MILLIE: Scripture says, “Man does not live by bread alone.” How very true this is for me. Each morning, as soon as I wake up, I thank my Creator for the blessing of another day. I seek His guidance and inspiration through words from scripture and listen as He speaks. For many years now, day after day, I’ve read this book titled God Calling by A.J. Russell, which has been my constant companion through the peaks and valleys of my life. This is my daily bread.
I love bread! I can eat it plain while it’s still hot and fresh from the oven. I love to spread lots of butter on it and sometimes strawberry or apricot jam with a sliver of Gruyere cheese for breakfast. Yum! My mom used to eat toasted bread with condensed milk or peanut butter with a glass of fresh milk at night as her midnight snack. My dad adored bread and would go to restaurants that had good bread. He would cut small bits of hard-crust rolls and put it in his soup or swipe an exquisite sauce with a piece of bread until his plate was clean.
KARLA: Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been in and out of the bakeshop. Right after school, I would pick up my mom from our old commissary along Shaw Blvd. As soon as I’d arrive, I’d run to her office to kiss her, drop off my things and disappear in the kitchen. When the time would come that she would call for me, I’d come running back to her office, with a white apron and flour all over my face and arms. True enough, I’d be baking or rather, playing around in the bakeshop. I would enjoy rolling dough, or shaping cookie dough into balls, making happy faces and raisin cookies and playing with the cake spinner. Later on, I started to do more difficult things like Brun butter cake and prune cake, which I would give as gifts to my godparents for Christmas.
It was only in 2009, when I took a bread class in New York, that I worked with bread. I learned different techniques of bread making, learned to understand the importance of each ingredient, and even tips on how to store bread. For some reason, our family enjoys bread, especially my lolo. My cousin, Bea, even took a summer job in our bakeshop and made pan de sal the whole summer, as requested by my lolo. I even remember her first day when she begged me to crack the egg for her. Her whole summer was so much about pan de sal that by the end of the long vacation, she refused to eat it. But this made lolo happy anyway, so she couldn’t really complain.
Lolo and I make a perfect pair in bread eating. He likes crusty breads and has a habit of removing the soft inside part with his dinner fork. Of course, those soft inside parts seem to always land on my bread plate without me asking. I’m just not sure if he gives them to me because I like the insides, or I started to like the insides because he would give them to me. But one bread story I’ll never forget was a few days before lolo passed away. He had just moved into a hospital room from the operating room and therefore had just started to recover. He summoned me by pointing his index finger at me and motioning me to come closer. With his eyes full of excitement and passion, he held up his hands about a foot apart and said, “Pan de sal.” Very, very confused, I asked him politely what he meant. He repeated the same thing: “Pan de sal … para sa ham.” Apparently, the whole time during the procedure, he dreamt about a big pan de sal to be served with The Plaza ham, and wanted me to have it made and sold in our outlets. So I am about to launch a giant pan de sal like a submarine that I intend to call the Pan de Sub.
MILLIE: A couple of months ago, my Why Not gang had a potluck dinner at Wawi’s place. He had bought tri-tip beef from a flight stewardess, was going to roast it and wanted us to try it. Typical of the group, as we were uncertain about what the outcome of the meal would be, we secretly had a heavy merienda, just in case. Luscious brought some chips and siomai, Ditas brought some Spanish chistorra chorizo, and I brought some Brie Bridel cheese. Wawi also prepared some pasta and a vegetable salad as tummy fillers. After dinner and several rounds of laughter, the group got hungry again and while Ditas took charge of cooking her Spanish chorizos, Wawi sent his driver to buy some pan de sal from a nearby panaderia along JP Rizal. True to form, the group ate with gusto, devouring all of the chistorras to the last bite and dunking our pan de sal to absorb the chorizo oil. Yikes! Fatty food. Workaholic friend Len came after midnight with two boxes of pizza and fruit cheesecake. Either we were still not satiated or were too embarrassed not to partake of the goodies Len brought, including a bottle of Champagne, and climbed up four flights with all of the goodies, sans an elevator. Whew!
Since that night, I would have cravings for the pan de sal, which was rather tasty, plus light and fluffy when warm. One day, on my way to the office, I asked my driver to cruise along JP Rizal to look for the panaderia as Wawi didn’t know the name of the establishment. With great joy, I found it!
KARLA: Most of you may be wondering, “What is it with this pan de sal?” Well, yes, we make our own pan de sal at The Plaza’s bakery, and yes, our pan de sal is good, but there is just something about freshly baked bread and the thrill of passing by a good buy. This bakery discovery is called Fil-Mari’s towards the end of JP Rizal, near 7-Eleven. The fact that one pan de sal is only P2 and with P4 to P6 you’d be full, is pretty cool and yummy. Mom would eat three pieces in one go, and have some more for dinner.
During Holy Week, we ate it almost every day with a pack of smoked salmon. Yum! We tried to schedule an interview with the owner or the baker but after one whole month of religiously calling them to set up an interview, we still have not gotten a response. So maybe part of the pan de sal goodness is also the mystery and secrecy of the owners.
What’s good about Fil-Mari’s pan de sal is how it is always warm when we buy it and how they have scheduled time slots for baking the pan de sal, which is early in the morning, 2 p.m., 6 p.m., and late in the evenings.
While in the office, mom would often ask our driver to pass by the bakery (at around 2 p.m.) to buy P20 worth of pan de sal. She would then share it with our office staff and household, and pretty soon, everyone was hooked. When our driver would go out to buy pan de sal for us, he’d come back with two extra bags, one order for our office staff and the other bag for him to take home to his family.
If only lolo was here, he would pass by the bakery every day. I bet he would eat it with his broccoli soup, which I usually make for him, or a can of sardines.
For freshly baked pan de sal, look for Fil-Mari’s Bakery along JP Rizal, Makati. You can also call 895-5088 for directions or inquiries.
* * *
Send e-mail to milliereyes.foodforthought@gmail.com and karla@swizzlemobilebar.com. Find us on Facebook and read articles you might have missed: Food for Thought by Millie & Karla Reyes.