Sunday is Market Day in San Jose, Puerto Princesa

I love Sundays.

I wake up early, leave the rest of the snoring family at home, get my styrofoam cooler and some cloth bags and drive ten minutes to the public market.

The best part is walking along the rows of small nipa sheds where the produce is laid out on sacks on the ground, or on small tables.

My loot --- dragon fruit, guyabano, mangoes, avocados, bananas, red peppers!

The staples...Garlic, onions and tomatoes...

Dilis breakfast with fresh papaya... 

And some plants to take care of for E & N...

Wait till I tell you about the seafood.  Next time.

Long Time, No Cook!

At last, I have a stove and an oven that can simultaneously roast six chickens, bake three cakes, and cook four pyrex dishes of lasagna. I always dreamed of having my very own stove like this (and have the time to use it!) since college.  Mama happily funded my wish and bid me to bake away! 

And Citiappliance even gave me two gift certificates for Elmer's Pares, where we took home some pork barbecue for lunch! 

Table for Six

Our first purchase:

The New Market at San Jose has one row of furniture shops selling dining sets, bedroom sets, living room sets - made from rattan, ipil, kamagong and common wood.  We chose a nice 6-seater dining room set made of ipil, and got an extra shelf for a good bargain.  All pieces were amazingly loaded and tied on to a tricycle which followed our car to the house. 

Now, off to find a good stove. Can't wait.

Home Sweet Home in February

What happened to the sprawling 1000 square meter property with a two-storey six-room house we saw previously? Ha!  Rene was concerned that it might be pitch black at night, and with it being located quite far from the main road, we might be isolated and helpless during an emergency.  Emergencies will include break-ins, accidents and wild animals like the small cobra that was caught last night around here.

Also, the caretaker is a "manghuhula", "manghihilot" and an "albulario" and Mama was concerned that it might be a bit too spooky for comfort.
 
But tomorrow, February 25, I am meeting with a very nice old lady.  She is a widow, has grandchildren, and does not look like she is well into her 70's.  I am meeting her to give her two month's deposit for the rent of a small house and lot that Rene found last week.  He feels more comfortable with this one, and to him, feels just like our home in Manila.

The property is located in a small, quiet, gated, guarded subdivision that even has a small chapel in it. It has friendly neighbors and cute houses all around.  Very simple and homey.  There is public transport that passes in front of the main gate.  It is ten minutes to the market, ten minutes to the church, and fifteen minutes to the kids' school and Rene's workplace.  And the best part is that we have the first option to purchase the house as tenants - That little detail in our wish list was left out in the previous property we saw.

The small 100 square meter bungalow sits on a 300 square meter lot with a calamansi tree, a kasuy tree, a guava tree and a malunggay tree.  The bungalow has a two bedrooms, a spacious kitchen, and a good-sized living area. 

Our big house with the Arts &Crafts Room, Music Room, and Elise's Studio Unit shall have to wait.  Now, it's just time to give the kids their own private spaces, for me to have my heart's desire of a proper kitchen and cook nutritious meals for my family, have a small home office, and host grandparents, uncles, aunts, little cousins and babies from Manila for weeks at a time, and not just a few days.

We're getting settled.

OUR HOUSE

I excitedly explored a nearby road where I heard there were some houses and apartments for rent.  I got the tip from the owners of the car wash place we go to weekly.   The road was not cemented yet, so I drove slowly.  After months of checking out houses, apartments and pads, I was slowly getting discouraged. Some were so expensive and were aimed to be rented out to expats and foreigners.

And others were like this, needing much repair and had holes in the wall and roofs.  I shuddered at the thought of all the little animals that could com into the house.  More than twice, I've seen huge monitor lizards crossing the road. There are also scorpions and some scary looking bugs.   

