Memory tidbit: Immaculate Sorbet

April 25, 2013 at 5:41 pm (1800s Filipinas, 1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Arnedo de Sulipan, Brother Andrew F.S.C. of De La Salle, Comedy Relief, Family Traditions, Gonzalez de Sulipan, Humor, Pampanga Cuisine, Pampanga Traditions, Past Events, Personal, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, The Past)

Perhaps because of the searing heat these days, I remembered the traditional “Buco Lechias” sherbet which was made in a wood-and-steel “garapinera” churn with lots of rock salt outside (to keep cold?).  As far as I knew, it was made in every good Capampangan household.  In Lola Charing’s home, it was made by the mayordomo, Benito Nuqui or “Bito” for short.  “Bito” was modernized to “Bits” in the hip 60s.  LOL.

I was a preteen in the late 70s (born 1967).  Lola Charing had passed on in mid-1977 and my uncle Brother Andrew FSC of De La Salle University became the principal figure in the family.  Brother Andrew had the most luxurious and demanding gustatory tastes.  In one of those phases, he became obsessed with producing an excellent “Buco Lechias” sherbet.  He insisted that the “Buco Lechias” sherbet of his childhood (late 40s) at Lola Titay’s (the Arnedo ancestral house in  Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga) had the WHITEST lychee fruit flesh, not the pale pink ones in the cans currently available.  Of course, the flesh of the lychees in the “Buco Lechias” sherbet at the Arnedo house was white, because Lola Titay and her younger sister Lola Ines used only fresh lychees bought all the way in Binondo.  So he sent Bito to Binondo/Chinatown to look for the whitest lychee fruit flesh.  Well, what did he expect?  It was the Marcos years and there were tight import controls.  No whitest lychees.  Just cans and cans of lychees with pinkish fruit flesh.  Bito returned with the palest pink lychee fruit flesh.  No can do.  Bito was scolded.  Bito was sent back to Binondo/Chinatown and — nobody knew how he did it — but he returned with the whitest lychee fruit flesh!!!  Brother Andrew finally had his excellent “Buco Lechias” sherbet with the whitest lychee fruit flesh.  Brother Andrew was satisfied, at least for that Sunday.

I remembered that at Lola Charing’s house sherbet and ice cream were served on etched crystal stems on porcelain saucers for everyday.  During beautiful lunches and dinners, sherbets and ice cream appeared on chic, Art Deco Christofle footed bowls on Brussels lace doilies on matching Christofle saucers.  Of course, I know all about the metallic taste that silver imparts to food, but I’ll use beautiful silver anytime.

The sherbet/ice cream phase did not end there.  Brother Andrew wanted a “Calamansi” sherbet.  He wanted it tart and dry, something like lime mixed with champagne brut.  Not sweet at all (Brother Andrew intensely disliked sweetish food that was not meant to be sweet, like spaghetti).  Odd, but “Calamansi” tended to sweeten slightly in sherbet form.  No can do.  It took Bito several tries to produce that tart and dry “Calamansi” sherbet, but he did, even if he couldn’t tell the difference.  Brother Andrew was satisfied, at least for that Sunday.

Now in 2013, I wonder why it didn’t occur to Brother Andrew to have a “Dayap” sherbet, when in fact fragrant “dayap” lime (“dalayap” in Capampangan) was used extensively — on practically everything — in our Capampangan/Sulipan cooking?

The best version of “Buco Lechias” sherbet that I’ve had in recent years — exquisitely and expertly tinged with “dayap” lime rind with a hint of French cordial — was served at dinner by my dear friend Albert Salgado Paloma, who is an equal (perhaps even a superior) to Brother Andrew’s luxurious and demanding gustatory tastes.  Worldly and elegant Albert thinks nothing of marinating Italian veal shanks in a very expensive French grand cru for his “Ossobuco” and of marinating goat meat in a very expensive French X.O. cognac for his “Caldereta de Cabrito.”  For Albert, luxurious excess is the only culinary way to go.  Truly Capampangan.

Back to Brother Andrew, the sherbet/ice cream phase did not end there.  He wanted the “Mantecado” ice cream of his childhood at Lola Titay’s (the Arnedo ancestral house in Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga).  Mind you, it was not the commercial, vanilla-flavored “Mantecado” ice cream you can buy at the megasupermarkets now.  Brother Andrew’s inherited idea of “Mantecado” ice cream was of thick carabao’s milk, full of egg yolks, and “dayap” lime rind shavings.  It was golden yellow with sprinklings of grass green.  It looked so chic!  If Hermes and Chanel made ice cream, that would definitely be it.  So Bito produced our family’s version of “Mantecado” ice cream with “dayap” lime from Lola Charing’s rose garden.  It was ambrosial.  I would have finished off a gallon if I were permitted to do so.

