Happy Meal

Just as some vitamins, increase ” Serotonin ” which supposedly influence the level of happiness in our brains, some of our favorite food, contribute to our state of happiness.

It is because, they are associated with happy memories:

1. Spaghetti, Mommy’s.

In all the special occasions in our house, may it be, Christmas, New Year, a birthday, a school graduation party or a little brother or sister’s baptism, spaghetti would always be present.

Everytime I look at a plate full of noodles , spaghetti sauce and grated cheese, I think of how the dish symbolized my family:

First, we are “intertwined” to each other with a strong bond.

Second, my parents knew how to handle us, no matter how forward and “saucy” we were at times.

Third, should any of us get caught in a tangle, a simple ” cheese” from the family, cheered us up.

Now, in my adulthood, as I go inside a new place, a hotel or a restaurant and I find myself wondering what to order, chances are , I would be asking for spaghetti in red sauce. ( speak of tomato base: bolognese, arrabiatta and marinara. )

Or well, anything “pasta” that may resemble and remind me of Mom’s home cooked spaghetti:

2. Lechon

Any Filipino family’s celebration, party or fiesta should have lechon.
It is also an indication of how expended the celebration would be.

One time when I was younger, during a mass celebration for the feast in barangay Consolacion, I overheard two men in the next pew, discussing where to go to lunch after.

1st man: ” Unsa man, ngadto ta maniudto ila Banaag kay naay Lechon?”

2nd man: ” Oo gud. Unya sa panihapon? Kinsa pa may nag Lechon?”

(They would be having lunch in our house, all because of the lechon that would be served there. And part also of their discussion was the question as to where they will go for their dinner and who else would be preparing lechon.)

This was of course during the times, when there were only, few houses and neighbors in Consolacion. ( any one could just go to your house, celebrate fiesta and eat lechon with you and your family.)

As lechon in itself measured the extravagance in food preparation during “Fiesta” , it also estimated the statistical probability of the academic performance of the Banaag Children during the school year.

At the beginning of the school year, after my dad paid a hefty amount for tuition fees and books, for eight children, he would confidently declare that,

“Kinahanglan naay Gold medal karon tuiga , aron pagkaabot sa March adunay lechon .”

” Someone had to bring in a gold medal during closing ceremonies or graduation in March, so that there will be lechon.”

The fine thing about this “lechon in March” is that, it is a group effort, like team Gryffindor collecting points during Quidditch.

The condition included ANY gold medal; whether it may be for a class standing, an elocution or declamation contest, an essay writing contest, a math Olympiad, a sportsfest or a quiz bee.

My dad would stick to his word, as long as he would get “Gold” in return for our tuition fees.

With eight of us in a group, while having our version of the keeper, Oliver Wood, together with beaters, chasers and seekers, it went without saying, that our long narra table , always had lechon on it , during the March parties.

Team Gryffindor ruled in HOGwarts.

And of course , having my picture taken with ” those which brought in the lechon “

3. “Kinilaw with Lung-ag nga Saging & Ginamos”

In my younger days, during summer vacations, if our family would not be with my mother’s side of the family, we would be in Catarman, Camiguin at my paternal Grandmother’s house
.
The shoreline or the ” baybay ” as we called it, was just a short distance from my Lola Inday-Felisa’s house.

Aside from the ” unli ” ( unlimited) access to the beach , it was what we had then, for lunch, which I hold special in my heart to this day.

In Catarman Camiguin, I looked forward to walking along the shoreline with my dad.

While walking, he would discuss with me how he raised his hopes and dreams a little higher so he would not end up like one palm wine ( or tu-ba) farmer or ” mananggite ” he knew.

Then, after, we would sit down on a big rock and he would also tell me about the responsibilities of being an eldest child.

(My dad and I are eldest children and we helped send our siblings to school.)

But of course, those talk did not have much effect on me , till later on , for back then, I would be too excited to open our basket.

