gogol and the birthday ham

(introduction by his wonderful nanay)

Gogol turned 2 today. He was born on January 26, 2007 at 9:19 pm at a private hospital near the university where his nanay and tatay went to high school and post bachelor. Because he was born at night, technically, he’s not 2 yet. But because today is 26 and he was born on the 26^th of…okay, okay I will stop trying digressing here.

and now i let me introduce you...dyarannnnnnnnnnnnnn! 

the BIRTHDAY HAM!

I couldn't believe it.  I'm left frozen for a minute. "Was it really the ham that i thought it was? I thought this was Kiko DInot's property? Now why is it on the table on my birthday and why am i made to pose with it for a birthday picture? with a birthday ham? HMMMMM..."

 YES, IT IS THE HAM! THE BIRTHDAY HAM!

He then broke into a smile. Look at Gogol smiling at the ham. He never smiled to a ham that way before.

In my excitement I almost talked to the Ham, well, i actually did talk to the Ham. I said, "Hello Ham, are you really the ham that i thought you were? From what part of the pig were you? Are you a happy ham or a sad ham? were you fed nicely and given adequate space to move around or were you just given enough antibiotics for the bacteria and other pathogens not to spread around?". Of course the Ham didn't answer back. What do you think this is? Some fantasy story? No, this is just a post, like nay ordinary regular blog post. Only that it features a Ham. 

A birthday Ham. but we'd like to think this is a happy ham that came from a happy pig.

The birthday ham is actually a christmas ham left frozen in kika faye’s fridge for almost a month.But because Gogol is not much of a cold cuts eater, his Manang Nening prepared some viand of vegetable (squash, saluyot, okra, kulitis, balagay/kamaluson, and sometimes malunggay leaves, with a pinch of salt and some water, his favorite) and dried squid, especially for him. 

But what do you do when you see a ham? Aside from talking to it of course, just as I did. YOU POKE IT! of course! What else do you do? Wait for it to bear fruits? ham fruits, of course. We can't expect a ham to bear mangoes, can we? 

Nanay did a good job. This is nice and tender ham, er, birthday ham. Leftover from Christmas. From Kika pingping.

And give it a good pinch. Like that. Good, good. Nanay is a good housewife material. Now she'll kill me if she reads this.

Then like any ham connoiseur you inch your fingers into one small slice. "How many are there? One, two three four...now that's just enough for my little stomach to handle. I'd like to think this is panchetta, not a leftover christmas ham..."

VOILA!! A smooth ham-poking, ham-pinching and ham-picking experience! If only i know how to get this into my small mouth without any mess...

Oh god, I'm sorry. Does that look like murder? Look at my sorry face.

Happy birthday Gogol, i mean to MYSELF!!