Grandma Beloved

There's just something about my grandmother (shown here at the center) that brightens up my day. This morning, she offered to wrap three pieces of siopao for me to bring to the office. As I was in a hurry because of the number coding thing (I left the house at 6:55 and number coding starts at 7), I politely declined her offer. I wasn't even able to have my breakfast.

But my "funny word" encounter with her happened at 1 this morning. I arrived home at 12:30 from my usual Starbucks habit and went straight to the restroom. What I did there, well, I leave it up to your imagination. While singing (more like humming) The Elephant Song Medley from Moulin Rouge, I heard someone walking by the door. I immediately finished my thing and alas, when I opened the door, there she was, waiting for me to finish. And then she said, "Kumain ka na? May palabo 'dun!"

I was thinking whether she was referring to the piece of meat I just ate at the dinner table (which I though was chicken, but then hearing her, I thought it was pabo) or to, as far as I know, an inexistent noodle delicacy, the palabok. Inexistent because I didn't see one in the dinner table. There were three pastils (suman-like thingees that my grandmother makes), a box of doughnuts, a siopao, and those pieces of meat I just ate.

And when I asked her what a palabo is, she said with calming grace, "'yung pansit." Ahihi! Al of a sudden, the buy take, one take thing came back like a bolt of lightning and brought a smile to my tired face. Is this a result of her staying too close to Ms. Flor, whom I popularized in my Friendster blogs for her verbal antics? I hope it's not infectious!