The first rains of summer signaled my Tatay to start a most unusual activity: catching hito (freshwater catfish) using live termites for bait. He knew which houses in our barrio had termite problems, and the owners welcomed his offer to rid them of this pest.
Tatay, gin, and cucumbers
A nostalgic tale of summer rains, backyard harvests, and a father's curious love for cucumbers—timed with an equally unusual gin celebration
By Sol Vanzi
Published Jun 11, 2025 07:30 am
At dawn, he began by kneading big balls of clay, the size of his fist, with live termites. He then prepared our supplies for the day: drinking water, cooked rice in banana leaves, boiled bananas, and cucumbers from his backyard vegetable garden. We were off before the sun rose.
Our neighbor’s rice field was a 30-minute walk from home, through salt beds and fish ponds. Along the way, Tatay narrated stories of his own childhood, of fishing with his father using various nets and fish traps, and what bait is best for different kinds of fish. Rice field owners allowed friends to catch hito and mudfish because the fish just appear when it rains, without the farmer spending on fish fry to restock them.
Tatay carefully placed the mud balls inside bamboo traps called bubo and laid the traps in the shallow water among the rice plants. He sliced cucumbers into our water container, then we proceeded to gather kuhol (rice snails) to take home for dinner. It was mid-afternoon when we checked the bubo.
The first trap yielded eight large hito, which Tatay immediately dropped into a pail and sprinkled with salt. Within minutes the fish stopped moving. The salt also removed the slime and seasoned the fish. I built a fire to grill the hito while Tatay returned the first trap and sliced the cucumbers into the drinking water.
We were joined by farmers who were tending to their crops. They brought fruit from their farms: ripe mango, chico, caimito. The sting on their skin from the summer sun was tempered by small towels soaked in cucumber water. We walked home at sunset with a bucketful of hito and a basket of fruits.
Tatay and his friends gathered at night to sing songs, play the guitar, and outdo each other telling adult jokes they had all heard hundreds of times before. The men, not all of them related, drank from one glass passed from one man to the next. Their thirst-quencher was gin and canned pineapple juice, cucumber water, and calamansi juice. For pulutan (finger food), the gang cooked hito into an almost-dry, spicy adobo with crisp sliced cucumber on the side.
COOL CONNECTION A Hendrick’s and Tonic garnished with cucumber slices recalls a father’s curious summer ritual—where cucumber water soothed sunburnt skin and paired perfectly with grilled hito and gin.
A cucumber celebration
Kismet or coincidence? Shivers ran up and down my spine when a notice came by email last week announcing the celebration of National Cucumber Day, right after the start of the summer rains. It was like a message from my late father, who loved gin and cucumbers. The email was an invite to a celebration Tatay would have loved to attend.
On June 14, Hendrick’s Gin returns the most unusual Cucumber Currency Exchange across 50-plus bars and establishments in Metro Manila.
On that day, guests can get a Hendrick’s & Tonic without using cash. No coin. No card. Just cucumber.
This odd tradition is part of Hendrick’s global legacy of celebrating the refreshing, the curious, and the peculiarly wonderful. In addition, select venues will offer tarot card readings. From 6 to 10 p.m., the cucumber—cool, crisp, and curiously underrated—takes center stage in a global tradition that turns the everyday into the extraordinary.
From June 12 to 14, Hendrick’s Gin invites guests to indulge in even more curious encounters, including a mystical twist at Fr Mgmt, Eraya, and Spritz. Those who purchase any two Hendrick’s cocktails will receive a complimentary tarot card reading.
For a full list of participating venues and curious happenings, visit: https://hendricksgin.com/ph/unusual-times/world-cucum