building, which turns out to be 10% about getting on a boat to Sausalito and 90% about ultra-chichi food vendors.  My kind of place.  At the Cowgirl Creamery store I got a little crottin-sized cheese called Inverness, which, like everything else from CC, was terrific; pungent and direct but not a bit unfresh.  I chased that with a “salumi cone” from Boccalone, whose motto, “Tasty Salted Pig Parts,” is an accurate and essentially exhaustive description of the merchandise.  The cone was mortadella, sopressata, and of course a healthy slice of cooked pig’s head to provide some gelatinous crunch.

Then it was back to Berkeley and old favorites.  I met some friends for dinner at Gregoire’s, where I had a simple and delicious dish of fried, battered scallops.  I realized, just after we ordered, that Cheeseboard, the nation’s best pizzeria, was still open for fifteen more minutes; so I hustled across the street and brought back a slice with roasted tomato and gremolata in place of my usual appetizer of Gregoire’s magnificent frites.

We sat at dinner for long enough that, when we passed good old Crepes-A-Go-Go on the way home, I couldn’t resist stopping in.  It’s actually now called “Crepes Ooh La La” and apparently isn’t affiliated with the other store on Telegraph.  Anyway, their banana and Nutella crepe always ends a day right.  As it did this day.

It didn’t come as a surprise when a popular brand of corn chips came out with a “Pinoy Spaghetti”-flavored variant. (They also have kaldereta-flavored chips, no kidding. I wonder if pinakbet flavor is on the drawing board? Yummy! I definitely won’t be complaining.)

Years ago, a well-loved brand of instant mami cooked up an instant spaghetti alternative. In less than 10 minutes tops, a seemingly unappetizing block of noodles with a little foil packet of sweet red sauce could be transformed into a delicious merienda.

Then manufacturers of spaghetti sauces also started making “Pinoy-style” sauces in addition to the “three-cheese,” “mushroom and garlic,” and “sun-dried tomatoes” varieties.

International burger chains in the country made way for the ubiquitous spaghetti in their menus. And it could not just be any spaghetti. It had to be something sweet and pleasantly familiar. Something Pinoy.

Clearly, the sweet-style Pinoy spaghetti is here to stay.

No doubt about it, what used to be Italian restaurant fare is now as Pinoy as pansit. What used to be quite expensive and for-birthday-parties-only fare is now the average Pinoy’s affordable merienda staple. It doesn’t really matter that spaghetti could stand as a hearty meal when eaten with bread and/or chicken ala Jollibee. Despite the carbo-loaded combination, it simply is not a rice meal and therefore considered a merienda, not a “major meal” to hardcore rice meal fans. Even in our household where merienda is eaten at around 5:00 in the afternoon and dinner just two and half hours later, spaghetti has always been a welcome in-between meal. 

Funny how I’d always tell my mother I’m really grateful and consider it a small miracle our family could eat spaghetti now whenever we wanted to, even if no one’s celebrating his/her birthday.

It wasn’t always like that. I remember when spaghetti was “special” and almost always eaten at birthday parties, together with chicken lollipops and hotdogs-on-a-stick crowned with marshmallows. 

Maybe things on the financial front just got a little bit better for our family so we eventually afforded the weekend spaghettis. Or maybe the spaghetti just got simpler and easier to make with more accessible ingredients.

For our family and, I guess, most Filipinos who also love all sorts, colors and flavors of pansit like canton, bihon, luglog, palabok, and lomi among others, distant cousin spaghetti was destined to be “pansit-ized” and tweaked to suit the Pinoy taste. Cuisine purists must have frowned when innovative moms and sweet-toothed kids reinvented the traditional Italian spaghetti.  

Gone are the tart and tangy tomato sauce, chunky meatballs, parmesan cheese, and herbs like oregano and basil. In their place are the sweetish-spicy ketchupy sauce, hotdog slices, processed filled cheese (also unmistakably sweet), dependable flavor enhancers sugar and pepper, and the hearty “lutong bahay” flavors of onion and garlic.

