Simple childhood food joys

My nanay (mother) sometimes cook monggo (mung beans) as our viand on Fridays in observance the "no-meat policy" for that day in commemoration of our good Lord's death on Good Friday. When our Nanay pours the uncooked monggo beans on a basin of water with a bit of salt to separate the good from the old ones, we would pause our playing and linger by the dining table and gaze longingly at the basin.

"Nanay, pag naluto yung monggo, pwede bigyan nyo kami?" (Mother, when the mung beans get cooked, please spare us some?)
Our mother would smilingly oblige.

When the boiling mung beans become soft, she would then segregate a small portion into a bowl then add the rest into stir-fried bits of pork, with water added, and then topped with ampalaya (bitter gourd) leaves.

We would then add sugar to our portion of the mung beans and munch on it with relish.

At other times when we have friends over and we get hungry, we'd rummage through the kitchen and get the leftover rice. When we're really hungry, we would simply get the local candy choc-nut (a small powdery chocolate bar), sprinkle it onto the rice, and mix. Merienda (snack time) solved! But if our stomachs can wait, we would help out in chopping garlic and onions, and stir-fry the rice mixed with minced leftover fried fish or bits of meat.

Ah, the simple joys of childhood!

Photo credit:
Goodness Direct for the mung beans

On other matters...
I was browsing through a hardware store for a flashlight when I chanced upon this safety whistle. Looks simple enough. A hollow piece of plastic designed to emit a shrill, loud sound. But what I do not get is an item on its list of uses at the back of the package. It read: "Not intended as a remedy for excessive biting or chewing." Eh?


Happy weekend everyone!