Mexican flan. Our first earthquake in Philippines

Typhoon, cyclone, earthquake or flood...these natural disasters are part of our life in Philippines. And by now, we are used to. Our ordinary life stops for a few days. When there is a typhoon, for example. we stay all day at home but we make sure we have plenty of provisions: milk, water, rice and non-perishable food (lots of baked beans!) and the emergency lights are charged. The ground floor of our house was flooded three years ago and this year, just the playroom and part of the garden. 

The damage we could possibly have it is nothing compared to the catastrophic situations that many filipinos, especially those ones who live in very poor areas, have to face. Life is tough for them, not for us, let's be honest. The disasters have a main impact in their lives, the damages are huge. But life keeps on. What amazes me the most is that filipinos still have a smile after that. They learn to survive. Well, not always survive. 

I used to think that these natural disasters would never happen to me as I was protected by an imaginary aura called "Diplomatic Immunity" since the moment I said "yes" to Nick in our wedding. How naive. 

It was January 2012 and our son Gabriel was only 2 months old. We decided to have our very first vacation in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, since we arrived in Philippines 4 months ago. An hour after we arrived in a lovely resort ,Atmosphere, an earthquake magnitude 6.8 hits that area killing 43 people, including a child when a concrete wall collapsed.

Nick was in the poool with Aurelia and I was under the umbrella with Gabriel. We felt the shaking, the water moving, the panic, everybody was terrified. I took Gab and went underneath of a tree but Nick started to shout at me. I couldn't understand what he was saying until he pointed me with his finger to the tree where I was under. I could have been killed by a coconut...

The aftershocks lasted 2 days. Nick always has this amazing calm nature that if one day I see him really panic, that is it. So he was drinking a beer while our table was shaking and of course, after the money we paid for the holidays, he was determined to enjoy them. We didn't know the real damage in the villages because the resort was a bit isolated. 

I felt tense the whole week until we got safely to Manila. I don't like flying, but when the earthquake occurred, I wish I were in a plane. I also felt small and impotent, but above all, I felt sad, really sad when I saw the news and the dead bodies. 

I just got this pamphlet in my mailbox

In this blog, sometimes I include recipes connected to the story I tell, and sometimes I don't. There is not a chronological order, as you have already noticed, and sometimes there is. In this post, there is a connexion of the earthquake and the recipe below.

Last Tuesday, at 8am, there was another earthquake of magnitude 7.2 in the same area, in Bohol, but this time the death toll was much higher, 93. The day after the earthquake, I made a flan with a new recipe that  my lovely mexican friend, Xochil, gave me. My daughter Aurelia was with me in the kitchen when I placed the newspaper on the table with the terrible news and shocking photos of the affected areas by the earthquake.
Next to the newspaper there was a blue pie tin with the flan. I wasn't paying attention to the fact that Aurelia was looking at the photos, although I wasn't hiding them from her, until we started to talk about earthquakes. She then asked me:" mum, do you remember that day in January when the pool and everything moved in that place next to the beach?, it was like dancing", she said. "yes, it was funny for you, right?" I said. "But what happen if you shake this flan too hard?, I asked. And we did the experiment so it was easy for her to comprehend what an earthquake does. Some parts of the flan "collapsed". Her sad face understood.

Since I tried this "mexican flan", it is a must in my small repertoire of "meals for a dinner party": it is made the day before ; it is very easy; it is delicious and it feeds a crowd! It has been very popular with kids.

Flan de Xochil

• 6 eggs
• 1 small can of condense milk
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 block or 250g of philadelphia cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• Caramel: 150ml water; 330g caster sugar, juice of half lemon

1. Preheat oven 150C
2. Meanwhile, make the caramel:
1.  Combine the water, sugar and lemon in a heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring often with a wooden spoon. You can wet a pastry to wipe down the side of the pan to prevent the sugar from crystalizing, but I forget to do it, to be honest.
2. Once the sugar has dissolved, bring the liquid to the boil until golden colour.
3. Pour the caramel in a cake tin and let it cool. it will be hard in 5 minutes
4. In a blender, mix all the ingredients and pour them over the hard caramel.
5. Bake a bain marie for 1 hour. Remove it from the water and cool it on a rack

Notes:

• The difference with the Spanish flan is the cream cheese which makes the texture of this flan creammy and smooth.
• Be very careful with the caramel as it can cause the worse burns...I talk from experience.
• Caramel gets brown very quickly and becomes bitter. One day my flan was spoilt because of that.
• Bain-marie is French for a container of hot water over which a smaller pot rest to protect the food from a direct heat. I use a cloth on the base of the big container and then I place it in the oven. Put the tin with the uncooked flan inside and then add the hot water.
• Start a list of the dishes you know are good and easy to prepare ahead. When you are planning a dinner party, it would be very useful!