Skip to main content

My Birthday: Boiled Cakes and Custard Cakes (by Nenen, with Big sister's commentary)

 My birthday is in December (11th of the month), so to my liking, it is the best celebrated compared to that of my older sisters'. December means presents and Christmas bonuses, so somehow I have more resource to celebrate. I remember when I was in kindergarten, I got to celebrate my birthday in our classroom in school. I still have a picture of that in my memory, blowing my white cake of boiled icing, with green edging and pink icing flowers with tulle and ribbon. My sisters were looking on, and I am sure, wishing they had one too.

I knew they were happy for me, but young as I was, I was too happy to mind. Looking back, it had a lot to do with the sources for my celebration. My sisters and brother and Tita too, when they had their birthdays and the sources were scant they would have custard cake (chiffon cake topped with leche flan from La Paz bakeshop in town) or if funds were high, cakes like mine in varying colours depending on availability and if we were allowed by the baker, like in Legislador bakeshop or by the baker who lives down below our street, Oca.

- Nenen Amour

Big Sister's Comment: 

I do recall this occasion and yes, my little sister Nenen's birthday cake was really pretty. I remember we wore matching dresses that day - the yellow ones made from the same textile for us by Lola Beb (Lola Beb was really good in dressmaking, a skill she learned from our wawa, her mom and our greatgrandma, who made clothes for herself growing up and for her family during WW2). Lola Beb was such a good dressmaker that in her younger years, she had a regular slew of clients who came to her for all kinds of clothes. She had an old Singer pedal sewing machine made from iron. In it, I learned how to make simple clothes from basic patterns so that I was able to make dresses for my dolls. Nenen was much better at it, as she was able to master adding decorative elements like lace and appliques. 

For this party, Tita Beb also made our all-time favorite, Spaghetti, Filipino version. It is cheesy, and also sour-sweet with lots of cubed cheese and slices of our favorite meaty hotdogs. There were also sandwiches filled with sweet savoury filling made from margarine and sugar, cut into triangles. And lastly, Pancit Bihon - a vermicelli noodle dish, wherein pork or chicken is stir-fried with garlic, onions, julienned carrots and cabbage, lightly braised and in the broth, the vermicelli when cooked absorbs the flavours. With everyone singing Happy Birthday, my sister ends a universal ritual of making wishes by blowing her candles and closing her eyes for a wish she kept secret in her little girl's heart. I remember she was smiling and grinning in her own reserved way and I remembered Tita Beb's face of satisfaction - one that expressed her own happiness at the joy my little sister Nenen experienced on her special day. For Tita Beb, making us smile and happy was more than just a responsibility to her, it was a motivation and a sense of fulfilment. 

And while I was really happy for my little sister, it really sucks to be the one with an August birthday when resources are kinda of scant being the height of the drought season in the Philippines. Still, my Tita Beb and Lola Beb always made the most delicious 'handa' (food prepared for  events) even when they were just a little less premium, more common fare. I often had arroz caldo (chicken-rice porridge) served hot and hearty in bowls that fill up little tummies, pancit bihon and custard cake - a lot less pricey but in my palate just as yummy. My birthday, celebrated in lean times, is all the more happy because we share good food prepared with love by my Tita Beb and Lola Beb, making me and those attending my birthday, smile. 

Cakes by Goldilocks PH (2020) - similar to the cake Nenen
celebrates her bday with.
Filipino-style Spaghetti by Casa Baluarte, 2021

Pancit Bihon by Pinoy Bites 2021


Pinoy Custard Cake by Ang Sarap, 2021






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Linaswa nga Tugabang kag Alugbati

 At some point in Philippine summers (which is generally from the end of the school term in March until the beginning of June, where midway, at least in central Philippines, Panay island experiences a 'spring' where May flowers akin to lilac and fragrant flowering trees that resemble cherry blossoms in shades of white, yellow, pink and red bloom), there comes a time when our Tita Beb and the entire family runs short of cash. On the general, it is probably likely after the closing ceremonies in gradeschool where Tita was a second grade teacher since recognition ceremonies were my sister Amour and I have always ended up first in our class academically and thus (ahem...a point of pride here in our young lives) needed new clothes to receive our academic ribbons and medals we won in quiz bees through the school year. To be presentable in front of the whole school where honor students and their parents put their best foot forward is an annual occasion that many families in the town a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tungod sa Iya (Because of Her)

Where it Begins  I am the eldest of 5, born of highly passionate parents often lost in their passions. Parents so indulged and involved in themselves, their feelings, their situations that often, their children played second, even third fiddle to their needs. Highly educated with much expectations upon him, our father's life plan was laid out before he met our mother, whose youth and beauty literally brought down to ashes anyone ever seeing those dreams and expectations of him come true. Their love was dramatic and in a sense, toxic; much of our childhood my siblings and I witnessed rows so violent and making-up so passionate that it seemed to us their love blinds them to responsibility - of sending their children to school, teaching them, clothing them, nurturing them and feeding them so that at the very least, they might live and have a future. Instead, on those terrible days when Juliet has upset Romeo or when Romeo has been deeply agitated by Juliet, one of us children would be...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chippy vs. Mr. Chips

Written on 12/12/ 2021/ Barotac Viejo, Iloilo, Philippines Note: The recollection below has been written by my sister, Atty. Retzel Amour C. Villaruz, whom we fondly call Nenen Amour. When I was pregnant with  Pipay*, I craved for Chippy** while watching all those shows on TV, especially the Bayani Juan segment on Eat Bulaga*. I asked my husband Wilmer to buy me some; but when he got home, he bought me Mr. Chips** instead. I was so disappointed because my taste buds were longing, craving for the snack. I told him I'll name our kid Chippy, so how could he have forgotten to bring me Chippy but bought me Mr. Chips instead. "Chippy" & Mr. Chips" crisps/snacks by Universal Robina Corp. (above & below) Tita Beb consoled me and said: "Baklan ta ka, karon ah." (I'll buy some for you in a bit.) When Tita Beb got home later on after her shopping trip, she brought me two big red bags of Chippys. Thing is, they turned out to not be as tasty as I craved them...
Post a Comment
Read more