Comedy relief:  Remembering Brother Andrew’s predilection for “Buco Lechias” sherbet, I am reminded of the time when, already severely diabetic with counts from 300-500 in the early 1990s, Brother Andrew requested his dear first cousin Dr Erlinda “Linda” Arnedo Sazon-Badenhop to make him some sugar-free “Buco Lechias” sherbet, which she claimed she could.  Two or three Sunday lunches later, she arrived with the desired “sugar-free” “Buco Lechias” sherbet which she made herself.  Expectedly, given the Arnedo tastebuds that she had, it was delicious and Brother Andrew was in rapture.  “Are you sure this is sugar-free???  It’s so sweet and so good!!!  It’s delicious!!!”  Brother Andrew rhapsodized as he rapidly consumed 5 scoops of the concoction.  “Yes, Brother!  No sugar, definitely no sugar!”  she claimed most assuredly, with her characteristic deadpan.  Later, when Brother Andrew had retired upstairs (doubtless dizzy from the sugar rush LOL), we asked:  “Wow, Tita Linda!  Your “Buco Lechias” sherbet was so good!  And it’s sugar-free!  What’s your secret??!!”  “Easy!”  she replied, “I poured all the syrup of the cans into the sherbet!”  “HUH???!!!”  Aghast, we cried out:  “But Tita Linda!  That’s all sugar!!!  The syrup IS sugar!!!”    She insisted firmly but comically with a naughty smile:  “No, no, no!  That’s only syrup, NOT sugar!  Besides, how will it taste good without any of the lychee syrup???!!!”    TOUCHE.    LOLOLOL    ROTF    LMAO    !!!!!!!!!!!!

So this is what this warm, warm spell does to me.  It makes me think of sherbet and ice cream from the past.  From the distant past.

These days, I am delightfully condemned to the highly unusual, positively weird, molecular gastronomy, New Age ice cream concoctions of my brother Gene and nephew Gino.  But it’s a nice problem to have.  LOL.

13 Comments

The Christmas Seasons of Childhood

December 17, 2009 at 10:13 am (1800s Filipinas, 2006, 2007, 2008, Angst, Humor, Manila Houses, Past Events, Personal, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, The Past)

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but the Christmases of recent years just feel different…  WHERE IS THE SPIRIT???  I’m not sure if it’s just my “advancing” age, along with all the various responsibilities, persistent worries, and endless problems that make me feel this way.  All I’m sure is that Christmas was much more wondrous, joyous, and fun when I was a child in the early 1970s, considering that those were not even wonderful years — rather dark, in fact — in our country’s history.

When I was a child, there was the rustle of the elders and the household staff in the dark of night — although the roosters were already crowing — as they dressed to attend the 4:00 a.m. “Misa de Gallo” at the parish church.  We children were not really taken along since we would just be irritable and sleep throughout the mass.  After the mass ended at 5:00 a.m., there was no going back to sleep as the day had begun.  Breakfast was prepared and afterwards everybody set out with their tasks for the day.

During the times I was taken along to the “Misa de Gallo,” I was fascinated with the “belen” [ Christmas creche ] near the altar and the occasional crepe paper “parol” [ “farol” / lantern ] hanging nearby.  The figures of the “belen” were big although not lifesize, and there were animals and real hay [ absolutely thrilling for a child ]!  There was an ox, a donkey, a camel, goats, and several sheep.  After the mass, there was a long line to kiss the image of the cute Baby Jesus in the “belen,” and Little Me, blissfully unaware of bacteria and viruses and infections, gave Baby Jesus’ stomach a big smack of the lips.  In those days, there was no fear — indeed no knowledge — of H1N1 or bird flu;  there was only good ol’ TB tuberculosis, which was chicken feed by Philippine standards, and which everyone had been exposed to one way or the other!   😛

During the nine days of the “Misa de Gallo,” the patio of the parish church turned into a veritable market with vendors selling all sorts of things.  Of course, Little Me and my younger brother and sister always wanted the multicolored sweet popcorn .10 centavos per pack [ which my mother thought was not clean enough and refused to buy for us ] and the color-splashed balloons .25 centavos each.  The elders went for the “bibingka,” the “puto bumbong,” and the “suman” rice cakes, although they always complained that the ones made at home were better.  All the sights, sounds, and smells during those chilly December mornings became the Christmas memories I have carried with me all my life.

