Things that last after Christmas
The Christmas Season is over. Our holiday wastes are slithering past our streams, into the pile of garbage in Payatas (yes, it's still there). Our angpao (or ampao?) is growing thin because of our regular visit to Divisoria malls, whose owners' kin, by the way, were our benefactors (Do I smell a marketing ploy here?).
But some things must last. To some it is the memory of one Simbang Gabi when the homily got so interesting not because of the impassioned calls for holy change but because of the guy next door who delivered it. To some it is the heaps of buko salad, sago salad, chicken salad, macaroni salad and fruit salad that still needed some painful flushing out of their bowels. In my case me, it definitely is the keso de bola (round Edam cheese) that still stands red and proud in the middle of our table.
This Christmas Season, we had three keso de bola. One went down in history as spaghetti trapping. The other had to travel miles away into the province to represent us in a family reunion of sort. The last has been peeled, shaved, pricked and halved but survived to this day.
No doubt other families out there have the same survivor-of-a-keso-de-bola story. And why would this holiday regular not last? It is too salty for the Filipino's taste. Some even claim that its wax cover makes the cheese tastes like candle. Some other reasons are more interesting though:
1. the keso de bola is what remains of our Christmas bonus
2. as it is rather expensive, a keso de bola is a source of pride that must remain on display in the cupboard just like a Filipino girl's barbie doll must be forever kept in the shelf for the girl next door (and her mother) to be envious of
3. a keso de bola is really not food but flavored candle
4. a keso de bola is an emergency gift for late Christmas visitors (Filipinos have holiday guests as late as the first Sunday of the new year--or "The Three Kings")
5. the keso de bola was the only kindness we received from our employer
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon)!
The Christmas Season is over. Our holiday wastes are slithering past our streams, into the pile of garbage in Payatas (yes, it's still there). Our angpao (or ampao?) is growing thin because of our regular visit to Divisoria malls, whose owners' kin, by the way, were our benefactors (Do I smell a marketing ploy here?).
But some things must last. To some it is the memory of one Simbang Gabi when the homily got so interesting not because of the impassioned calls for holy change but because of the guy next door who delivered it. To some it is the heaps of buko salad, sago salad, chicken salad, macaroni salad and fruit salad that still needed some painful flushing out of their bowels. In my case me, it definitely is the keso de bola (round Edam cheese) that still stands red and proud in the middle of our table.
This Christmas Season, we had three keso de bola. One went down in history as spaghetti trapping. The other had to travel miles away into the province to represent us in a family reunion of sort. The last has been peeled, shaved, pricked and halved but survived to this day.
No doubt other families out there have the same survivor-of-a-keso-de-bola story. And why would this holiday regular not last? It is too salty for the Filipino's taste. Some even claim that its wax cover makes the cheese tastes like candle. Some other reasons are more interesting though:
1. the keso de bola is what remains of our Christmas bonus
2. as it is rather expensive, a keso de bola is a source of pride that must remain on display in the cupboard just like a Filipino girl's barbie doll must be forever kept in the shelf for the girl next door (and her mother) to be envious of
3. a keso de bola is really not food but flavored candle
4. a keso de bola is an emergency gift for late Christmas visitors (Filipinos have holiday guests as late as the first Sunday of the new year--or "The Three Kings")
5. the keso de bola was the only kindness we received from our employer
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon)!
posted by maria at aga at 9:08 PM
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