A couple of Saturdays back, good old friends Vet and Marites Vitug invited select company over for dinner. Now, any invite from the Vitugs merits quick RSVP, in the hearty affirmative. Friends look forward to a veritable degustacion as created by the man of the house. And this was true that evening, with Vet going hands-on with his characteristically inspired cooking, drawing on Pampango culinary traditions as well as his own artistic spirit as a poet, furniture designer and wood craftsman.
I’d never seen buddy Butch Dalisay looking as pleased as a Cheshire cat (well, I’ve never seen that specimen, either) – as we and our dutiful spouses, together with Anvil publisher Karina Bolasco, coursed through a magnificent repast of roast leg of lamb, whole pork humba, grilled catfish with fresh mustard leaves, grilled mixed seafood wrapped in banana leaves, and fresh asparagus steamed then grilled while being basted with a patis and cilantro concoction, or, okay, jus for the initiated.
That last I just had to detail, as those spears turned out to-die-for. Oh, and the seafood platter had prawns, mussels, and special baby squid —- special because each piece of the small pusit-lumot, was carefully selected in the wet market for its natural stuffing. As Vet explained it, the delectability quotient depended much on the dilis the squid had just feasted on. And this he checks by hand and eye, as often, part of the engorged dilis can still be seen protruding out of the squid’s maw. By feel it’s firm, each baby piece.
Ah, such arcane knowledge always leads to hog heaven. One bite and you know it’s not regular squid, but special – so tender and fat and rich inside with that whitish filling, so pig-out heavenly!
Another tip from Vet: always select small hito, as they taste much better. And he didn’t provide the usual buro or balo-balo with it cuz he couldn’t find the right special one. Yet indeed, the catfish arrived in little schools of sabrosa-hood.
Let me add that bookending the array of entrees were a sort of Filipinized coleslaw, cheesecake and decadent chocolate cake, and two flavors of ice cream. So eat your heart out, Anton Juan. Like fellow scholar Vince Rafael who’s on a brief visit from Seattle, but was stranded in Alabang that night, Anton just has to ask for a chez Vitug raincheck.
And as if that memorable dinner had not filled up our quota of culinary delights for at least a week, a few evenings later this was followed up by an invite from the International Wine and Food Society, to a special "Manila Romantica" dinner at Via Mare at the North Tower penthouse of the Philippine Stock Exchange Center.
The occasion was the awarding of prizes to the winners of the Second Doreen Fernandez Food Writing Contest, as organized by Micky Fenix and Felice Prudente Sta. Maria, and hosted that night by no less than the equally gracious Glenda Barretto.
Thank the god of small savory things that Micky had asked us some weeks back to join the circle of esteemed judges for the contest, which this year was on the topic of comfort food. So that was our cachet for penthouse entry, into an utterly romantic setting, with the Ortigas Center skyview framed by a dozen arresting specimens of manton de Manila from Madame Glenda’s collection.
No sooner had we expressed our appreciation for the grand design, inclusive of elegantly set tables with blue milflores and champaca clusters topped by sampaguita spikes, than we were drawn to the focus of interest for the preliminary minutes of chitchat and aperitifs.
Everyone gravitated to a high table laden with plump oysters on the shell, and if you didn’t want your fine fingers to wrestle with cragginess, why, shucks, slurp-ready were initial samplers nestled in small cylindrical glasses. A press of lemon here, a dab of hot sauce there, and voila! Oishi as the ocean. Washed down with Deakin Estate 2002 Sauvignon Blanc, peerless were the talaba, even without any pearl of great prize.
As we settled ourselves for dinner, into our secondary glasses was poured Mouton Cadet Blanc, 2000 Bordeaux Baron Philippe de Rothschild. Thus did we start the procession of fine cuisine, the full menu for which should read as follows (lick your chops now):
Ensaladang sugpo at alimango (prawns and crab claw with heart of palm in honey calamansi-fish sauce dressing); tinola flan (ginger and lemongrass flavored chicken custard steamed in squash); sorbetes na tubo at kalamansi (sugarcane and calamansi sherbet); Solomillo Estilo Campesino (prime tenderloin stuffed with herbed Laguna cheese); Delicia de Atis at Tsokolate (custard apple and chocolate mousse); and kape barako (Batangas coffee).
