The girls and I are going to the Philippines next week with our maid Tena. She is from a town on the main island of Luzon, on the west coast about 7 hours drive north of Manila. She hasn't been back home to visit her kids in all the 5 years she's worked for us, preferring to take the money I would have spent on her ticket and send it home. I had been trying to convince her for quite a while, with little success. Overseas workers who go back for a visit to their hometown are invariably hit up for money by every relative and even aquaintance they see. Some maids end up spending so much on these trips, what with presents to buy and people to help that they wind up in debt at the end of their 2-year contract, having sacrificed a lot for little apparent gain. Tena also has said that it would make her feel so homesick to see her children for a short time and leave them again that not seeing them is better. But slowly, with the application of greater and greater amounts of cash, I talked her into it.
We are going back for her daughter's high school graduation. She's not telling her kids or her mom; she wants to just walk up and surprise them. Sounds to me like the kind of thing that causes heart attacks, but whatever. I have never been to the Philippines, and I'm really looking forward to it. It is always such a different experience to go and stay in someone's home, rather than in hotels. Tena's mom is going to teach me how to make lots of tasty food, such as stuffed milkfish and a kind of ox tongue stew. I am going to supply the meat (including a whole pig's head!) and beer and booze for a big party, and Tena's getting the veggies, soft drinks and so on. I tried to get a whole suckling pig, but they could only come up with what is basically a small hog, and that's too much. So, head it is! I just hope I don't get drunk and get double-dog-dared into eating an eyeball (something I have done in the past, with a BBQ sheep's head in Cyprus.) They are almost certainly going to rent a karaoke machine and make me sing, though. I better start practicing "You Are The Wind Beneath My Wings" now.
Tena says there is a nice beach nearby, with restaurants on the beach where you can get tasty fresh fish and squid. I think most of the time we're just going to hang out, though there are some catholic shrines and things around that might be interesting. I'm looking forward to going to the wet markets and seeing all the stuff. I think I'm going to have to pass on the delicacy called balut, which is a boiled egg containing the partially formed chicken embryo, which you eat bones and all. Crunchy. Also, tripe stew? I just don't like tripe. I've tried.
John's parents are thoughtfully paying for Tena's daughter to go to nursing school starting in May. Her son is being a bit of a slacker but will hopefully finish up next year, and then I hope I can convince my family to help with his school. Big improvements all around! Thanks Paul and Kay, you rock!
jholbo-at-mac-dot-com
Woo-hoo! Stuffed milkfish synchronicity! (scroll down) Though Davidson makes it more like a samosa.
No balut? No eyeballs? then you can expect some yummy roast pig skin. The best part is the fat, which you scrape off with your teeth, like artichoke. Don't mind the bristles. (Mandos, I am afraid there is no kosher version of this possible. It's sort of why Deuteronomy was written.)
Posted by: Carlos | March 23, 2006 at 08:22 PM
That is very cool. I'm sure you'll all have a blast.
My landlord's family in North Sulawesi made us a roast suckling pig for Xmas, which was incredibly tasty. Then a few weeks ago a piglet moved into our yard - destination Easter!
Interestingly our kids, although they like going to see the piglet and feeding him our leftovers, are not sentimental about him. They *want* to eat him.
He is a bad tempered smelly little guy anyway.
Posted by: Anthony | March 23, 2006 at 11:12 PM
Papa saw someone eating the Vietnamese version of balut when he was in Viet Nam--it's the one thing he mentions that he didn't try and wishes he had.
Posted by: SamChevre | March 24, 2006 at 10:03 PM
I've only been to the Philippines once, and it was for a very short time, and it was to Manila, and it was on business -- so the fun quotient was limited but I do remember that the food was very good. I'm betting it will be even better where you're going. Enjoy!
Posted by: Andrew John | March 24, 2006 at 10:05 PM
Aw yeah filipina cuisine has its own charms, tho' it can be a bit, shall we say, greasy. Try some fresh lumpia.
Posted by: perezoso | March 26, 2006 at 03:28 AM
I spent some time there in the 80's, in the USAF. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I used to fly over the area you are going, but never ventured farther north than Baguio by car. The coast is incredible; very mountainous inland. It's tough to know how far 7 hours gets you today; then it would have been maybe 200 miles. Are you going near Santa Maria?
You are really going to have a blast, and Zoe should remember it all well. The Filipinos in general are gentle, hospitable, and friendly. Where you are going, I imagine few tourists venture. What a treat.
Posted by: Jeff M | March 26, 2006 at 04:25 AM
Good idea, I'll send it around here in Milano.
Posted by: Hans | April 06, 2006 at 06:30 PM
I was just thinking about balut eggs for some reason. If giant aliens invaded and decided to use humans as food, would they invent balut humans? Would it occur to them to create clever human-flesh delicacies?
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