The Pilgrim's Pots and Pans

I’ve always thought that the food blogging community is close-knit. Now that it’s gotten so large, I suppose getting-to-know-you memes are in order. A meme, by the way, was a concept used in genetics and the transmission of characteristics. Someone defined it later on as the spread of ideas that evolve and mutate. But now, as applied to blogs, some information which is replicated then passed on. That of course is a very simplified explanation.

This time around, I’ve been tagged by Ting-Aling (doesn’t that name ring a bell?) with a meme started by Nicky and Oliver of that delightful food blog Delicious:Days. See how they have tracked this meme and trace your (meme) genealogy, too.

What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?

I’ve always thought that the food blogging community is close-knit. Now that it’s gotten so large, I suppose getting-to-know-you memes are in order. A meme, by the way, was a concept used in genetics and the transmission of characteristics. Someone defined it later on as the spread of ideas that evolve and mutate. But now, as applied to blogs, some information which is replicated then passed on. That of course is a very simplified explanation.

It was in kindergarten – so that makes me about 6-years-old – when I was taught to cook inangit, which is plain fried rice. I remember wanting to get involved in cooking so my mother “assigned” me something to do. Baking came much later, I was perhaps eight at the time I experimented with angel food cakes.

Who had the most influence on your cooking?

My grandmother and her sister were very influential in my early years. We lived with my grandmother in a compound. Her sister lived in the house next to ours. In the daytime, I was left to them. One can say they were my main influence in doing household chores. Wooden floors had to be stripped with detergent and pakiling (is-is in Tagalog, rough-surfaced leaves – Ficus odorata Blanco) before a fresh coat of wax was applied. Laundry on a clothesline should only face one direction. Cotton and linen MUST be starched, with varying degrees of stiffness. They were both of the old school of cooking primarily because that was what they knew (my Lola was 73 when I was born) and because they were proud of the strict culinary tradition which they have inherited from their mothers before them. Fathers too, for men in our family are no strangers to the kitchen.

My Lola strictly supervised anyone working in her kitchen. Even as a child, I couldn’t get away with mistakes. If the onions or the potatoes were not correctly sliced for a particular dish, she would make me repeat the process properly and think of something to do with the poor mis-sliced ingredients such that they don’t go to waste. From a lowly slicer, crusher and grater, I was later promoted to stirring pans of postre (fruit jams), trusted to cook the leche flan and then assigned to cook several entrées during fiestas. And a most important responsibility: there was also no excuse for being untidy. The sides of pots always had to be scraped while stirring.

From Lola Inang (my grandaunt), I learnt of folktales that go with certain food like why the pineapple has so many eyes, why the tamarind is sour and many more. She would also tell stories of growing up in the barrio: preparing for the big Christmas feast, cooking with old implements, how they would pick fruits from their property and sell them in the marketplace several kilometres away. From both Lola and Lola Inang I heard stories of how they partly survived the war with innovative cooking skills to feed their families, friends and strangers who sought shelter and nourishment.

Now this is making my eyes moist.

Do you have an old photo as “evidence” of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it?

Unfortunately not. But I have a very photographic memory! Tee hee!

Mageiricophobia – do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?

Not really. I used to dread cooking meringues when I was much younger because I couldn’t beat the egg whites stiff enough to stand their journey into the oven. Not anymore! Practice and patience makes perfect. I’m not really afraid of anything in the kitchen. When I want to make something and it doesn’t turn out right the first time, all I have to do is to repeat the process.

However, I haven’t really flambéed anything… so I don’t know if I’ll be frightened.

What would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest letdown?

Most valued would be the old stone mortar and pestle which has spanned generations. Our family has used it to crush the daily essentials like garlic and ginger to the incidentals such as ube (yam), coffee beans, mung beans for lelut balatung to sesame seeds for tahini.

The biggest letdown: nothing major comes to mind. Perhaps some of the gadgets I pick up from the department stores now and then. They just end up gathering dust in the shelves.

Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like and probably no one else.

I’m pretty adventurous but a lot of people share my liking for similar food. Up in northern Philippines I eat papaitan and dinakdakan (with brain, not mayonnaise, thank you!). In Mindanao, I look for durian as soon as I get off the plane. In Australia, I was the first of our group (of non-Aussies) to take to Vegemite and its counterpart Marmite when in the UK.

How about soda crackers with Dijon mustard? Not so weird.

What are the three eatables or dishes you simply don’t want to live without?

Fish, fruits and vegetables. What would life be without them?

There are several runners-up: Milk and cheese, calame and suman at Christmas, mangoes in the summertime and balut now and then.

3 quickies:

Favorite ice cream: Not ice cream but sorbet – buco-dalayap (strips of young coconut with lime zest), mango, and buco-lychee.

You will probably never eat (again??): Fruits with plain rice. My grandmother used to do this all the time – with guavas, mangoes, bananas. I never got the habit.

Signature dish: I don’t think I have one but my cousins ask for my chicken in mushroom sauce, carrot cake and polvoron. Actually, it depends on the mood of who’s eating!

Any question you missed in this meme, that you would have loved to answer? Well then, feel free to add one!

I followed my meme forebears here:

Question added by Zarah: On average, how many times a week would you cook something to satisfy your sweet tooth?

Hardly. I don’t really have a sweet tooth but each meal has to be ended with something sweet to have closure. There’s always dessert available, whether fresh fruit or fruit jams in the refrigerator.

Question added by Cathy: What do you usually eat for breakfast?

If in a hurry, a cheese and pesto sandwich, fruit and yoghurt or something similar. If I have all the time, fried rice with fish and eggs and the like.

Question added by Alice: What are your stand-by dinner options when you don’t have the time or the inclination to follow or create a new recipe?

Rice and adobo (meat stewed in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and herbs) or a quick pasta. A sandwich serves the purpose on some days.

Question added by Karen: What would you like to cook someday that you have yet to try?

Pita bread! Yoghurt too. I would love to learn more of Meditteranean food in general.

Three people to pass this along to:

ChichaJo at 80 Breakfasts – she’s a very new Filipina food blogger. What better way to introduce her to the food blogging community than through a meme! And oh she’s quick! Her reply’s already online long before I’ve put out mine (this is post-dated).

Chronicler at Food Chronicles – she loves memes and I aim to please! I’m passing her a meme a second time but honestly, it’s so interesting to find out what influenced industry professionals to do what they do now. One cool mama, who cooked for her daughter’s wedding!

Ellen at Chronicles of a Curious Cook – she never fails to give great cooking ideas.

Thank you Ting for tagging me. To Nicky and Oliver – Vielen Dank! Der war Spaß!