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Hello everyone. Inday Hami is back, one week after typhoon Frank hit us terribly hard.

One, we’ve just had electricity. Two, I didn’t feel like blogging after what happened to our beloved Iloilo.

My Lola’s house (where we also used to live) is just perpendicular to the picture above. That’s what the historic Jaro Market has become. Stalls are now set up outside for the huge market square is a dull, sad, heavily silted affair.

You see, on one side of the market flows what was once a really wide tributary. In colonial times, small merchant boats would unload their cargo from this Jaro Market port. Of course, as time went by, this body of water no longer became passable.

Once in a while, it overflows, the market gets flooded and would even reach my Lola’s house. Through all those years, the highest level it reached was probably just thigh high.

Last June 21, at around mid afternoon, to the great shock of the residents and vendors alike at the market and at Bakhaw (the residential community adjacent to this creek) the flood came in a rush. Everyone was caught by surprise. They never expected it to rise beyond expected levels. There was no time to pack and carry. The water level? More than neck high.

Those who weren’t able to leave earlier had no choice but to climb up the market’s roof, old people and children alike, and stay there till the water subsided the following day.

Sanctuary was the Jaro Cathedral compound.

As all of these drama unfolded, we never had an inkling of Frank’s intense flooding for we no longer reside in Jaro. I mean, my husband, myself and our 3 kids. Brownout all over (or should I say blackout?); we didn’t have battery-powered transistor.

We were only confronted with a painful scene on Sunday evening as we visited Lola’s house fronting Jaro Market. Everything was in a gray disarray. Even the heavy antique piano was upturned by Frank’s muddy waters. My two brothers’ relatively big number of audio,video, and computer equipment which they sell or rent-out were “drowned to death.”

Actually, it’s been a week now, but we haven’t started cleaning up the rooms. My brothers & their assistants have only managed to remove the lay-on
from their office and the dining room. Even our little apartment (where we lived for 8 years) annexed to Lola’s house, we haven’t even managed to peek into. Hu,hu,hu. Important books, periodicals and memento are gone.

i don’t want to be emotional about it for there are more families in much worse situations than having lost books and memorabilia. A number of families have lost their homes and worst, loved ones. During a radio interview, the mayor of Janiuay was even crying over trapped families they couldn’t help. The towns of Pavia, Sta. Barbara and Duenas have plenty of sad stories to tell as well.

But then, life has to move on. The Ilonggo is such that inspite of his or her scary experience that Saturday of June 21, 2008, the Ilonggo is still able to take things in stride and rise up. (I wish I could say it in more vivid ways but then I’m not a writer).

I pray, we all do, that this catastrophe will not happen again.

Our guests’ visit to Iloilo is never complete without batchoy and/or an overflowing Ilonggo fare at Breakthough or Tatoys.

That’s my colleague, Prof. Eric Zerrudo whom we invited as resource person for a forum on heritage conservation. From the airport, we went directly to Deco’s to satisfy his longing for batchoy.

As always, conversation with Eric is never, never boring with all his anecdotes to share. But mind you, when it comes to work, he does deliver and exacts the same excellent output from his students at the University of Santo Tomas Cultural Heritage Program.

What I want to share with everyone reading this blog is Eric’s insight about ourselves. (He is Ilonggo too.)

Too bad I wasn’t able to write down his exact words but it sound something like this:

EVEN IF WE ARE AWAY FROM ILOILO, SAY MANILA, WE ILONGGOS GRAVITATE TOWARDS OUR VERY OWN FOOD.

Perhaps, it can be said of other regional cultures too but I do agree that it’s very strong with us Ilonggos. We may try other cuisines (say Thai, Mexican, Japanese, etc.) but we always go back to our Ilonggo food, our comfort zone.

Majority of Ilonggos are not adventurous in trying other cuisines. That I think is the reason for the high patronage of Inasal restos like Mang Inasal, Barrio Inasal, Jo’s Chicken Inato, Chicken Sari-Sari etc. as well as the success of Breakthrough, Tatoys, Nes & Tats, Nato & Helen for Ilonggo seafoods and traditional Ilonggo cooking.

In my observation, restos with foreign cuisines (except Chinese) have difficulty capturing a bigger chunk of the Ilonggo market. I remember some years back, a Mexican-themed resto that never took off. Some months ago, Chino’s (an Asian themed resto) was not able to sustain operations.

Yes, there is Peppy Thai, Krua Thai, Maki, Emilion’s Japanese buffet, and two other Japanese restos based in hotels that are relatively popular. These however don’t have the general Ilonggo public as patrons.

Ilonggos, in general, always look for Ilonggo food even outside of their home. Could it be because we dislike unfamiliar food or because we simply don’t want to explore other dishes or because we just can’t live without Ilonggo food?

Gotta go now. Can’t think straight anymore. Pasajero Sosyal Miagao is waiting.

