teaching michelle to eat balut

i love balut!

i remember as a kid growing up in the philippines, street vendors were out from dusk til dawn, yelling, 'ballllllluuuuuuuuuuuuuut!' i would go up to my dad and ask him if we could buy some and he'd say, 'sige tawagin mo yung tindero.' (go ahead and call the [male] vendor). i'd run out of the house and yell 'ballllllluuuuuu!' to get the vendor's attention. he'd look back and hurry towards our house where my dad and i would be waiting.

when we moved to the states, the local asian markets carried them so i can still get my balut fix. every once in a while we would buy some and my childhood balut memories would come flooding back.

we bought some balut over the weekend and i've been teaching michelle to eat this stuff. she loves egg, but balut is not quite the egg she's used to eating. she drinks the sabaw but when she sees the rest of the stuff, she goes, 'eew!' i am dismayed!!! kainis! so i would reprimand her and tell her that i wouldn't eat it if it wasn't good and that ever since i was her age, balut was one of my favorites. she had a small piece of the yellow part and duck embryo part. she left it in her mouth without chewing. however, she finished all of the sabaw inside the egg. then she told me, 'mommy i'm finished with this' and she points towards her mouth. 'no, you have to chew it and swallow it.' her eyes opened wide, but she knew i was serious. she chews and shudders as she swallows. my mom and i started cracking up at the sight. it really was funny.

i asked her how it tasted, and she said it was ok and i knew she'll grow to like it. part of my struggle as a filipina(/american) mom (filipino by birth, race and heritage, but american by citizenship) is how i could raise my daughter the filipino way, in every way, and encourage her to embrace both her being filipino and american. it's hard. she speaks english almost 100% of the time even if you talk to her in tagalog and understand every word you say in tagalog. like this evening, my mom instructed her and said, 'michelle, tawagin mo ang lolo mo sabihin mo magsisimula na ang tanging yaman.' she went to her lolo and said, 'lolo, lola is calling you she said tanging yaman will start soon.' haaaaay! a trip to the motherland is really in order!

she does know how to say po and opo which i'm happy FINALLY picked up as i have been trying to teach her this ever since she learned to speak.

for paul's birthday at the end of the month, we plan on cooking isaw...and again i'll teach her to eat that.

it's fear factor in our fun little household!