In between surreptitious slurps – the eye as pleased as the palate over the aesthetic offerings – served in turn were Deakin Estate 2001 Shiraz, and finally Muscat de Rivesaltes 1998. And as if the wineglasses were not enough for this lush, our co-judge Erlinda Panlilio just had to bring along a decanter of single malt whisky (15-year-old Macallan, methinks) for further if private gratification.
Joining us at our table were two other co-judges, Anvil publisher Karina Bolasco and Maya Besa Roxas, with her mom and Doreen’s sister Della Besa. Also seated with us were the Grand Prize winner of the comfort food writing contest, Cavite-based Atty. Philip Z.A. Nazareno whose entry was titled "Food Is Comfort," and first runner-up Gina R. Yllana, originally of Cebu and now with Ateneo de Manila University. She had won for one of her two entries, simply titled "Torta" (the Cebuano version, that is).
Another judge, Mol Fernando, couldn’t make it, while Omay Chikiamco arrived just in time for the second or third course, all the way from Singapore. Similarly, Micky Fenix came straight from the airport after a flight from Sydney, just in time to announce the winners. My, these foodies but goodies certainly know how to table-hop.
The seventh judge was Felice Sta. Maria, who had also arranged for the one grand meeting where we deliberated on our shortlist choices from among 60 or so submissions. That had been over another sumptuous meal, a special lunch prepared by Myrna Segismundo at the 9501 restaurant at the ELJ Tower at ABS-CBN. From that gorging experience I still remember the kare-kare, crispy pata, and even more sinful carrot cake.
The quality of contest entries was surprisingly high, so that it proved difficult to prune down the shortlist to just seven. To my mind, the 20 entries I had initially picked for my first shortlist were all good reads, and can well comprise a publishable folio as gustatory pickings from the Second DGF Food Writing Contest.
We also decided to award five honor-able mention citations, for "Adobo, I’m Home!" by Paolo P. Mangahas; "Of Typhoons and Thermidor" by James Michael Gannon O. Deen; "Pan de Sal Days" by Horatious Mosquera; "Bliss in a Glass" by Nicolas Y. Lacson; and "Comfort Food" by Ma. Pia F. Luque.
Speaking of our co-judge Erlinda Panlilio, she’s been busy editing an anthology of brief personal essays, also on the topic of comfort food. And her roster of contributors thus far reads like a grand menu of litterateurs and lifestyle honchos.
The list is led by National Artist for Literature Edith L. Tiempo, and includes, alphabetically now, Emily Abrera, Zeneida Amador, Fe Maria Arriola, Marla Yotoko Chorengel, Tingting Cojuangco, Gemma Cruz-Araneta, Butch Dalisay, Simeon Dumdum Jr., Peque Gallaga, Scott Garceau, Kitty Go, Gene Gonzalez, Bambi Harper, Luisa Igloria, Marra Lanot, Susan Lara, Jaime Laya, Rita Ledesma, Adelaida Lim, Edgardo Maranan, Maribel Ongpin, Carla Pacis, Clinton Palanca, Sonia Malasarte Roco, Maria Victoria Rufino, Felice Sta. Maria, Ramon Sunico, Anthony Tan, Rowena T. Torrevillas, Joy Virata, this writer, and the editor herself. That makes for 33 essays on each one’s idea of comfort food.
To top it off, Linda also managed to inveigle some of the country’s topnotch artists to contribute illustrations of their own comfort-food choices. Responding heartily were Pandy Aviado, Manuel Baldemor, Elmer Borlongan, Lor Calma, Marla Yotoko Chorengel (in a dual role), June Poticar Dalisay, Ambassador Rafael Gonzales, Fr. Rene Javellana, Pardo de Leon, Al Perez, Nik Ricio, Gliff Victor, Toti Villalon and Phyllis Zaballero.
