If you really live in our subdivision, you would have an idea who I'm talking about. And this could be used as a test by barangay officials to know if someone who claims to have lived in the neighborhood for sometime is telling the truth. Have them call out "Banana Cue, camote cue, turon" the same way as those kids do.
I am irked when some kids (yups they're kids being kids but that does not stop the grating in my ears) would imitate how they call out their wares in a sing song voice just for fun.Or when some people would pretend that they're customers, call from within their gates then leave the kids waiting there only to realize later that they've been pranked. Okay, so I'm not exactly happy either when the same things happen to other ambulant vendors.
Here in the Philippines, if people would like to buy something from an ambulant vendor, they would shout out the name of the ware or service the vendor has been calling out. I've never been comfortable with this custom. I kept thinking, they're people, they're not things. But that's how it is isn't it? Without knowing anything about them other than their familiar face, voice, wares and services, I guess they will be defined by the wares or services they are offering. Asking for their name seems obtrusive and may freak them out but that's what we did with our suking manong magbobote. Calling out "manong!" or "miss!" would get you stares from just about everyone. Same goes with "psst!", "hoy!" and clapping ones hands, which I feel is a bit rude. So when I hear a vendor calling out, if I need something from them, I would make sure I'm out in the street before they pass by our house.
For those who don't know, banana cue and camote cue are saba bananas and sweet potato slices on a stick, deep fried in cooking oil where brown sugar is already caramelizing. Turon is saba banana wrapped like a spring roll in a thin wrapper made from flour or cornstarch. It is deep-fried much like the banana cue and camote cue. It may or may not be skewered on a stick.
The kids' banana cue, camote cue, turon are always hot and you can tell by the taste that they are prepared on the same day they are sold, not reheated. They also use large sweet potatoes and quality saba bananas that aren't too ripe or too tough to chew. They're coated with just the right amount of caramelized brown sugar. Glazed. And not too grainy for the banana cue. I like turon best of the three because of its textures, theirs especially since they add in a sliver of ripe jackfruit with the banana. Sometimes I would have it the next day straight off the refrigerator, the wrapper gone from crispy to chewy. The best! People should try cold turon with chewy wrapper. Yum. Yum. Yum.
Of course, there are several stores in our neighborhhod that sell these snacks, and some ambulant vendors who do too, but we preferred getting them from these kids who would go around the neighborhood. Because, as I said, theirs are better (a local supermarket's turon has nothing on theirs, could use more sugar.)
and also because we are lazy to walk out in the streets. Heh. They would pass by our house at around 3PM, usually on weekends. Rain or shine. Even when streets were flooded. Even when it's 36 degrees Celsius outside. They're different from other ambulant vendors particularly because they made an effort to look presentable.They would only go around the neighborhood when there's no classes so I know they are good students. There were times that I would wish someone would give them scholarships.
The kids were growing up and I know that at some point they would stop going around the neighborhood. I just did not expect it to be so soon. Two years ago, word spread that the kids were held up, their earnings taken from them. I didn't hear that they've been physically hurt but I'm pretty sure that they're traumatized. That it happened in the afternoon, is proof enough that the subdivision is not as safe as it used to be or should be.
Crimes peaked two years ago, but that does not mean it has died down. Rampant robbery has been plaguing St. Michael and St. Francis (I'm not sure about neighboring Meralco Village) Subdivisions so much so that
the barangay enacted an ordinance prohibiting people from wearing helmets when riding motorbikes/scooters in the subdivisions. People were being mugged. Houses were being ransacked. In broad daylight. The ordinance has been recalled, I guess, since people without helmets are being flagged down at sporadic checkpoints in the neighborhood.
Actually, my dad knows where the kids live. When our house was undergoing renovation, he would go there to get snacks for the carpenters. Never got to go there to see if they are still selling. I mean, what if they weren't? We closed our sari-sari store after an altercation with a punk neighbor who later was involved in several robberies and is now hiding, after raping and killing a mother. What if they closed shop after they were held up?
A few weeks ago, my sister found one of the kids. The boy, now a young man, is doing praticum at her school. He's going to be a teacher soon! He told her that he and his sisters were the ones who have been going around the neighborhood, selling banana cue for 10 years and my sister doesn't recognize him at first. I asked my sister, "mataba na mahinhin?" (was he chubby and demure?). My sister showed me pics of the practicumers. I would not have recognized him either. So I think I wouldn't recognize his sisters either.
My sister asked him about the incident and apparently it was his elder sister who was the victim. From what I gather, she's working now. Their younger sister is in high school. Their mother, 50 years old, sadly has passed away just a few days ago from diabetes.
I know she'd been proud of her kids because had I been her I would be. And to think my sister has been using them as examples of model kids in her lessons. They're all grown up. I wish them the best and that the world would be kind to them. Do I miss their banana cue, camote cue and turon? Of course I do. And I miss them going around the neighborhood. But they're not little kids anymore and so I'm letting them go (as if I have a say or a choice) because they have a lot more lives to touch and lot more to offer the world aside from banana cue, camote cue and turon.