I slowly muttered a prayer to St. Joseph, and asked him to help us find a good home, and I chanced upon this:

There was a tall red gate along the road, and another tall red gate about 300 meters away.  I rapped at the gate with a stone and shouted, "Tao Po!!!!"  ("Someone is here!")  Three barking dogs appeared,  jumping up and down.  A little later, a tanned man with Japanese features came out without a shirt and cheerfully acknowledged my presence.  His grown-up kids own the huge property and are all live elsewhere.  He takes care of the several houses being rented out within it.  He showed me some small one-bedroom duplex houses and an old two-bedroom house, then mentioned that he was finishing up the repair of one big house.  I asked to see it anyway. 

He led me to a red gate, and told me to back up and drive backwards to another red gate.  It opened up to a 1,000 square meter property with a house that looked more like an office building. 

It had almost everything we had in the wish list we made last November! It was not a bungalow type and the deal is not Lease To Own.  But it had a huge garden and lots of fruit trees - two santol trees, two mango trees, several papaya and banana trees, a few malunggay trees and even some cashew trees.

The front lawn was once covered with bermuda grass, but there were eggplant and sweet potato vines crawling all over the place.  It would be fun to clean up and shove the vines over to one side to let the grass breathe once again.   

And guess what, when I entered the house, the layout of the house was almost exactly like what Elise drew a few months after we arrrived in Puerto!


I closed my eyes and was lost in my daydream.  The kitchen opens up to the garden, and I see Elise and Nacho playing in the tree house across the other tree with a tire swing.  I am baking with my brand new oven, grilling fresh seafood in the garden, arranging a small gathering on picnic tables in the garden under the shade of the two mango trees.  I suddenly have a green thumb and am tending tomatoes, herbs, green onions and stemming roses!  I am composting and recycling. I am having playgroups with other mothers and holding cooking, art and reading classes for kids.  I am painting the walls, having shelves made, choosing curtains....

I got pulled back into reality when he told me that the repairs would take a few months.  The rate was good, for such a big property.  Yes, we can wait.  We'll be busy anyway, with the kids' classes ending in two months, then off to Manila for the entire summer, then back here again..... June would be perfect.

And so today, at 4:00p.m., in one hour, I will bring Rene and the kids to see the house.

Fish at San Jose Public Market

Mama gave us a three-level steamer last September when she visited.  Since then, I've just used it for steamed Lapu-Lapu, steamed carrots and steamed rice.

Last weekend, I decided to make frequent trips to the New Public Market of San Jose and learn about local fish from the fishmongers.  I will buy fish, steam them, and try them! Steamed fish is the best way to taste fish! 

The fishermen usually arrive at about 4:00P.M. with their day's catch, and the market will be alive and bustling with the noises of huge knives splitting large tuna, the grating of heavy pails and crates filled with ice and fish against the pavement and the banging of the aluminum trays against the weighing scales.  All the hype will die down after an hour, and the catch will last up to about noon the next day.   So off we went: Elise, Nacho and I. 

The fish section was wet.  But it was NOT smelly.  Elise said the air smelled a little sweet, like sweet smelling fish, good enough to eat. Nacho's eyes were wide open and he was talking nonstop about all the different shapes and colors of everything.

Saw some eel. Unagi!  Can't steam that.

Some "mulmol", sometimes called "loro" or parrot fish were available.  But they're endangered, so I did not have the heart to buy them.  Although I heard that when they are grilled over a charcoal fire, they are very tasty, and the the liver is especially delicious.  But then again, NO!  They are endangered!

Saw some "pagi" or mantarays. They are usually cooked in coconut milk, but I wasn't sure how.  Besides, I tasted some before and did not really love them...

Saw some "karatungan".  Looked like rock fish, but I was not sure.  The fish's back was covered with spines, which you have to pull out with tweezers as part of the preparation process. But the meat, they said, is very tender. I wasn't up to the spine-pulling preparation, so we skipped that. 

I asked the fishmonger what fish is good to steam, and she pointed to some "kanuping" or "isdang bato", and at P100 per kilo, two good sized ones found their way to my cutting board...

 ...and to our steamer, along with some ginger and leeks and all those good stuff.  Okra and tomatoes went on the first level of the steamer, and the rice went on the second level. A complete meal in one cooking appliance! 

