champorado memories

i love champorado. you know, that chocolate-y rice porridge we used to have as kids. it's normally made by boiling glutinous rice (i think) with lots of water, then adding cocoa powder towards the end. it will, then, be served with milk and sugar. other people would serve it with tuyo (dried salted fish). it's great for breakfast and snacks.

when i was younger, we usually use leftover rice and would add any cocoa powder around. if we had some tablea from Quezon on the fridge, so much better. as for its accompaniments, i believe it is best served with evaporated milk and sugar. and no tuyo for me, although i did try once when i was younger.

with our discovery of brown rice, lolo (my dad) shifted from leftover rice to brown rice. i found it better since the brown rice added texture to the porridge, so now it's creamy and textured. jackjack isn't too excited about it, though, even if he likes brown rice. he doesn't really like chocolate-y stuff. i guess he got that from his dad.

champorado evokes happy childhood memories for me. when a bowl (or two) on a rainy day would put a smile on my face (hated rainy days; still do), when things werent as problematic, when i was the child and they were the parents.

now, i'm the parent. i want to be able to give jackjack good memories of his childhood, something he can fondly look back to. i do hope that my cooking would someday give jackjack whatever he needs at that time: inspiration, nourishment, calm, memories...