tatlong buwan

tatlong buwan na
para bang taon na ang nakalipas
matagal nang ganito
ang mga sandali
malungkot pero mas masaya
kay ligaya.
tatlong buwan na muli.

gatas ng kalabaw

oh well, since im at it, id better write it down now.

as a kid, i enjoyed the gatas ng kalabaw (carabao's milk) together with the kesong puti,

every saturday morning, my nanay would always go to the town market to replenish all our resources at home. at random intervals, she would buy gatas ng kalabaw. it comes in a bottle of coke (12oz) and stuffed with banana leaves at its mouth, which then serves as the cork.

i was introduced to this product in a very filipino way. i didn't know that you could drink this milk. i only knew that it is something which is good to put in rice. i would pour the bottle of carabao's milk in my plate as if my rice would look like minestrone. i'd add a pinch of rock salt here and there, get my share of fried fish (of any specie), and voila! you have a terrific breakfast.

i remember always looking at it in our refrigerator in the dirty kitchen. that bottle would not last for the week. normally my nanay would buy just one bottle and it would last until sunday morning, at the most. i would always wait for the following weekend when my nanay would get another bottle. sometimes during the week, i would always open the refrigerator hoping that nanay would have gone to the market and bought some. but there wasnt. i just like eating rice with milk and salt and fried fish for breakfast.

when i got a bit older, big enough to help my nanay carry the stuff she bought from the market, my tatay would ask me to go with her. so on my first pamamalengke day, i asked my nanay where she bought the gatas ng kalabaw. sometimes you get more than you asked for. i was introduced to all the areas of the market. where she buys the dried sea weeds for making gulaman, the small and the big sago, the local bookstore, where she gets eggs, vegetables, meat, chicken, etc etc.... good thing she didnt introduce me to the tinderos and tinderas, my brain would have gone haywire. but that's when i learned the pinoy haggling technique. my mother is really very good in that. she'd get the items half their initial selling price. i just wish that that skill has been passed on to me.

i also learned that they dont sell the carabao's milk during weekdays. probably there wasnt enough carabaos to milk. and they dont put it on stock. maybe investing on a refrigerator was too expensive for them. but it was comforting to know that when you buy the milk, you are assured that it is really fresh.

i think that was the time when i learned how to control my wants/desires. it wasnt that nanay couldnt provide us the milk for the whole week, but there was a reason why she cant get it during the week (aside from the fact that she had 8-5 job in makati). i am still learning that there is a reason for everything.

anyway, the milk now comes in sealed plastic bottles. comes in different sizes. yes, still with the labels, expiration date, etc. but i would still prefer that 12oz coke bottle with banana leaves as cork. it still gives me the impression that milk is harvested and not produced.

so that's my carabao's milk story. and by the way, i still haven't consumed it in any other way.

kesong puti

alagang alaga namin si puti, kalabaw na maitim, gatas ay maputi...

have you guys seen the chain of stores along the Sta.Rosa - Tagaytay interchange? these kesong puti stores. they're selling Pinoy dairy products. ansaya! i've rediscovered the joy of eating kesong puti. drinking carabao's milk and soya milk.

eating kesong puti has imprinted a very specific experience in my childhood. i remember that I would go with my tatay during those hazy afternoons, where you'd see the dust in the air. i still remember vividly that old brown house which had a silong as a store. they'd sell big freshly baked pandesals, pansit palabok, authentic mami (there weren't any instant food then), kesong puti, halo halo, sago't gulaman, etc.

it could have been during my early elementary school years. i remember sporting the bao/military 3 x 4 haircut then. it was the only haircut that my barber knew.

me and my father would go to this place for merienda using our white 1972 VW kombi. that van is really a classic.

then upon reaching the place, i would always get two loaves of big pan de sals, two orders of kesong puti wrapped in banana leaves and a glass of sago't gulaman with crushed ice. an extra dash of arnibal would always make me smile. my tatay would always order mami and pansit palabok and i would always get another fork and get small servings from his plate. the lady, aling "someone" (sorry, i forgot her name), would always get kesong puti in this dirty white box of styro where she keeps all of them together with blocks of ice to keep it always fresh.

afterwards, my tatay would always ask me to finish his plate of pansit, sip the remaining soup from the bowl of mami, while he pays aling "someone" and then we'll hop on our classic van and then we head back home.

anyway, right now, the kesong puti that i bought from this stall is quite "commercialized" already. it comes in this chic plastic case, complete with labels and expiry date and the manufacturers information. it also comes in different varieties. one is the cow's kesong puti, another is the carabao's, then there's the original flavor (more salty) which is wrapped with a banana leaf but still comes in this chic plastic case.

it's nice to see the comeback of all these local dairy products. its hightime the general public be reintroduced to these local delicacies.

as for me, it gave me glimpses of my childhood with my tatay.

then there's the carabao's milk. a story which i associate with my nanay. but that's another story.