Food Trip 1

Talk about food and the whole family is all ears to you. When I go home to Manila, my instructions are very specific sa susundo sa akin sa airport. I would want a mini-cooler packed with cold water or any form of soda (coke litro kung tawagin nila) and siopao from Ma Mon Luk (not Kowloon or Ling Nam) and isang plastic supot ng Lapid's chicharon - I want the kind with a little "laman".
Believe me, mauubos ko ang jumbo siopao and isang supot ng Lapid's all the way to Project 8. By the time I reach home, ready na akong matulog.
Simple joys..simple living. No agawid kami idiay Agno, ado nga istasyon itti labasan mi simply to eat. We usually leave Manila parbangon so by mid-morning we are in Tarlac ready to stop at Hacienda Luisita and eat at Max's.

Kayat ni Mama ket kape laeng no mabalin. Sikami kada Papa ket sumardeng ta mangan. His favorite and mine will be the Max's Spring fried chicken. Ay apo - namnamin uray tulang na.

We reach Alaminos by noontime. Sumardeng kami mannen with the pretext of masapol ag-innat (stretch kunwari). The palengke will be the main stopover. Mama goes to Aling Charing to buy the longganiza Alaminos ( da best I tell you)ken mano nga kilo itti pinapaitan. Cecil & I will be buying the kankanen nga siguro ket ngilngilawen (flies devoured) before we got to these.
By the time we get to the town proper, sumardeng kami manen idiay balay da Uncle Gening. Agkape da Papa kenni Uncle sikami met ket aghalo-halo idiay assideg itti Acacia close to the Catholic Church.

We definitely have to go to the Eskina - mama will say or mala-es dagiti pinalengke na. As expected, by the time we reach the ancestral home idiay Laud, nakaluto da Auntie Mensing itti pang-rabi-i nga kanen min. Dinardara-an (dinuguan) wenno Lau-ya (nilagang baka with marrow inside the bone) will be the favorite staple.
Our family's lifestyle, and most Filipinos for that matter, revolve around food. This particular way of life has been adopted by my two boys. That's why any offer to go back home is never turned down. Just the mental smell of homemade tapa with sinangag and sunny side up will be more than enough to keep us coming home for more.