March 01, 2007
Pinoy palate
I’ve been here in the US for six months now and I’m beginning to crave for familiar tastes from home. Like halang-halang (spicy chicken in coconut cream) and steaming pochero (beef stew with a smattering of vegetables), a dish my friends and I would order back in the days when we still had time to go out and have a beer. Or two. Pochero is really good for hangovers.
I think it’s almost inevitable for Filipinos who have left the country to hunger for bulad (dried fish), dipped in patis (fish sauce) and suka (vinegar). Yummy. I could easily get one from a Filipino store nearby but I don’t want the neighbors to hold a rally outside the apartment because of the smell.
Heck, I wish I could have a banana blossom salad right now. Or tapsilog. Or tuyok-manok. And the list goes on and on.
I contented myself with mangoes I picked from the grocery store. They didn’t look and taste like Cebu’s famous mangoes, but they weren't that bad either. At least they satisfied my hankering for mangga that very day.