Back in Lola Charing’s house, the Tampingco-style round dining table, the magnificent bone-inlaid sideboard, the JAO nests of tables, the Puyat library table, the cabinets, and most of the antique tables around were teeming with white boxes upon boxes of large “ensaimadas,” “tocino del cielo,” fruit cake,” “food for the gods,” and other Old Sulipan goodies on top of cans and trays with water [ to prevent the ants climbing up 😛 ] which Ate Talia Padilla [ daughter of the legendary Juan Padilla, chef of the 1898 Malolos Congress ], Lola’s “mayordoma” and resident patissier, had been churning out by the hundreds the last few days to be sent to Lola Charing’s relatives and friends around the city — various Gonzalezes and Arnedos;  various Lopezes, Cojuangcos, Madrigals, et. al..  We grandkiddies only had to ask Ate Talia for any of those sugary goodies in the kitchen as she had lots of them there.  Thus the Gonzalez diabetics of the future were bred.

Back in those days when I did not have to think of the employees’ Christmas bonuses, 13th month salaries, personal cash gifts, Christmas gifts to VIPs all the way to friends’ pet dogs, yearend debt settlements, etc., etc..  All I had to think of was what new toy I wished for Christmas from “Santa Claus,” who never showed up in person.

I thnk my first “loss of innocence” was when I was told at the age of seven, I forget by whom, that Santa Claus didn’t exist, that he was just some fairy tale.  You see, we children, courtesy of our “yayas” from the provinces, lived in an insulated, magical world where everything existed:  angels, demons, vampires, “aswang,” “manananggal,” “kapre,” “tikbalang,” “duwende,” “asong pascual” [ in Pampanga ], and Godknowswhatelse, etc..

*unfinished*

11 Comments

A million thanks to you

December 10, 2009 at 12:10 pm (1800s Filipinas, 1900s Philippines, 19th century Filipino Art, 2000s Philippines, 2006, 2007, 2008, Angst, Architecture, Arnedo de Sulipan, Blogroll, Brother Andrew F.S.C. of De La Salle, Comedy Relief, Current Events, Design and Decoration, Domestic Travels, Escaler de Sulipan, Family Traditions, Filipino Art, Foreign Travels, Gonzalez de Sulipan, Humor, Manila Houses, Pampanga Art, Pampanga Cuisine, Pampanga Traditions, Past Events, Personal, Quiason de San Fernando, Random memories, Religious Traditions, Reyes de Arayat, Rodriguez de Bacolor, The Cebuanos, The Davaoenos, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Ilonggos, The Laguna Tagalogs, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, The Past, The Tarlaquenos, The Tayabenses / Quezonians, Tristesse)

Dear Friends,

As that Pilita Corrales ditty from the 1970s went:  “A million thanks to you…”  A million thanks to you indeed, for today “Remembrance of Things Awry” — http://www.remembranceofthingsawry.wordpress.com — reached the 1,000,000 hits mark since starting in August 2006 [ 1,000,402 hits — not counting me — as of 8:00 p.m. ].  I know it’s “peanuts” compared to the great Filipino blogs which already have millions of hits.  But then, we all know this blog isn’t for everyone, right?

A Million Thanks to All of You!!!  And of course, a million thanks to wordpress.com, the blog host.

Now, are you ready for the “Toto Gonzalez Show” on the Net???  Hahahah.

Cheers!!!

Toto Gonzalez   😀   😀   😀

11 Comments

Comedy Relief: Haute Taal, October 2009

December 1, 2009 at 9:26 pm (19th century Filipino Art, 2008, Architecture, Comedy Relief, Design and Decoration, Domestic Travels, Filipino Art, Humor, Past Events, Personal, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos)

On one A-MRMF Assumption Mother Rosa Memorial Foundation Tour to the beautiful heritage town of Taal in Batangas, we visited the two beautifully restored and strictly maintained Villavicencio ancestral houses, the 1850s “Original” and the 1870s “Wedding”…

In the “Sala” [ drawing room ] of the 1870s “Wedding” house, now owned by Ms. Monsy Villavicencio-Joven, initials of the illustrious Villavicencio-Marella family members intertwined with leaves and flowers were painted on the frieze of the room.

Admiring the ornate “Sala” [ restored under the direction of patrician Filipiniana scholar Martin “Sonny” Imperial Tinio Jr. ], one of the socially prominent lady travelers, who certainly knew her Art and Antiques, but decided to be naughty nonetheless, pointed to a painted cipher and quipped:  “Sosyal!  “L V”… Louis Vuitton!!!”   😛   😛   😛

Harharhar!!!   😀   😀   😀

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The Marcos Era Part III: The Final Act 18 January 1981 – 25 February 1986

October 25, 2009 at 8:00 am (Angst, Past Events, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Leytenos, The Manilenos, The Tarlaquenos, Tristesse)

She knew, she knew… In early February 1986, First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos called her close Romualdez relations and urged them to come to the Malacanang Palace to take their pick of her personal effects, NOT the official Palace inventory, but the beautiful things which she had collected for herself — furniture, rugs, paintings, decorative items, etc..  She knew The Hour was upon her.