The meat was so firm and tender.  The taste was so, so clean, with no aftertaste. The skin was thick, and it easily came off, I almost peeled it from the cooked fish. I suspect that this fish would also be good when skinned, filleted and used for fish 'n' chips or fish sticks, or with some sort of oyster sauce-shitake mushroom sauce. 

We enjoyed our simple meal with all the condiments!  Toyo (soy sauce), calamansi (Philippine lemon), siling labuyo (red chili pepper), suka (vinegar), and bagoong (fish paste)!

Coral Casualty

Nacho and I went to El Nido with some friends for a few days. Despite this casualty story, I had a tremendously great time. 


We only had one day to go island hopping, so we took a combo island hopping tour - a cross between Tour A (caves) and Tour B (beaches).   For some reason, I decided not to wear my aqua socks and was confident enough that my slippers will get me through some island hopping fun.  I did the tour before and some of my companions were in slippers and they were fine. The first of seven stops was Small Lagoon.  I alighted from our boat and took Nacho from the boatman. And we were off, swimming our way to the entrance of the Small Lagoon.


I did not anticipate the waves.   When we were last there, the water was calm.  My slippers slipped away from my feet and I managed to grab them before they were taken away by the current. With our new underwater camera strapped around my elbow, we continued.  I kicked again, and felt my leg scratch against something hard and sharp.  I went underwater and saw some black coral on my right.  I glanced at my leg, and noticed some jagged red scratches. Okay, not too serious.

Then a strong wave pushed us.  I slammed on the coral again with the same leg. Ugh. It hit he side of my lower shin. And THAT hurt.

As soon as we got to shallower water, I took a look at my leg.  It was, well, lightly lacerated with small 1cm cuts, some of them deep.  I had a few long scratches too.  I took a deep breath as it was freaking me out.  I heard that there were some reef sharks in El Nido, and I know that sharks are attracted to blood, and I knew that my cuts were bleeding, and there are reef sharks in some parts of Palawan... and my cuts were bleeding, and sharks were attracted to blood - this kept on going around in my head. Yikes. Paranoid.

I was determined to shake off all the bad vibes.  It was about 9:30a.m. and we still had the whole day. We enjoyed almost an hour of swimming, snorkeling, picture-taking, and just floating around.  But there were a lot of people going in and out of the lagoon, so we couldn't really enjoy the peace and quiet. Okay, we too were not exactly quiet.  But when Nacho and I were there with family last June, we had the whole place to ourselves for a while, and  were able to enjoy the water sounds and the bird sounds.

A friend aboard the boat lent me some Chinese medicine called Mopidick that came in a small bottle, and you just dab the liquid on to your cut.  It stung for a bit and then numbed the cuts.  I found out later that Mopidick is also good for burns, insect bites and other skin irritations. That night, I poured alcohol over the cuts.  Another friend shared with me some of her antibacterial cream before going home the next day.

But they still stung even after we got back from the trip!  Rene said that there are microorganisms in the corals, and when you cut yourself, these tiny things will be caught in your skin as well.  After a while, the cut could develop an infection. So, I cleaned them again, this time with some Hydrogen Peroxide, applied Betadine, then antibacterial Fucidin, covered the nine small ones with Band Aids and four large ones with gauze then took a tablet of Celestamine (just in case I get an allergic reaction).  With all those bandages, my leg looked much worse than it actually was - looked a bit exaggerated, actually.

A full 24 hours later, I removed all the bandages and voila, I got my scabs! Amazing how the body can fix itself.

Later, I discovered that those corals could really be dangerous and in some cases, fatal.  So, bring your hydrogen peroxide, antibacterial ointments and some Band Aids the next time you go snorkeling!  Just in case!

And, by the way, I also learned that being stung by jellyfish is much more of a worry than being attacked by a reef shark.  Reef sharks are fearful of humans!  And for jellyfish, just bring vinegar!