UNDER COCONUT SKIES
“THE MARRIAGE OF COCONUT AND FISH IS AN AMBROSIAL UNION. IN BICOL PROVINCE, CHARMINGLY DUBBED COCONUT COUNTRY, THERE’S GINATAAN NA ISDA (WHOLE FISH), KINUNOT NA ISDA (FLAKED FISH) AND SINANGLAY (TILAPIA WRAPPED IN MUSTARD LEAVES)… INFUSED WITH FRAGRANT AROMATS.”
“IN THE COOLER MONTHS, WARM POTS OF GINGER-LADEN TEA, KNOWN AS SALABAT, ARE MADE TO WARD OFF COLDS. IT IS ONE OF A HOST OF HERBAL CONCOCTIONS AND DECOCTIONS THAT ARE WIDELY IMBIBED TO BOOST IMMUNITY… I’VE SAVOURED COUNTLESS VERSIONS OF THIS ZINGY INFUSION.”
MY GRANDPARENT’S NAMES were Julita Lopez Umali and Abelardo Tolentino Morillo. They had eight children, including my mother, Ruby. As their descendant, a half Filipina-Australian, I am one of the 10 million Filipino diaspora joining the 100 million back home, whose hearts beat fiercely for our colourful land of 7,107 islands and never-ending smiles.
As a mother, I yearn for my children to know the pride and joy that comes from being a (countryman). While we live in Australia, we return each year to the Philippines to help sow this seed. It was during one of these trips that we found our own piece of paradise on Siargao, a far-flung island in the country’s south-east. Here,
