A Family That Plays Together Stays Together

A Family That Plays Together Stays Together

The mantra in the poster above is patterned after the slogan with the more serious message, "The Family That Prays Together Stays Together". This sacred version was popularly used in the Philippines in the sixties and even decades later to motivate Filipinos to pray the rosary together every night.

My late mother heeded this message. In the eighties when I went home to visit my ailing father I remember praying part of the rosary kneeling on the hard marble floor every night with my two year old daughter. Thank God there were decades of the rosary when we could sit. We all gathered as a family, with some half asleep, in front of the picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in our living room with my mother with her hair in rollers and cooling herself with a pamaypay or fan leading the rosary.

I remember after saying this form of prayer where you repeat the Hail Mary's over and over again we would then get up and we, the younger members, would then go to place my mother's hand on our forehead, a traditional gesture of respect for our elders in the Philippines called mano (hand).  We used this simple act as a form of greeting for our elders and also after Mass and prayers. During my visit, my father who was terminally ill of liver cancer was bedridden.  I remember a picture taken of my young daughter putting his hand on her forehead while my father was lying in bed after the rosary was said.

One more thing that kept our family together at certain times was playing mahjong.  Last week, I finally was able to play it with the Mahjong Group of an international club I just joined. Even though I have not played this game in decades, I actually remembered how to play it.  Mahjong is one of the most popular parlor games in the Philippines which can turn into a high stakes game played in some peoples homes.

At our house we did not pay for pesos but for small change, single centavos. We just enjoyed winning and shouting Mahjong victoriously when we had the right combinations especially those which gave the most points.  My mother was the expert when it came to counting the so called flowers and the assigned points to the more challenging combinations like the escalera or consecutive tiles of the same suit or siete pares or seven pairs.

I remember one particular summer, when we played mahjong in my brother's room every weekday after lunch.  He was the only sibling who did not have to sleep with another one and his air conditioned room could easily accommodate the card table where the mahjong tiles were set up into four double layered walls which the players picked from. We took turns picking a tile and throwing the unwanted one in the center space on the table. We arrange the tiles into combinations that fit what we had on hand sometimes aiming for ambitious ones. One could hear us occasionally shout the familiar words pung, chiao, cang during the game and the triumphant word Mahjong when one of us complete the winning combination.

Tables have been designed to have drawers for money and later on for the snacks served.  In some households, the players hardly got up and stayed in their seats the whole day.  Mahjong was that addictive.  In our case since we had a big family, we took turns and in between turns we partook of the snacks.  We of course had Pepsi over ice and if I remember right, fried hot dogs on toasted bread. With catsup of course. I am salivating just recalling this. I also recall, we also had greasy garlic toasted peanuts to snack on which we bought from a vendor at a nearby corner from our house.

My mother as I mentioned was the one who calculated the points and she stayed through all the games to perform this task.  When I recently played mahjong this past week after so many years, as I heard the mahjong tiles being shuffled on the table I could not help but be reminded of my mother's eager face as she played and her joy when she picked the tile to complete her combination especially if it was an ambitious one.  She would triumphantly place the tiles down as she shouted Mahjong to prove to us she got the winning tile and the correct line of tiles. Then she began the count of the points which she was an expert of.

I would admit these memories made me pretty homesick for home especially my late mother while I played this game recently. This homesickness stayed with me for days. They were beautiful wistful memories. This game mahjong did keep us together that one particular summer.

I could hardly wait to look for my mahjong set I have somewhere in our basement and play it with my own family now.  I have a lot to learn of the game especially how to count the points which my loving late mother enthusiastically did. I am looking forward to making memories as happy as those I had during that one memorable summer.

Growing Up By the Malabon River

The first house my family ever lived in was by the river, the Malabon River. We lived in the fifties at my fraternal grandmother's house located in the fishing town, Malabon, which was about 20 minutes without traffic from Manila. My grandmother lived on the first floor while my family occupied the second floor. In fact, my uncle who was single then when we were staying at this house also occupied a room on the floor where we were.

The house was located on the same compound that had then and even now the bottling facilities of the fish sauce company (Rufina Patis) my grandmother who I called Nanang founded and which flourished in the hands of her five sons and two daughters. We lived in this house in the fifties till I was ten years old.  Below are photos taken during my visit with my husband, Bob, at the bottling facility in compound number 1 by the Malabon River February 2023.