That’s Randy, our suki boneless bangus man at the Central Market. It’s amazing to watch the art of deboning milkfish. (please bear with the picture. I still couldn’t figure out how to remove tilted images from the cache.)

These days a piece of medium sized bangus sells for P35.00 each or 3 for P100.

Removing the bones(?) or sikag, as we call them, is a skill that is perfected by deboning thousands of bangus, I suppose.

HOW BEST TO PREPARE A BONELESS BANGUS? SUGBA or BY GRILLING.

*By La Donna Napuli

I featured these “FF Houses” for my article because of the fact that many Miagaoanons work abroad to sustain their families. (Know the meaning of “FF Houses”). The reason I was convinced to feature this topic is because I want to know why these so called balikbayans or OFWs spend large amounts of money for the construction of these houses when they don’t actually stay in these houses permanently.

Some owners told me that building a house is a good investment. Some answered that there main purpose is for them to have a place where their family can get together once they got back or have a vacation. Their answers satisfied me and I came up with the conclusion that Miagaoanons prioritize their families much more than anything else.

These are some of the “FF Houses” here in Miagao:

Owner: Mr. Simon Lorilla – Hospital worker abroad
Location: Quezon St., Miagao
Reason for the construction: It was built to serve as a home for their children.
Year constructed: 2005
Architect: Arch. Mañosa (the owner forgot the first name of the architect)
Estimated cost: P 4 million
Trivia: the owner and his wife work in Italy as hospital workers.

Owner: Mr. & Mrs. Edwin Mollenido – US Air Force
Location: Zulueta St., Ubos Ilawod
Reason for the construction: It was built to serve as a resthouse when they want to have a vacation here in the country.
Year constructed: 2005
Estimated cost: P 20 million

Owner: Mr. Nelson Nailat – retired US Navy
Location: Brgy. Mambatad
Reason for the construction: It was built to serve as a bed and breakfast resort.
Year constructed: 2004
Architect: Arch. Edwin Ledesma
Estimated cost: P 8-10 million
Trivia: The house was built as a thesis for the Masteral of the owner in Business Administration who was studying in Australia at that time. Currently the house is for rent for events and vacation purposes.

Owner: Mr. & Mrs. Roger Bello– seafarer
Location: Brgy. Damilisan
Architect/ Designer: Isagani Nobleza & Engr. Ramon Carreon
Estimated value/cost: P 4 million
Reason for the construction: It was built to serve as a home for the family. It was slowly renovated and was finished this year.
Year constructed: 2007
Trivia: The owner is a ship captain. They have only one daughter named Maricelle , a UPV alumnus. She was married last December and her wedding was considered wedding of the year here in Miagao.

Owner: Mr. & Mrs. Ferdinand Pascua –seafarer Location: Brgy. Palaca
Reason for the construction: It was built to serve as a simple home for the family.
Year constructed: 2005
Architect/Designer: Engr. Joever Santero
Estimated cost: P 1 million
Trivia: The owner is a ship captain.

Owner: Mr. Salvador Molejona – worker in US Provincial Capitol
Location: Brgy. Baybay Sur
Reason for the construction: It was built to serve as retirement home.
Year constructed: 2004
Architect: Arch. Rohan Molejona
Estimated cost: P 6 million

About me

I’ am La Donna Napuli.
I’m a 3rd Year BA Psychology student at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas.
I am a daughter of an OFW.
I love to dance and think.
For your comments and suggestions about my article please email me at: napuli_ladonna@yahoo.com.ph

Trip ko lang. After sending off dear Toto to the airport, i decided to drop by the Sta. Barbara public market to see what they have. It wasn’t their market day, so the tienda was relatively quiet.

Decided to buy beef to make into tapa, one of my favorites. I ended up buying carabao meat or carabeef for a change. Not all markets carry carabeef you know. It’s one of Sta. Barbara’s unique selling points, I guess.

Here’s my recipe:

INDAY HAMI’S CARABEEF TAPA

I’ll just post you the pictures tomorrow ok? Gotta prepare for school tomorrow.

NiteNite.

P.S. Since we don’t really measure the spices, what I do is a trial prito.. I’d fry a small slice and taste. If it’s still las-ay (bland), then I put in a little more salt and/or soy sauce. If there’s no punch(?), I add more langgaw. Oh, you can also add a little sugar to counter the flavors.

Its June 7 already but we just came from an instant excursion at Riverside Beach in Oton. It was actually our second time in three weeks. Riverside because its the nearest “swimmable” beach to the city and the prices there are relatively reasonable. Its actually a beach for the masa. Entrance fee is only P5.00. Corkage for softdrinks is 30 per case and beer, 50.