It would be a basket, filled with “sud-“an ( viand ) which my Lola or Grandmother Inday prepared for us:

Rice wrapped in banana leaves, “adobong baboy(pork) or adobong pusit(squid)” and the ” nilung-ag nga saging” paired with ” ginamos “. (nga gi gamos sa akong lola)

” Nilungag na saging saba ” is boiled cardaba bananas

” Ginamos ” is salted and fermented, small sized fish, prepared by my grandmother herself.

But my favorite of course is the KINILAW which my dad himself made.

Kinilaw is quite similar with sashimi but without the wasabe.

It is a preparation of raw fish, sliced into cubes.

( my dad uses the “malasugui” fish or swordfish ).

It is squeezed on, with lime ( suha my dad called it) , garnished with slices of red onions and a dash of salt, to taste.

What makes the dish smooth to the palate is the fish , that was rinsed with vinegar and the pulp of the Tabon-tabon , a fruit from the Atun Tree.

( My uncles from Catarman would say , that since the word tabon means cover in english, then the English word for the fruit Tabon-tabon must be Cover- cover.

Something I have accepted as true, for years , till I came across its name:

Atuna racemosa ssp. racemusa

I would only eat Kinilaw if it was prepared in that method for I find it tastier, that way.

(Plus of course the fact, as my mom would jest, that my dad mixed the ingredients with his bare hands.)

But , whatever and however , it is just , every time my dad would prepare kinilaw, together with boiled bananas and salted-fermented fish , I would be transported to the shorelines of Catarman, Camiguin.

4. Pan and Sikwate

” Pan ” means bread in our dialect , while ” Sikwate ” means hot chocolate drink.

Although this combination, of bread and hot cocoa is ordinarily a pre breakfast aliment in Visayan households, it was different in ours.

Almost every night, around midnight , after closing his seafood restaurant, my dad would bring home ” pan ” from the bakery.

(It was either Ensaymada bread from Ah Fat bakery or Monay bread from Shanghai Bakery.)

While my mom on the other hand, would then put on a kettle of boiling water to prepare ” sikwate” by using the tablea made by my Lola Inday of Catarman, Camiguin.

Tablea is hardened pure chocolate coins from the Cacao fruit .

My mom would heat the tablea on a special chocolate pot which she called “batirol”.

A term which was mistakenly interchanged with the term ” monillo ” , a special wooden stick to make ” sikwate. “

( These were terms we grew up with but there seemed to be arguments among language experts on the proper usage of these terms .)

On our hot chocolate drink, we added sugar and Alpine evaporated milk to it .

Then, we indulged in a cup of ” Tall ” , ” Grande ” or ” Venti ” with which not even Starbucks could compete with.

For the elder children , like me and my sister Mirzi , who were then in highschool, studying algebra , the night away, ” pan ” and ” sikwate ” meant midnight snack and grown up conversations with our parents while the little ones were asleep.

And later on, as two of my brothers were reviewing for their engineering board exams, till wee hours in the morning , the act served as an inspiration to see both of our parents get up and eat ” pan ” and ” sikwate ” with them.

As we have grown up, gone were the pan and sikwate moments with my parents.

But I so cherished those times, that I have developed a sincere devotion for the search of the ultimate ensaymada, which came close, to the one we paired with our sikwate.

And after so many years , I finally came across this bakery near my son’s school.

The bakery’s name is Jubileum. They sell ensaymada which tasted quite like the ensaymada of The Ah Fat Bakery in Cagayan de Oro where my Dad used to buy bread.

Just as Peter Pan searched for his happy thought,

” Pan ” is mine …and “sikwate” too.

5. Birthday Cake from Dr. & Mrs. Dayrit’s house in Pacana Street.

Before my Dad bought a house from The Aguilars of brgy. Consolacion in Cagayan de Oro City, we used to live in one of the Phil. Lumber apartments in Pacana Street.