Who would have thought sweet spaghetti could capture the hearts and tastebuds of so many Filipinos? Fastfood chains make millions out of it. The carinderia across the street hawks it alongside pansit bihon, turon, kamote fries, and bibingka. The redder, the better. The sweeter, the tastier. 

I personally love the taste of fresh tomatoes and am therefore partial to the sharp-flavored Italian spaghetti, but I have also come to love cooking and eating Pinoy spaghetti. When cooking at home for my family, adjustments to the original tomato sauce have to be made to accommodate the sweet preferences of my father in particular. (This is the same person who once “flavored” with ketchup the pesto pasta I made because he said it just wasn’t sweet and red enough.)

A few years back, when my mother had the good fortune of spending her hard-earned retirement money on a European tour, I expressly told her to eat bacalhau/bacalao in Portugal, croissants and café in France (foie gras was out of the question considering her shoestring budget), chorizo de bilbao and paella in Spain, and risotto and spaghetti in Italy.  Hahah. 

When she came back, she regaled me with stories of her European adventures, food-related and then some, but the one that really struck me was the way she described the spaghetti she ate there (as she said, maasim at walang sahog). “Mas masarap pa ang spaghetti natin dito.”

“Spaghetti natin.”  

A plateful of “our spaghetti” conjures happy childhood memories when life was much simpler and sweet red sauce and juicy hotdog slices meant the world to a kid.

I still get that giddy feeling when I dig into a plate of Pinoy spaghetti for merienda. It warms my heart the way chicken soup does on a rainy day. Life is sweet and I’m a child again.

Hindi naman kelangan na lahat ng post ko dito ay tungkol sa mga carinderia o restaurants na nakainan ko. Basta masayang kainan experience ay ikukuwento ko!

Tayong mga Pinoy basta bertdey ay hindi yata puede na hindi maghahanda. Kahit simpleng salo-salo lang, basta kakain kasama ang mga mahal sa buhay. Minsan may pa-style pa tayo na ganito sa mga bisita natin. “Pasensiya na ha, wala naman akong handa.” Pero huwag ka, may pansit na may spaghetti pa, may puto, may bibingka, may barbecue, may lumpiang shanghai, may pochero, may mechado, may menudo, may dinuguan, may fruit salad, may buko pandan at higit sa lahat may lechon. Pero wala raw siyang handa. Wala pa siyang handa niyan ha. Nakapagtataka tuloy kung pano na lang siya pag may handa pa.

Nung Linggo ay umattend ako ng isang bertdeyan. Bday ni Lola. Lola siya ng kaibigan ko pero siyempre dahil Pinoy tayo Lola rin ang tawag natin. Hindi naman tayo parang Amerikano na first name basis kahit sa matanda. At saka hindi ko siya puede i-first name basis kasi hindi ko alam ang first name ni Lola in the first place (whoa! daming first dun sa sentence na yun ah!). Basta siya si Lola.

Nakakatuwang isipin na si Lola ay nagce-celebrate ng kanyang ika-88 na kaarawan. Pero pag tinanong mo siya kung ilang tao na siya, ang sasabihin niya ay 90. Kasi mas madaline raw sabihin ang ninety kesa sa 88. Sige try mo, nayntee. Yung isa eyti-eyt. Oo nga tama si Lola, mas madali bigkasin ang ninety kesa eighty-eight.

Anyway, touched ako at isa ako sa piling bisita ni Lola. Masarap ang handa niya! Courtesy of her soon to be apo-in-law! Aba ganun talaga pag nagpapalakas. Heehee, loko lang Will.

Heto ang menu sa bertday ni Lola. May pansit. Of course mawawala ba naman ang pansit sa berdeyang Pinoy. Ay mali hindi pala pansit ito. Sotanghon pala. Kasi akala ni Will ay bihon ang stock nila sa kusina, sotanghon pala. Pero dahil wala ng oras lumabas ay ito na rin ang ginamit ni Will. May sahog na malalaking pilas ng chicken breast, repolyo at dahil nagkulang na sa repolyo at kelangan mag-improvise ay gumamit na lang ng pechay. Ito ang manok na may sahog na pansit! Sabi ni Lola, hindi raw siya naniniwala na ang pansit ay pampahaba ng buhay. Hmm.. you mean Lola hindi pa mahaba ng 88 years para sa’yo?

