Coming Home Again

There is always something nostalgic about going on a long trip and coming home to one of your favorite places even just for a few days.  One feels recharged just seeing the beauty of the countryside, compared to the pollution and crowded places in Metro Manila.  Last week was another such opportunity to commune with nature. Not much has  changed really since the day we went there and met an accident at NLEX more than a month ago.

This time I told the hubby to just keep his distance from the endless 10-wheeler and 16-wheeler trucks plying the route at NLEX. Thank God, it was a safe trip going there and coming back here in Metro Manila.

My five-year old niece was quite ecstatic when she saw us and immediately asked how long we were staying.  She doesn’t have playmates around the place so she is always happy to see us.

What was left of our fruit-bearing trees after typhoon Cosme were a few banana plants, our sturdy jack fruit tree, coconut trees and some uprooted mango trees which  bore fruit despite  the branches  touching the ground. It is so nice to see them laden with fruits and ready for picking.

So we brought home almost two full sacks of mangoes, a large jack fruit and a few shoots of plants for our garden.I wonder why they don’t eat jack fruit there except when cooking guinataang langka.  I like to eat them fresh from the pulp, so delicious!  A large one would probably weigh almost ten kilos so what we did is to give all our immediate neighbors several slices of the ripe langka.  There is only so much you can eat with fruits like these and I am glad my two kids consider it one of their favorites.  I saw this saba type variety of banana but according to mom it was not yet ready for harvesting so I took some shots of it instead.

Life in the province is still that simple although they have all the amenities that an average household in Manila has.  They are using satellite discs instead of cable connections, a few more channels are in store. I call it sosyal, haha!

It was so easy to pick these mangoes since some of the fruits are touching the ground.  Heaven!  I was thinking of mango a la mode or refrigerator cake. Have you tried eating a ripe mango fresh from its skin without using a knife?  I know, that is a messy way to do it but if you want to enjoy eating a ripe mango, that is the best way to eat one.  I asked mom why they don’t sell their produce in the market, sayang naman. And she told me that a kilo nowadays only fetch a measly P15 to P20 per.Pangasinan is known as one of the largest producers of commercially grown mangoes.  Everywhere you look, they are lined up along the highway. And yes, I saw those large watermelons alongside several kaing of mango.

Summer usually brings several fruits in season.  I am looking forward to see siniguelas in the market soon.  And star apples  are plenty nowadays, they are best eaten cold from the fridge.

Coming home again – touching the leaves of the past, taking with you a bit of provincial life back to the noisy and busy cosmos of  what you call city living.