BALLESTEROS, Kyra 0917.537.5537 kyra.ballesteros@gmail.

com Five Days of Pandesal Early morning: only thirty minutes and two traffic-congested highways from the first class, most students rush through breakfast. Their parents, still groggy and sipping coffee, anticipate the sudden calm of empty houses as they unhurriedly walk through their meals. Their children swipe something anything off the breakfast table, too preoccupied to sit down and eat rice. Luckily, most street corners have a sari-sari store or small, local bread shop to provide the daily supply of fresh and ever-dependable pandesal. The bread of salt is valued for its versatility and adaptability. Much like the quintessential Filipino, pandesal adapts by accommodating the varied flavors of canned meat, margarine and temperamental coffee sometimes milky sweet and diluted or vengefully bitter. The pandesal meal is often composed of bread, meat and drink. Of the manifold possibilities dormant in well-stocked Filipino cupboards, pandesal meals must strike a balance between satisfaction and the gradual loss of appetite that comes with redundancy. Concerning what we pair with the bread of salt, we must consider the quantity which satisfies. In eloquent Filipino: nakakaumay ba? Within the structure of our rice-centric diet, the pandesal is often relegated to merienda or breakfast. Before committing to a dish and a brown bag or two of pandesal, we must consider the meals capacity to dull our hunger. What we normally have in our cupboards must also be considered. Preparing the bread of salt for any particular meal of the day is, often, a matter of practicality: availability takes precedence over preference. We run out of canned tuna more easily than we deplete our stock of margarine. Lastly, the simplest and most subjective consideration must be put forth: the bread of salt is, to no extent, a difficult bread to eat. However, we must seek to differentiate it from regular sliced sandwich bread. Therefore, we must consider if what we eat with pandesal enhances the harmony of its saltiness and sweetness. This Monday, last nights meal lingers in your mouth as the whole family sits around the breakfast table the first time in a month or so and each of you struggle with the realities of early morning traffic. You heat day-old pork Adobo in a pan as your father comes in with a bag of fresh pandesal. The tangy saltiness of the soft pork emphasizes the gentle sweetness of the bread. The meat and bread meal will last well until lunch time; the food settles comfortably in your stomach without making you feel bloated; the bread is not as heavy as rice. The pork adobo is a Filipino cuisine staple on its own; eaten with the bread of salt, its strong flavor recedes to make room for the pandesals own dimension of saltiness. A Filipino favorite youre not likely to become easily tired of, the underrated day-old adobo is perfect for long, terrifying Mondays before going back to school. However, as this meal is largely dependent on cooking enough adobo to last two meals, which, regrettably, doesnt happen often enough, we award this pandesal combo with only three FTWs. Tuesday afternoon, you are sitting at the dining room table. Its merienda time and you settle for fried, crunchy corned beef with pandesal. With the diversity and relative price range of corned beef, it may be considered one of the best choices, in terms of availability. In your cupboard, alone, there are at least three different brands of corned beef. However, also due to its popularity, the different brands of corned beef differ as much in taste as in price. Not all corned

beef is created equal, relative to complimenting the subtle flavor of pandesal. Discovering the local corned beef best suited to pandesal is a matter of luck as much as perseverance. However, a good, toasted corned beef sandwich always satisfies post-school hunger without dulling the appetite for dinner. Its crucial redeeming factor is tied up, still, with the variety available for consumption: different brands of corned beef offer surprising flavors, textures and varying degrees of spiciness and saltiness that make the pandesal meal surprising. Trying different brands is a gastronomic adventure, granted you pace yourself. Corned beef, in all its multifarious incarnations, receives four FTWs. Wednesday morning and you are already deep in your work: there are tests, papers and oral reports to prepare. Today, the pantry is nearly empty and you grab the last unopened can of liver spread. With two-day old pandesal and slices of cheese, the sandwich is surprising and satisfying. Liver spread is an acquired taste but cheese softens its confusing, subtle bitterness with familiarity. The pandesal presents itself as the balancing point between two vastly different flavors and the experience is mildly mind-boggling. The liver spread, cheese and pandesal are all salty, to an extent, but the complicated texture and taste of liver spread emphasizes the way cheese and pandesal are both sweet. As a relatively unusual combination, this pairing invites at least another shot, at which point, you would have grown fond of its strangeness. This meal is unlikely to become redundant you either like it or you dont. Like the previous combinations, the liver spread and cheese pandesal satisfies, although not to the extent that the adobo or corned beef sandwiches do. Compared to the previous combos, however, both liver spread and cheese are more easily available. The liver spread and cheese pandesals main selling points are its novelty and availability, as well as its versatility for capping dinner, lunch while holding its own as merienda. It merits four FTWs. By Saturday, brunch, the pantry is depleted. Only the lone can of condensed milk sits in the back, with the requisite stock of peas, mushroom and corn. With condensed milk, the bread of salt transforms into a dessert. Surprisingly, the condensed milk does not overwhelm the bread. Pandesal is perfectly capable of diffusing its choking sweetness. The milk-based syrup and bread will end most meals well. As a meal of its own preferably with a cold glass or two of water the pairing is sufficiently filling. For merienda, to be taken with coffee or tea, the meal fills you up, the condensed milk will have you licking your fingers and the sugar will, most likely, leave you stranded in the middle of a sugar rush. In terms of availability, more often than not, you will always find a can or two of condensed milk, forgotten, in our cupboards. The neighborhood sari-sari store will, probably, have a few cans of it for sale. However, although the pandesal does much to subdue the almost-sickeningly sweet condensed milk, people easily get tired of the obtrusive sweetness. Tragically, you will outgrow your sweet tooth and, in future, enjoy this snack only in moderation. In contrast with the preceding liver-spread and cheese pandesal sandwich, the combination, although beloved, is commonplace and safe. Its selling point is nostalgia. Although children will find this pairing most appetizing, those with more discerning and adventurous palettes will give this dessert three FTWs in part because of its role as a childhood favorite. Sunday evening, when the entire family is sitting across each other at the dinner table, is reserved for stories. Dinner stretches on for an hour, maybe even two, as ate and kuya relate

stories about High School barkadas, things they overheard in the cafeteria, all the while teasing each other about campus crushes. The rice, meat and bowls of soup have been cleared up and, for dessert, as an excuse to linger at the table, the family eats margarine toasted pandesal toasted with the brown sugar half-melted on top. This pandesal pairing is a crowd-pleaser; the brown sugar is not as sweet as regular, refined sugar and the toasted pandesal is perfectly golden. Filipinos love sweet desserts and this classic is no exception. Its simplicity is compelling and accommodating; no one in the family will resist. The sugar does not overwhelm, nor does it make a mess, like the condensed milk. Both mom and dad can enjoy the dessert without worrying about their blood-sugar. Also due to its simplicity, this particular combination will have you come back for more it is uncomplicated and reliable. The toast does not make you full, it goes well after fairly-sized meals or for breakfast, when you have to eat and run. Finally, in terms of availability, this probably takes top rank because both margarine and sugar are essential components of any kitchen, local or otherwise. You will always be able to prepare this simple pandesal meal granted, of course, you have the pandesal. As a classic that will, quite possibly, live as long as the pandesal, this combination takes four and a half FTWs.