Spanish delights
MILLIE: Moms tend to cling to their kids, and letting go is one of the most difficult and painful moments for a parent. Even a brief separation can cause so much anguish, especially for a single mom like me.
When Karla was 17 years old, I allowed her to spend a few months in Avila, Spain under the Institute for Foreign Studies program. She was there, primarily, to learn about the culture and to practice Spanish which she had studied at Poveda Learning Centre since the age of four. She lived with Señor Gascon, a chef at the Hotel Parador in Avila, his wife, Señora Antonia, and their two daughters.
I kept myself busy during those months and tried not to think about the separation too much. Lucky for us, mobile phones already existed. Karla could send an SMS each time she was in a situation — like not knowing how to flush an old-fashioned toilet (ha!) or the time she missed her train and had to take a bus all the way to Salamanca.
KARLA: The trip to Spain for me was all about adventure. I was with Kat Diaz, Chris and Jen Gonzalez, Enzo Oreta and two Povedans: Carla Concepcion and Nicole Ignacio. This was the year of the SARS outbreak and we had to bring a gazillion surgical masks for our trip in our handbags. Due to my 13-year background in the Spanish language from Poveda, I was confident I would be able to survive, but boy, was I wrong. When we were introduced to our host families, I couldn’t say a word except for “Hola!” and likewise, the only English words my host family knew were “yes” and “no.” And for some weird reason, the IFS group decided to watch Matrix 2: Reloaded in Spain and, of course, I could barely understand the whole story line. We ended up dubbing our own script and had a good laugh from it. So for the first week, my host family and I just communicated through sign language until we progressed to having two kinds of dictionaries on the dining table handy for conversations during meals.
And the meals? Well, the meals were a bigger adjustment than I thought they’d be. In Spain, breakfast is a very light meal. My host “mom” would prepare for me a tray of goodies or pastries and warm milk every day. She would lovingly prepare a bocadillo (sandwich) for my snack. Lunch would then be the heaviest meal of the day with multiple courses starting around 2 p.m. They prepare so much for lunch that it is just appropriate to have a little siesta after eating. My first week in Avila, right after lunch, I would to go the park to meet up with my friends and hang out, since all the local stores would be closed for siesta time. But then we discovered the siesta, and after that we all decided to take naps right after lunch and just meet in the park at 4:30 p.m. Then we’d return home by 9 p.m., just in time for dinner.
Dinner would be the lightest meal… ever. Sometime during my first week, our dinner was sunny-side-up eggs and baguettes. We literally just had eggs, bread and a little bit of salt on the yolk. It took me a while to realize that eggs were all we were having for dinner. I was eating very slowly, trying to see if there was something else we were going to eat the egg with; but no, that was it. So right after dinner, I sent a text message to my mom, reporting on what the typical dinner consisted of and, boy, did she laugh like crazy. Apparently, this was driving the whole group nuts as well, so we decided to explore. We found this Chinese restaurant, and it was great. Finally, some rice!
One thing I loved about living in Avila was that it was such a little town, you would actually recognize the same people walking down the streets. Although we had never formally met, they would always greet as you passed them. The next thing was how we would have freshly baked baguettes delivered every day. A delivery boy carried all the bread in a sack and went from house to house, selling the loaves. But the highlight of my trip would be the discovery of the Spanish cookies called Filipinos. I enjoyed these so much, I brought home a whole box for my lolo and cousins. It was also in Avila that I first went into a tapas bar and learned about the Spanish pica-pica which comes in so many varieties and is easy to cook and eat. These are simply appetizers that range from hard-boiled eggs and mushroom caps to frog’s legs and tripe. What I don’t like about it is that the portions are too small for my appetite! Ha! They normally have a big paellera by the bar and when people order, they just give a small portion on a tea plate instead of the practice here of ordering an entire paella.
MILLIE: Dad and I both like paella when it’s done right with sticky rice and with very good chorizo. We dig for the crusty part at the bottom of the pan. We pair it with a good Gambas al Ajillo and eat it with good toasted bread for dunking in the olive oil and golden garlic bits. One of Dad’s favorites is the Rabo de Toro which is stewed oxtail cooked with garlic, onions, clove, olive oil and white wine. The bacalao, callos and lengua are mainstays for us, these being Mom’s Christmas favorites, and were always at center table for any feast. Sometimes I have cravings for Tostada de Angulas, which are baby eels cooked in olive oil and garlic eaten on a piece of Melba toast. But best of all tapas for me is the Spanish ham, which includes jamon Serrano and Jabugo.
KARLA: About a week before leaving, orders for pasalubong were starting to come in. My lolo had requested Manchego cheese, which has a black colored rind, and two whole legs of Spanish ham. So my friends and I took the bus to go to the one and only one-floor mall where there was a supermarket. While my friends shopped in Springfield or other clothing stores, I went straight to the supermarket. I learned that the difference between the different jamons is the provinces where they are made, particularly because of the availability of the feed and how long they are aged. In the case of jamon Iberico, there are three grades and these are classified by the feed the pigs eat which is acorn, acorn and grain or just grain when they are released to the pastures to feed on fresh grass. Iberico’s fat content is also slightly higher because of the feed that gives it a richer taste. This simply makes the product more rare and slightly more expensive than the rest. With this, they have to keep exploring new areas to be able to feed the hogs fresh grass. After having bought the two blocks of cheese, two whole legs of jamon Iberico, and four jamon stands to bring home, I realized there was no way I could manage to bring all these back home. And this was the story of how I bought a red Samsonite trolley bag.
MILLIE: The truth of the matter is, Karla doesn’t really go for the fancy Spanish stuff. As a child, she never used to like lengua although she has learned to eat it now. Whenever we eat at a Spanish restaurant, she orders Beef Salpicao. She adores potatoes in all forms and must have croquetas with chicken or ham or a tortilla de patata! At home, in fact, she occasionally cooks up her favorite potato omelet or the Swiss counterpart, Rosti, which she and Dad eat with grilled sausages.
We usually end our meals with cheese and I’m not sure if it’s her passion for the Spanish cheese that made her decide to call her Yorkshire Terrier “Manchego.” Believe it or not, he loves cheese, too!
Beef Salpicao
Ingredients:
6 tbsps olive oil
16 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
500 grams beef tenderloin tips, cut in cubes
2 tbsps dry Spanish sherry
Salt and pepper to taste
Procedure:
Heat the olive oil. Add the garlic. Fry the beef cubes until brown or to desired doneness. Season with salt and pepper. Quickly add in the sherry. Set on a plate and decorate with a green leaf.
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