Our apartment and my Dad’s printing press, Reyban Print Master was situated across the house of Dr. Dayrit whose beautiful wife, baked and sold cake out of a hobby.

Her delectable buttercake was the star of many birthday parties I knew.

Most especially in the 1980’s when Red Ribbon and Goldilocks cakes were never heard of, in my part of the world.

But even then, I would still want that cake, for I have never ever come across a scrumptious birthday cake than that butter cake from The Dayrit’s.

Aside from the taste, the cake somehow provided an interesting piece of conversation and connection to rich people.

The Dayrits were obviously wealthy.

They had a colossal house, which had two entrances, one that opened in our street and another gate, on the other street.

They had a guest house, a grotto , a garage filled with vintage cars, a house with housegirls in maid’s uniforms, a mayordoma, mercedes benzes and a top down car.

Things which spelled affluence.

And from across our house , we could see those beautiful parties that the doctor’s wife hosted for their friends.

I remembered seeing beautiful “Mestiza” children just like angels , running around the place, that I presumed you have to have freckles to look the rich kid part.

( Till Manny Pacquiao came and boxed his way to fame, not anymore. )

The closest I got, in seeing the premise of their house, was from a vantage point on an ” iba ” or kamias or ” sour cucumber ” tree .

My playmate, Marie Abellanosa and I used to munch that sour fruit on top of its tree that was leaning towards the enclosing fences.

Their house was quite like a setting for a movie of then teen actors Sharon and Gabby.

But I also did know that they served ” Ordivs ” for cocktails.

Something which sounded delicious to me then , whatever they would have been.

Those were of course some of the information that their house helps voluntarily filled my mom with, while I processed them at the side.

House helps which included their houseboy Nong Sano from Bohol , who would go to our Printing Press, to ask for small padded pieces of paper to use for his Masyaw or Jai Alai number list.

And then there was also their ” seemingly like mayordoma or governess” , Nang Pasing from Yumbing, Camiguin , who was the one who would hand you the precious cake, when you pick up your order.

My happy memory for that birthday cake perhaps occurred, because it was indirectly, my first connection to moneyed people and their Ordivs (Hors d’oeuvres).

My 9th birthday with the special cake:

6. Banana and Camote Cue with a glass of cold Softdrinks.

Banana Cue is deep-fried banana in caramelized sugar, placed on a stick.

Camote Cue is deep-fried sweet potatoes in caramelized sugar, placed on a stick.

Softdrinks is Soda.

And as one Softdrink ad asked ” Where will happiness strike next?”

Everything, after Banana and Camote Cue with a glass of cold soft drinks is where it should strike next.

My favorite afternoon snack. ( or sugar rush )

My mom would either buy banana and sweet potatoes from Cogon Market and cook them herself
or we bought from a vendor, who sold them near the school of our barangay, Consolacion Elementary School.

This was a regular Saturday thing that we used to have in the house, just as Saturday Entertainment of Kuya Germs was on T.V.

On Saturdays, almost everybody would be in the house.

Everybody, including my dad’s two sisters, my Aunties, Auntie Adjing and Auntie Emmie, and my cousin Ate Jingjing who were in college then .

They were the ones I somehow looked up to in my tween years.

And I would sit beside them, as we wait in front of the television set, as to which group won, for Saturday Entertainment.

The snack by my side, also provided me some consolation, since most of the time, my favorite group, the Wednesday group, led by Rachel Alejandro, would just come in second or third.

And they would lose it to another group who just didn’t only do, anything quite well, but also did ” The Running Man” with Francis Magalona as frontline.

My very biased opinion, was of course taken from the fact, that my favorite love team, Sheryl and Romnick who were members of the Wednesday Group, did not emerge winners.

Television shows might have already changed, for I now see , the son this time , Elmo Magalona doing a take on a Cali Swag District :

Aye! aye! Teach me how to dougie (aye!)

They be like smooth (what?)
Can you teach me how to dougie?
You know why?
Cause all da girls love me (aye)

BUT my love for this , doesn’t…

7. Mangga at bagoong ( ” uyap” in our dialect)

Green Mangoes with anchovies.

