Pie in the Sky: Buko, Puto and Ocampo

       (The view from the pre-departure 
      area of the Bacolod-Silay Airport)


Having recovered from the traumatic meal of eating an impostor chicken inasal aboard the Cebu Pacific flight from Incheon Airport to Manila, it was time to bring my own in-flight meal. Again.

I have done this a few times already, and depending on my craving, it was either sapin-sapin and jamaican beef patties, or chicken empanadas and buko pie for flights back to Korea.

But on my flight to Manila from the postcard-perfect Bacolod-Silay Airport, I decided on the legendary Manapla puto and El Ideal's buko pie and bingka. I always thought that, just because one is up in the air doesn't mean one can no longer enjoy the goodies available on the ground. These goodies I paired with one of Professor Ambeth Ocampo's interesting books to remind me of Philippine's colorful history while flying over the islands where they actually happened.   

Professor Ambeth's book Prehistoric Philippines talks about the old maps of the Philippine archipelago, and so, as I was munching down the soft puto followed by a bite of buko pie full of chunky buko strips, I looked out of the plane's window and tried to identify the islands we were flying over. I wished I brought extra so I could have shared it with the salivating passenger seated next to me. An extra book, I mean. Ha-ha-ha!

And that while Professor Ambeth's fascinating stories occupied my attention, the taste and flavors of home occupied my palate. At 20,000 feet.

I was having my pie in the sky. :-)