Ayungins and Electric Fans

   

I saw a vendor selling ayungins. It's been a long time since I have tasted them. I remember my late father loved eating them especially cooked in guava soup, sinigang sa bayabas.  

I had a way of eating this fish, which my father taught me. The technique was for beginners, I guess, and it's main objective was to prevent the fish bone from getting stuck in the throat. 

The dorsal fin was removed. The stomach was gouged out and then the flesh was scraped off the back bone. This was a wasteful method and was meant for ayungin  beginners.

The advanced, or the masters', technique was to swallow the whole fish, suck, and spit out the bones clean.

Up to now, I an still wondering how my father and aunts could do that.

Anyway, next time I will buy a kilo, but first I have to ask my mother how to prepare the fish.

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Our two electric fans gave up. I brought them to Pablo's shop and had it repaired. 

When I asked what's wrong with them, I was told that #$&;*$;&#&#-!?#.... 

I couldn't understand the technical blah, blah, blah. So I just told him to repair them.

When I was younger I could repair minor mechanical EF problems and I even tried tinkering with electrical parts under the supervision of my electrician friend, of course. So, I got little lectures from him about how electric motor works. 

Since the EF is the most abused appliance in the home because of prolonged non-stop use, it only  follows that the most common cause of failure is a blown fuse. 

A fuse is a safety feature to prevent overheating. It's a piece of wire (or other material) that melts at a certain temperature cutting the electrical circuit and stopping the motor.  

Common folks, like me, do not know how to replace it so they bring their EF to the repairman. Most of the time, the repairman simply by-passes the fuses by jumping or by using jumper wire thus removing the protection from overheating.

Many sleep with the fan on. Even I cannot sleep without an EF blowing the mosquitoes and the heat away. It is indispensable specially to homes that have no air conditioning.  

Most EFs are made of plastic and when a fuseless motor overheats and melts the plastic material, you have instant combustion.

It's a death trap.

The thought of waking up in flames gives me nightmare especially since I and my family live in an old wood house. 

Anyway, once an electric fan is repaired, I make sure that they are not used at night, during sleep.