Gusto ko ang baon!

If there's one thing that I crave throughout the school year, it would be my mother's cooking. I'm sure any Filipino kid (or perhaps ANY kid) would boast that their mother's cooking is the best in the world. However, I think there's this special sort of... quality, a bit of TLC if you will, that makes makes my mother's cooking second to none. Perhaps its that touch of sugar that goes in the adobo pot, or just the right amount of Mama Sita's mix that goes into her pancit. Either way, when my mind somehow wanders to lumpia, immediately there's a pool of drool right in front of me.

Unlike cravings for pizza or Chinese food or a one-night stand, the craving for Filipino food, no less my MOTHER'S Filipino food, is extremely hard to satiate. Any Pinoy on campus will tell you that it's pretty much next to impossible to find Filipino food in the A2 area; there used to be a restaurant about 40 minutes away, but apparently it only does catering now. Thus, the next option is actually cooking for yourself. Unfortunately, I don't have the time NOR the resources (i.e., kitchen, money) to do this. I could feasibly go home on the weekend to visit/eat, but my schedule doesn't allow for that ever (damn my work schedule and "social engagements.")

So, it's no surprise that when I went home this weekend I gorged on food. It was Easter weekend, so everyone who's in the States converged at 251 to partake in what has been affectionately known as "the G-Clan Family Feeding Frenzy." Sunday morning, and mind you she had already been up at 5AM cooking breakfast hiding Easter eggs for the grandkids, my Mother is busy-bee'ing around the kitchen with crazy amounts of dishes being cooked at the same time. You've got a roast beef in the broiler while the pancit's on the burner and the lumpia being fried all at the same time. Mom's got dad, MGI and me as her little sous-chef's, cutting veggies and fruits or arranging shrimp on a plate. You're switching the roast beef for the hamhock when you've got the kids running around the house about to break something, and yet Mom somehow manages to stay calm throughout all of this. And don't forget about both the kids AND adults sneaking lumpias from the platter, which in turn brings out the "3-only" rule.

Start time: approximately 11AM. End time: about 12:15PM-ish. Yep, kids... a full veggie/fruit tray, a roast beef, hamhock, a platter of lumpia AND pancit, mashed potatoes, and countless other goodies... all ready and prepared in just over an hour.

And you think that there's only one WonderWoman out there.

After cheesing it with the family for a while longer, I came back to campus on Monday probably 125-pounds heavier than before. And, of course I come back to A2 with a large amount of baon with me. Bags of leftover pancit and roast beef are sitting in my refrigerator as we speak. In fact, I just had two platefuls of pancit just now (I mean, between that and ResHall spaghetti, is there really any question?) Trust me, I'll be eating out of them for the next few days.

My cravings have been satisfied... for now. And thank you Mom for being such an awesome cook! I love you!

Finally, I'm gonna leave you with my Dad's "crush." My parents LOVE the show Wowowee, and my Dad LOVES this dancer on the show named Luningning. I have no idea what her purpose is; apparently she dances around and places random objects onto platforms. Eh, I guess that's the way of Filipino TV. This is to you, Dad!

Apparently it won't let me imbed, but click the link anyway (BMJ, I say we try and emulate this dance for our 102 final instead.)

Five... six... BAAAAAAALLLLLIN'!