Ed Quiambao’s Home-Cooked Pancit Palabok

At yesterday’s visit to my friend from highschool, Ed Quiambao, he surprised me again by going out of his way to prepare his home-cooked pancit palabok, his version. Ed ought to seriously consider putting up a food business anytime soon, I went kidding him, which I hope he’d take action soon as he’s a happy cook. His wife, Vicky, did all the prep works, while Ed and I were chatting. Click on the link found anywhere here in this posting so you’d get details on how to prepare your own pancit palabok. I’ll share here what went on as we ventured into having our dinner last night.

As we talked about the travails and joys of immigrating to the US, specifically here in NYC, he was soon making the sauce. He added in oil and grounded achuete in the pan for the sauce. Stirring in the sauce while it’s slowly being cooked, he soon finished it by straining away the grounded achuete seeds. He was never giving me instructions on how to cook this dish, though I was observing him while cooking as I heard him wondering if I do cooking myself. I told him, “I just cook for myself” with a sigh and a smile, and adding “I just cook whatever is in the fridge” saying in a way that Ed enjoys cooking more than myself. Vicky has then prepared the peeled shrimps, sliced the squids with their heads already removed, and have done the mincing and crumbling of the garlic.

Ed also dried fried the steamed fish flakes, and then proceeded to boil the noodles. He was careful not to break the threads of the noodles.

In 30 minutes or so, as we were also having red wine, the palabok is cooked and prepared. Such awesome dinner! Hmmmm….

Offered a Bowl of Ginataan in the Midst of Manhattan’s Chinatown!

My roommate, Karen, knocked on the door of my tiny bedroom one late lunch time, and in her broken English, gave me a small bowl of ginataan to eat right away while it’s still hot. So that was what she was busily preparing while we were talking earlier about our lives here in NYC as immigrants. I went out of my room, and shared time with her as we both eat ginataan in the tiny space in our apartment where dining, cooking are done in a tenement-fashioned housing here in Chinatown. It’s her own version, which reminded me of what we would have back in the Philippines. She’s Chinese-Malaysian, and apparently have strong memories of this kind of snack (merienda) fare as well in Malaysia of which she prepared this time. Her ginataan’s got the usual coconut milk, with some tapioca, sweet potato (camote) but without sago (that main ingredient that makes up pearl drinks some people rave about during hot summer days!) as she explained that if she put sago, the whole thick dessert soup would be reduced by half as sago absorbs much water when cooked. I felt blessed, as I have not had ginataan for over 4 years or so, after transplanting myself here in the US. Karen must have heard me telling me details of my eating habits nowadays that have become more American (as unclear that notion can be) in taste. I usually won’t be having regular meals following the usual daily schedules. I’ve grown to eat whenever I’m hungry, or when I’m with friends and other people. Eating indeed has a strange way of connecting people, as obviously all of us living beings eat as long as we’re still alive! Praise God!

Angels in Disguise (Leavings & Goings at the Chocolate Hills)