Thursday, May 25, 2006

Lasang Pinoy 10: Food Memories from Childhood


Cocinero of Buhay Cocinero hosted this Lasang Pinoy event for May. It is all about the food we enjoyed eating during our childhood.

I would say that I'm a Marcos baby. Being born a year after Marcos assumed the presidency. I was 6 years old when Marcos declared Martial Law. My middle childhood years were spent outside our house. It was still safe then to let the children play outside. In the afternoon around 4pm, because that was the time my mom would allow us to go outside after sleeping, we always bought binatog or nilupak. My siblings and I collected used bottles to be exchanged from a pack of caramel popcorn.




(my version of nilupak, boiled cassava with butter and brown sugar)


After playing with siato or capture, we always bought scramble (strawberry flavor for me). It was really a wonderful treat after all the running and sweating. We always watched the basketball tournament every summer in the basketball court about 50 meters from our house. We really enjoyed cheering for our favorite team. There, we bought fish balls and sago't gulaman or cotton candy from an ambulatory vendor.

In school, I used to eat nutribun with star margarine during recess period, I loved it so much. After school, I used to buy manggang hilaw with eco (shrimp paste and salt). I remember that I always bought mansanitas and buko-bukohan (that's a small fruit which looks like a very small buko and the flesh of it tastes like buko, too). Unfortunately, I don't see these fruits now in the market.

Tira-tira, sergs, curly tops, milo, flat tops were some of my favorite candies.

When we were sick, my mother would always give us Royco noodle soup or santa softdrinks and sky flakes. Well, santa and sky flakes cracker are still available in the market now but I don't know with Royco.

It is very refreshing to reminisce our childhood days. Those are unforgettable memories that make me happy.

22 comments:

Nick Ballesteros said...

I don't think Royco is still available. I miss that.

Naglaro ka rin ba ng hopscotch? Sikat yun sa amin noon. Pero nakalimutan ko pangalan nito sa Tagalog. hehehe.

yung scramble, snow cream ang tawag sa baguio. at pineapple lang ang flavor.

ironically, I have never seen or tasted nutribun when I was a kid.

Anonymous said...

royco........hmmmmm nakakagutom :D
binusa yata tawag dyan ,yung nasa picture at oo masarap yan laluna kung may halong asukal or asin sa iba but i prefer sugar :)

........those were the days!

best regards!

Abster said...

Yuuum.

I was no fan of milk as a child. I'd crave ice cream, cheese and cream (preferably on top of the first mentioned), but not milk--especially NOT POWDERED MILK.

But when dropped into a small cup of artificially-pinked scramble, drizzled with chocolate syrup and stuck with a small spoon, I just fall in love with milk!

What memories. :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this. I loved warm binatog wrapped in banana leaves with fresh grated coconut and salt on top. Ooohhhh, it was heaven! Well, at least the thought... Do you know how to make binatog? Is it boiled large maiz? lol. Please if you know how to make this, please share.

Lani said...

Watson:
Really Watson? You missed half of your life kundi ka nakatikim ng nutribun (hehehe, ok 1/4 na lang).

Di ko alam iyong hopscotch, pero kung alam kung ang tagalog word sure ako nalaro rin namin iyon.

Eden:
Ganun ba tawag sa inyo noon? Sa amin kasi binatog. Sarap nga talaga kung may asin o asukal but I prefer salt.

Abster:
Ye, you're right. Powdered milk nga nilalagay sa scramble. Thanks for reminding mo bigla ko tuloy naalala iyong process ng paggawa nito ni manong.

Heaven talaga!

Mae:
I don't know how to make binatog. Dito nga sa atin ngayon wala nang naglalako ng binatog. Dinarayo ko pa sa Sidcor Market every Sunday ang binatog. Kalungkot na wala na si manong na nagtatawag ng mga bata na bibili ng binatog. Natatandaan mo ba na parang may bilog na bakal siya na nakakabit sa kariton then pinatutunog niya iyon ng bakal ding parang lapis ang laki?

Thanks for visiting!

Anonymous said...

hello lani! katuwa ang post mo u giv me ideas on how to do my LP10 entry. i started scribbling few notes pero d ko matapos tapos hehehe

nakakacomment na ko dba? :) manged to find this web proxy server bwahahahaha galing!

