Compiled from my previous Facebook posts.
Hot Pandesal. “Pandesal” is a staple bread roll in the Philippines commonly eaten for breakfast. Made of flour, yeast, sugar, oil, and salt. Steaming “hot pandesal” is usually eaten with coconut jam, homemade butter, evaporated milk, or Reno liver spread. There was a time when hot pandesal was so hot that all stores in the neighborhood had those huge ovens or baking equipment in full view of the customers, while they waited for their order. 🍞🥖🍞
Kapeng Barako. Best coffee ever in my youth, grown particularly in the provinces of Batangas and Cavite in the Philippines. “Barako “ in the languages of the Philippines means "stud,” and is associated with the image of masculinity. Barako has a strong flavor and fragrance reminiscent of aniseed. There were other instant coffee brands that were available then but the “kapeng barako” was preferred. Some sort of special coffee that made a dude feel macho. ☕🇵🇭☕
A miniskirt is a skirt with its hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than 4 inches below the buttocks; and a dress with such a hemline is called a minidress or a miniskirt dress. A mini was considered a “most revealing” women’s clothing then, when I was a little boy. Sexy. Imaginations get steamy upon seeing women on miniskirt. These days? What mini, LOL! Butt cracks show and thongs offer zero to the imagination. 👚👙👚
Childhood fights. We’d prance and do butterfly footwork, Ali style. Stared menacingly like John Wicks. Hecklers would yell: “Touch his ears!” Some 15 minutes would be consumed by circling around, threatening to throw a jab, and stuff. The actual fight actually would happen in a mere 5 seconds. Then the “vanquished” would run to mom, weeping. The “victorious,” hoisted a-la Manny Pacquiao. But then we engaged face to face and never unfriended. 🤼♂️😂🤼♂️
Washing laundry on the river or community water pump or “poso.” Of course, in those days the river was still pristine, clear and clean. My recollection is not very vivid though. What my memory brings are mostly the communal wash activity at the “poso” area. As a natural rule, villagers gathered on a weekend to do laundry, not on weekdays, which were devoted to fetching of water for household use. Barrio-level collective fun was alive then. 💦👋💦
Lo waist pants. Today’s low riders? My dad was into this “fashion fad,” which was popularized by the 1956 Filipino movie “Lo’ Waist Gang,” starring the late Fernando Poe Jr. as defender of the poor. The movie also had Berting Labra, Zaldy Zshornack, Corazon Rivas, and Boy Sta. Romana. A sequel was 1960’s “Lo' Waist Gang Joins the Army,” with comedian Chiquito. I enjoyed those movies as a boy and was endlessly amused with dad’s crazy pants. 👖📽👖
“Bomba” was a Filipino film genre, characterized by its gratuitous use of sex scenes. Soft porn? Most popular in the late 1960s, “bomba” was a focal point of cultural debates around sexuality in Catholic Philippines. I was still a little boy in those years. I was a “late-bloomer” in terms of real-experience sex though I “knew” sex stuff in my mind by reading Anais Nin’s books and Xaviera Hollander’s “Letters to the Happy Hooker,” LOL! 😱🇵🇭🎥
Cold snacks when I was a boy. Anything cold: “Dirty” ice cream, snow cones, softdrinks, ice candy. Ice “buko” is a coconut popsicle with “pinipig” on top of it. Pinipig is immature grains of glutinous rice pounded until flat then toasted. Pinipig is also mixed with the summer hit, “halo halo” cocktail and in some rice cakes. Reason why I am not a huge fan of burgers, fries, and cakes? I didn’t grow up on those. Mine were less expensive yet more healthy. 🍨🍧🍦
Ma Mon Luk was a popular restaurant in Manila, creator of “mami” or noodle soup and “siopao,” a steamed bun. Huge dinner treat then. Ma Mon Luk is also the name of the Chinese immigrant who owned the restaurant. He was born in 1896 in Guangdong. In 1918, Ma left for the Philippines to seek his fortune in order to win the hand of his sweetheart, Ng Shih, whose parents disapproved of him because of his poverty. I miss Ma’s mami siopao! 🍵🍜🍵
Alcoholic drinks in the Philippines when I was a boy. Shoktong elixir or herbal tonic. Drunks had them because it was cheap and you can buy a shot in the corner store. The next “affordable” intoxication was “bilog” or Ginebra Gin. Or the locally home-brewed “lambanog” palm liquor. In the far North, “tapuy” or rice wine was it. In the far Southern islands, popular was “tuba” derived from coconut sap. Beer or San Miguel Beer was a luxury drink. 🍺🧉🥂