Meron ding dalawang klase ng barbecue. Ang chicken barbecue at pork barbecue. Masarap ang timpla ng barbecue. Binabad kasi ito ng magdamagan. Nakita ko pa ng tinimpla ito. Pero may secret spice siya na nilagay. Pero hindi na ito secret ngayon kasi ire-reveal ko na sa inyo. Cayenne pepper.

At siyempre hindi rin mawawala ang lumpiang shanghai na ako at si Lola ang nagbalot. Ewan ko ba kung anong magic meron ang cayenne pepper dahil nilagyan din ang giniling nito. Nakakatawa ang hitsura ng mga binalot namin na lumpia ni Lola. Iba-iba ang sukat. Yung kay Lola kasing taba ng buritto, yung sa akin naman mukhang turon.

Bukod sa mga yan ay meron ding fried rice at siyempre para sa dessert ay prutas at cake mula sa Conti’s. Ang kanilang specialty na Mango Bravo. Ay teka heto nga pala si Lola at ang mga handa niya.

Heto naman ang Mango Bravo. Napakaganda talaga ng cake na ito. Kung may beauty contest ng cake ay pasok ito! May kataasan ang cake na ito. Parang 3 taas ng normal na cake. Pero hindi lang basta ganda ito kasi masarap din talaga. May layers ang cake na ito. May parte na mousse, may parte na parang sans rival, meron ding may sponge (teka, tama ba ako?) . Hindi rin katamisan ang icing. At sandamakmak ang mangga!

Bravo! Bagay na bagay ang pangalan mo sa’yo! Maganda siya sa labas, maganda rin siya sa loob!

Isang slice lang ay hindi ko pa naubos. Sobrang filling rin ng dessert na ito. Si Ching sa excitement, nag-dessert muna bago kumain ng kanin!

Hay! Ang sarap ng handa mo Lola. Happy Birthday sa’yo. Sa isang taon ulit ha!

kahapon birthday ng nanay ko, simple lang ang handaan, ice cream, chicken , spaghetti , cake and pansit malabon.

Yung pansit malabon binili lang namin, kase di kami marunong magluto, buti nlang may “pansit malabon” sa shopwise. Okay naman ang lasa, in fairness malasa sya, lasang kalamansi. Konti nga lang ang mga seafoods na halo, parang sinadyang sa ibabaw lang nilagay para tuloy syang naging mapa.

385 php for 8 persons ang inorder namin.

Eto niresearch ko ang pansit malabon recipe, pag sinipag try namin mag luto.

Pansit Malabon

* 1/2 kilo miki (white, thick & round noodles)
* 2/3 cup coarsely pounded sitsaron baboy
* 2/3 cup flaked fish meat (tinapa)
* 1/2 kilo pork fat (cubed)
* 1/4 kilo fresh shrimps (cooked, shelled)
* 1/4 kilo fresh squid (*adobo)
* 1/2 kilo talaba (*adobo)
* 2 eggs hard boiled
* 5-6 cloves garlic minced
* 3 tbsp. atchuete seeds
* salt to taste

Boil water with a little salt. Drop miki. Cook until tender. Drain. Set aside.

Soak atchuete seeds in 1/2 cup water. Extract color. Add colored water to cybed pork fat, cook until water dries. Stir until oil comes out and pork becomes sitsaron. Set aside sitsaron.

Saute garlic in atchuete oil. Transfer oil with garlic in a small bowl. Set aside.

Put cooked noodles on a plate. Sprinkle fried garlic with oil and arrange all ingredients on top of noodles. garnish with slices of cooked egg.

Serve with puto or camachile cookies. Sauce: patis and calamansi juice.

