Christine Dayrit made good her promise to come back to Brunei.

On the 28th of December 2005, a strong 20-member Dayrit family [ of Miladay Jewels in Manila ] arrived from an early morning flight at the magnificent Empire Hotel & Country Club. They came here to welcome the New Year 2006 for their annual year-end family vacation.

Four wacky Dayrit sisters — Jacqui, Michelle, Christine, Yvonne and their only brother Mark, came with their own families [ with husbands - Jacqui's Boom Boncan, Michelle's Benny Soliven, Yvonne's Pael Romualdez, Mark's better half Mylene Ramos of Gold's Gym and all the kids in tow, of course! ] including friends — Basic Necessity / SaladTime’s Lettuce King Lyndon Tan, Allure’s Bum Tenorio, ace photographer and landscape expert Noah Manarang, and Tony “Onyot” Garcia.

During their check-in formalities at the hotel’s impressive marble-and-gold-clad 7-storey Atrium Lobby, with their high-pitched excitement reverberating and echoing all over the place, Christine fished-out a neatly-typed 3-page itinerary [ ! ] for my review. First order of the day after lunch was kind of a shock to me: Visit to the grocery to buy foodstuff ! Never have I encountered in the six years I’ve been with the hotel, a group with an itinerary as such and so detailed even to the restos they wanna have their meals in for the days they’d be spending in Brunei!

That didn’t end there . . .

Upon reaching one of the exclusive three-bedroom Villas they booked, and when their luggages [ total of which outnumbered members of the group ! ] were finally down, each of them started opening up and in a few seconds, the Villa’s dining table was over-flowing with food, and the fridge was suddenly full! What I saw looked like they were all scared to starve! Tee hee . . . Christine was quick to comment: “Mike, don’t tell me I didn’t warn you! I have a family of PG’s . . . Hahaha!”

As each one [ adults and kids ] started munching and chattering about all the foodstuff they brought with them, plus a million questions thrown at me from left-and-right-front-and-back and from all other directions, Noah Manarang then carefully opened a large tightly-sealed [ for the flight ! ] tupperware infront of everyone. And, voila! Home-cooked by Noah herself — bangus [ milkfish ] sardines drowned in a sea of olive oil! The fragrance suddenly wafted throughout the dining room! Yum! That did it! I couldn’t resist but rush into the kitchen to get myself a small plate and a fork! In no time, I found myself happily savouring the feast that was presented infront of me! Forgetting even that I was still at work at that time! It was indeed quite a sight . . . ohmygass!

My comment of ” Wow! This sardinas is perfect with pandesal ! ” was like a wish-come-true from a genie! Out came a large packet of Baker’s Kingdom Pandesal from one of the luggages lined-up in the dining room! Jacqui Dayrit’s better half, Boom Boncan suddenly started snapping photos of moi — looking like a PG, devouring pandesal on my left hand and the sardinas on my right!

By the time I finished, or should I say “gathered my wits and sanity back”, the Dayrit sisters have already filled-up two goodie bags for me to take back. I wasn’t satisfied! I wanted some more sardinas! Noah then fills-up an extra take-away box with that yummy spicy-sweety dish I just had.

Noah graciously shared her recipe before leaving on New Year’s day. Here it is . . . In fact, this recipe made me buy a pressure cooker I haven’t been able to use since then . . .

BANGUS SARDINES: The RECIPE

Ingredients

1 kilo medium-sized Bangus [Milkfish], remove tail and head, cut into 3 sections, do not remove scales.
3/4 cup brandy or rhum
2 cups or more of olive oil
Black peppercorns
Laurel leaves [also known as bay leaves]
Siling labuyo
Sliced sweet pickles or mixed pickles
Calamansi juice [about 10 pieces of calamansi]
Dash of soy sauce
Sliced carrots
1 cup water [or the pickle water]
3 tbsp salt

Method

In a pressure cooker, put rack at the bottom. On the reack, carefully arrange cleaned fish side by side and in layers, if necessary. Sprinkle salt on top, and pour over all liquid ingredients. Add laurel leaves, peppercorns, pickles, carrots and sili on top.

Close lid and put to boil on high heat. As soon as the cooker starts whistling, continue to boil on high for 45 minutes. Then on low heat for another 30-45 minutes.

Thanks, MamaNO!

And what were inside my Pinoy goodie bag that the Dayrit sisters excitedly organized [ while munching ] for me? Have a look . . .

Clockwise from top left: Lettuce-King Lyndon Tan’s ready-to-eat SaladTime pre-packed and vacuum cooled Salad Greens, Chicharon Baboy [ from Sta. Rita, Pampanga ], Bravo Crostini, Dolly’s Banana Chips, Virgie’s Mango Tartlets, Choc-Nut, Pastillas De Leche, SkyFlakes Crackers, Love’s Recipe Rhum Butter Cake. Centre, clockwise in bottles: Abby’s House Oatmeal Crisps, Bravo Tomato Garlic Dip, and Joyce’s Queso De Bola Spread.

Salad Time is the latest addition to Lyndon Tan’s Basic Necessity range of pre-packed lettuce. Having been triple washed, Basic Necessity utilizes a vacuum cooling system to make the lettuce crispy and to have a much longer shelf life. This pouch-size, ready-to-eat salad with specially prepared light vinaigrette or thousand island dressing was launched late October 2005. The greens were still fresh and crispy three days later when I remembered I had them in the fridge! Weighing just 60 grams per pouch, it comes in mixed greens and mixed greens with arugula [ excellent for weight loss ], and sold at Mini Stop and Price Smart branches, and leading supermarkets in the Philippines. The pouch also comes with a disposable fork!

Joyce’s Queso De Bola Spread was simply yummy for the Pinoy all-time-favourite “malutong kahit anong ipatong” SkyFlakes Crackers, while the Bravo Tomato Garlic Dip and Bravo Crostinis were a perfect match together!

And how did the gang fare over at the grocers’ after lunch? Well, they arrived back at the hotel’s porte cochere with almost a van-full of yet more foodstuff, carted-off in three gold-plated luggage trolleys!

That was just their first day . . . :-)

Related Posts:

1. CHRISTINE’S RENDEZVOUS
2. CHRISTINE’S RENDEZVOUS 2
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