I remember a flat large deck on this second floor where our labandera or laundress would hang wet clothes on the clothes lines to dry.  As young children I remember eating fried chicken on the wide windowsill in front of this deck during which one of my brothers, Benjie, would be throwing the chicken bones to a rat (or two) for it to eat.  He found pleasure watching them gnaw on the bones while they were trapped in an inverted waste basket made of wire with holes in it. However, he discovered those rats could squeeze themselves out through those small openings easily once they were full and escape. This was one of the ways we found to amuse ourselves during our stay in this house.

For me I entertained myself by watching the various vehicles that passed through this river. From large fishing boats called lantsa to small ones ran by motor or by hand. The ones that fascinated me the most were the bamboo rafts that "parked" across our house for two or three days.  The raft had a little igloo shaped structure made of nipa which was just big enough for the fisherman to sleep in at night or shelter himself from rain.  Once they found the right spot for fishing, I always admired how these men skillfully maneuvered the rafts in place onto a post with their long bamboo poles.

These fishermen looked so peaceful, and Zen like in their movements.  Everything they did seemed more like they were on vacation rather than making a living. Whatever they caught did not seem much to me either and were deposited in woven baskets with covers. Once filled they would set out to go back to their homes. They apparently knew the meaning of enough. see photo below from this website

Salambao fishing raft, Malabon River, northern Metro Manila, Philippines, 1899 or before

Description with picture: Shows river, stone bridge, native raft of bamboo, poled by two men. Raft has grass hut, fishing net suspended in front.

 

Published in: Our islands and their people as seen with camera and pencil. St. Louis : N.D. Thompson Pub. Co., c1899. Vol. 2, pg. 762. Captioned: Native raft of bamboo poles on the Pasig River.

(Notice that the caption in the book is Pasig River that is in error and seems to be intentionally so)

 

Photograph is in an album that documents experiences of Frank Freeman Atkinson, Sergeant in Battery D, US Army.

Photograph was a gift to the library by Mrs. Frank Atkinson, Feb. 16, 1948.

 

California History Room picture Collection

California State Library

I always pictured the scene of these fishermen in their bamboo rafts like they were taken from one of the paintings of the great Filipino painter, Amorsolo. They were iconic and pure and truly represented the Filipino life then which was simpler and less hectic than today.

The river was more than a place for boats to travel or for people to catch fish during those times in the fifties when the river water was still clean and free of pollution.  During the month of December, exactly on December 9, a fluvial parade featuring a pagoda on a barge was held to celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception which is the patron saint of this part of Malabon where we lived. This custom is continued to this day, and I believed was and might still be sponsored by the company my Nanang Fina established. I remember days before the pagoda set sail, people from the factory planning, building and decorating it especially the focal point where the statue of the Blessed Mother would be perched.  see photos in this website and this website.

The statue of the Blessed Mother was carried on the shoulders of several men who transported it to the pagoda starting from the church with people in a procession on foot.  The pagoda by that time would have been decorated with lights, flowers and balloons.

Also, part of the day's fiesta celebration was the fireworks show that was actually performed across the river from our house on the shore of Navotas, the adjoining town to Malabon.  I remember as a child, fearing some of the relatively harmless remnants of the fireworks descending on me which I brushed off with my hand while screaming.

Before this show, we would eat a big feast attended by guests of my grandmother's seven children.  I remember several people on tables strewn around the compound feasting on the food prepared by cooks imported from another town.  My favorite dish served was the paella to which I compared everyone I have ever eaten of this dish ever since.   Once we heard the blaring music from the pagoda we would run quickly from where we were eating and to the short wall that separated the grounds of the house from the river. We would try to fight for the space that had the best view of the beautifully decorated barge bearing the Blessed Mother.

Prayers recited in that monotone voice by the leader were also said and could be heard amidst the sound of the Ave Maria music and fireworks. After all this was more than a parade, it was a religious procession except it was held in water with the swarm of people packed like sardines moved by the boat rather than by them walking.

The last time I attended the fiesta was in the early nineties with my two young children.  We were all suffering from jet lags being the first few days of our Philippine trip visiting from the United States. I remember still running when I heard the familiar sound signaling the pagoda was coming and I still jostled for the best spot to view it. I was glad my children were too sleepy to see me do these childish behaviors.

Glitzy as this fluvial parade is, my favorite memories of the river were still those of the vehicles that passed through it every day. I would never forget the serenity of the fishermen in the bamboo rafts especially against the backdrop of the setting sun.  The ordinariness of these scenes of everyday life to me then and especially now is just as colorful as the fully decked out pagoda with all its pomp and pageantry. I am grateful for both the ordinary and extraordinary parts of my stay in the house by the river. I learned from both of them how my faith, culture and experience have shaped who I am now.

