Pasalubong Souvenir

Welcome to the Sherwin-M podcast, a podcast about the adventures of being Filipino-American. I’m your host, Sherwin. Hey everybody, I am back with episode, this is episode 16, episode 16. We’re going to call this one Pasalubong. Pasalubong, how do you explain Pasalubong?

Pasalubong is like a souvenir, that’s how I’m going to say that. It’s like a souvenir, let’s say you go somewhere and when you come back, you bring Pasalubong to your family, your friends, you know, it could be a form of food, toys for the kids, clothing, you know, stuff like that. That’s what Pasalubong is. It’s like a souvenir. So I guess this is my Pasalubong to you guys because I haven’t recorded in quite some time.

And although I’ve been away, didn’t go anywhere, I’m going to bring you this episode, episode 16. If you haven’t caught episode 15, Anong Balita, I just shared with you all where I’ve been. I haven’t gone anywhere. I’ve just been very busy. So this is my Pasalubong episode 16.

Yeah, so growing up when I was in the Philippines, that happened a lot. Like every time like my aunts would go somewhere, you know, hey, you know, tita, yung Pasalubong ko ha. So it’s like, hey, aunt, auntie, don’t forget my souvenir. My souvenir. You know, when you get back, you know, it’s like it’s almost like it’s expected no matter how how little it is, no matter, you know, it’s always that the thought that counts, you know, like literally like because, you know, we’re grateful for for anything because it’s like if if you get the Pasalubong, it’s like, well, even though you’re out busy doing something, you know, whether it’s a, you know, a business trip or vacation.

You know, they took the time because they remembered you to to buy something. And it’s to me when when when I try to understand Pasalubong, it’s more I don’t know, just to me, it’s just it means more than a souvenir. I don’t know. I mean, but that’s pretty much how you would translate it. It’s just a souvenir.

But it just doesn’t really matter what it was. Like, let’s say, you know, my aunt. Go somewhere and comes home and she she buys me my name, my name is Peanuts. They sell them all over the place in the Philippines. They’re deep fried peanuts and you can get them with the skin and the skins like red or you can get them skinless and they put a ton of salt in there and you buy them in little paper bags.

And, you know, I remember getting Pasalubong like that. They’re just just peanuts. They’re just peanuts. They’re just peanuts. And maybe to many of you, it’s like, oh, what’s the big deal?

It’s peanuts. It’s it’s just that she took the time to go by. She went out of her way and brought it home for me. And usually they’re still hot. Well, because they’re like street food.

It’s very accessible. So, you know, you I would get stuff like that money or like if my uncle like because they’re OFWs, right? OFWs been around forever. For a very long time like this is like in the 80s, 70s, right, is the stories I’m sharing with you like my uncle would be he’s a seaman, sea man, not seaman. What am I thinking here anyway?

And like I would get shirts from different countries and stuff. So that’s like Pasalubong, you know, he would be gone a few months and then come back with like T-shirts. So that’s like Pasalubong, you know, he would be gone a few months and then come back with like T-shirts and stuff. So that’s like Pasalubong, you know, he would be gone a few months and then come back with like T-shirts from different countries, you know, because he traveled. So that’s Pasalubong, clothing, you know, food, clothing, toys that I ever get.

Yeah, I guess I got some toys. I mean, you know, the usual. But back then we didn’t really play with a lot of toys, mainly like we made our own toys. So but yeah, like like pastries like pastillas. I hope you all know what pastillas are.

The powdery thing where if you unwrap it like it breaks easily, that’s why it’s called pulbo for powder. Pulburon, really good stuff. I like that stuff. So anyway, I’ve been planning to do this episode, Pasalubong episode earlier this year, I think February. Never got around to it.

The reason why I wanted to do it then was my parents went back to the Philippines and then came back and brought. A bunch of Pasalubong and then I had another, you know, itch to record in June because my aunt went back and came back and brought me some Pasalubong. But this is the time. So now I have time and I’d wanted to share with you what my favorite Pasalubong now at this day and age, I guess, living here in America and every time I know people are flying back to the Philippines and then, you know, coming back. You know, I always like, hey, you know, you got to got to hook me up, man.

