The simplest of things, the intricacy of things

I love bread.

I think my kind of love for bread was passed down from my lola. Everytime I was in her house, when she was still alive, she'd always toast some pan de sal (to the point that it's nearly burned), then she cracks it open (I love it when steam comes up out of the bread), puts imported butter (emphasis on IMPORTED) on the fluffy interior, then closes it and gives it to me. Kung walang gatas ng kalabaw at kanin sa umaga, this is enough to start my day.

Until now, I love bread and butter. I can live off of breakfast for weeks with good-tasting bread and butter. I guess I also got my "pickiness", if you will, for butter from my lola. Whenever I can, I buy imported (just like her).

I remember an interesting argument about bread that I had with the other Cinemalaya volunteers. One of them said that the best way to appreciate bread is if you have it with palaman. If you eat it on its own, you're not tasting the bread's true potential. You need an "opposing force", if you will, in order to judge how good it is.

But I argue, bread is supposed to be good enough to eat on its own. Unless you eat it as is, you won't be able to appreciate, say, the soft crunch of a ciabatta's exterior, the crisp of a french baguette, or the fluff of the simplest pan de sal. If you have palaman on bread, you won't fully appreciate its many intricacies cause it's likely that your palaman overpowers your bread. You'll just say, "ang sarap ng cheez whiz!" or "panalo ang hotdog!", maybe even "ang alat ng sardinas!". It will never be about the bread.

I love bread.

So much so that I had to make a post about it.

LOL