I am irked when some kids (yups they're kids being kids but that does not stop the grating in my ears) would imitate how they call out their wares in a sing song voice just for fun.Or when some people would pretend that they're customers, call from within their gates then leave the kids waiting there only to realize later that they've been pranked. Okay, so I'm not exactly happy either when the same things happen to other ambulant vendors.
Here in the Philippines, if people would like to buy something from an ambulant vendor, they would shout out the name of the ware or service the vendor has been calling out. I've never been comfortable with this custom. I kept thinking, they're people, they're not things. But that's how it is isn't it? Without knowing anything about them other than their familiar face, voice, wares and services, I guess they will be defined by the wares or services they are offering. Asking for their name seems obtrusive and may freak them out but that's what we did with our suking manong magbobote. Calling out "manong!" or "miss!" would get you stares from just about everyone. Same goes with "psst!", "hoy!" and clapping ones hands, which I feel is a bit rude. So when I hear a vendor calling out, if I need something from them, I would make sure I'm out in the street before they pass by our house.
For those who don't know, banana cue and camote cue are saba bananas and sweet potato slices on a stick, deep fried in cooking oil where brown sugar is already caramelizing. Turon is saba banana wrapped like a spring roll in a thin wrapper made from flour or cornstarch. It is deep-fried much like the banana cue and camote cue. It may or may not be skewered on a stick.
The kids' banana cue, camote cue, turon are always hot and you can tell by the taste that they are prepared on the same day they are sold, not reheated. They also use large sweet potatoes and quality saba bananas that aren't too ripe or too tough to chew. They're coated with just the right amount of caramelized brown sugar. Glazed. And not too grainy for the banana cue. I like turon best of the three because of its textures, theirs especially since they add in a sliver of ripe jackfruit with the banana. Sometimes I would have it the next day straight off the refrigerator, the wrapper gone from crispy to chewy. The best! People should try cold turon with chewy wrapper. Yum. Yum. Yum.
Of course, there are several stores in our neighborhhod that sell these snacks, and some ambulant vendors who do too, but we preferred getting them from these kids who would go around the neighborhood. Because, as I said, theirs are better (a local supermarket's turon has nothing on theirs, could use more sugar.)
and also because we are lazy to walk out in the streets. Heh. They would pass by our house at around 3PM, usually on weekends. Rain or shine. Even when streets were flooded. Even when it's 36 degrees Celsius outside. They're different from other ambulant vendors particularly because they made an effort to look presentable.They would only go around the neighborhood when there's no classes so I know they are good students. There were times that I would wish someone would give them scholarships.
The kids were growing up and I know that at some point they would stop going around the neighborhood. I just did not expect it to be so soon. Two years ago, word spread that the kids were held up, their earnings taken from them. I didn't hear that they've been physically hurt but I'm pretty sure that they're traumatized. That it happened in the afternoon, is proof enough that the subdivision is not as safe as it used to be or should be.
Crimes peaked two years ago, but that does not mean it has died down. Rampant robbery has been plaguing St. Michael and St. Francis (I'm not sure about neighboring Meralco Village) Subdivisions so much so that
the barangay enacted an ordinance prohibiting people from wearing helmets when riding motorbikes/scooters in the subdivisions. People were being mugged. Houses were being ransacked. In broad daylight. The ordinance has been recalled, I guess, since people without helmets are being flagged down at sporadic checkpoints in the neighborhood.
Actually, my dad knows where the kids live. When our house was undergoing renovation, he would go there to get snacks for the carpenters. Never got to go there to see if they are still selling. I mean, what if they weren't? We closed our sari-sari store after an altercation with a punk neighbor who later was involved in several robberies and is now hiding, after raping and killing a mother. What if they closed shop after they were held up?
A few weeks ago, my sister found one of the kids. The boy, now a young man, is doing praticum at her school. He's going to be a teacher soon! He told her that he and his sisters were the ones who have been going around the neighborhood, selling banana cue for 10 years and my sister doesn't recognize him at first. I asked my sister, "mataba na mahinhin?" (was he chubby and demure?). My sister showed me pics of the practicumers. I would not have recognized him either. So I think I wouldn't recognize his sisters either.
My sister asked him about the incident and apparently it was his elder sister who was the victim. From what I gather, she's working now. Their younger sister is in high school. Their mother, 50 years old, sadly has passed away just a few days ago from diabetes.
I know she'd been proud of her kids because had I been her I would be. And to think my sister has been using them as examples of model kids in her lessons. They're all grown up. I wish them the best and that the world would be kind to them. Do I miss their banana cue, camote cue and turon? Of course I do. And I miss them going around the neighborhood. But they're not little kids anymore and so I'm letting them go (as if I have a say or a choice) because they have a lot more lives to touch and lot more to offer the world aside from banana cue, camote cue and turon.
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