Anonymous said...

hi lani!
to watson, i think hopscotch is 'piko'...well, it's my kids turn now to play this game...but who can ever forget this, huh?
binatog..this was my entry for lp3 i think..my very first LP contribution and blog post..i love this though with a huge amount of sugar...and guess what, during my recent trip to manila we went to laguna to my lola's house and say mo...meron pang naglalako ng binatog! nakarami nga ako! sarap!
and to mae, i will try to ask my lola who knows how to make binatog!

Lani said...

Iska:
Sa wakas nakakapag-post ka na ng comment, hindi na tayo copy/paste (hehehe).

Ces:
Naka-adjust ka na ba ulit mula sa pagbabakasyon dito sa atin? Sarap naman talagang magbakasyon.

Katuwa naman may magbibinatog pa sa Laguna. Siguro pag may time at nagawi kami sa Laguna, wait ko si manong. Miss ko na talaga ito.

Thanks my dearies!

JMom said...

oh my, binatog is the best, especially with lots of star margarine :-) whenever my lola and other relatives decide to make binatog, I always remember the festive atmosphere. It is a communal effort after all, isn't it? great post, lani!

Anonymous said...

Sounds really yummmm lani. Just wanted to say hello and mwah!!!!

Anonymous said...

yes, hopscotch is piko. and yes, that is binatog. about the small buko i remember that from my childhood, too, but i never knew what its real name was, and where it cem from. hindi ba yon bunga ng kaong or something like that?

JoLoGs QuEeN said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
JoLoGs QuEeN said...

wow. binatog yan d b? juice ko peborit ko yan until now pag meron dumadaan na bike ayan na c manong hihi (^_^) kuha agad ng plato.

nutribun - lagi ako meron nito nung elementary ako pano ba naman kulang ako sa timbang. libre un sa mga underweight pati ung pasopas (ung minsua na may sabaw at kunting giniling na karne) at saka ung milo.

see me benefits din ang pagiging malnourish. haha. \m/

Anonymous said...

Hi Lani! gustong gusto ka binatog, lalo na mainit-init pa sya, yummm! at mga candies na dig mo, dig ko din ha ha! lalo na flat tops ^-^

Anonymous said...

btw, ako yang anonymous above ha

Anonymous said...

Lani, nako faborits ko yan!! Pero ang tawag sa amin sa Cavite ay bu-alaw. Haay, puede akong buong maghapon na puro iyan lang ang kinakain with kinudkud na niyog at asin of course.

COCINERO said...

Hello, Thank you for participating. When martial law was declared, I was in $th year high scholl coaching the women's basketball team of st. scholastica. As a Kid I always wondered what that metallic bell sound came from. It was a man in a big bicycle with 2 drums attached on each side containing binatog and the bell was stuck at the handle bars. I also remember Serge's. I would melt the plain chocolate bar and take it like a tsokolate. The othe variand of the Serge was like the Nestle crunch in pink wrapper (the ordinary chocolate came in a pale yellow wrapper).
CIAO!

Anonymous said...

what's the name of the food on the pic? i think i remember eating that with sugar - sarap nun, with lots of sugar and grated coconut - nakakamiss.

i remember hot pandesal with condensed milk, miss ko na yung chocnut, hawflakes.

i live overseas so mostly filipino fruits and nakakamiss - indian mengo, sinigwelas, lansones.. oh my!

i remember star margarine mixed with rice! yellow rice :)

Anonymous said...

Hi, Lani. Nice food blog you have here.

Ako, I love binatog (definitely wala yan dito), Curly Tops, and Flat Tops (I used to sell some when I was 12...they were a hit in my class).

Nilupak is yung white and violet snack di ba topped with margarine? Gusto ko yun!

Hay, I suddenly miss the Philippines. :-) Have a nice week.

Anonymous said...

I was googling for Kaong and bunga ng buli when i come across your blog! Magkageneration pala tayo. Nutribun masarap yon kahit minsan may bukbok!

madali lang ang pag gawa ng binatog. Tatanggalin lang yong kernels ng mais tapos saka ilalaga. Mabusisi lang sa pag tanggal nong first row ng kernels, pera kapag natanggal mo na isang row, madali na yong susunod. -- Gigi

Anonymous said...

You can buy canned binatog in the US. It's called hominy and is usually found near the canned corn

Unknown said...

Same generation tyo...buli, mansanita at apulid ang binibili ko after school...same with your mom, royco din para sa me sakit at 7up na pinasingaw at skyflakes ang pinapakain in the middle of the night...at nilalagyan ng hiniwang luya noo at itatali ng panyo para d maalis habang natutulog ang gamot sa lagnat. Pag gising sa umaga, magaling na agad...i miss those days...miss ko mama ko 😥