Pasko at Pagkain

'Only when you lose it will one miss it’ is how I sometimes feel now that I no longer reside in my birth country Philippines. Not that I can’t go for vacation or visit but the feeling of 'belongness' and being in tune to everything happening is slowly disappearing. So what do we do? We write letter, call back home, the internet and other technology offshoot like skype, facebook and cellphone. Thank God. I can still remember the telegraph that my father gets which would contain 1 or at most two sentences (no choice since they do not have enough money) or when we need to wake up early and my Aunt in the states to stay up late since shes calling us via our neighbors telephone (you know how hard it is to request a telephone line from PLDT way back then). 
But there are times that hearing and seeing them electronically are not enough to alleviate are longing and homesickness. We want something we could smell, touch and taste. So what’s the next best thing? Food! This longing force me to learn how to cook or imitate some of the cooking we do.  

I remember growing up and what we routinely have are ginisang gulay (sauteed vegetable), pritong isda (fried fish), nilaga or tinola (soup like food) during rainy or cold days. Special weekend would be adobong baboy or manok, sinigang bangos, dinuguan. Other food are for really really special occasion such as kare kare, menudo, embotido, fried chicken, spaghetti pinoy style, pancit bihon or canton. But with Filipino food shops here in Toronto increasing, pinoy food are now available 7 days a week. I wonder if this is a good thing?.

So in this special month, the month we Filipinos consider as the most exciting and happiest celebration, Maligayang Pasko sa inyo at naway gawing Masagana ng ating Panginoon ang taong darating (Merry Christmas and may the Lord bless the comming Year). Kainan na.....