Saturday, September 24, 2005

Lasang Pinoy Round 2: Daing na Bangus and Tuyo

Celiak is the host of Lasang Pinoy (Round 2) and wants us to fascinate the world with tales of how we survive every storm that visits our beloved country, the Philippines. From what I know, Philippines suffers from 10 to 30 storms of varying strenght every year. Sometimes, they're devastating, sometimes they're not.

Typhoon season in the Philippines is a mixture of welcome and unwelcome feelings from me. In Baguio where I grew up, it means being isolated from the rest of the Philippines. It also meant that our food supplies coming from the lowlands would possibly be cut off brought about by landslides making our roads impassable. Out of desperation, sometimes farmers try to risk their lives to transport their goods to at least recover some of their farming costs.

It's not altogether bad when news of typhoons reach us. Why? Usually, the news would either be a hit or miss, what with the outdated weather radar our government had at that time? Typhoons are categorized I believe in four signals: 1) Signal number 1 meant that the force of the wind and rain was not truly devastating. Elementary students are still required to attend their classes; 2) Signal number 2 meant that classes in high school are cancelled and chances are, the winds and rain will be quite destructive; 3) Signal number 3 meant classes in colleges and universities are cancelled. You'll have to brace up because the strength of this typhoon is ravaging; 4) It's devastating and deadly.

There were times that PAG-ASA, our weather bureau would announce that the forthcoming storm is categorized as signal number three. Well, that meant all schools were cancelled only to find out that students are having a good time in movie houses because the weather is not that threatening at all. It's shining brightly outside.

There were instances where the storm was categorized as signal number 1 and yet it's raining cats and dogs and you could hardly stay dry and cover the rain with your umbrella.

Now, every time there is news of a strong typhoon hitting our city, milk fishes from fishponds in Pangasinan are often harvested prematurely because chances are these fish pens are going to be flooded anyways and the fishes washed away by the rain. Owners usually harvest them and bring them to Baguio and sell them for a bargain. It won't be any help for us to stock pile them in our freezers because there's a big chance that our power will be out anyway because of strong winds.

Mother always had a brilliant idea of buying them and filleting them while they're still cheap. She would then marinate them in lots of vinegar, garlic, pepper and soy sauce and fry them. When marinated, these bangus would last for a few days. In fact, the taste gets better if marinated for a few days. She would make sure that she bought enough to last us a few days days before the storm calms down and market stalls open again. We call it daing na bangus.

We would usually have sinigang na bangus on the first day of the storm. The next day, we would have fried bangus and the third day, daing na bangus. Better enjoy them while they last because once business is back, their prices would skyrocket.

What about the monsoon rain? It's not definitely a welcome one for me. First of all, the rain never stops for weeks. I remember when I was young; it would rain continuously for over a month. Of course because it's only a monsoon rain, classes are not cancelled. As soon as you get out of the house, your pants and runners are already soaked. Drying your clothes takes forever. Because we don't have dryers in Baguio, sometimes-even electricity, we hang our clothes to dry. It takes about 3 days to dry them and the smell is always unwanted. Well, it would be a mixture of a rotten smell with food that you've cooked for the past few days. Because prices of goods during this time is really high or sometimes because we're isolated, supplies of vegetables from the lowlands is scarce, we depend on canned goods and dried fish for sustenance. Cooking dried fish inside the house when all windows are shut will make you think twice before cooking dried fish. For some reason though, it is when the weather is cold that dried fish taste so good.

There is this part of the city that gets flooded everytime our city gets hit by a storm. It's literally a hole with no drainage. The water level sometimes gets to their rooftop and it takes days for the water to subside. But Baguio City is above sea level, you might say? Rescue operations are often focused on this part of the city. I have reached a point in my life where I basically lost sympathy for the people who lived there. They seem to not have learned their lessons but who are we to judge them. A friend told me that it's the only property they have and their only way of staying in the city.Well, when the storm calms and we're ready to pick up the pieces, sometimes mother prepares arroz caldo for us. She however makes sure that the chicken she buys from the market are not "double-dead".

24 comments:

talhey said...

hi ms. ting! daing look so yummy, don't know when was the last time i had one. it's not the resources, it's the 'katam' (aran) that's keeping me for not having it, hehehe. this brought you back a lot of memories, noh! have a great week and take care :D!

Kai said...

Ah, yes, we get flooded by the bangus during rains and floods, hahaha.
When the rains go on for weeks we'd swear we'll never eat bangus again! ;-)

Sari-Sari Winkel said...

Ting, I really miss eating daing, tuyo and itlog na maalat. I can't get these here or maybe I just don't know where to get it. So just looking at the picture makes my craving even worst. And yes for some reason, rainy days make the experience of eating tuyo, etc., more pleasurable.

JMom said...