What else is there to say about these condiments? They are a meal in itself.

Ordinarily in my time, a Filipino childhood is defined , with the number of times he played, ” patintero ” , a street game, climbed an ” aratiles” or ” mansanitas” tree and ate ” mangga” with “bagoong” or “uyap” .

In our area, there used to be big mango trees that could be seen from our kitchen.

One time, while preparing lunch, my mom, after seeing children on top of the mango trees, quipped,

“Asa ba ang mga ginikanan anang mga bata-a, maayo pud to sila pus pusan, ug nganong ilang mga anak naka kakat anang mga kahuya nga pwerteng taas-a!

“Where are the parents of those kids, they too should be horse-whipped for allowing their children to go up those high those trees!”

Only to realize a few seconds later, that she was one of those, needing to be horse-whipped, when she saw, on top the tree, familiar limbs flailing, MINE.

Green Mangoes with Anchovies shouldn’t be a happy thought for me, really.

It is because my addiction to them, somehow cost me, my mom’s wrath.

One time, during a school’s closing ceremony at the UCCP basement hall, I once embarrassed my mom, when she was approached by a school vendor with a long list of ” utang “ or debts that I incurred.

It was from those mangga with bagoong that I took from her stall during lunchtime.

Although my mom was too elated ,to get angry that time, after tirelessly and happily going up and down the stage pinning ribbons and placing medals on her children, I still got some tongue lashing.

” Gi pugos man ko niya ( the vendor ) nga mangutang”
or something like,

” The vendor lured me into incurring those debts “,

was my answer to my mom’s question as to why that amount reached P 50.00.

Something I regretted in my mature years, for that amount was a terrible blow to her daily budget for eight children.

But that time, I went far, in saying that, since I did not voluntarily offer to take those green mangoes and bagoong on credit, then, it couldn’t be a loan.

Not even a simple line of questioning on the difference between cash advance and loan like that one from Senator Lito Lapid during the trial of Justice CJ, would have bowled her over.

( “So ibig ninyo pong sabihin, tanung-tanong kayo… ilang oras na tayo dito, yan lang ang gusto ninyong sabihin, yung P11 million na inutang o kinash advance o ni-loan?”
– Sen. Lito Lapid)

Mangga and Bagoong is a happy thought because at that young age , my mom has impressed on my mind that I could never ” out lawyer” her.

8. LUCKY ME Pansit Canton

Most, if not many dormers I knew then,would discuss

dreams , ambitions, family, fears, love of our lives, heart breaks, feelings of getting culture shocked in the big city , stalkers and being stalked, grades, terror professors, final exams, celebrities and the ” who-stole-the-water-from-my-pail ” sort of thing,

over a plate of Lucky Me Pansit Noodles.

This was of course a cheap alternative to those who cannot yet afford, cafe’ au lait, cappuccino, macchiato, a pack of cigarettes and cans of beer.

We rolled in our coins to buy Pansit Canton ( read: Lucky Me) from the University Shopping Center.

My husband , Richard said that had he known me , way back then , he could have treated me to sumptous meals already.

But, well, much as I would have liked it too, I wouldn’t want things any different.

First, I have not yet discovered the “power” of plucked eyebrows, eye shadow contour, liquid eyeliner and mascara , so I would not have that much effect on him, like I did ,years later.

Second, I was too busy conniving with my bestfriend , in stalking a church goer.

Last, I would have been deprived of the lucky-me-pansit-canton-noodle- bonding-time with,

My journalist/writer roomie,
my geologist-phd, roomie,
my entrepreneur roomie,
my entertainment industry head, roomie ,
my three & a half year math graduate, mareng,
my school of econ, cum laude, sister
and my special education teacher, cum laude , bestfriend.
whose intellectual minds and personalities have amazed me to no end.

