August 04, 2005

on mangoes and pork

Yesterday, I had pork for dinner. Whew! It has been more than two months now since I last ate pork! Since Turkey is an Islam country, pork is not allowed for sale anywhere unless the restaurant or market has a special license for it. I never thought I would miss the taste of pork since I do not eat pork that much anyway, but having roast pork once again suddenly was heaven!

A couple of days back, my husband also brought me mangoes from India. A Sultan who was checked in the hotel gave his personal chef a box of mangoes.My husband in turn got some and brought them home for me. I was ecstatic to have mangoes again! Also here in Turkey mangoes are VERY RARE. When you eat in a Japanese restaurant and order for a california maki, instead of mangoes inside the maki, you will see avocado as a replacement. They have many different kinds of fruits but NO MANGOES anywhere. Having to eat a nice and sweet mango is indeed a luxury here.

Looking back at these two situations, I suddenly miss the Philippines. All summer long , I was eating mangoes and was even complaining that they were expensive at Thirty Pesos a Kilo and my mom would always cook "lechon kawali" ( roasted pork Filipino Style) . These words are probably overused but for the millionth time, I would say it again... You don't know what you've got til it's gone...( well not really gone but non existent in the place I am living in...)

Right now, I am savoring the last two pieces of mangoes I have in our fridge and some roast pork...I wouldn't really know when I will have them again...

Posted by duke at 8/04/2005 09:49:00 PM

15 Comments:

Anonymous said...: ay! i can relate. ako din dati, 3 days lang nawala sa pinas, sobrang miss ko na ang sinigang, lol! as in yun yung ni-request namin ni ate pag-uwing pag-uwi namin. bummer noh? hehe! ;)

nweiz, savor the last 2 mangoes you have (that is, kung di pa ubos until now, hehe!) ;); 8/05/2005 01:27:00 AM
Anonymous said...: remember the mangoes here in france? they're supposed to be yellow but are actually green, and they go so well with bagoong!

enjoy the mangoes!

kala; 8/05/2005 10:51:00 AM
Anonymous said...: i love mangoes! pag summer lang meron mangoes dito sa'min. tagal pa uli ako makakatikim nito :( minsan, dinadaan ko na lang sa mango pudding kapag kumakain kami sa restaurant. ingatz; 8/05/2005 03:10:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Dukezki - so it's true that PORK is considered "evil" to them? Don't get me wrong but funny how these dude in the chatroom easily got pissed when I said; "I'll hang the head of a dead cow infront of your door if you don't shut up". For a moment the room went quiet so I thought I'd offended someone. I got kicked for saying that. In the first place, I didn't even know why I was in a Turkish room?; 8/05/2005 03:47:00 PM
duke said...: barenaked- I so love sinigang! I remember I used to bring some sinigang mix when I was living in HK para makaluto ako ng sinigang.. kaso ngayon di na puede pork sinigang dito .. tsk tsk tsk.. ubos na mangoes ko!

audacesfortunaluvat - thanks for passing by! how's the weather down there now? kakamiss talaga pinoy food...

kala- yes I remember I bought some in carrefour when I was innice. they were supposed to be brazilian mangoes.. kulang lang bagoong!

jaleesa- hay ako pinalihi sa mangoes.. lahat ng klase gusto ko! good thing you have them there during summer.. dito wala talaga.. mahal pa pati import..

knoizki - i can;t believe you did that my dear! of course they will kick you out! you cheeky git! lol; 8/05/2005 05:03:00 PM
Anonymous said...: I couldn't believed it myself either. I think I was just being a dork.; 8/05/2005 07:06:00 PM
Anonymous said...: mangoes are abundant here... dried and in packs..hehehe.

i also miss mangoes, it's been a long time since i haven't tasted one.; 8/06/2005 10:20:00 AM
Mmy-Lei said...: two things that i missed also in Phil. although there are mangoes here, i still longed for "manggang piko". I miss binagoongang baboy and lechon so much.; 8/06/2005 10:35:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Sa L.A. noong hindi pa pumapasok ang Manila mango (tawag nila sa mangga natin)I used to buy mango cake from a Vietnamese bakery. Joskohday, sarap ha! Parang mangang Cebu natin tapos ang lalaki ng mga silce ng mangga na nakatapal sa ibabaw ng cake. Yun pala, parang Indian mango ang lasa nung manga tapos niluluto lang nila sa sugar and some spices para kasinlasa ng Asian mango.Ingenious, ha.; 8/06/2005 04:06:00 PM
sharima said...: Mangoes! yum yum, my fave fruit!; 8/08/2005 09:30:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Paborito ko, mangga. Pork, di masyado. Mas gusto ko pa ang chicken at seafood. pero being a mUslim country, I know how you must feel. baby back ribs kaya?; 8/08/2005 03:06:00 PM
Analyse said...: hmmm, we have both here, but nothing beats zambales mangoes (obvious ba na taga zambales ako hehe), esp galing sa puno namin...i miss the harvest, hmmm, pag summer time sa tin, our fave past time with my sis is bringing bagoong under the mango and kanya kanyang sungkit...just after taking a bath with our pigs hehe...hay naku, kakamiss ang buhay probinsya...

here, i just buy mangoes when i really crave for it, iba kasi ang lasa, im just disappointed palagi...the only one which tastes a bit pinoy is the one from peru...anyways, i have mangoes as pasalubong naman when frenchguy's from thailand or the philippines...and vice versa...addict sa mangga to e! imagine yung buto, kulay puti na pagkatapos nyang kumain, grabe!; 8/08/2005 05:59:00 PM
duke said...: knoizki- it's good to be mean sometimes :) hihihi.. my evil side is coming out...; 8/08/2005 07:06:00 PM
duke said...: ana-welcome back! na miss ko tuloy lalo ang mangga dahil sa comment mo! pati hangin sa probinsya na miss ko!; 8/08/2005 07:07:00 PM
JO said...: the mangoes in the philippines are still the best!; 8/29/2005 09:24:00 PM

Confessions of an Expat's Wife

August 04, 2005

on mangoes and pork

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