Cooking from the heart

Last night, I and my hubby agreed that I will be the one to go to the market to buy stocks for our store and he will be the one to go to the NSO office in Quezon City. He needs to go there very early to get the authentication of our marriage certificate, a requirement for my new passport.

I woke up 7:30 in the morning. I tried to wake him up but he's too tired to open his eyes. I fell asleep once again and an hour later, I woke up. I let him see my phone, pointing to the screen that says 8:34. He said, "You didn't wake me up."

I glared at him and said, "You're too tired to get up."

Without giving in to my argument, he stood out of the bed and took a quick shower. I was brushing my teeth when he was done and about to go. Maybe he's kind of skeptical about me going to the market that's why he offered to do the task himself before going to NSO. Honestly it would be a great idea for me so I would be spared to go to the market but I refused at first thinking that he might not arrive at NSO early. I was hoping he could get the authentication within the day so that we could go to DFA in the afternoon. But then, I changed my mind thinking that it would take only an hour to buy the stocks needed. So he went to the market and I went upstairs to well, sleep again.

I woke up 12 noon. I went downstairs and saw the stocks. I texted him and asked his whereabouts and he replied, "I'm still standing in line. My number is 3702. Did you eat already?"

I replied I only had my cup of coffee. He said he hadn't eat anything and he's already starving. I actually didn't bother to ask him if he ate already. Yes, I'm too insensitive for a wife! What I asked was, if it would be possible to get the authentication. He said, "Don't worry. I won't go home unless I got the authentication even if I'm already starving to death!"

I didn't take seriously what he said. But I thought of giving him a surprise by cooking nilagang baboy at manok. Last night, he cooked pochero. He said that he would be cooking nilaga for today but since he was doing some errands, I thought of doing the cooking myself.

I've never been a cook. Between the two of us, he was the one in-charge at the kitchen. He is a cook. He's very good at cooking and working in a hotel and restaurants before, not to mention in a cruise ship, he had learned to cook different dishes. Maybe it was in his blood, being a true-blooded Capampangan, he inherited from his aunts and grandmother his talent in cooking.

I can also cook but I didn't have the time for it. He actually find me a good cook too, even my colleages agreed to that. But pasta is my specialty. I had this way of 'experimenting' and it turned out that my recipes are just delicious. One time when the son of my supervisor was about to celebrate his birthday, she asked me to cook my tuna spaghetti for her son. Even during our Christmas party, I was always the one in-charge for the pasta.

So going back to nilaga, the funny thing here is, I can't even hold the raw meat! Instead of using a disposable gloves, I asked my 'assistant' to cut the meat for me. And then, I prepared for the ingredients. But since it was my first time to cook nilaga, I called him to ask the procedure. It wasn't a surprise anymore but he was surprised when he learned I'll cook for him. He said he was too excited to go home.

More than half an hour, the dish was set and he just came on time.

And his verdict: "Your nilaga tasted the same as mine, it is even better!"

Well, he's my husband and I trust him.