Palabok

There was a pair of ambulant merienda vendors at the office today. Two women stationed just outside the hallway where they hawked camote, saging, nilagang mais, and palabok. Ah, palabok. For those of you who do not know (and probably don't want to), palabok is my favorite kind of pancit. I associate it with the warmth of my childhood.

When we were growing up, we bought homemade palabok from a maglalako who passed by our house almost every afternoon. Her name was Dang Maring - "dang" being the Kapampangan form of "ale". She was a middle-aged woman and her hair was always tied up in a bun. The sight of her walking down the street with a basket full of merienda was a source of pleasure in those slow afternoons after school.

She also sold ukoy - the crispy, deep-fried patty made from grated papaya/squash and shrimps - which we dipped in spicy vinegar with lots of black pepper. And sampelot - a very thick version of guinataan.

But the bestseller in our household was Dang Maring's palabok. I haven't had it since I was a kid and I could be remembering it a little differently from how it actually was. But I recall the palabok's perfectly cooked noodles, the sauce with just the right consistency, just the right color, and just the right amount. I remember that it also had a few chopped kamias on it, which added zest.

My parents would buy us each our own portion and would get a few extra in case one of us wanted another serving. We'd all sit around in the dining room, our afternoon merienda transferred to plates and we downed them with glasses of Eight o' Clock instant orange juice.

I was already in college when Mama tried to make her own palabok recipe, and after several trials, she finally got it together. During Christmases, we'd assemble bilaos of our own palabok to give to relatives. What I loved about Mama's palabok is that she let us assemble our own plates. As much shrimps as I'd like and as little green onions. From her, I also took the habit of always trying out the palabok of a new restaurant or fastfood or foodstall when it is in the menu. Some would be good, but some would turn out to be too soggy, too runny, too orange-y. Once, we also went on an early morning palabok hunt which I wrote about .

Today's palabok at the office was passable - at least for the P25 standard. It had tofu instead of the shrimps that I am used to and its color was a tiny tad too orange. I'm thinking of what the hex value of my ideal palabok color is, but that would be taking it a bit too far.

At the very least, it provided me a trip to memory lane - the happier side(walk) of it.