THINGS I MISS MOST: PART TWO

Radioactive Bibingka?


Every so often, I complain to colleagues and friends about my dissatisfaction with many things around me. No, life has been okay so far. It's the corned beef that isn't. (Wait, pass that by me again?!).

I had breakfast today after sending off Mom at the aeroport for a 5-day emergency trip to Cebu to meet officials of the Department of Education (they deserve spanking so badly) and God forgive me but the corned beef was the worst ever! Watery, potato-ey bits of meat. Totally bland and uninteresting. Times like this, I always wonder: whatever happened to the good old stuff?

1.) Carne Norte
There was a time when Libby's was really good. This Brazilian corned beef used to be a rarity in those days when people only had radios, and rice was sold by the ganta. These days, it feels like eating something people already chewed and canned to be exported. I miss whole slabs of corned beef meat we used to get when Mom comes home from Bukidnon. It was always fun to sit down with other cousins to "himay" (I don't know the English equivalent) the meat by its fiber. This always turns out to be a better (if not the real) version of carte norte: aromatic, real good meat, and definitely no need for potatos (which aborbs the flavor of the whole thing by the way, making it bland). These days, canned corned beef just takes out the fun in breakfasts.

2.) Pan de Sal
Another Filipino delight gone un-delighful. The corner bakeshop has not only turned this popular breakfast fare into minute versions of the original, they've made them crusty and drier too! Whatever happened to the soft, doughy bread of our childhood?!

3.) Bibingka
Trust me, if you ever come across those two old women who sell bibingka beside the Baclaran Church, make haste to stay as far away from them as possible. Their bibingkas are totally abominable you'd think bibingka was just created yesterday and you're eating it for the first time! Whatever happened to the galapong-rich delights topped with salted eggs?

4.) To be continued. Back to work. :-)