Like hearts

“Tulips are like hearts.” ~ Simeon Dumdum Jr.

Not only are they like hearts, they seem to be edible, too, and can replace onions in some recipes, so the magazine Country Living tells me, the gardening idiot but full-blown admirer of these flowers that were endemic to Asia before The Netherlands claimed them as their own

My family once tried growing them in pots. The bulbs were gifts from a friend who had just visited Europe. We thought that Baguio weather from January to early March would sustain them, but as soon as they flowered in glorious coral, pink and orange, wild birds swooped down, attracted to the visual candy on our balcony. They pecked at the tulips until only the stalks and leaves remained. Well, the fact that they’re edible must be a reason why the birds fed on them. My daughter tried covering the tulips with nets to no avail.

exotic expensive extraordinarily
pretty, dear tulips now breaking out
of a glass vase, your perfectly symmetrical
petals and buds are the opposite
of my asymmetrical life

your beauty also feeds
physical hunger but enough
that my one famished soul
had you for companions

Photos of tulips grown through indoor aquaphonics by Junic Lolarga

A Tuscan afternoon

The invitation to lunch was irresistible--the hostess was going to prepare American roast ribs (the better to lick our fingers with) and was going to give my husband Rolly a bag of tulip bulbs for planting when the temperature drops lower in December or January next year.

When we got to Mother's Garden in Barangay Fairview, Quezon Hill, Baguio, our hearty appetites were there to flatter the cook and hostess, Therese Jison. The salad plates were brought out, followed by the star of the afternoon, the ribs. Words fail to describe the crisp top and juicy middle. I had two heaping servings and was rubbing my belly for the rest of the day.

Straight from the oven

Perfect pairing of salad and roast

Therese called ours a Tuscan lunch because in Tuscany, Sunday lunches go on and on until dusk. Which was what happened on this particular Sunday as talk ran the gamut of raising children, raising pets, the life of endurance that Baguio exacts of its residents, the culture of impunity that is keeping the country's progress at a standstill.

But then dessert came: peach melba and whatever negative pronouncements vanished in the clear air! Therese's partner, retired hotel executive Heiner Maulbecker, told of the dessert's history. How a restaurant owner paid tribute to a then famed opera singer, Nellie Melba. He named the dish after her. Heiner said, "Who remembers the opera singer? But we know peach melba." Forthwith, he dug into his bowl con gusto!

If this dessert could only sing, what would it say?

Photos by Kimi Fernandez