I prepared congee last Friday because I am missing it again. If you don’t know, it is my number one comfort food and my most favorite dish in the whole wide world.
I could have Congee or Lugaw every day, as in 365 days a year. Sounds exaggerated I know, but after having a small eatery that served congee as a family business before, I would always eat it every single day without fail.
When we closed our eatery, my mom would continue to cook this dish from time to time together with her other specialties.
And it’s not just my mother, my dad is also a cook by heart and profession and I was always amazed at how he could whip up a dish with whatever ingredients we had available inside our fridge and pantry. On my 7th birthday, my dad baked 7 cakes for me. I will never forget that.
I maybe a full grown-up woman now and have my own family, but I still long for my parents’ cooking as I always associate it with our home and my happy childhood. Whenever we go to the Philippines, instead of having list of activities to do, I have a list of food to eat. And my mom will willingly and lovingly cook everything for me.
– Adobong talaba
– Guinataang langka
– Ginisang sayote
– Tatampal
– Alimango
– Sinigang na buto-buto ng baboy
The list goes on and on.
And it made me think, What Makes You Feel At Home?
For me…
Home is where we feel safe.
Home is where we feel comfortable.
Home is a happy place.
And family is the most important part of a home.
I am blessed to live in UAE with my husband and kids and I am always trying my best to create a home feeling in this country because I know, for my kids, this is home.
As an Overseas Filipino Worker, I know you miss your family too and that’s the reason I started The Wealthy Pinay series. I truly wish that we won’t be forced to leave our country to work. And the way to do that is to plan our financial future well and believe that our dreams can be our reality.
But while we’re here, let’s make the most out of our ‘overseas journey’. We can always make UAE our home by being with people who we now consider as family. They may be colleagues who become real friends or housemates who become our best buddies.
It is important to have that connection.
For me, whenever I miss my childhood, I always try to recreate my parents’ cooking. That’s my connection.
And because of that, it’s set that I will have congee again this Friday. Maybe I’ll have it with tokwa’t baboy and tokneneng (insert drool here 🙂 )
And do you know that my new Midea multi-cooker has a setting just for Congee. Can you hear my happy heart dancing?
Have a good day peeps!
xoxo
