back to the old house.

my family is from pampanga, about an hour away from manila, under the volcano. it has been a couple of years since i'd last been there, and since then, my mom's family has restored their parents' home. the house dates back to the twenties, a modest example of the bahay na bato-style provincial home that was prevalent at the time, but is rapidly disappearing. (for a more grand example, one only needs to look next door.) i spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my grandmother, and i was glad to see it (and the rest of the house) is almost exactly as i remember it, only with the distinct difference of it actually looking less run down now than then. i particularly remember this aparador, or food "safe", where cooked foods were stored, pre-refrigeration days--the screened-in doors and the back-slatted box hanging off the windowsill allowed for proper air-circulation to keep foods from spoiling. if it wasn't a complete impracticality in today's world (how do you keep someone from breaking in? what if there's a typhoon?), i would definitely add one of these to my "dream kitchen".

more photos of the old house.