The Christmases of my childhood are memorable for the variety of rice cakes that we had, most of which were given by relatives and friends. From the barrios of pangulû were brought different calamé and suman tílî.

At home on Christmas Eve, my grandmother would sit down and make the ‘easier’ suman bulagta (suman sa lihiya in Tagalog). I was the one designated assistant to cut and wipe the banana leaves, measure the lijia (lye water) and arrange the wrapped rice in the clay pot, ready to be cooked on the wood-burning stove. The last time I did that was 27 years ago.

Two days, two cooking contests! One in Quezon City and the other in my quaint and lovely hometown. In both cases, I – together with other members of the respective panels – had the less stressful but no less difficult role of judging entries that were cooked on-the-spot.

The first contest, Lutong Rotarian 2012, was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Quezon City (R.I. District 3780). It had two parts. The first was a showcase of the participants’s heritage recipes, the dishes that have been in their families through generations.