Spinach Sweet Potato Brown Rice Soup

This is another take on the popular Filipino dish, Arroz Caldo which I have posted the slow cooker approach to preparing it in the past.  I have also posted a Quick and Easy Plant Based Arroz Caldo in the past since I have switched into this approach of eating since September of last year.

In this blog post, I have developed another version of this iconic Filipino dish which is one of the most pinned posts in this blog.  I stepped up the plant based or vegan version by adding two super foods, spinach and sweet potatoes.  The spinach is added to the soup towards the last minute while the sweet potatoes take the place of the marinated tofu that is used as one of the traditional garnishes in arroz caldo.  The result is this amazing vegan soup that is flavorful and filling despite the absence of chicken or tofu.  The marinated sweet potato pieces and its marinade give the soup its zing similar to the original and earlier vegan version of the soup.  The spinach gives it added texture. The green onion slices for me always complete whatever version you are using.   If you have a carnivore in your family you can always add chicken pieces to the resulting soup to make them happy.

Spinach Sweet Potato Brown Rice Soup

• 1 cup brown rice uncooked
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tbsp dry onion flakes
• 1/2 tbsp dry garlic powder
• 1/2 tbsp ginger powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
• 1 cooked large sweet potatoes cubed and in its marinade (see recipe below)
• 2 stalks green onion, sliced
• lemon slices, optional

Marinate the cubed cooked sweet potatoes in the marinade the recipe of which is shown below and set aside, 

Place all the ingredients in a soup pot and bring to a boil and continue boiling gently with cover on till the brown rice absorbs the broth and softens.  At the last minute of cooking, add the spinach and cook till wilted. Ladle the soup into 4 individual bowls and garnish with marinated sweet potatoes and green onions. You can add the marinade if you like. You can also serve the soup with lemon slices.

Marinade for sweet potatoes

• 1 tsp dry onion flakes
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp soy sauce

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.  Add the cubed cooked sweet potatoes.  Set aside till needed for the soup.

Vida's Champoy (Prunes in Balsamic Vinegar)

When I was in grade school in the Philippines, we used to go to the so called annex of the school I was attending, St. James Academy in Malabon Rizal, for our recess.  After I ate my "baon" or food I brought from home, I would spend a few centavos to buy snacks from Mang Pilong's store.  One of my favorites was the so called "hostia" or red host like Chinese candy.  I love the resulting red lips I got from eating it. The other goodies I liked to buy was the champoy specifically the red dry salty sour ones shown in the picture below.  They came in small packets since you could only savor a few at a time for they were really sour.  It was easy to tell who was eating this champoy from the grimace in his or her face.

Champoy is one of the food that the Chinese in the Philippines have shared with us Filipinos. There are different varieties and the one shown below is one of the special ones you buy from Chinatown in the Philippines.  It is made of plums that had been further sweetened and preserved.  It has a slight sour taste but the sweetness predominates.  Each sweetened plum is individually wrapped.  It is pricey as compared to the red champoy I bought from Mang Pilong's store during recess.

In this blog post, I am sharing a recipe for a version of this special champoy.   I obtained it from my childhood friend, neighbor and classmate from St. James Academy, Vida Rivera Isip.  It is made from readily available dried prunes from a box from the grocery.  She shared this "Vida's Champoy" with some of her classmates from St. James Academy who are now residing in the United States during their mini reunion at her beautiful house in Los Angeles in 2008.  I have shown pictures below from that heartwarming reunion.  Beautiful memories!

When I asked Vida for the recipe of the Champoy, she emailed me the following:

Hi Ondes!
Maraming salamat talaga sa lahat!! Very simple and easy ang champoy made of regular prunes. Soak in balsamic vinegar, just enough, not too wet and put salt to taste. Magaagaw na ang sweet (from the natural sweetness of the prunes) and salty and soury taste. Bahala ka na sa amount ng saltiness na desire mo. Walahhh, tapos!
Take care and God bless!
Vida

When I had a hankering for champoy recently I searched for Vida's email and prepared it according to the simple instruction she gave.  As she said in her email the natural sweetness of the prunes and the sour taste of the balsamic vinegar had a give and take relationship (my loose translation of the Tagalog word "Magaagaw").  Do try this easy recipe and savor the delicious addictive sweet and sour taste of this popular snack.

Vida's Champoy

• Dried prunes from a box or plastic container from the grocery
• balsamic vinegar (enough to cover the prunes)
• salt according to taste

Place the prunes in any glass bottle you have and pour enough balsamic vinegar to cover the prunes.  Add salt according to your taste.  Place overnight in the fridge.  Enjoy.