The Kid is home sick for the second day in a row. Some vile flu bug is going around her school. I distinctly remember when I was sick as a kid; sick meant lugaw or pospas in our house. It eventually turned into an incredible comfort food for me but I still associate it mostly with being sick. I’m not sure why it was standard fare when one was sick since most of the times it was a cold, cough, flu etc. which had nothing to do with the tenderness of one’s stomach… but nevertheless, if you were ill, you had to eat pospas. Frankly, when one is sick and feeling blah, do you really want to eat bland food? I always craved highly sour or salty foods when sick, and thankfully, my mom tolerated these requests and often obliged by bringing home a pack of salty sweet sampaloc from Mercury Drug or even that banned substance made in sweaty Chinese armpits (reference was my mom’s, not mine) red kiamoy.
Even better, if I were really really sick, that almost always meant I was 
allowed to drink some 7UP and if deathly pale, she would hunt out a small pack of coveted silver foiled wrapped Hershey’s kisses…this was the ultimate treat for the down and out in the 1970’s. Today, the selection of “goodies” is incredible and I can’t think of a sweet or salty snack that my daughter cannot have relatively easy access to at a grocery or sweet shop. There is no more novelty to a Butterfinger or a Mars bar. There are no more stories of how “mom and dad had to drive to Cash & Carry (or worse Dao) and vigorously bargain for the one small pack of unmelted Hershey’s kisses they could find.” So when the Kid is sick, she sometimes gets pospas, but more likely than not, I try to think of dishes that have a lot of flavor to encourage her to eat and regain strength.
Today I decided to make some Buffalo Chicken Wings; one of the kid’s restaurant favorites that is so incredibly easy to make at home. Just salt and pepper some chicken wings and fry them in oil until a nice golden brown. Next, dunk them in a sauce made 
up of 1/2 cup butter, melted, and 1/2 cup Frank’s Hot Sauce or similar hot sauce. It sounds like a lot of Hot Sauce but don’t scrimp, you’ll end up with buttery wings instead. I was thrilled to find real Frank’s Hot Sauce at the Metro Market Market grocery so we had a very authentic original style wings for lunch. And I made the blue cheese dressing and chopped up some nice celery so that it really felt like an order at a restaurant. I also made like I was still on a diet by munching on lots of celery and just two wings… I know, I know, one bloody wing is serious calories. At any rate, the Kid ate heartily, rushed off of the doctor and I get to write this post. Keep healthy everyone during the rainy season filled with colds and bugs of all sort…drink lots of kalamansi or dalandan juice to ward off cooties. And let me leave you with this unpleasant thought. I estimate that roughly 50-60% of all men who use public bathrooms do NOT wash their hands before leaving the toilet (based on extensive field research at major malls), which means if you shake hands with three adult males in the course of one business day, the chances are, you were THAT close to the hibbie jibbies, like 95+% or so. Only 5% of you will have shaken the hands of three consecutive hand-washers that day. Imagine how the cold germs are transferred from one human to another then… Heeheehee.
32 Responses
No fair, MM. I was just beginning to drool over your chicken wings and you throw in that tidbit about public restrooms and personal hygiene. Hibbie jibbies indeed, haha!
Hello Mr MM.
The buffalo wings that was taught to me have a worcestershire sauce (heaven’s how difficult it was to pronounce)…but it’s the same with the butter and hot sauce…only i used tabasco…hmmm..so yummy your picture of buffalo wings…
do I need to fry them again after dunking them in the butter/chili sauce? yours seems dry and not saucy.
any substitute for Franks Hot sauce?
is the blue cheese dressing the ‘standard’ dip for this?
Erleen, no need to fry again. The key is to dunk them in the butter and hot sauce mixture as soon as you take them out of the frying fat. This way, they seem to absorb the fat. Then you might want a double dunk if you want it wetter. The ones photographed here are in fact a bit dry as after the first dunk I took them outside to photograph. By the time I took the pictures, they seems to have absorbed a lot of the butter and hot sauce. You can use tabasco though I find the flavor and heat stronger… you can just adjust to your desired taste. This recipe is about as basic and traditional as it gets, though I note many other restaurants have been adding things to their mixtures. A blue cheese dip with celery is the classic accompaniment to the buffalo wings. The strong but delicious flavor of blue cheese complements both the celery and the chicken wings as well. This is not for the dieting one…tremendous calories all around! Easy blue cheese dip is just some sour cream with chunks of blue cheese mased into it.
Growing up we only got Coca-cola during special occasions — birthdays, Christmas and when we were sick. But when home sick sometimes your tastebuds are just too busted to enjoy sweets, and you feel too ill to enjoy Betamax-recorded cartoons (recall that these were pre-Cable TV days).
My favorite Freakonomists wrote here about how alarmingly enough, even doctors don’t wash their hands (as few as 9%).
MM I’ve always thought about that… about men not washing their hands after they go to the bathroom. I even asked my hubby about it before & he insists that he does wash his hands afterwards. So, 50-60% don’t wash, huh? Eww, that terrible!
oh shoot. scary stats. can we just drop the shaking of hands thingie? for health reasons. its safer to just bow heads like those thais and koreans do.
pospas is the ticket. i like it even when not sick. why don’t you do a post on it– the unseasoned plain kind that’s served with a dozen weird chinese condiments. I love that.
as for the handwashing, well if you’re creeped out by shaking other men’s hands, then wash your hands often. No biggie. Can’t be that unsanitary. I mean, women do a bit more with it than just use their hands, don’t they? and who was it who said there’s more bacteria in a human mouth than any other part of the body?
Having said that, i agree w angela, the asian head bow really is the best way.
gonzo, previous post on pospas here, enjoy…
I love chicken wings! Never fails to order a bunch of ’em at restos.
