Anak ng Kamote!

“I want to cook and write but I’m on a strict diet!” – This was my gmail status two  weeks ago.  “I wanted to write about my cooking  but when I cook, I will surely eat”, as I explained to Atty Jaja defending that my status was logical. Lol. This week, I cooked several dishes and all of them were fried.  Yes, I want to write about simple cooking  but man, not as simple as fried  bangus belly! I  have to admit though that I find frying fish challenging since I do not have a non-stick pan. 

Because I’m on this so-called strict diet, I opted to write about my staple food, sweet potato a.k.a. camote.  My camote diet started when Manang Shalala started to sell camote.  She did not realize then that selling the root crop would decrease the sales of her luto in her turo-turo .  Imagine,  my am snacks, lunch and pm snacks only cost me P25, her selling price for 3 pieces  camote (violet camote).  However, lately, I discovered that a certain variety, the Taiwan camote a.k.a. “Rockwell camote” (duh?!) tastes better.    It’s the orange variety (white  on the  outside, yellow orange on the inside).  It costs P80 per kilo.  One time, I brought   cooked camote in my boylet’s apartment.  “Are we this poor?” he asked.   He was so surprised when I told him the price.  I needed to remind him that we are in the metro and we are not in the 90’s.  Food and stuff aren’t sold in tumpok.   Right now, I just bring baon in the office.  Thanks to my landlady’s angel who cook the humble root crop for me. 

Why did I decide to include camote in my diet?  First, I want to be sexy  and fab.  Second, I want to be healthy.  Camote is a good source of Vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene.  It’s also an excellent source of Vitamin C and Manganese, copper, dietary fiber, Vitamin B6, potassium and iron.

Thanks to those who went home and planted camote!