I’m back in Manila after a long bus ride and its been raining this afternoon. I was hanging out with some local friends and finally broke down to eat with my fingers….something I swore I would never do. These people are just way too cool and fun to be around. Lunch was BBQ whole fish, pork chops, rice, veggie mix, grilled eggplant, avocado slices, salted shrimp paste (didnt try), and…I think that was it. - served on 2 large banana palm leaves covering the table. I was the only one with a plate and fork/spoon. Everyone else plopped it down in front of them and dug in, so I did likewise (but with a plate still) with my fingers. I guess I was looking awkward because I was instructed on how to properly ‘push’ the food from hand to mouth - and that shit works!
I’ve always had this phobia of eating whole non-gutted fish with head, tail, skin, and scales on it. But honestly, its easy as hell. I enjoyed the whole lunch!
I have been all over and notice the varying ‘tastes’ and cusines of different region are usually from really old traditions or whatever…but they’re always old.
So I’m not sure how the Philippines came about with the invention of “Tamis Anghang” or ‘banana catsup’. I noticed they are in love with puting brown gravy on everything but what the hey, gravy has beeneverywhere. Even though calling it ’sauce’ and putting it on fried chicken still gives me pause…I can accept gravy.
This bottle of banana ketchup has a picture of poached eggs, fried chicken, hot dogs, and something that looks like meatloaf slices with boiled egg in the middle. ketchup on fried chicken…. i dunno.
So how old is ketchup/catsup in the Philippines and when did they decide it would be a good idea to mix it with bananas? Its got an interesting taste, but I can only do it in tiny amounts. But then again, they also advertise “Filipino Classics” on the menu and it includes hotdogs. If I only could have been the first person to open a hotdog factory here, I would be a rich man…..
Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch….
I was doing much better this morning but now I almost wish I could hurl. Some salty soup didnt do the trick like it should have. Some pickle juice had me feeling better for a while and the body was responsive too but that was short lived. It didnt help that my lower back was killing me from the start. The only thing I was lifting was a foam mattress but I guess that did it.
And damnit! Why the hell does it smell like piss and milkfish all around the place! Urine oder is wafting around the hillside. The people downstairs are cooking with scrap construction wood again and the smoke is coming inside thru the balcony. Milkfish! I don’t know if thats what it is but Filipinos eat that stuff all the time and it smells like rotting flesh in a garbage dump. Cooked or raw, stinks to high hell. But they like it.
On the bright side, the stormy weather season is early this year! They call it “Habagat” which is when the winds change direction and start coming at us from the west. Even when the typhoons spin up and arrive from the eastern side, because of the rotation of them, the wind actually hits on this side of the island first - directly from the sea. This time, we are up on a hillside with two balconies facing the sea so this should be really sweet! And the wind! Oh man, it’s gonna kick up and be almost constant for a long time meaning we can kill the aircon pretty much. I can’t wait! I just might jizz right now while typing!
Usually, its a pain to walk about the house with the heat. Soon the rain will start as well. Even though this place is impossible to shutter-up, it still has poor air-flow qualities. But now the wind will come directly thru the house! And much cooler too! weeeeeeeeeee!