That’s true. Lots of people don’t wash their hands after using public restrooms. Its disgusting. SO, carry a whole lot of hand sanitizer.
I love buffalo wings, although I prefer ranch dressing than bleu cheese dip. You could also bake them, just dip the wings in the hot sauce batter before baking and double dip after baking.
Husband like the baked version, I prefer the old fashioned grease up, deep-fried version. :)
It’s Frank’s Hot sauce or Louisiana hot sauce for me, or you could cheat and if you can’t make it to Hooters get the Hooters wing sauce. :)
Noemi, I’m so with you on the hand sanitizer, I carry a bottle of the alcohol gel in my handbag and wash, wash your hands before eating. It’s amusing actually that some restrooms in malls and restaurants have everything automated, down to the paper towel dispenser that the only thing you touch is the restroom’s door.
MM, I hope kid will feel better soon.
my mom’s just like your mom! she’d give me anything when i was sick (potato chips, bacon, chocolate, soda, campbell’s cream of mushroom soup). now i do that with my kid, only she’s got more expensive taste than me. we’d have to order out for pizza, eat out (even if she was deathly ill!). kids!
Loved foods but lazy to cook since my husband only eat mashed potato and steak ( no vegetable- picky eater ). For my chicken wings, I used Carne Asada ( a mexican seasoning ) and grill it,yum.
When going out, I have Purell Instant Hand Sanitizer in my purse, always.
I love wings! Thanks for the dinner idea. Wings always reminds me of my college years. Every restaurant in most college campuses across the US have wing nights. My personal record is 2 pitchers of beer and 50 buffalo wings in 2 hours. GO ME!
I always crave wings when I’m visiting family in Manila. Everytime I try a Filipino rendition of buffalo wings I come out unsatisfied. Where can you get good wings in Manila other than making it yourself?
Pete, my daughter likes the wings at Chili’s…it’s an American fast food chain that has some branches in Manila…
marketman, what else can i dip the chicken in, other than blue cheese?
I love hot wings but Roids also love me…so I contend myself with Popeye chicken with ranch for dipping sauce…no flair.
Connie…use a paper towel to grab the door handle…works everytime!
Hi skymermaid, I’ve seen people dip their buffalo wings in barbecue sauce and in honey mustard. Never tried them because I love blue cheese, but I imagine these alternatives would work perfectly.
buffalo wings are quite easy to make and i wonder why i never tried doing it. the secret’s really in the sauce. and it has to be fresh. i think you can use the regular blue cheese dressing that comes in prepared bottles if you can’t be arsed to make it from scratch. the fat in the dip and the celery helps cut the heat from the chicken.
the metro hot sauce section really rocks! you’ll be amazed at the selection
for those in NYC, i remember going to this place around St. Mark’s Square called St. Mark’s Ale. Every Mondays you just have to order a beer and you’ll be entitled to 10 cent chicken wings. just 10cents PER chicken wing. i had 45 pieces. no kidding
Naz, I’m hoping sometime soon they’ll have automated doors too! LOL!!!
I actually like rest room doors that swing out because then I only have to push out with my shoulder but yeah using paper towel does work better.
Chili’s, yes the buffalo wings there are excellent. Even if they have the boneless wings I still prefer picking the meat off the bone, one of the joys of eating buffalo wings. Although do try their boneless shanghai wings with wasabi-ranch dressing dip, it’s good too.
skymermaid, I like the suggestion above to use ranch dressing…though I do like the blue cheese…
Starting today I’ll just bow my head when I meet men…he..he..he.. in fairness I’ll do it to all. The best way is to bring along hand sanitizer all the time.
scene: rest room. two men after using urinal.
foreigner: (soaping his hands at washstand;looking at filipino combing his hair instead of washing his hands)”where i come from, we were taught at a young age to always wash our hands after taking a pee”.
fiipino: (still combing his hair)”in the philippines, we are taught at a young age not to pee on our hands”.
nuff said.:)
eeeeew! i just shook a man’s hand twice today. we all got that bug here, too. first me, then my daughter.
back in the days, i got a lot of pospas, too, and oatmeal, and chicken soup (whether nilaga or pesa). like you though, i would always look for comfort food which then was cheese curls (i forget the brand but it wasn’t planter’s or cheetos, parang adam’s) in a can, or nestle crunch (the shorter close to square in size and shape), or cheese picnic (in can also).
now i’m drooling! waaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!
one of my faves! with lots of bits of blue cheese chunks in the dip!
now Im confused whether to comment of the buffalo wings or the peeing! hahaha
Oo nga, teny. Parang off tangent yata yung pee comment! I was just getting into the groove of reminiscing about comfort food and then, WHAM, germ contamination from non-hand washers! Nakakatawa! (In English, LOL!)
I just love this site!!! You get all kinds…
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!! was loving your post (am a fellow buffalo wing fan after all) but that last part totally ruined it for me. i can’t get the thought out of my head. just this last week our kids were having a lively discussion at the dinner table about what “punishment” people should get for not washing their hands after using the bathroom. ideas ranged from sensors at the faucet and soap dispenser to an invisible force field barring them from leaving the bathroom until they’ve washed to a giant sticker being slapped on their backs as they walk out saying “I did not wash my hands”….
ewww. just ewww.
I agree that if you want a really good recipe of buffalo chicken wings- you gotta use Frank’s RedHot only!!! Everytime i make it at home, it makes my husband’s head sweaty and shiny…well he’s bald (not by choice though)! ehehehe
i tried this today only with a different sauce. wala akong blue cheese and celery so, i used the leftover sauce from souvlaki. it’s sour cream, feta, and garlic, seasoned with very little salt and pepper. sarap!!! basta cool yung sauce pala puwede sa hot wings.