Mine started Friday night. From work, I went straight to the bus station, waited patiently for my turn and Ate Karen’s arrival, hop in, closed my eyes, and just like magic, I’m in Nueva Ecija. I swear, I time travelled! Before midnight, I was, again, greeted by the coconuts trees and the warm summer night air of home.
Saturday morning was not one of my favorite mornings. The house was a mess! Obviously, my Mama, Ate Joy, brother-in-law and little Pepper had a busy week, too. At least I am not alone in that aspect. Thank goodness, I brought home with me a week of soiled clothes to busy myself with. Wash, wash, wash! I felt instantly better after doing some hand work.
After, I busied myself prepping for lunch while Ate Karen and little Pepper whipped some cheesecake in the kitchen. The cheesecake pie was unusually brown. Nope, it was not burnt. My sister opted to use brown confectioner’s sugar because we had a big pack open. She refused to open a box of regular (white) one for reasons only thrifty people like us would understand.
She topped the pie with wild blueberry preserve which she bought from her recent trip in Sagada. The smell of creamcheese and the sweet berries made me want to grab the spoon and eat the pie straight from the pan! Sadly, no one – not even little Pepper – was allowed to touch the pie until Sunday morning for Mother’s Day.
With the pie off hand, I slept, woke and grabbed the spatula and the bowl for my own share of baking. I made a dozen each of banana and carrot muffins for my friends.
I’d like to say that nothings was really very special with the muffins, but my baker self refused not to recognized that I added surprise centers to the muffins. I put chocolate kisses on the banana muffins and cubed cream cheese (I froze them!) in the center of the carrot muffins. I love surprises!
By past 6:00 in the evening, everyone in the house was in a hurry to catch Mama’s Igorot dance performance. She, together with some of our kababaryo competed in the town fiesta’s Sayaw ang Lahi contest as part of the town’s fiesta’s celebration. It was Llanera’s 60th Founding Anniversary and the 7th Kapagayan Fiestival.
I did know my Mama was such a poised dancer. For the past weeks, she’d been telling me stories of the long hours she spent practicing the dance. Both men and women were garb in traditional Igorot clothes. Yes, with putong and banga and bahag.
The moment I saw their performance, I knew they’re going to win. And they did! The shouting and the cheer of my fellow residents of Sta. Barbara was priceless when they were announced as the first prize winner.
Since it was fiesta, I was taken back to the time when my grandmother used to tag me along with my cousins in that same place to enjoy the perya. My last memory was when we all rode the horror train. I tried to play an old game to reminisce.
I went to bed that night feeling happy to witness another side of my Mama and to be able to visit a long gone tradition. The next day, I forced myself to wake up before 5:00 AM. It was a storm-is-coming kind of morning and it was Mother’s Day! What better dish to serve but something soupy. We had some leftover rice noodles perfect for pho. Chicken, herbs and fresh vegetables topped the noodles. Everything scalded with broth. Yum!
And it was finally legit to consume the cheesecake pie! Yehey!
After finishing a hot bowl of pho and a mug of equally hot milktea, I was off with my muffins to meet with some friends I have not see for a while. We were supposed to trek up the Pinatubo crater but a storm was coming. We decided not to risk it and have a small swimming party instead. The meet-up was actually for the benefit of Peps and Keb who work from other countries. It will probably years again before I see the couple together. Can I just say that thought they are the weirdest couple I know (I hope they won’t read this post), Peps and Keb are two of my favorite people in the whole wide world? So back to the swimming party. We did some barbeque. Wait. Actually, I did all the grilling while they all chatted, but anyway. So, we did barbeque, jumped into the pool and tested Keb’s new GoPro (photos and videos soon. promise!).
By past 5:00 PM, I had to leave to catch a bus back to Metro Manila. As I sat alone in the bus I watch the sun set like I always have, and I realized how blessed I was to have such a wonderful weekend.
By Monday, I was already feeling sickly because of too much heat (from the grilling, I’m guessing. Hehe), excitement and lack of sleep.
I hope you had a great weekend, too!
– C
Wanderful Encounters 