About a boy
What is the national food of the Philippines?
a. Turon
b. Adobo
c. Chickenjoy
d. None of the above
If that question was asked of me five months ago, I wouldn't know how to answer. But now, courtesy of a five-year-old nursery student, I can. It's D, none of the above!
"Ang pambansang pagkain ng Pilipinas ay lechon!" Well, at least, that's what my nephew Pong tells me. But when I follow up with a trick question, "Anong klaseng lechon, baboy o manok?", he just shrugs and says, "Di ko alam."' How irrational of me. Of course, he wouldn't know. They learn that in Kinder. It's unbelievable what they teach kids nowadays. (I'm suspecting that Aling Mila and Mang Tomas are somewhat involved in cooking up this national fact.)
Pong also loves knock-knock jokes. Here's a sample:
Knock, knock(which sounds more like nak, nak).
Who's there?
Titanic.
Titanic who?
"Tay-ta-nik ay di biro, maghapong nakayuko. Di man lang makatayo . . . "
(The joke gets lost in transcription. Believe me, it's funnier listening to it.)
This rice-loving, basketball-playing fella is one of the few people who can make me do what I don't want to do. Like play catch football when I should be finishing a parttime editing job. Or make me watch TV with him when I'd rather be catching up on much-needed sleep. But you can't really blame me. For how else can I discover that lechon is the national food of the Philippines? :-) 
* * * * * * * * * *
I actually asked some people if they knew about this national-food-fact. Surprisingly, two out of three answered in the affirmative. Maybe I just wasn't listening when this was discussed in my preparatory school class light years ago.
*picture taken very recently at the Enchanted Kingdom.
Labels:
Chocolates and Other Loves
10 comments:
pong is adorable indeed. buti na lang he doesn't live too far away from you like your other nephews.
he deserves a good auntie.
;)
Akala ko kare-kare ang national food! I think absent din ako sa class when this was discussed. Maybe I just wanted it to be kare-kare. :D
I'm trying my best to fill the role, Olive. Thanks. :-) He's not always adorable though, times when he's kulit or hardheaded. But then again, weren't we all like this before (and sometimes even up till now)?
Hi Gina, bakit sabay tayong absent? Nagcutting classes ba tayo nito? So kare-kare pala ang favorite mo! Sa akin, okay na ang turon. hehe. :-)
How come you always mention Pong in your blog? Don't you have 2 nephews in the Phils? Kawawang Robyn (-: Kelan kayo pumuntang Enchanted Kingdom ?
Pong is Superman right? If he wants it to be lechon, that's fine with me, I'm not picking a fight with the boy with the "S". :) I didn't even know we had a National Food. Ask him what's our National Merienda, I don't know.
Kids are fun, aren't they? They're makulit and all of that, but that's just out of curiousity. My 2- 1/2 yr old is very aggressive now with questions (in his own way since he doesn't speak that fluent yet) and i wonder how many he's ask me when he reached 4. :)
I guess many will still answer adobo. Bacause aside from being really filipino, it's easier to cook. You can cook adobo in any kitchen in any country (in my case, in singapore). whereas Lechon baboy needs a really big oven if you intend to cook it indoors (which is not a good substitute since lechon in open fire is still more tasty.
Hey Nang, you are embarassing me--in public! hehe, at least in my blog. I'll write more about Robyn, that is, when I'm able to have coherent and meaningful conversations with him. Now kasi di pa masyado eh. Just trying to understand what he's telling me so hard to write about him. Yung isa naman, si Sophia, baby pa. But their time will come. My heart is big enough to accomodate all my pamangkins! :-)
Hi Ruben, I'll ask Pong about the national meryenda. Wala yata eh! So you didn't know about the national food too! Nag-cutting classes ka din. haha. Yeah, he's the Superman-wannabe.
Hi Rey "the architect," thanks for stumbling into my blog and posting a comment. Maybe later on you could write about your father-son stories in your blog too. That would be cute and endearing. Yeah, adobo could be the national food. I heard there's an adobo cookbook, listing 100-plus ways of cooking the dish. You probably miss a lot of Filipino food.
Isn't the national food pritong galunggong? Hehe. Your nephew looks bibo. Reminds me of me a long time ago. Ahahaha...
Hi Abaniko, pwede rin ang pritong galunggong! And yes, I can still remember one picture you posted when you were under a different blogname, you might have some similarities with Pong. Mukha ka ring bibo. :-)
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