feast (completed)

32. soup

'Lasap' formally opened and they had a steady stream of customers who enjoyed the Filipino cuisine that was served. Although the restaurant was staffed with servers, they adapted a system where the patrons ordered and took their food from the counter, cafeteria-style, and encouraged them to clear away their own used plates before exiting the restaurant.

One of the restaurant's goals was to feature at least one or two regional dishes a month in addition to their regular menu. For its opening month, they featured sopa mais (rich, thick white corn soup) and pinitaw (shredded chicken meat – like floss) from Negros.

Dea loved Nanay's sopa mais which they further passed through a blender to make it smoother. Dea was more talkative now, making a lot of sounds as she 'talked'. Meng made sure to 'talk' to Dea every day. They'd have 'conversations' about things that they did like going out to the mall or a walk in the park. In the evenings, both Meng and Rj encouraged and promoted 'conversations' with Dea while they read her bedtime stories. The Faulkerson household was alive and awake because of Dea's happy 'speeches' and sounds.

"Mamamamamatatatatatatatatammmpppbbpppppp..." Dea squealed and talked while playing on the sand. The family were on a trip to the beach in Davao.

Dea could now creep on the floor and sit on her own and, being quite experimental, she would randomly put things in her mouth so Rj and Meng always made sure to be with her as much as they could.

"Dea, look..." Rj said a he scooped sand and dropped it to create a small mound.

"Mamamamamattttttmmmamamamappppppbbbbfffff..." Dea squealed. She reached for the shovel that Rj was holding and he gave it to her. Dea was about to put it in her mouth but Rj was quick to pull her hand away.

"No! That wouldn't taste very good..."

"Eeeek!!" Dea shrieked some more.

"Do you like playing in the sand? How about we rinse off first and have a snack?" Rj said after a few more minutes. He picked Dea up and walked into the shallow water.

"Aaaappppbbbbpppptttttmmmmamamammtatatata..." Dea 'complained' as they walked into the water. She briefly stopped and stared at Rj when he sat down and lowered her into the water.

"You like that?" Rj asked.

"Mama...mama...mamamamama...."

"Mama is over there...let's just rinse off the sand a little bit then we can go to Mama..." Rj said while pointing to Meng who was in the hut by the shore.

"Mama...."

"Yes, Mama...can you say Tuhtay?"

"Mmmmamamamamtatatatatata...."

"Tuh-tay..."

"Ahhhh..tatatatata...."

"Tuh-tay..."

Dea continued to babble and shriek as Rj allowed her to play for a few minutes in the water. After a while, they walked back to the hut where Melay received Dea and wrapped a towel around her. Meng put on a bathrobe on the baby.

Dea picked up and held a slice of watermelon in her hand. She had one tooth sticking out and two were making their presence felt and known in her gums. "Mama..."

"Yes love?"

"aaaaammmmbbbbbpppptttttt..."

"Yes, watermelon...do you like it?"

"mamamatatatatata''

"Dea, who's this?" Meng asked as she pointed to Rj who sat across from Dea, beside Meng.