So my dad’s from Palawan. If you don’t know where Palawan is, it’s that strip, the island on the what is that the west, the west side. It’s the kickstand of the Philippines, I guess. But when I was over there, when I used to live there, I would spend, you know, between both sides of the family because my my parents are here in America. And then I was raised by pretty much my aunts and uncles.

So I would I would spend time between both sides of the family. So whenever I hear someone coming from Palawan, I’m like, you guys got to bring back some dried Puset. Dried Puset. Puset is squid, right? Is it squid or octopus?

Squid. Dried squid. Oh, I can’t tell you how I love that stuff. It’s pretty much that’s what it is, is dried squid. And then you bring it back here and I fry it and I eat it with egg.

It’s for breakfast, almusal. And it’s really good. So that’s what I always ask for, dried Puset. Not many people like to bring it because it stinks pretty bad. But when when people do hook me up, you know, they’ll wrap it, they’ll wrap it around the jarrio, which is newspaper, they’ll wrap it around a bunch of newspaper, right?

And then they’ll cover it in a paper bag, not paper bag, but plastic bag. And then they’ll tape it up to hopefully, you know, cover up the smell. So but yeah, they would bring some of that back. And then the other stuff I love is kasoy. Kasoy is cashew, kasoy.

And I like it deep fried with garlic. Garlic and a little bit of salt. And the garlic, the garlic still has the the out of the skin, you know, like it’s still there. Like, oh, man, it’s so good. And lately, my aunt can’t be hooking it up anymore.

I don’t know if she stopped making it, but like she’s busy now. She’s a grandma now. And so but before I remember when people would fly back, you know, she would she would send them a little care package. She would always hook me up. And I remember growing up when I was young, when I was over there, I would I would help help them make the kasoy.

And I remember like, you know, they had we would visit like these farms. Right. And we would pick pick them and we would get like sacks full. And then when we when we get them, we would. They have these things called caballo.

Caballo is horse. But this caballo is it’s it’s wooden. Right. It’s really short. And you call it caballo because you ride it like a horse.

So you’re sitting on this like wood plank with four legs. And this is like a multipurpose tool, I guess. And at one end where usually the horse’s head would be, it’s like this. Oh, how do you? Explain it.

It’s like a scissor handles, I guess. But you it’s like it’s a there’s a blade and you lift it up. You put the the cashew in this thing and you you push it down. What is it? I’m trying to explain what it looks like.

But but its purpose is to cut the cashew, the nut open. Cause it’s a hard shell. So so, yeah, you would ride caballo. You put the cashew right there and then slam the little thing. Looks like scissor handles or whatever, because there’s like a blade in between.

And you would do this right. But you have to be very careful because the the cashews, they they have this oil. It like secretes oil and it does burn. It does burn. If it doesn’t burn, your fingers will be black.

It’s like. It’s gets your fingers really dirty and stuff. But I remember helping it’s a lot of work. So I understand, you know, that my aunt doesn’t have time anymore to hook me up nowadays. But I remember I remember doing that.

So after you cut like a sack of these and this you think a sack is a lot. It’s not a lot after you’re done. But so, yeah, you would you would cut them, cut them in half and then you would use these little. Oh, they they’re they’re not like screwdrivers, but they they’re shaped like a screwdriver, but they’re like flat, flat on one end. And and you you take the the the nuts off of the shell because you split it in half.

So the shells are still there. So you would like. Flick it off or something, I don’t know, I don’t know how to explain it, but yeah. So after you cut them in half, you have you peel it off the shell with like this thing that looks like a screwdriver. Sorry.

I wish. I know all the terms and, you know, the names of the tools, but that’s what we did, right? Once you get the the nuts out, the soy out, you put them, you dry, you dry them, you leave them out and you just you have to dry them. I don’t remember how many days, but you have to dry them because remember, it has that oil stuff. And so after it’s dried, then that’s when I think that’s when you’re able to fry it and you deep fry it in oil.

And with salt and garlic and then you just let it dry once again because it’s deep fried. Hopefully I’m remembering the story, but that’s that’s how I remember it. But that’s how that’s how those soy is made. That’s what I love. Oh, man, it’s really good.

Really good. Good pollutant pollutant. So look that up pollutant. That’s a spoiler alert. I’m going to be doing an episode about that, but but that’s yeah.

