About Us
Picnic 2007
History
We now continue from last issue with even more acrobatic twists and turns in the true story of Rico. For those who missed the first part, here goes a synopsis:
Rico left his secure job in Saudi Arabia to marry his pen pal, one Ildefonsa Matabuncay, a Pampangena expatriate in Chicago who appeared to be (in her letters and pictures) an oldfashioned and demure homebody - Rico's idea of a good wife. She turned out to be a big spender who committed her unsuspecting bridegroom to exorbitant debts even before they were married (a surprise extravagant wedding engineered by a group of professional meddlers). The dismayed husband-to-be chickened out and boarded the next plane out - even if she was not entirely to blame for unknowingly impersonating the muppet Miss Piggy on her firstever personal meeting with her long-distance beau.
The story continues with Ildefonsa's hasty exit from Chicago on the same day Rico left for the Philippines
For a whole week Ildefonsa locked herself in a motel outside New York City. Then on the supposed day, she flew to Florida and showed up solo in that hotel with the heart-shaped jacuzzi. There she stayed until whatever meals and accommodation the illfated couple's pre-paid honeymoon package was worth has been consumed. There was nowhere she could next retreat to,so from Florida she surprised a cousin in San Francisco until she overstayed her welcome and finally left for Manila. Ildefonsa's unannounced arrival was a very pleasant surprise to the whole family. For the last three or four years, they have been urging her to come home for good. Her sister Saturnina now runs a prosperous dental practice in the city. The next sister, Isabelita, is a dietician in a hospital in Brunei. Their youngest brother, Juanito, has just passed the national examination for physiotherapists and was accepted by a military hospital in Saudi Arabia. All three were volunteering to contribute towards a generous monthly allowance for Ildefonsa, on top of their allocations for their ageing parents. It was a welcome opportunity for the three professionals to show their gratitude for the years of hard work and isolation their sister endured in a foreign country for their sake.
FAT FREE PATTIES
At 36, Ildefonsa was too young to retire but too old to start a bookkeeping career in a country teeming with smart, young and highly qualified accountants. Back in Chicago, she averaged 60 working hours on weekdays. On weekends the only time she would take a day off from cleaning other people's houses was when her own flat needed a good scrubbing. She was a tired but very restless soul.
After the excitement of reuniting with her relatives had worn off, Ildefonsa became unsettled. She had a small stall built in front of their house where students from the municipal high school nearby could get a healthy lunch of breaded vegetables and seafoods that she prepared into MacDonald's style patties to appeal to her young clientele.
Ildefonsa's years of self-denial in cold Chicago and the recent pain and humiliation of the valentine's- day fiasco did not culminate in a nervous breakdown. Instead her fury was channelled into an almost obsessive dedication to perfecting her patties. Fat free, consistently baked (never fried) to an exact shade of gold. Using only the freshest of local fish, crabs, shrimps, seaweeds and vegetables from her father's own backyard garden, seasoned with home grown herbs and natural flavourings.
In a matter of weeks, Ildefonsa lost half of her weight. But it was not to convince her diners that her product was healthy and devoid of harmful fats Deep inside she was in torment and had lost all appetite for life. She got rid of the curls and wore her hair in a neat bun. And went about her business attired in a traditional Filipino dress, serving her aromatic patties on green banana leaves held by a plate of woven bamboo strips. In her quaint costume and pensive countenance, she was a robotised character in a Madame Tussaud tableau going through the efficient but lifeless motions of running her stall.
Ildefonsa avoided all kinds of socialisation. Even refusing catering orders for her now famous patties, if the deal required her personal appearance before a group of adults. Her interactions with people outside her immediate family were limited to the polite responses required in her growing enterprise. Ildefonsa was home at last, but she was still in exile.
