Mayordoma Ep. 04 - Grief Takes Guts (and Bile)

I lost my dad exactly a year ago.  

In the time since, I fixated on one of the things he passed on to me: a love for papaitan. 

I packed it all into the latest podcast. 

The TLDR/TLDL takeaway? In remembering someone, holding on to bitterness isn’t a completely terrible thing.

I love you, pops. 

I hope the buffet’s great at the majestic casino in the sky. 

A kiosk along Macarthur Highyway selling sinanglao, or papaitan that still packs bitterness but without the gastric juice.

“When my dad was alive, I’d wasted too much time not knowing enough about him; now, I could at least earn some kind of fluency in the food he relished.”

Walking up the old ancestral home in Tagudin, Ilocos Sur.

The collapsed floor where a dining room once was.

Beef Papaitan and Bagnet prepared by Chef Nick Rodriguez at Bistro Candon, midway between Tagudin and Vigan.

Mama and Papa on a road trip to Baguio c.1960s. They must have been in their early twenties.