Ting, ang aga mo ha. Alam ko yung sinasabi mong laging baha, yung city camp diba? at rock quarry, ganon din, pero at least yun self explanatory kung bakit sila nababaha palagi.

Naalala ko rin yung mga typhoon sirens, that you can hear throughout the city. Loudest where we were, since we lived close to city hall.

Sarap nga ng tuyo pag umuulan, no? I was thinking of posting tuyo and champorado, pero pinost na ni sha last time yung champorado, so I'm still trying to think of what to cook ;-) last minute na naman ako.

ting-aling said...

Talhey, you know, you can buy them at Filipino Stores in California, filleted and marinated already. I know, especially that I don't experience any of those anymore where I am now.

ting-aling said...

Kai, ah the part where you get so "bangused-out" hehe!

ting-aling said...

Sari, I am pretty sure they have them in London. Does this make you feel like going back to London all the more?

ting-aling said...

Hey JMom, it's City Camp and Rock Quarry nga. We've talked about this.

Tuyo and champorado? Sure you still can. Sha's experience is different from yours so go ahead and cook tuyo and champorado :-)

dexiejane said...

the abundance of seafood after a flood is awesome. i loved it. those huge bangus...yum.

ChichaJo said...

Wow Ting, very early entry! :) Rainy season seems to have been half hearted this year where I live...although there were a number of rainy days, this morning for example, and guess what I had today? Bangus! Hehe, timing na timing! :)

Thess said...

bangus in any 'style! ang sarap naman ms. ting :-)

celia kusinera said...

Yes more daing for me! Do you think it will work as well with sea bass? 'Coz that's the closest we have to a bangus.
Your post brought a lot of memories for me when it would rain for weeks and it was sooo hard to dry clothes inside the house.
Thanks for your great entry, Ting! :)

Bokbok said...

ting, galing mo talagang magpatulo ng laway! haha! ^-^

ting-aling said...

Bugsy, I remember when I was young, our entrie roof got blown by the wind as well and landed on my mothers garden. It took us a few months to really have it fixed and I remember we lived-off a makeshift kubo. That was the scariest storm I've ever encountered.

Double-dead is what I call chicken dying as a result of the natural disaster and merchants try to salvage them by trying to make them look like they've been freshly butchered.

ting-aling said...

Hi Chichajo. Actually it wasn't too long ago when I asked my sister if they've had any typhoons yet in Baguio. She said they haven't had any threatening ones this year.

Well, think about what happened to New Orleans and that's enough for you to thank your lucky stars.

ting-aling said...

Thess, we didn't have any choice but bangus..they're cheap just before the storm.

ting-aling said...

CeliaK, we'll try to daing seabass one of these days. The thing is, madaling "maagnas" ang seabass, but who knows, right?

ting-aling said...

Hey Bok, 'can definitely send you some via UPS...just give me a holler.

MikeMina said...

ading TING, nagimassen ti entry mo! (did you get that? hahaha! one of my rare attempts to speak or write in the dialect!) since i am working today and won't have the chance to cook my sunday LA.FANG, i might just call for delivery of daing, itlog na maalat, etc. for dinner tonight! hehe

anyway, thanks for dropping by my blog.

one of your comments here also reminded me of the entire roof of our house being blown off while we were about to sleep during lent("holy wednesday") --- i was 9 or 10 that time, i think . . .

ting-aling said...

Thanks for the visit Mike. So you were about 9 or 10? I might not be an ading then..haha

Stef said...

LOL, ting, na-aliw naman ako sa "double dead" mo. dito sa US dinedemanda ang mga chicken farms na nagbebenta ng double-dead. 'kala ko dito lang. masarap i-daing dito pag walang bangus, salmon. pero ang tatay ko nanghihinayang pag ginagawa ko, kasi masyado raw masarap ang salmon para daingin. pero 'yun ang bagay di ba, kasi fatty din s'ya.

Lani said...

Hello, Ting. Talagang masarap 'yang daing na bangus kahit anong panahon. Especially sa morning with garlicky fried rice (yummy!)

Yan nga dami double-dead dito sa atin. Di lang chicken pati pig. Ang tawag sa mga double-dead na pork na ibenebenta sa market ay "botcha." Kalungkot lang kasi kahit alam ng ibang pinoy na double-dead iyon because very cheap siya ay bumibili pa rin sila. Katwiran nila kahit minsan masayaran ang mga sikmura nila ng baboy. Hay! sad talaga.

ting-aling said...

Stef, dinadaing mo ang salmon? hmm ..haven't tried that. Masubukan nga. Ang salmon, me kakaibang sarap eh. Hindi kaya masisira ang lasa pag nilagyan ng suka?

ting-aling said...

Hi Lani, tutuo yan. Dahil sa kahirapan sa buhay, kahit ano na, kakainin pa rin ng iba nating kabayan ano? Sad.