Going on an excursion or outing is a tradition among Ilonggos. I remember that when I was small, Villa Beach was the place to go. There were plenty of coconut trees back then at Villa and the beach was very clean. Now, Villa is only synonymous to a sumptuous Ilonggo feast at either Tatoy’s or Breakthough. For swimming, one has to go farther than Villa, move further south–to Oton, Tigbauan, Guimbal, Miagao and the farthest Iloilo town–San Joaquin.

Anyway, I’ll post now our photos last Sunday at Riverside.

There were plenty of excursionistas this Sunday. Catching the last rays of summer before the frequent rains. Its rather irregular this year for in April and May, a couple of typhoons visited us already.

These huts (rent at P200) are close to the beach.

Picnic tables (P150) under the coconut trees. “Pwera hulog lubi!” Ok naman a. I’m sure Mr. & Mrs. Tagaro, the owner’s continuously harvest the buko so no danger. Riverside has been operating since 1999.

All sorts of transpo to get to the beach. Cars, van, jeepneys, tricycles… This one is a truckful! From the babies to the grannies, the whole family comes along to the beach. That’s one Ilonggo tradition that will always endure inspite of modernization.

Toto Olie in the foreground. What’s an excursion like? Its families bringing their home-cooked food, some in plasticware, others in the actual kaldero itself.

Lechon now costs P300-350 a kilo. Happiness is lechon!

The ultimate reason for every “excursion?” Happy kids at the beach.

Yesterday around lunchtime, my colleagues Ma’am Mila and Ma’am Rose and I were having an interesting conversation. From our gripes about the bad economy, we eventually ended up discussing traditional Ilonggo food. Ah, now I remember. That was because Ma’am Rose told us about her lunch the day before: ginat-an nga bagongon. Namit gid kunu.

I couldn’t relate because I didn’t grow up loving bagongon.  (Click here for bagongon pix.) It wasn’t part of our family menu. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t learn to love it. Hmm, I’ll tell Manang Ging-ging to cook a bagongon dish next week.

So, ginat-an nga bagongon was lunch for Ma’am Rose. That struck a chord of warm memories for Ma’am Mila, a pure Ogtonganon (Oton was Ogtong before). She adds, “Namit man ang ginat-an nga igi.” Igi is the small organic snail growing in rice paddies. Nowadays though, igi is hard to find. Credit that to chemical pesticides and fertilizers in the talamnan.

Our conversation was becoming more interesting, harking back to the simple pleasures of Iloilo living–when food was pure and simple, when ingredients could just be picked from one’s yard, when the freshest seafood could just be had so easily and cheaply.

Please await the ginat-an recipes. Must ask Ma’am Mila & Ma’am Rose again.

Lest I hibernate again due to an increasingly busy schedule when school opens, I’m writing down my discovery for today.

Well, Inday Hami gamay and I went to Aldeguer St. to buy some socks and face towels at Big J’s Mart. Since Inday Hami was getting hungry, we decided to have soda and try out this ordinary looking pizza at this nondescript kiosk near the Dominican Sisters’ building.

But there was more to it than met our eyes and truly, every person has a story.

Who would ever think that in that nondescript pizza kiosk along Aldeguer Street’s sidewalk is the owner who makes the pizza dough himself? Now that isn’t really something to rave about unless you learn that he underwent rigid training under an American at a famous pizza joint in Manila.

That’s Manong Teod (Teodorico). For 10 years, he worked at Shakey’s as the pizza dough guy.

Manong Teod proudly took a pre-cooked dough and showed it to me. Indeed, it looked “professional”–the shape, smell and all.

I tell you. You’d miss the place if you’re in a hurried pace. His glass display is just a little bigger than the diameter of his pizza. His kiosk lacks cheerful paint. His signboard is unattractive and small.

Yet, here’s a man with a story to tell and a good pizza to sell.

For the whole plate costing only P50.00, don’t expect it to have “the works!” So don’t expect to have olives and capers and pepperoni and mozarella. Its the basic: red sauce, filled cheese, pineapple tidbits, ham squares and mushroom slices. This is pizza for simple folks. Yet, look what we got.

Just finished dinner. There’s a term for that, dressing up left-overs or something. Instead of serving the fried fish left-over from last nite, I decided to transform it into fish lumpia. Told Manang Jelyn to buy lumpia wrapper at Jaro Market.

In an earlier post, I mentioned the true Valeria lumpia which is white and “label-less.” Well, in fairness to the other lumpia wraps which also call themselves as Valeria, I found a good one tonight. It is soft, elastic and didn’t break when I crumpled it.

Come to think of it, this word Valeria has become a generic word just like “Predyeder” (Frigidaire) for ref, “Gilyet” (Gillete) for blade, and “Colget/Colgate” (Colgate) for toothpaste. You know the anecdote: “May colgate kamu nga Close-up?” So now, Valeria=lumpia wrapper.

Ok. The name of this lumpia wrap is Cris J Valeria Special.

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