A Tribute To Maria

Do you have any regrets in life?

I do. One.

I regret never taking the time to say I love you to my uncle, Tito Boyet, who was like a father to me, before he passed away when I was 12 years old.

Since then, I swore to myself that I will seize the opportunity to utter the significant words to my loved ones. Not used to affection growing up, it took me many years to articulate those words. Finally, sometime toward the end of high school when I felt more comfortable in my skin and environment, I said to an aging, wrinkled, and short woman, “I love you Lola.” Lola means grandma in Tagalog, which is one of the many languages of the Philippines. I was never able to say those words until then, even to my own mother, father, or siblings. But I said them to Lola that momentous day.

Lola’s real name is Maria and I am her namesake. She is 90 years old and enjoys saying exactly what she thinks. For example, everyone in the family was having a wonderful time in the woods during our camping trip and I asked her whether she was having a good time. She looked at me straight in the eye and with a huff, she said, “No. All the trees look the same to me.” I find her hilarious even when she is reprimanding me or her other “wild” grandchildren. Despite moving slower than a few years ago, she still cooks delicious Filipino dishes, albeit not being allowed by her kids to cook in the kitchen for fear that she will hurt herself and/or burn the house down. Being 90 and having lived through revolutions and wars, she has no qualms with disobeying the 8 living children she churned out and still cooks for us. My favorite Filipino dishes are made by her and my goal is to learn the dishes in order to bond with her and to learn to cook in general. According to the culture I was born in, I am a woman of marrying age so I should know how to run a happy and healthy household by now. I say, “Whatever,” to this statement but I do love food and I am a willing student.

Thus, here I am at this point in my life, an unemployed woman “looking to hit many birds with one stone,” as the popular English idiom says. The “birds” are bonding with my aging grandma who may leave me any time because she refuses a kidney dialysis, learning to cook Filipino dishes that I love to eat, learning more about the culture I was born but didn’t grow up in, and learning in general, because I believe that life is a constant learning experience. So, the stone that I’m going to “throw” is to write this blog.

The objective of my blog is to cook Filipino dishes on a budget while bonding with Lola Maria and learning about my history. In order for my project to be credible, I will feed my concoctions to my two sisters who live with me, along with the other Marias in my life, my mother and grandmother, as well as my close friends. Throughout the blog, Filipinos and others alike will have the chance to eat my dishes and they in turn, to thank me for the free meal, must provide me with their thoughts about my creations.

In addition to photos, instructions, reactions, and my insights on the cooking experience, each blog entry will show a total of how much was spent in making the food. Thus, you will know approximately how much you will be spending if you attempt my experiences. All dishes will be on a budget, so have no fear! In this economy, you don’t have to be hungry to eat well and deliciously! All of this will be courtesy of Marie, moi, Maria, my grandma, and a Filipino cookbook lent to me by my boyfriend's mother.

Maybe along the way, I’ll learn more about myself, my family, and my two cultures that I am balancing. Most importantly, I will never the lose the opportunity to express my love for the woman who inspires me, who loves me, who cooks for me, who occasionally reprimands me for acting un-Filipina, and who is one of the best women and mothers of the world. I love you, Lola Maria.

**Please feel free, if you have any experience in teaching English, to provide constructive criticism and correction of my entry. I am a wannabe writer and my goal is to have a book someday. My favorite subject before I started my education in accountancy and business was English. Being in business nearly stamped out my creative side and being unemployed allows me to open the missing side.