At a recent bienvenida [ welcome ] dinner for a friend from Austria, nostalgia was the main course.

The original conversation which was about “high school days” had somehow shifted to food memories from childhood, thanks to a friend who came late [ in time for coffee and desserts ] carrying a boxful of panaderia [ bakery ] delights which included kababayan, pinaputok, saklob, pianono, monay, pan de coco and more, from his native hometown of Laguna.

The shift on the topic was more than a welcome treat to everyone. So were the goodies from that panaderia in Laguna. To me, it was also perfect timing as it is this month’s Lasang Pinoy Food Blogging Event [ LP10 ] theme hosted by Chef Sam de Leoz at Buhay Cocinero.

I remember being tagged by Iska last year to write a meme about Childhood Food Memories. I managed to start with the draft but never got around to publishing it. So when the announcement for this month’s LP theme came out, I was relieved because I didn’t have to write [ and cook! ] another one for my entry.

When I got tagged, I was initially tempted to do a rehash of my LP2 entry “Munggo sa Tag-ulan” but decided against doing so and forced myself to further scrape-out foodie leftovers from my childhood memory bank . . .

When we were young kids, Christmas was one of those holidays we usually didn’t celebrate because my tatay [ father ] comes from a sect that didn’t even though nanay [ mother ] and us kids were Catholics. However, New Year’s Eve would be a feast! A day before, tatay would personally go to his favourite butcher in the market to buy the best liempo [ pork belly ], or pata [ pork knuckles ] available for his favourite lechon kawali [ crispy fried pork ].

He would then put the slabs of pork in a huge pot [ filled with water, mixed with 7-up, some garlic puree, and salt & pepper ] and bring it to a slow boil until meat is tender and refrigerate them overnight. Come New Year’s Eve, the kitchen would suddenly be abuzz, what with tatay, nanay, and lola [ grandmother ] whipping up their choice of dishes for media noche.

The scene resembled a marathon cook fest with all the noise and chatter plus, the clatter of pots, pans, and utensils. Being the panganay [ first born ] among four siblings, I was always asked to help around and do all the odd tasks of peeling, slicing, mincing, mixing stuff, etc. This was how I learned to cook! If I remember it right, ginisang munggo, pinakbet and ginisang sitaw were the first few Pinoy dishes I learned how to cook when I was ten years old or so.

Now, going back to the lechon kawali — tatay would wait until the last hour to take out his refrigerated pork and deep-fry them until they are golden-brown and crispy. This was a process that required a lot of patience on my part [ as a kid I couldn't wait to try and pinch pieces of the lechon kawali before it is served ] because he would cook and serve the lechon kawali fresh out of the large wok, right on the dot when midnight strikes! I do not know what secret tatay had but his lechon kawali would stay crispy-tender for hours. I have, for years, been experimenting and trying to copy his recipe to no success at all! Tatay, wherever you are now — you’re the best!

My love for pancit guisado comes from my mother’s expertise on this dish. Pancit, a staple during birthdays and other occasions [ a gathering would not be complete without this dish ], would also be served as breakfast [ up to this day! ] or part of our baon [ packed meal for lunch or snacks ] to school.

I never got tired of pancit at all. Because of this, pancit has become a comfort food for me . . .

Aside from Spanish-inspired dishes, my late lola made great Pinoy cakes, desserts, and meriendas [ snacks ] like suman, bibingka, kakanin, putong puti, kutsinta, biko, sapin-sapin, palitaw, turon na saging, ginataang bilo-bilo, etc — whether on special occasions or when she gets bored while the grandchildren had siesta during weekends.

Wearing baro’t saya [ indeed she wore them until her last days! ] she’d sit on her bangkito [ small wooden stool ] and use the stone mill to manually grind rice for puto, etc., and tediously prepare her meriendas with passion. When she would be away traveling to visit relatives for long periods, we would turn to Aling Hermie, our favourite native cakes vendor in the market to satisfy our cravings.

To this day, I have a blanket ban on foreign bread, cakes and desserts whenever I go back home to Isabela for short breaks — in favour of an all-Pinoy sweet temptations, now from Aling Hermie’s children who picked-up the business after she retired.

As any other growing kid, pasalubongs [ goodies or presents from one arriving from a trip ] from relatives and family friends would always be anticipated.

Those days even the simplest of pasalubongs in the form of native sweet delicacies like uraro, otap, hopia, puto seko and others would be something to look forward to.

And finally, who would ever thought that junk food we grew up with like Curly Tops, Choc Nut and Choco Mallows would still be available in the market after all these years?

Their continuous presence reminds me of my grade school days . . . Home-cooked meals were always a part of our baon to school when we were kids but we would also be given spare change for our tricycle fare and other stuff we might need some money for. More often, our tito [ uncle ] who owned a tricycle then would give us rides for free! The money would then be saved and used to buy loads of these junk food days later from the school canteen, to be hidden inside our bedside drawers and consumed before bedtime or when no one else was watching!

Yes, the good old days . . .