# 40 skeletal remains !!

not something for CSI. not the halloween kind of skeleton, either. too early for that.

this one is about food. filipinos love to eat. no exaggeration there! in most households, there are three full meals and two snacks in between to partake of each day.  midnight snacks may be on the menu, too.  a full meal would consist of rice and a viand or two.  rice is staple; viands can range from the regular to the more quirky table fare.  foreigners are often horrified by tales of our gastronomic ingenuity. no parts go to waste in our kitchens.  gross as it may seem like, we find creative ways to cook innards and exterior organs and yes, even blood (of the pig). that is some fodder for your imagination. our palates are flexible, our stomachs made of sturdier linings.  call it resourcefulness.  call it intestinal fortitude.

the belly is harmless but the eyes .... seriously?  eating the eyes of a fish is not uncommon in our part of the world.  the thought is disgusting to many.  to the un-initiated to filipino ways,  fish eye-gouging is anything but delicious.  

a simple grilled fish can make a hearty meal. using one's fingers to hook out the tiny bits that stubbornly cling on to the bones is the best way to do it.  a completely stripped yet unbroken skeleton of a fish is all that remains on the plate.  isn't that awesome?  BURP

# 39 spanish 101: tio y tia

time was when spanish was compulsory in college.  spanish influence is obvious and unmistakable in our language.  puedo entender un poco.  gracias, google translator.

theirs was a big family. five brothers, five sisters. tio and tia, we call them. uncle and aunt.  legends, we call them, too.  mama was # 6.  she has been gone for nine years now. cancer. eight months were all we had. she fought but lost the battle.   just 2 brothers and 2 sisters now.  growing up, tios and tias were accorded respect.  they were elders; mingling with them was improper. we kept distance. they were uncles and aunts, after all.  with the years creeping up fast on the third generation folks (that is us), the gap has been bridged.  respect is there for that is a constant but the bond is stronger now.  an element of friendship makes it so.

74, 82, 68

 that is not a typo.  got their ages right!  i say that with all the unconcealed pride in my heart.  this picture, taken over a month ago, unveils our extraordinary lineage.

it  would seem like they have found the fountain of youth for how else can they look so young yet share 224 years among them. an equally youthful 72-year old tio was not able to attend this special occasion. they are blessed with that gene that allows them to look younger than their chronological age.  fortunately, they have graciously passed that gene on to us. the whole clan unanimously & shamelessly agrees to that.  any objection overruled.

mamam joins the tias and tio in a picture taken almost twenty years ago.  oceans kept them apart back then.  they relished any chance they could be together.  it gave them reason to celebrate. 

the hardest part of not having mamam around anymore is not being able to feel the warmth of her hug. hugging tia is like being in mamam's arms again. 

gugud gave this memento that says it all.  nowadays, kids think aunts and uncles are peers. they would ask an aunt to give them a massage. unheard of and totally unacceptable in our time.  they think it is cool that they can do that now.

ours is a big clan.  the family tree continues to grow, its branches diverging with every extension.  the fifth generation twigs and sprigs that are starting to sprout will most likely not know the family's remaining legends, much less the other six.   they will have to content themselves with our stories and pictures.  if they have the time to listen to old stories and look at old pictures.  

there is nothing like knowing the tios and tias as we do now.  isn't that awesome?

# 38 take my breath away !!

tom cruise. top gun. fighter jets making high speed passes. remember how you swooned over him?  he took your breath away, didn't he? this song was the movie's love theme.  you played it on auto replay on your cd player for a long time.  of course, this was way before the age of the mp3 players. now they have upped the number and it is mp6.  seems like mp's are hopscotching away. 

how do you take one's breath away?  the tried and tested way is through your own sweet-smelling breath. a blast of freshness.  a clincher, that one is!  a garlicky hint of what you had for lunch earlier is not too pleasant a reminder when you lean over to whisper sweet nothings.  the two cups of coffee you had? that would be enough to give someone a caffeine kick the moment you open your mouth.  one can even easily tell what flavor that bag of chips you had for snacks was.   morning breath is the worst.   a stick of cigarette, too.  oh and beer can be intoxicating to someone who does not drink.  start talking and the whiff is enough.

colgate is the leading toothpaste brand in our part of the world.  when a kid is asked to go to a sari-sari store  (smallest of convenience stores)  to buy toothpaste,  she would most likely ask for colgate.  she actually means any brand of toothpaste. 

you are not frugal by any means. you just know when to give up on your tube of toothpaste before opening a new one. you work hard for your money and throwing away a there-is-one-more-brushing-in-there-if-i-squeeze-real-hard tube is like throwing away your hard-earned money.  so you huff and you puff and you give it your all.  you twist and turn the tube and curl it all the way up.  the tube ends up in a fetal curl.  you give it one final push.

you are rewarded with that last squeeze of paste.  isn't that awesome?