Adobo made with love (and bitterness)

Here you go, Leny!

Since Leny couldn't make the homecoming reading at Bindlestiff, she sent a check so there would be adobo. I assume as a physical representation of her poem, "Adobo," found in "Going Home to a Landscape."

Dawn Mabalon, the ultimate organizing diva who put this together, tells us the behind the scenes story to this adobo.

Dawn is talking to one of her students about needing adobo at the launch. Her student says, "why cater adobo? You can make a lot more adobo if we cook it ourselves." and thus volunteers to cook it.

Fast foward to yesterday when Dawn sees her student who says, "uh, I can't make the adobo." She's like what do you mean you can't make the adobo?!?

Here's Dawn's account: "Putang ina! So I have to go to Costco and go buy chicken because we already cashed the putang inang check! Putang ina! And you can't call some restaurant to make a whole tray of adobo by noon. Putang ina! (at this point everything is putang ina)"

"I buy three large trays of the chicken wings because I didn't want to do all that cutting. But I DID chop the garlic, because the fresh garlic tastes better than the pre-chopped garlic. So here I am it's 2 am and I'm making this putang inang adobo! Two calderas worth!"

Tatang comments, "oh but that's some good adobo, made with love..."

Dawn: "...and bitterness. (stirring an imaginary pot) Oh yeah, with love (p'tuh) putang ina. This adobo is delicious. That's not bawang, it's my spit!"

[Just for the record, Dawn did not actually spit in the adobo. We're just acting acting.]

We were dying, holding our bellies full of the rice and adobo! Laughing to tears at Dawn's revised special edition adobo recipe. That's not soy sauce, that's my sweat! That's why it taste so good because I put my love and sweat into that. You better eat it!

[Food is important to Filipinos. The making, serving and eating of food often has more emotional weight than just having something for consumption.]

And Leny, that was some good eating adobo! Worthy of your poetic words!

["ina" means mother. putang ina is a really offensive term for your mother. I need not say any more.]