chocolate and chestnuts
Every now and then, Sage asks for some of my chocolate. Now, you have to understand, these chocolates are sent by my mother all the way from Florida. They come 12 to a box, and I hoard them the way dragons hoard gold (except, you know, I don't lie on them, I eat them). The thing is, Sage is not even a big chocolate fan; she just wants them because I eat them. And I know that if I give her one, she'll just take a bite or two, get saliva and her sticky fingers all over it, then stick it back in the box, all mushy and partially chewed.


When I was little, my mom liked roasted chestnuts. Being part Spanish, she called them castanas; and she would buy them by the bag and sit blissfully cracking shells and creating a pile to eat when she was done. I, of course, would snitch nuts out of her pile and eat them, because I was too lazy to open the shells myself. I would also pick out only the small, sweet ones, leaving the big, bland ones for Mom, and occasionally putting a bitten chestnut back when I discovered that it wasn't fully cooked. And it wasn't just chestnuts! I'd nibble on chocolates out of sampler boxes, putting back everything but the caramels, mints, raspberry and lemon creams; and I would lick all the filling off of Oreos, too.


Yet even though she knew about all this terrible behavior, my mom never really called me on it; and she would let me eat all the good castanas; and she would always, always share. I guess that's what separates the mommies from the babies. And I guess, what goes around comes around!

TRIVIA QUIZ
What is the freaky Filipino mutant chicken?


answer to yesterday's question
San Antonio Abad (Saint Anthony the Abbot) is the secondary patron saint of Paete (the other being St. Anne, Jesus' grandma). He was born in Egypt in the year 251, lived to be a 105, and has a chapel called the 'Ermita' (which means hermitage, in reference to his self-imposed solitude in the desert) dedicated to him in Paete. Legend has it that, during a great conflagration in Paete, someone snuck into the Ermita, swiped Saint Anthony's statue, and bathed it in the river. Rain promptly fell from the heavens, extinguishing the fire. San Antonio is also the saint who receives supplications regarding the health of pigs. (?!)


Holy God, my friends are smart! Congratulations to El, for knowing everything except the bit about pigs, and Drew, for knowing the fire legend. Brownie points to Dean, for his inaccurate but very funny answer!