by Telly Ocampo
My grandmother’s cooking – simple but perfect!
Ohhhhhhh, Lola Danday’s cooking!
According to my Lola Danday, she was the maraksot among the siblings. And she would add before that she had all the marks from that dreadful disease they called buti.
But my Lola Danday was elegantly charming. People used to describe har as pustorawo. She had her bata for her housewear and her black baro at saya for her churchwear; and this was complete with her coordinated veil (kundong or Korong) and her gold-rimmed comb for her hair. If the event was grand, my grandmother wore her matching alfajor.
If you would ask me what an alfajor necklace is, well, it’s that gold neckchain with a length that stretches from the nape down (almost) to the waistline – yes, just a little above the waistline. And its pendant is like that of the Blessed Sacrament. An alfajor necklace is a beautiful necklace with a design patterned to mimic an antique lace. This was introduced by the Spaniards in the 1600s. Lola Danday’s alfajor necklace was a product of artisans from Dauis, Bohol. Most those kinds of jewelry were crafted by the mga Dauisanon.
So my Lola Danday’s life was just a trip from the house to the church and back to the house with the kitchen as her domain. In the evening, she always listened to the drama aired over the radio. She did the listening after our 6:00 p.m. prayers. We never missed the prayers just as we and she never missed the radio drama series. Wala gyuy sipyat among pagpangdye sama sa walay sipyat pud ang iyang pagpaminaw sa mga sugilanon sa kahanginan.
And she prepared food out of the stuff that was available in the house. Niadtong panahon namo, maka karneng baboy lang me panahon sa fiesta, pasko sa pagkatawo ug and pasko sa pagkabanhaw. Gawas kung muadto mi sa Tagbilaran para mopalit ug sud-an, apil na niana ang karneng baboy. Every Saturday, I remember that we had a kilo of karneng baboy from our suki, Tio Meling (from Loboc). Saturday was the market day of Loboc, then,
My Lola Danday was also good in preparing seafood menus. It was easy for us to gather products from the sea especially when it was low tide. Manguha lang mi ug aninikad (ug uban pa) sa baybayon, apil ang samo. How did Lola Danday cook all those sea stuff? Ihumol niya pag-una sa tubig ang mga aninikad aron mogawas ang mga hugaw. Unya iya ning hugasan pag-ayo kay iya man kining asabwan ug sagulan ug kamunggay. I still remember how she would call us to get some tangad, as she was ready with her luy-a, kamatis, ug sibuyas dahonan. Unya ihumol pa diay to niya ang mga aninikad sa tubig sa dagat aron mosikadsikad. Unya, ang tubig nga isabaw tab-ang. Ug mokulo na ang tubig nga padung nang mobukaw, anha pa butangan ug mga panakot. Isunod gilayon ang mga aninikad. Lola Danday was very keen in her cooking procedures. She was firm in her instruction that if the aninikad was already cooked, that was the time to put the malunggay into the boiling water. She said that it was always good that the aninikad soup was hot. She also told us to make ready the hinlo nga kud sa lubi (clean midrib of the coconut leaf) ug ampilir o imperdible (safety pins). Mao kini sila ang paga gamiton nga ikuhit sa unod sa aninikad. And we drank the soup to our hearts’ content. And we had fun. And life then was simple and adorable.
Lola Danday had her way of cooking the lumot, swake ug guso. How I miss all these. I could imagine the lumot nga hamis ug gasihagsihag pa kay lab-as man. We would dip this in a mixture of salt and vinegar. With Lola Danday’s cooking, it was always happy eating.
And the swaki of Lola Daday’s menu? Perfect in its taste. Iya lang ni nga ipasugba sa usa ka tinabas nga sin (galvanized iron sheet),Isugba ni – kanang igo ra gyud mapatay ang sagay. Pagkalami sa sabaw ug sa unod..
And the gubaguba? This is a rarity these days. Actually, it is from the guso family; it is the hard variety. Lola Danday had her way of cooking this. Hugasan ug tuda; lapwa-an ug maayo; ihulma sa bagol; andaman ug suka; andaman ug asin – tapos! Happy eating again. It was that simple. Lola Danday was that simple and Life, then, was that simple. But as I said, we had fun, we were happy and we were contented.
It’s my editor, Bff Ardy, who feeds my Bohol Tribune articles to our readers via Facebook and the Bohol Tribune website. I’m happy knowing that with our techonology today, my former colleagues at the University of the Philippies, Tacloban, are able to read my cultural heritage pieces. One is Boy Mondragon. He says, he likes my column. Thank you Boy. I never expected myself to be in this field. Although, when I was young, I envied the writers of pieces like: The Little Women, the Brave Heart, Enemy of the People, A Doll’s House, The Tale of Acadie, etc. . .
Thank you, Boy, Thank you, Lola Danday. Thank you, dear readers.