…………

And yes, the erstwhile preposterous claim of the Marcoses that they thought they were being flown by the Americans to Paoay, Ilocos Norte, and not to Hawaii in the U.S.A. was actually TRUE.

Drawing from conversations 24 years after the fact with Marcos, Romualdez, and Coj*angco-Murphy family members who were present at Clark Air Base that time, the rescue of the Marcoses & Co. was an American operation but they were not told of an outright plan to fly to the United States.  The Americans had flown the Marcoses out of Malacanang Palace to Clark Air Base to avoid a French Revolution-type of scenario in which the Marcoses would be summarily put to death by the angry mob.  They also had to fly the Marcoses out of Clark Air Base because elements of the AFP Armed Forces of the Philippines sympathetic to the rebels at EDSA would soon be circling the air base — but not attacking, for Clark was considered U.S. territory — waiting to arrest the Marcoses.  The Marcoses & Co. were informed that they were flying out of Clark, ostensibly to the Ilocano North, but never to Hawaii in the United States.  The plane was not even meant for passengers, it was a cargo plane of the U.S. Air Force.  In fact, the children and the teenagers traveling in the group bled from their noses and ears as a result of the incorrect air pressure in the cabin.

That was why Hawaii Governor George Ariyoshi and his wife had prepared a diplomatic welcome for the Marcoses.  They were not aware until the last minute that Ferdinand Marcos had already been deposed.

An American radioed:  “I have the trimmings of the cake but I don’t have the cake itself…”  But then, the “cake” itself arrived…

D*nding Coj*angco and his family were the last to arrive at Clark Air Base.  They hardly brought anything with them, if at all.  D*nding had forgotten to bring a jacket and so donned the jacket of a security guard.

D*nding had taken the time to bid goodbye to his mother, Dona N*ne, at her Balete Drive residence:  “Mama, sandali lang ako.  Ihahatid ko lang si Marcos.”  He charged his siblings with the care of their mother:  “Kayo na ang bahala kay Mama.  Babalik din ako.”

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The Marcos Era Part II: Martial Law 21 September 1972 – 17 January 1981

October 24, 2009 at 8:00 am (1900s Philippines, Angst, Past Events, Personal, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Davaoenos, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Ilonggos, The Laguna Tagalogs, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, The Past, The Tarlaquenos, The Tayabenses / Quezonians, Tristesse)

I remember 17 January 1981, the day President Ferdinand Marcos officially lifted Martial Law.  That evening, my mother and I were at the Cultural Center of the Philippines for a performance of the pianist Cecile Licad.  As always, Cecile’s patron Madame Imelda Romualdez-Marcos was in attendance.  Although it was a gala performance, there seemed to be an attempt at understatement:  Madame Marcos was not in a long dress, but in a short cocktail one, red and black if I remember right.  After the performance, Madame Marcos descended the stairway surrounded by her retinue but she made the effort to cordially greet the people who approached her.  My mother complimented her:  “Congratulations!  It is because of you that we have Cecile Licad.”  And Madame Marcos happily rejoined:  “No, Cecile is there because of all of us.” gesturing at the assemblage.  The mood of the evening was happy, cheerful, and hopeful.  Nine memorable years in Filipino History had officially come to an end.

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EDSA 1986: Remembrance and Reevaluation

July 14, 2009 at 5:17 pm (2000s Philippines, Angst, Past Events, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, Tristesse)

What was it all about, after all?

Was there any real change inside us, where it really mattered?

Why are we back to square one thus far?  Or have we really progressed as a democratic country without our knowing it?

These and other nagging, serious questions haunt us — as I’m sure they do millions of others, specially the principal players of that epic drama twenty-three years ago — as we ponder the mortality of the former President Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco-Aquino.

Was it worth the personal sacrifices and the very high levels of stress as the President of the Philippines after Ferdinand Marcos, Cory?

Was it worth your assassination / martyrdom, Ninoy?  Was it worth becoming a national hero?

Was it worth ignominiously removing you as the First Lady, Imelda?

Was it worth ignominiously removing you as the President, Ferdinand?

Was it worth all the hope for my family and I and fifty million other Filipinos?

Was it worth anything at all to you, my friend?

It is a good time to reflect on THE ESSENTIALS OF LIFE, to ask ourselves the difficult questions of our existence as human beings and as Filipinos…

26 Comments