Growing up, I always remember the larger-than-life everyday magic happening in our small kitchen. There, papa and mama would share space cooking up a meal or two to feed their growing litter of insatiable piglets, eight-year-old me then included. Long after the scent and the sizzle of caramelized onion, browned garlic and softened tomatoes have left the pan, the kitchen is already pregnant with longing anticipation.
I remember mama’s carefully prepared chicken pastel and beef morcon on top of her classic sinigang and misua–our Kapampangan tastebuds at home with hearty soup and flavorful meat. But papa’s laing and other spicy-sweet concoctions never fail to bring out the fiery Bicolano in us. Soon after, mama’s experimentations complemented papa’s more measured approach, and defined our everyday kitchen adventures to this day.
On some holiday celebrations and summers then, I always looked forward to auntie Ely’s kare-kare and the aroma of flavors lingering over her beautiful kitchen and pantry. She introduced me and my cousins, her kids, to our first wet market experience complete with lessons on how to haggle for the best price and spot the best quality fruits, meat and other produce. As her children grew, most of them inherited the love for home-cooked meals: from the simplest tuna sandwich and spaghetti by Ate Sabel, Ate Anna’s pasta and salad magic to the more complex embutido and kare-kare by Ate Irene.
Other aunts favored our sweet tooth, each one with their version of Auntie Tessie’s ube halaya, Auntie Coni’s leche flan and everything else that goes into the Pinoy halo-halo. From the savory side, Auntie Ila’s painstakingly prepared bopis and dinuguan are unparalleled, along with Auntie Carmen’s pansit bihon-miki and Auntie Linda’s pork-kung-pork dishes.
As I left the comforts of hearth and home, three mom-friends nurtured me as their own. I am forever grateful for Momsky Gina’s hearty nilaga and other like-I-never-left-home favorites, Lorna’s teppanyaki and other gourmet grills, mommy Cena’s lasagna and raid-the-fridge philosophy–basically whatever her kids and I could find in her kitchen.
Today, my gastronomic adventures have taken me to various regions and countries claiming the best kesong puti, tsokolate, kilawin, barbeque, pansit, pizza, ramen, curry, and everyone sharing their best kitchen memories. And always, they bring me back home.
TRAVEL LIGHT 