After office, Ritchie, Janice and I decided to walk from Gilmore Station to V. Mapa Station. Along the way, after J. Ruiz station, I noticed this small ‘carinderia’. A lot of people were having their early dinner and some were having their food to go. This is Aling Banang 2. Apparently the first branch is along N. Domingo St. The place is quite clean considering it’s along Aurora Blvd. Their prices are quite alright, their servings are enough (for me, at least), but the staff should be more accommodating.

I finished it and we went on our way. I realized that Gilmore to V. Mapa wasn’t that far… I could walk to work… hmmm… nah…

Since we arrived late at the Lake Garden the last time, we decided it would be a good idea to explore it more by early morning.

And so today is that day. We’re going to have a picnic.

Once we finished breakfast, another cooking session began. Noel cooked the typical Filipino picnic food, pansit. Peanut butter sandwiches were also prepared. And then again, I was just the eager onlooker.

Our taxi driver going to the garden was Badri, who just like any other Malaysian we met, is a Jericho Rosales (a Filipino actor) fan. He was so delighted when he learned that we’re from the Philippines. He openly told us that he likes Jericho movies a lot that he spent several tear-jerking moments watching it. Badri was fun to be with as he talks and smiles a lot. I can sense from the way he talks about everything that he’s one proud Malaysian (other than the fact that he loves one of our actors). I’m yet to be completely proud that I’m a Filipino.

We were supposed to go start our day at the KL Bird Park, which is a section of the garden. They had to cancel it however when they saw that the entrance fee would cost each of us RM35. With me protesting mentally, they voted to check other attractions around. Free attractions, that is.

The decision to scrap the Bird Park tour wasn’t bad at all. We discovered that some of its birds & aviaries could be seen along the road. Well, the best things in life are free, right?

After settling in one of the park’s tables and eating the food that we brought along, we started to look for the “lake” in the Lake Garden. At first what we saw was somewhat disappointing as the lake appears to have accumulated moss and looks as if it had been stagnant for a long time.

Not to be deterred by that sight, we pushed further south. And things began to get interesting once more.

We passed by the Fantasy Planet playground where for a moment we turned into kids enjoying the sight of colorful slides, play bridges and spiral bars. We got to play with the revolving swings as well.

As we neared the boathouse, the sky went a bit gray & it started to drizzle. So we took shelter. The girls were at the swing while Noel and I under a shed. It was where we got to know Rosman. A security guard in that area.

We got to talk a lot of things (from park birds, cars, gadgets and even religion). And the more I talk to him the more I learn about what Muslims are really like. Well at least, for him, in this case. (At this point of our trip, I’ve conversed with a lot actually and I haven’t found any rude ones). They’re just actually just like us Catholics. They’re not so different after all.

The sun eventually found its way past the gray clouds and we continued with our tour of the garden. After a minute of stopping by and finishing our food, the park’s shuttle driver arrived and we got the chance to completely cover the whole Lake Garden. And guest what, it only cost us RM0.50 each. And we had a couple of laughs when we saw that we were aimlessly wandering around early this morning and which the main entrance of the garden was just one left turn away from the bird park.

Once the shuttle tour was over, we decided it was time to leave. We needed a taxi going back and somebody we asked, advised that we can just go straight further and we would get a cab from there.

That way led us to a tunnel or some sort of an underpass. Not knowing what to expect we pushed through anyway.At the other end, discovered we’re heading straight into the National Museum. Great.

Luckily, it was just 4 PM and we still have a couple of hours before closing time. And so after paying RM2.0 (each), we were inside goggling and peaking over displays. And one thing I liked in there is that they allow the visitors to take pictures and videos. What I hated though, was that I’ll be shooting in low light condition and…and that I’m running low on video 8 cartridges. Ti abi.

To cap the day, we paid KL’s biggest mall – the Mid Valley Megamall. The “myth” (actually a hearsay) that there’s no big and good mall in Malaysia is now busted.

Next: Day 6 (The Twin Towers)