MINIATURES

  Fernando Cano y Faustino (1860-1938) Sometime 1882, in a letter from Madrid to his family back in Calamba, Jose Rizal mentioned a "paisano" who will be their special guest in a dinner party at Antonio Paterno's place. The guest was none other than Fernando Canon whom Rizal referred to in the letter as "celebridad guitarrista" (celebrity guitarist) . Canon that time was beginning to be noticed in Madrid musical salons with his guitar performances. Rizal then continued: "dentro de algunos años quizás será el mejor en Madrid" -- In a few years he will perhaps be the best in Madrid. The celebrity guitarist was not really new to Rizal or even to the Mercado family-- Fernando Canon like Rizal was from Laguna, born in Biñan . The Filipino expats had really something to celebrate, , Canon was probably one of the first Filipinos (mestizo or Indio Filipino ) featured in some soirée intime in Spain-- (Unless we find articles mentioning Manuel Luna , in a b...

We always wanted a tamarind tree to prosper in our backyard. It never did. I must say, it is one of our true frustrations. My mother used to say that we just have to throw the tamarind seed, spitting it out from our mouth onto the ground after munching the flesh of the ripe fruit. Don’t bite hard or you might crack the seed, thereby leaving the pungent taste on your tongue. The seed that hits the ground will germinate — it never happened. We had papaya trees, rambutans, kamias, guyabano, and even banana trees but the tamarind was a desire. It was highly demanded in our household cooking, not only for “sinigang” but also for another native recipe called “pinangat”. In my younger years, our mornings were oftentimes greeted by women fish vendors going around. Our barrio happens to be near the Laguna de Bay and the connecting channels of the Pasig River. Two kinds of fish were always offered or sold by these ambulant sellers shouting the combination: “ayungin at biya” (silver perch & n...