Of Adobong Uwang or Marinated Beetle

Being pregnant, specifically during the first trimester, is difficult, more so if you are living with your in-laws. It's not that the in-laws are meanies (well, actually, that's another story under horror ) but the food they served was different from the food back home in Taytay. I almost swooned when one lunch time, the viand was adobong uwang or marinated beetle cooked in vinegar, soy sauce and garlic. My sis-in-law said that dish was not regularly served since that dish was a gift from a client. OK. NO.BEETLE.FOR.ME. I went to my bedroom, opened up a can of crackers and ate that for lunch. I so wanted to call my mother: but back in those days calls from Cavite were long distance and almost always impossible to connect.

Life went on. I was with child and craving for my mom's cooking. How can life be harder? - I asked myself. I was young and new at being a wife. I was in the early stage of my first pregnancy - and served to eat dung beetle. I felt so afraid and alone. I wanted to go home to my mother.

A knock on the door stopped my reverie. Your mama and papa are here, the maid said. I ran out of the door and met them. My mama's 6th sense was at work again. She brought me my favorite home-cooked food and then I was alright - until some days later when dinner was paksiw na palos sa dilaw (water eel cooked in vinegar and turmeric). And then I cried.