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.