Food tales that warm the heart

My Startalk co-host and editor here Ricky Lo asked me at the beginning of Advent if it was okay to give the show’s staff ham and queso de bola for Christmas. I said maybe not because these are perishable items and he may have problems distributing these goodies to the 30 to almost 40 people who are part of the program.

The recipients won’t all be in one place at the same time during the distribution of presents. He’ll end up with a whole bunch of undistributed food products that beg to be refrigerated.

Except for the storage problems, Ricky was on the right track. Food is the best gift to give to the staff because our bonding moments revolve around anything edible. It could be a platter of pancit or cake that I sometimes bring during the late Friday to early Saturday Startalk deadline for video materials.

Lolit Solis’ bonding with our head writer Rikki Lopez (he writes those wickedly brilliant Tigbakan scripts) is queso de bola and fruitcake and that doesn’t have to be Christmas. Sometimes even in the middle of summer, Lolit gives Rikki those two food items and in time I also got my share.

My real bonding food with Lolit, however, is turkey. On certain occasions, she would give me a pair of thighs — usually from Savory. At mealtime, I’d hold the giant thigh with my hand and gobble it up in true barbaric fashion. People at home now call me Hagar the Horrible after the comic strip character that amuses you every day in the funny section of this newspaper.

One holiday season, Tonton Gutierrez gave her a whole turkey and she sent me both thighs. Those were also her birthday present to me the other week. From my end, I haven’t discovered a good source for turkey and so I just give her cranberry sauce — or juice.

Some staff members can also be sweet and thoughtful and give us food presents. There’s Rikki Lopez with his bottles of the most unadulterated and potent patis from Navotas. It’s the best ever — the Perrier of fish sauces.

Of course, there’s Floy Quintos’ buttery sans rival that’s truly without rival and most unique pili pie that their cook churns out annually during the Christmas season.

Ronnie Carrasco, another head writer and now host of Tweetbiz, always chooses what initially look like token presents, but end up as treasures. Obviously, he plans them out well in his head. Still in use, for instance, is this oversized ceramic cup that I use every day for my regular dose of oatmeal.

There were also those years when he gave us the richest and creamiest laing. When kept it in the refrigerator, the kakang gata (first squeeze of the grated coconut) solidifies on top and becomes great comfort food for a one-fourth Bicolano like this writer. In fact, even non-Bicolanos will kill for Ronnie’s laing.

Last year, he gave me a huge bilao of biko that I devoured practically by myself over a period of time. This year, it’s purple yam that I consumed in one sitting. His ube has the right sweetness and bears a natural purple color that rules out any suspicion that it had bathed in food coloring before getting molded into its oval tin pan.

Tweetbiz co-host and Startalk casting director Gorgy Rula also sends presents that the recipients always appreciate. Last year, he gave away those tiny oranges — do you call those quiat-quiat? Anyway, those were the sweetest citrus fruits I tasted and that was so sweet of Gorgy to have remembered this Startalk co-worker.

But since he is now a celebrity (and Ronnie, too), Gorgy’s gift items this year seem to be more impressive: Estrel’s apple squares and fruit cake that I am saving for noche buena (I can’t pass judgment on it yet).

But the apple squares are to sin for. These also taste like apple pie, except that these are flat and cut into squares. Trust Estrel’s to sell only the best baked products. I am only one of the many fans of its caramel cakes that you have to order the day before. (They want everything fresh from the oven.)

Every year I also get yummy polvoron from the other Startalk casting director Josie Manago and her PAL ground stewardess cousin, Lyn Tanael. I have no idea where they get their polvoron, but these are so good that whenever I spend the holidays in the United States, I smuggle these past customs people stationed at the Los Angeles International airport (oops, did I just turn myself in?). Relatives from abroad can never have enough of this polvoron that is mixed just right and is not at all cloying.

But Josie and Lyn are in grief now. The body of their nephew Domingo “Daryl” de Ocampo Jr. now lies in state at the Holy Trinity Memorial Homes in Sucat, Parañaque. He was only 25.

I don’t expect my annual ration of polvoron from them this time since this is their saddest Christmas. I can only hope that when their period of mourning is over by Christmas of next year, they’d be able to bounce back and feel the joy of the holiday season once again.

I’ll be there with them and for sure there’ll be food, which is ever present at every bonding moment with family and friends.