The town of Barotac Viejo is a coastal town along the Guimaras Strait in the North of Iloilo Province. Many of the villages that make up the town are fishing villages and when my sister Amour and I were little girls, I recall that the fishing grounds were plentiful what with the choice of seafood, especially fish like the snapper, slipmouth and tuna and crustaceans like lobster, crabs and shrimps as well as shellfish like oysters, clams and scallops and cephalopods like squids, octopus and cuttlefish. Eversince I can remember, at the end of every schoolday, either my Tita Bing or Lola Beb would go to the local open-air market, rushing to catch the fresh-food vendors before they close up shop for the day.
Fish was generally cheaper than other meats (chicken, pork or beef) and can be bought fresh, dried (locally called tuyo) or smoked (locally called tinapa). All three types of fish sold have their merits and all three can be made into delicious viands (a type of dish that accompanies the Filipino table's main source of carbohydrates - steamed rice) by Tita Bing. When I turned 8 and in second grade, I was responsible enough to be able to go to the market on my own to buy ingredients for the day's meal (rural Filipinos buy for the day to catch the freshest ingredients as frozen items were not very popular and not all families have freezers then). However, I preferred to accompany Tita Bing as her little tail together with my sister Amour when she does food shopping for the night's and next day's breakfast and lunch viands.
Market Jaunts with Tita
One of the main reasons is because Tita Bing's company is always fun. With her, I always felt safe and secure. After the end of my classes, she would ask how my day went and I can 'debrief' with her, about the bad things and the good things (if one of my moody classmates threw a tantrum or if I scored terribly in a test) as well as the activities I need to do for my homework and my classes. Tita Bing would always make sure I was okay and that I'd be prepared for whatever I'd need the next day or the near future. The next reason is that my sister Amour and I would always hang out in her classroom (she was the 2nd grade teacher in the school where we studied) after classes before we leave for the market and in those precious half hour where Tita Bing closes down the classroom, makes sure it is clean and prepares it for the next day, Amour and I would play. Simple stuff like jackstone or pick-up-sticks or hide-&-seek which we played with gusto.
Then the 'going to the market' event would begin. My sister and I would skip and hop as we walked to the market 2 blocks away, saying hello to people and talking to each other about whatever comes to mind. Entering the market, Tita Bing would take her time looking at the fresh seafood on offer, from one end to the other. The high din of vendors offering their products fill the air, calling to Tita Bing to check out their seafood, promising a discount. Tita Bing would then talk to us as she carefully selects the piles of fish on offer, teaching us how to spot fresh fish and what fish are best for what method of cooking (i.e. tilapia for a vinegar-based stew, red-snapper/maya-maya and milkfish/bangus for fish-stew, mackerel/tangigi for frying). Often, Tita Bing would cook Tinola nga Isda, (tinola - stew, isda - fish) because the soup is delicious and something that my siblings and I enjoy, as we blanket our rice in the soup and delight in the taste. Tita would cook the stew with tomatoes, onions, ginger, papaya and malunggay (moringa) - veggies and herbs plentiful in our garden, packed full of vitamins and minerals that helps in keeping us kids healthy.
The highlight of going to the market with Tita Bing however is that she always stops for a light snack, so that Amour and I get the chance to drink the ambrosia of our childhood - we would share a 500ml bottle of ice cold Pepsi or Coke, a welcome hydration to throats of kids who ran around under the tropical sun. My little sister would be holding her plastic cup with both hands as Tita Bing would fill it, carefully balancing her cup so as not to spill it. We would snack in one of the local stores or restaurants which doubles as a cafe and a place for locals to congregate and talk. Often, we would snack on sweet breads or when lucky, crisps and chips, junk food that at home, our grand aunts would shake their heads if we consume. The highlight of it is that the snacking would end up with a selection of candies, particularly because candy in their ones and twos are cheap, and usually because my little sister Amour is cute, we often get given candy for free.
Helping in the Kitchen, Learning about Life
When we arrive home Tita Bing would get us to pick veggies from the garden like malunggay and papaya. Often, my sisters and I would help in preparing them, plucking out the malunggay leaves from their little branches as they are really small, in their hundreds. Rich in Vitamin B they also contain Vitamins A and C as well as minerals like Calcium, Iron and Zinc. As we plucked, we would sing songs we know, stuff we learn from school or that which would be playing on the radio. Sometimes. Tita Bing would put Bombo Radyo on, a local news radio channel where we listen to current events around the province. Some crime stories would be topics at times and news of the NPA (New People's Army), an armed rebel group who were (and still is) in conflict with the government. Their encounters were often bloody and I suppose, my interest in current events and criminal psychology sort of began as I plucked malunggay leaves.
We had 2 kitchens - the 'clean kitchen' with a tiled workspace and a gas-fuelled cooker and oven inside the house next to a long wooden dining table, and a 'dirty kitchen' in a small courtyard right next to the house with a raised cooking platform that used firewood and a workspace made of cement. It has a larder of ingredients as well as a collection of cooking utensils, pots and pans and a water source to prepare food as well as clean with. Because the family estate had its own little forest, firewood was plenty and our grandaunts and granduncle grew up with this kind of kitchen. I must admit that while it is a lot of work to use firewood, there is a kind of aroma that infuses the food from the wood, adding to the umami of the food. In my early attempts at using firewood, I can recall the number of times I burnt my hair or the food, or generally set the fish or meat I am frying on fire as I couldn't control the fire. But standing beside Tita Bing and watching her prepare taught me how as she also allowed my sister and me to help so that little by little, we learned the process.
After cooking, my sisters and I, as well as Tita Bing, would smell like smoke and food. Sometimes, we forget to change from our uniform into our house clothes and my Lola Beb would admonish me since my uniform top is white and ash on it can be hard to wash off. We would then rush to wash off and get ourselves to the table, because Tinola nga Isda made by Tita is delicious and when served hot, the steam carries that delicious aroma to the nose. Dinner would be a loud affair. It would start with a prayer to give thanks for the food and Tita Bing, but especially Lola Beb would expect us to practice manners - the 'please pass this and that' and while allowed to speak and laugh and enjoy ourselves, do so as cleanly and orderly as possible. As I look back to those times, I am thankful that they did their best to teach us table manners because aside from politeness, it is the gateway to acceptable behavior in social events. After dinner, us kids would wash the dishes, and often we would take turns. I would admit that I did not look forward to it, but it was always fun doing things together with my sister.
I cannot count the number of pots of Tinola nga Isda that Tita Bing cooked for me and my siblings (possibly in the thousands) but I can recall the happy memories encapsulated in such events. They were fundamental to my childhood as rituals of family and love, balancing out the neglect and heartbreak brought on by our parents (see Previous Post). Now, everytime I prepare Tinola, I strive to make it as good as Tita Bing does in the hope that my own version would be imbued with as much love and care as hers did. I am sure that my sister Amour's Tinola nga Isda carries on the tradition that she learned from Tita Bing and I know that my nieces Xam and Pipay are forming their own treasure trove of food-related memories with their Mama that will be as valuable as ours was with Tita Bing.
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