My Cook is Back
Let the fun begin!
I was in Ilocos Sur, the Northern Philippines, when my sister, who’s home for a short vacay, texted me that she hired our cousin back, my erstwhile cook. You’re kidding! my reply. No, I’m not, she wrote back. Scary movie!
Cousin is now 77 years old and walks with a cane, which, I suspect, was just for dramatic effect, especially when she comes to visit on selected occasions like Christmas, when she knows Santa Claus would be home from Austria. As always, she feigned surprise at seeing me home.
Of course, she didn’t know I would be home, she said with much conviction when she dropped by last Christmas. Pure coincidence that I was home when she decided to visit. Coincidence, too, that her grandkids— along with their parents—would show up shortly, a few minutes after that. Merry Christmas, Lolo! And, of course, my cousin/cook would not hide her disappointment when she got less than a thousand pesos from me as a pamasko (Christmas gift). She would only leave once she heard I still owed her some. Collect next time you visit, when I am not home, OK?
So it was another coincidence that she showed up on my doorstep a day after my sister arrived home from Oz. My sister laughed and hid in the bedroom when she saw who was coming. She didn’t know that our cousin-cook would go straight to the bedroom to check on another cousin who lives in my house. It was hysterical! And then again, I heard the feigned surprise and the same storyline I already knew so well.
I tell her all the time that I’ve had enough of her. She would laugh knowing my sister, and I love to tease her and that we are fond of her, despite! She can still cook, which I cannot deny. And she would do almost everything to make life easier for me in the kitchen, e.g., chopping onions; chopping Ilocano garlic (they have a strong aroma, but they are so tiny it is torture peeling the skin off, I have no patience with them); julienne in identical sizes beans and carrots; taking care of the shit that happens when I try to replicate some local recipes I thought I knew I could but could not (the tedious preparation that go with cooking some ancient Filipino recipes require can make you a total wreck); etc. Sometimes, I get frustrated and lose interest in going on.
Today, I announced that I would make fish sinigang (sour soup) using buko (young coconut) juice and its meat. I brought home from Ilocos Sur fresh Talakitok fish, newly caught from the ocean; they were still jumping when the fishermen took them out of their nets.
Sinigang sa buko (sour soup in coconut water and coconut meat)? My cook thought How strange! I asked my gardener to pick young coconuts, cut them open, save the water, and told him I’d take care of the rest. OMG! My cook took over when I wasn’t looking. She began scraping the coconut meat with a hand coconut grater. She meant well, I know; she just wanted to make life easy for me, right? I appreciate her intentions, but Jeez, I only wanted spoon-scraped coconuts for my sinigang, not coconut strings for buko salad!