Now why this sudden interest on CF? The missus says it may be an offshoot of, or a reaction to, gastronomic tendencies in the last couple of decades. She posits the notion by quoting from The French Recipe Cookbook by Carol Clements and Elizabeth Wolf Cohen: "The basic respect for the ingredients which characterize French cooking was behind the nouvelle cuisine movement. The term was coined by the journalist Henri Gault and Christian Millau in the 1970s to describe the dramatic changes taking place in the preparation of restaurant food, including simplified procedures, reduced cooking times, constantly changing menus offering the best of the marketplace, an emphasis on creativity and a rejection of marinating and flour-based sauces, so that the essential characteristics of the ingredients could be fully appreciated. Since then, the excesses of the movement, like over-decorated plates and minute portions, have thankfully all but disappeared, but the benefits of emphasizing the natural ingredients have remained an important part of a more heartwarming style of cooking."
Hmmm. Glad to know we’ve been privileged to tick-tock from one extreme to the other in our recent scrumptious experiences.
Even the San Miguel Great Food Club newsletter dwells on comfort food in its July-August 2003 issue, where the fare is appropriately billed as "Edible Blankets." Here’s an excerpt from its take on CF:
"When you feel disheartened, lonely, or disappointed, what do you normally do? You think your usual coping mechanism is to phone a friend or meet up with old pals to vent out feelings. But next time take notice. You may not realize it, but your initial instinct really is to look into your kitchen, then the fridge to hunt for your favorite and well-loved foods.
"If not, you go to your favorite restaurant or café to munch or sip the treats you have loved all these years. You try to squelch your feelings by quenching your craving for your lola’s hot cream soup or your mom’s chocolate cake. You actually turn to your signature comfort food!
"Comfort food simply refers to any food that we find soothing, warming, and satisfying. It is any food hat gives us that certain fuzzy glow —- much like a warm blanket. Comfort food goes beyond gastronomic comfort… it satisfies not just our stomachs but our hearts and souls as well. In fact, the mere thought of them can raise our sprits and excite us since they evoke happy memories and experiences and connect us with special people."
Very well put. We’re gratified as well that we share a fave with Tita Helene who runs the column "Sound Bites" in the newsletter, which she presumably edits. She writes: "Stormy days make me yearn for fried rice and Pure Foods corned beef and tuyo." Well, our contribution to Panlilio’s upcoming anthology from Anvil is titled "Sundays Are for Corned Beef." (And yes, make that Pure Foods.)
Then there was another invite we regret not to have honored last Thursday, for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Larry Cruz’s Bistro Remedios at M. Adriatico, Malate, which also saw the launch of Afrodisia Grill. The come-on stated: "It’s not the usual... A sizzling, stimulating and sensational experience… Join us for an evening of comfort food, good company and heartwarming songs of the old country…"
We can only blame Dr. Lourdes Montinola’s FEU Tamaraws, who gored the UAAP defending champs so badly in the basketball finals game 1 that we lost our appetite for the rest of the day, such true-Blue Eagles we’ve become.
To think that earlier that day, we were still aglow from the "Manila Romantica" dinner, such that on review duty at the MTRCB, we fell to conversing anew with our fellow board members Betty Molina and Atty. Lyn Alberto about good old food from the good old days. Making yabang, or, well, describing the sight of the sherbet-topped sugarcane, we were asked if we had gone on to chew up the tubo. No, we said, they looked too good to wrest off the rest of the plate design.
In turn did we learn that the edible tubo they had both enjoyed in childhood came in at least two varieties, as differentiated from the usual cane grown in sugar fields. There was the "Mauricio," Lyn recalled, which could be sourced at the public market. Then there was the "Badila," which was colored purple. Both were soft, sweet, edible cane. And soon she was describing the old grapinera or ice cream maker, which could easily churn out family sherbet.
Ah, when it comes to talking about food, memories of the good old days turn into sheer comfort indeed. Each of us has a story to tell. Perhaps Madame Panlilio should start thinking of a sequel to her comfort food anthology.
From Myrna Segismundo to Vet Vitug to Glenda Barretto, with a raincheck from Larry Cruz, why, that would be just perfect for starters. Foodies unite! Let us all take comfort from one another’s stories.