the MiCroWave

I arrived at the villa 1:00pm on the dot today. Took the company bus from the airport and took a 10-minute walk from my drop-off point in Hor Al Anz, braving the 43degree Celsius heat of the sun! Just saw the sandstorm happily spreading itself in to the air officially declaring Summer season. Darn! My brain got nearly baked by the scorching heat hanging in the air and it did nothing to appease my heated mood as well… its almost a year since the last time I got home. I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss Manila’s unpredictable weather, I miss the province’s summer smell. I miss home.

I know I will be alone at the house today, I was always the last to be out and the first to be in due to my early working schedule. Took few minutes rest, I went down at the kitchen to take my lunch. Alone as usual, the microwave was my constant companion during lunch time. I shove my food I, press the start button.. ding.. ding.. ding…. ding..

Haaaaaay… Home…. I miss home…

When I am taking a vacation to the Philippines, my mother makes sure that the food on the table would be something that I can’t normally find in Dubai. My favorites are “bulanglang” and fried fish, adobong batangas, pinais na dulong, pork paksiw, and humba and pork barbeque served with salted egg with tomatoes. Of course you can eat all of those every where, but “home cooking” is always different no matter what.

In the morning Tatay would go to the market just to buy my breakfast, native delicacies of course, puto, kutsinta, bibingkang kanin, ensaymada and Banana Q and turon.

I remember when I was younger, when we go vacation in Batangas, the famous “pinindot”, buchi-buchi, and tamales will never be missing at the breakfast table, while Kapeng barako is free flowing the whole day in Nanay Peling’s house.

Come 3pm, my cousins and I will go to Thomas’s carinderia, where we will eat Lomi, or Palabok, fish balls, kwek-kwek and all kinds of Inihaw…betamax, isaw, adidas and whatever comes to mind. We will finish it off with Halo-Halo with lots of ube and leche flan on top! As soon as our monstrous intestines managed to digest all of the food we ate (which was very soon, in fact) we will go to the field and aided with our slippers on the right hand and bagoong bottle on he other, we will try to steal green mangoes in Amados’s land. Half of the time we get away with our “mango escapades” the other half we go home running with missing slippers and an angry Ämado in tow! HAHAHAHAHA!

Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingggg…..

The microwave has beeped already…. Time is up.. food reheated… I stared at the plate with a left over rice from last night, 1 ½ piece of sausage and half fried chicken….left over from last night as well and then I thought….

Haaaaaaaay… welcome back to Dubai.