You Know You're Getting Old When...

You know you're getting old when...you have started dreaming of a farm and have started gardening. Today, I planted some kaffir lime seeds in hopes that they would germinate seedlings. I asked mom to plant the galanggal a few months ago. We have plenty of chili and lemongrass plants and after a few months I could cook Thai food whenever I want to.

If you're wondering if these things are available in the Philippines, yes they are. But you must understand we rarely or never use kaffir leaf and galanggal in our cuisine like our fellow SE Asian neighbors do - Thailand, Indonesia, Burma and Cambodia. These plants/herbs are also called a different name, in Davao kaffir is called biasong. Getting seedlings is also difficult unless you are lucky to source them in Manila Seedling Bank or in Legazpi and Salcedo Weekend Market. You can score some kaffir lime leaf in Rustan's supermarket but they're bloody expensive for ten pesos per leaf.

These seedlings will never bear those ugly but fragrant citrus kaffir fruit. It needs some special cross pollination with another kind of citrus fruit but it doesn't matter since the kaffir leaf is the one used for cooking.

I'm looking forward to inviting you for some tom yum goong someday.