The Serendipitous Cook

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FOREWORDIn 2006, I decided on compiling my recipes and printing thisinto a book, for my relatives, friends and neighbors and to bequeath tomy children, Millie, Mikey, and Malai who were my food tasters whenthey were young and my food critiques, when they have grown up, hadtheir own families and are now foodies and cooks themselves!The Title:I had been pondering on two titles for this recipe book. The firstone which I really like is “The Serendipitous Cook” as indeed mydiscovery of my love to cook is serendipity. The other is “TheAccidental Cook”- rhythmic, easier to understand and the more popularchoice. After many thoughts, although the latter is the choice of many,I have decided on the former as this was what exactly happened to me -I discovered something valuable without looking for it!The Story:As a child, I was very frail and sickly, so eating and food werenot my priorities. My mother Liling, thinking that with my poor healthI will have difficulty in learning to write my name Milane, contractedthis to only four letters, Mila. Somehow, I regretted not having usedMilane (pronounced mi - lane, as it seemed so unique!) or mi-la-ne, aswe, Visayans would pronounce - “Melanie”. Thus my name becameMelanie aka Mila.This frailty and disinterest in food was carried on as I wasgrowing up. My “fun” eating years were when I was in college in UPand lived in the Sampaguita Dormitory in the campus. Because thefood in neighboring Camia Dormitory Cafeteria was unpalatable withno variety, dinner was more often 2 pcs of turon and a bottle of Cokebrought by Aling Tinay to the dorm. This was often delivered bylowering a basket from the second floor terrace, since in those years, theearly 60’s, the dormitory doors were closed at 8 pm. So buying streetfood was usually done in this manner.My only reward from skipping dormitory meals was winning agold medal in our Inter-Dormitory Impromptu Speaking Contest. Iluckily picked the topic “The Food in the UP Cafeteria”. Naturally, Igot the first prize, no sweat! Because I hardly spent money for meals, Ihad savings for other things like a subscription to The WeeklyWomen’s Magazine for the novel series, an Audrey Hepburn movie inAvenida Rizal or an occasional treat of fried chicken in Max’sRestaurant in P. Tuazon or the chicken barbecue set meal in Aristocrat’sRestaurant in Cubao. This junk food habit continued until I wasearning my own money. Lunch was a cup of soup and crackers or atreat of an apple and potato chips. (Not only did I love these lunches,but it was also easier on my budget!) On weekends, I looked forward tomy parent’s treats! They were both very good cooks! Cooking andmarketing were their only hobbies. My father was the gourmet whowould be up at 5am every Sunday morning. With my mother, theywould drive to the out-of-town markets to buy food in season.In April, Papang, would go “hunting” with friends in the Tanay-Antipolo mountains for the prized wild boar or wild deer. More often,“hunting” ends up in the Tanay Market where wild boar and deer meatswere sold by the kilo.In July, they would go to Santo Tomas, Batangas for the wildmushrooms. Papang would buy all the mushrooms sold along thehighway. From there they would drop by Binan market to buy thefattest live talangkas (small crabs). By 10am they’d be back home andthe wild mushrooms are cooked in lots of garlic and fresh butter!Sunday Brunch would be wild mushrooms and ‘halabos na talangka!(MORE INSIDE)