Selling Hopia atbp

I love eating hopyang munggo when I was a kid.  I still love them.  When we visited the Philippines last year, I made sure I got a pack of hopiang baboy at the Hagonoy Market (at the old palengke or market).
I don't know why it was a bit difficult to find them then.  Do people still eat them?  Well anyway, my husband was wondering why there's this sense of urgency for me to buy hopia.  Hmmm maybe he forgot that the woman with her who had this huge tummy was pregnant at that time?  He ended up eating a couple of hopias and he seemed to like them but I did not share the rest of the hopias with him anymore...haha!

There had been this bakeshop in Malolos, just along the way going into Malolos town proper which use to sell yummy hopia -- munggo, baboy, hapon and ube.  If you're coming from Hagonoy, Bulacan, it's used to be on the right side of the road.  Sadly, it's not there anymore.  Maybe it has moved to another place? or closed?  I guess the kids now prefers eating Jollibee and Mcdo's burgers etc.  =(

Going back to the bakeshop in Malolos...it holds a special memory for me.  That's where I used to go to to buy hopia which I would sell to my classmates in High School and this continued even when I was in College.  I did earn a bit from them.  I did find enjoyment in selling goodies.  Maybe, that's my past calling? =)
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Selling Mussels, Paros etc

My barrio, Sagrada, is one of the coastal areas of Hagonoy where most people would have jobs related to the sea or fishponds -- building boats (like norways, a big fishing vessel), building fishponds like doing pagtatambak (workers would be called mananambak of whose job would be building the fishpond enclosure called pilapil in Tagalog) or pamamanti (fishing using fishnet...leaving it in the waters where fish would be trap, mamamanti would go back after awhile to check if the trap worked).  When I was a child, some of the young people I knew would sometimes end up fishing instead of going to school.  That was the time when the sea was still rich and when people thought it would end.  My cousins would go out fishing with their fathers.  They would usually leave at night and come home early in the morning with fish, prawns, mussels, oysters etc. 

Some would go to the "pakapa" . This is done after the fishpond owners harvested their bangus (milkfish) or prawns.  They would usually allow people to go to their property to clear the fishpond.  This is quite a big feast for the fisherfolks since they would be able to get mud crabs which are quite pricey when you sell them in the fish market or just around the street.  My cousins would sometimes use salakab (a fish trap made from bamboo) to catch fish.  Oysters are usually harvested though. Speaking of oysters, my cousin bought us a sack of this yummy aphrodisiac for Php200.  Goodness, here in Australia, you buy oysters by piece, $20++/dozen!!!  I will definitely eat a lot of oysters when I go back and visit the Philippines late this year.  This time I can eat as many as I want since I am not pregnant (LOL).

One thing that I am proud of, is that, I was able to experience to sell oysters, mussels, paros, and fish on the street with my cousins, Baby and Nora. I remember the buyers haggling the price with us and we would always say "tapat na po" (last price).  We would get the seafoods that we were selling from our uncle and male cousins and in the end they would give us a percentage of the amount we sold.  I could not remember though how much they gave us.  But to me it did not matter...what I love was the enjoyment I got from selling on the street.  The fun of doing it was really the best part!


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Samalamig

If there is one drink that I would always remember drinking as a young kid, that would be "samalamig."  I guess every kid in the province would remember this one better than the juice from the grocery stores.  The word samalamig or palamig comes from the word lamig (cold).  It is usually very saleable during summer time in the Philippines.

The usual palamig would have sweetened or caramelised sago (tapioca) and gulaman (gelatin, jelly) with vanilla flavour.  I used to sell this type of samalamig  in front of our house.  Sometimes, my brother and I would go to the church patio or wherever they're having senakulo (The Passion of Christ Play which is done thru singing) in our barrio to sell them.  We would usually do this (going to the venue of the senakulo) without my father knowing it.  Protective as he was, he would always warn usabout the dangers of being in the middle of the crowd.  Well anyway, going back, I would buy the pre-packed vanilla in a small ice candy plastic tube, the cooked gelatin in an ice cream cup (you can choose whatever color you like) and the plastic bag of sago in a small store at the town center in the lumang palengke (old market).  I think they also had the straws and plastic bags.
I would caramelise the sago with sugar at home.  My brother and my father would help me mix everything --- water, sugar, milk, vanilla, gelatin and sago.  My father would put this big piece of ice (half a block) to make the samalamig cold.  For the taste test? Of course, that would be all of us!  Funny, sometimes I will end up selling half of the container though because of the non - paying buyers.  Del Monte pineapple juice was also a good drink to sell back then...as well as buco juice (young coconut juice with its shredded meat), and melon (rock melon variety).
Samalamig used to be  b, c and d crown favorite but since it has evolved, even the a crowd now is buying it.  They are not just sold on the street or at the small pondahan (small table with some goodies sold) but now they are served even at big restaurants!!!  Now the used to be "poor" samalamig is famous!   Oh when I go back to the Philippines, I will make samalamig again...maybe sell again? I've heard it's being sold now in our place for Php2 - 5?  Hmmm not bad...

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