In addition to that , my lucky me noodle link with them, nullified all claim that MSG and artificial flavorings had bad effects on the brain; the opposite, actually.

9. Rodic’s at the S.C.

Twenty years ago, I remembered having answered,

” Sa S.C. , sa Rodics’ ,”

on that old telephone apparatus at Kalayaan Hall, to my mom who was calling through PT&T and was asking my whereabouts , prior to her call.

Mom: ” Nag unsa man ka didto ” ? ( ” what were you doing there?” )

My Freshman Self: ” Nagkaon.” ( ” Eating “.)

Mom: “Ha? Nikaon ka lang , adto pa jud ka ug S.C.? Supreme Court?”

( ” What? You just had to eat and you had to go all the way to the S.C.? The Supreme Court?.)

Erred.

The S.C. meant the Shopping Center inside the State University.
It was and still where Rodics’ , a popular diner is located.

And it would not be a name of some ” justice” that I might have visited, as my mom envisioned on the other line.

Rodic’s at the S.C. had served so many U.P students.

I used to go there especially on Sundays after hearing mass with my bestfie, Iris.

Or after my sister, Mirzi, would get her government scholar stipend ; She would treat me to either Tapsilog or Jumbo-Silog.

Tapsilog = Tapa, fried garlic rice and fried egg.

Jumbosilog = Jumbo hotdog , fried garlic rice and fried egg.

” Rodic’s at the S.C. ” has been a longstanding joke between my mom and I.
Just as my Dad , given his political orientation, thought of MOA as Memorandum of Agreement instead of the popular acronym, for a mall in the Philippines,
Mall of Asia.

And I realized that even then , if Rodic’s was really at the Supreme Court , while I was a dormer, I still would have gone there, for its food and well,

” appeal “.

10. Hot salad roll of Wai ying.

A few years back, on a Sunday, my flatmates at Martinez Unidos , including my brother Vito, woke up to a breakfast of lumpia , dimsum and hot salad roll.

A special delivery from a chinese suitor. Mine.

He evidently displayed that certain trait akin to that proverbial business minded chinese suitor, who according to one humorous story , had to set his courtships on early mornings, so he could still be on time, in opening his store, then after.

A story that must have coined the word , ” ligaw instik ” .

My chinese suitor who eventually became my ( ex) boyfriend and now, my husband is far from what you could call as a proverbial chinese suitor .

But well he had to arrive in my place early so he would also be back early, because he came only on borrowed car, his parents’.

As for his effort in bringing me breakfast,
he had me at ” hot salad roll “. ( Wai ying’s. )

In between my supposedly , presumed single blessedness status, of having snagged a suitor, and of being ” not Chinese ” , who might have stepped on Chinatown for a few times only , like maybe twice in my entire existence , I would not have known where exactly Wai Ying, was.

And, Or that, there were hawker food like hot salad roll in Ongpin and in Binondo .

My knowledge and preference for certain Chinese food, after almost seven years of being with my husband, have long expanded, but Wai ying’s hot salad roll occupies a generous space in my heart.

Perhaps the idea behind , a certain fastfood’s Happy Meal, might have evolved from that concept of food and happy thoughts.

Through the years , having worked for a gourmet food distribution company and having eaten at different places, I have discovered and developed partiality to certain foods like:

1. Duck or Goose Foie Gras
2. Arancini
3. Gourmet Steak
4. Cannelloni & Rigatone dishes
5. Chippolata, Hungarian & Mortadella
6. Osso Buco Milanese
7. Veau Marengo
8. Ganache
9. Panettoni
10. Panna Cotta

They are also addition to my “home grown list ” of HAPPY MEALS.
And they most certainly come with anecdotes about my life which I might share in a future blog piece.

One thing nice about food associated with happy memories, you need not to hear

“Boun Appetito “

or” Bon Appetit’ “

or even ” Enjoy your meal”

because just by THINKING about them ,

YOU ALREADY DID!

Go, grab that happy meal you sorely missed.