Pasalubong

My mom had that big smile when she saw my brother at the gate.

He was with their driver, my sis-in law and my niece. We just had lunch then they left again to travel back to our place in the province, a five-hour trip going back.  The car was full. They brought with them two bags of green Indian mangoes, fresh corn, pineapple fruits, santol  and fresh bamboo shoots for my older brother and me.

I sliced  the bamboo shoots into thin strips and put it in the freezer. It will last for more than a month without changing its taste. I am planning to cook the santol fruits into a yummy dish. Thinking of ginataang santol at the moment. Several years ago, I tried it for the first time and posted the recipe here.  Some of  my friends who came and visited me liked it.

Two days ago, we harvested one of our ripe jackfruit. The remaining ones are still so small to make into a dish. Josef liked it, he almost ate all in one sitting.

I boiled the seeds and they tasted like chestnuts. Mom just loved it. We call jackfruit langka in Tagalog.  Next year, I need to save some seeds so I could grow them again. The two fruit trees we have now  are getting old after several years of giving us something for the table as veggies and ripe jackfruit for dessert. You can eat the latter fresh or mixed it with our local turon or ginataan.

Blessings come aplenty.

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Life With Mom (Part 15)

Again, for the second time this year, I attended the earliest morning mass at 5 am.  I love the quiet around this time, seems like 5 am is still too early for some to wake up. Since Josef and Jovy were not around, I left mom alone at home. I told her to catch another hour of sleep before she watches  the regular 6 am mass on television. When I came home, she has just woken up and the mass was already halfway through.

My sister-in-law texted earlier and said that they are fetching her today. After almost seven months of staying  here, she is just excited to go home. When I told her about it, she said, “very good”. Haha, I just  laughed.  It is not really practical for her to commute so I wait for my two brothers when they have time to accompany her going back to the province or to fetch her from there.

When she is here, she would always say that she’s got nothing to do. I told her to just relax and enjoy. When she’s at home in the province, she is always busy. Every morning, she would sweep the yard of fallen leaves from the fruit trees that we have there. At least she could still enjoy bonding with her two older sisters and cousin, playing cards in the afternoon and going home when it is time to cook for dinner.

She has forgotten even how to open our grill doors. She cannot remember which key is which.  She turned 89 two months ago. Maybe when you reach that age, forgetfulness creeps in but we are so blessed she doesn’t suffer from dementia.  I think it is the “wear and tear” of getting old.  She hasn’t  learned to adjust wearing a hearing aid. She cannot hear with her right ear and sometimes she even complains that her left keeps ringing.

Getting old and growing old. I guess when you reach the age like she did, you’ll just get old. I pray that she’ll always be healthy.

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