So I just wanted to share that with y’all. You know, I remember like when I got married and we have kids, right? So my wife and I would would go out and we would just do marketing for the business and stuff. And, you know, and the kids are in school and, you know, and my wife would bring it up like, what are we going to buy the kids? And.

I’m like, why? I mean, you know, are they hungry? He’s like, no, I’m possible, you know, the possible. I was like, really, you got to like it. I just outgrown it, not really outgrown it because I ask people to bring me stuff when they go to the Philippines.

But it’s more of like my my brain is has like transformed into possible should only be if someone’s going to the Philippines, you know, that would be the possible because it’s so far away. It’s hard to get stuff because they just it’s from there. Right. And not more of like it should be how it was when I was growing up. Like, it doesn’t matter if if you just leave the house, you know, you always ask for pasalubong, you know.

And so, like, I guess that just I lost touch of that, you know, because I was like, it just sounded weird to me when my wife was like, yeah, we should bring him something. And I’m like, we just went, you know, 20 miles an hour. I was like, why are we going to go buy him, bring him some stuff? And then, like, I was just thinking about that story over and over. I’m like, yeah, you know what, man?

I’m like, I’ve lost touch on that, you know. So so now it’s like we’ve gotten back into the habit or at least I’ve gotten back into the habit. You know, if we if my wife and I ever goes out, you know, we always like try to bring something for the kids. It could be like dessert from, you know, Red Ribbon or, you know. Eighty five degrees or Starbucks, you know, because they like they love those cake pops, but just just anything, you know.

And it’s just yeah, it’s like I could just see in their eyes what I looked like when I was young, like just getting pasalubong, you know. So I encourage you all to look into that, you know, whether whether you’re you have kids or your own, you have nephews or nieces, you know, doesn’t matter if you just saw them the other day. You know, and you’re going to go see them, bring them pasalubong, bring them pasalubong or if you got people going to the Philippines, ask for pasalubong because, you know, when you go to Philippines, people that are meeting you in the Philippines are expecting pasalubong from America. So so let’s spread that all around. Let’s have pasalubong all the time.

But that’s that’s pretty much it. This is episode 16. I’m on a roll. I’m just recording. So hopefully I could keep on a roll.

Hopefully I could keep having some time. Hopefully you all are enjoying the episodes. Once again, I’m going to try to keep pumping them out. Got the new crib. So I got some stuff set up here now.

And yeah, send me feedback. I love feedback. Feedback like gets me going to, you know, it’s hard recording by yourself. That’s why. Sometimes or not sometimes, like almost all the time, I look for people to record with me because it’s it’s easier to record when I’m just talking to somebody.

But these episodes where I’m just by myself, it sometimes I just get caught off guard because I’m like, who the hell am I talking to? I’m talking into a microphone and I don’t get any feedback like I just have to come up with all the stuff to say, you know, continuously. It’s it’s pretty difficult. I mean, there’s a lot of people that do a good job at it because they just do it all the time and I only get to do it when I have time. So I lose like that momentum, I guess.

I don’t know. Or sometimes I just rum ramble on and, you know, someone’s got to be there to smack me like, hey, man, get get back on track or something. But anyway, do my best. I really like doing these things. It’s just time is always an enemy.

And but. Yeah, so hopefully you enjoy this episode. I really do encourage you all to reach out to me when you have time, because I always say I don’t have time. Maybe I don’t have time to just just say say hello or just follow me and just say, you know, hello. And on Instagram, W1 and 78 on Twitter, I’m also W1 and 78, you know, and sometimes I’m thinking maybe my username is a bit weird to find.

It’s W1 and 78. W1 and 78, but the I is a one. So I don’t know, but I think a lot of you are following me because I would just get followers out of nowhere. And I wish if you guys do follow me because of the podcast, please let me know. But yeah, I mean, you know, I just I just like to reach out to people and I like talking to many different people.

I just like to talk. See, as you can see, I’m rambling on again. Anyway, this is. This is episode 16. My pasalubong to you all, because I haven’t recorded in a year, over a year.

Check out that Halloween episode, episode 14 that I did back in 2017. Hopefully you all enjoyed it. It’s a timely manner. It’s around that time, you know, October, November time. So be safe there on Halloween.

And that’s about it. Thank you for listening. And I will get you on the next episode. I’ll see you in the next episode.