When I was a child, Halloween was practically non-existent. The activities that I grew up with during this time of the year include late night story-telling of manananggals, kapre, tikbalang and white ladies {This we do in the darkest part of the house on candle light}, and visiting our dearly-departed’s grave, lighting a candle and praying, all the while having a mini-reunion and a picnic {strangely, this is a tradition}.
I remember distinctly believing in those stories and being scared of them, specially the one involving a manananggal and a pregnant woman. I don’t think I’m gullible, I just believe everything what older people, namely my parents and my sister, tell me.
I believe that we shouldn’t point out things when we’re in an unfamiliar place because “baka ma-matanda ka“.
That the ant hill in the backyard is actually not an ant hill but a nuno sa punso {a dwarf-like creature in Philippine mythology}. You shouldn’t step on the nuno’s house lest you want your private parts swollen and bigger that your arm.
I believe that you shouldn’t be outside the house at 12 midnight because all of those buried in the cemetery rise out of their graves and roam around the city.
And I also believe that eating vegetables make you beautiful.
Past forward to the present day, after a lot of midnights out of the house where in I didn’t bump into a single zombie and after not seeing even a single ant hill because there are no soils in the city anymore,
…and of course, after seeing that vegetables are in fact, not making me more beautiful… I decided not to believe in those stories anymore.
Although, I still eat a lot of vegetables because even if they are not making me beautiful, well, my body needs it.
And unless you’re in a perfect world where your kids fight over the vegetables on the dinner table, then you can throw away that story about it making children beautiful.
Ehem, that’s what I tell Ykaie and my nieces Cyra and Cyvrine to make them eat more veggies.
And no matter how creepy, yummy and elegant the food may be, I try to sneak in a few.
Behold! Today for breakfast, I give you this Squid Ink Linguine with Jack O’ Lantern Carrots
This is great if you’re looking for a pasta dish to make for your Halloween party. You can either make your own pasta or if you’re a bit lazy busy, like me, you can just buy fresh squid ink pasta from the deli or grocery.
- 400g fresh squid ink pasta
- 1 small can of anchovy fillets in olive oil
- ½ cup olive oil
- 6 large cloves garlic, chopped finely
- 1 small carrot
- grated parmesan cheese
- Cook pasta according to package directions. The fresh ones I got from the deli, says I had to boil it for 3 minutes.
- Slice your carrots thinly into coins. Using a small knife, carve a stem, eyes and a smiling mouth to resemble a jack o-lantern pumpkin. You can sauté this in butter or just blanch in the water where you boiled your pasta.
- In a non-stick pan, sauté anchovy fillets in ¼ cup olive oil + the oil in came in in the can. Let oil be infused with the flavor of anchovies.
- Transfer this in a bowl and wash the pan.
- Sauté chopped garlic in the remaining ¼ cup olive oil until it gets infused with the flavor of garlic.
- Add cooked pasta to this pan and mix well until each pasta is coated with oil.
- Pour in anchovy-infused olive oil and mix well.
- To serve, sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese and top with two or three pieces of buttered jack o- lantern carrots.
note♥: Don’t mix the garlic-infused oil with the anchovy-infused oil before mixing the pasta because the garlic usually drowns out the flavor of anchovy.
A breakfast like this is guaranteed to wake up sleepy four-year-olds…
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