Sopas on Rainy Afternoons: A Bowl of Comfort

The Table That Raised Me: Lessons from My Mother's Kitchen (My Father's & My Lola's Kitchen, Too!) Part 19 | Every Monday • Wednesday • Friday | Sunday Feature
Because every meal has a story, and every table has a legacy.

 Sopas on Rainy Afternoons: A Bowl of Comfort

by Eugenia C. Martin

             The weather forecast announced that a typhoon was approaching. "Parang masarap ang may sabaw," I told my husband. Without hesitation, he cooked creamy macaroni sopas.

When I arrived from school, the familiar aroma of milk, pork, and vegetables filled our home. One spoonful was all it took. Suddenly, I wasn't simply enjoying a warm bowl of sopas. I was remembering my dad.

I remembered him cooking for us whenever the weather turned cold or someone in the family wasn't feeling well. Somehow, he always knew that a bowl of soup could lift our spirits. Whether it was creamy sopas, nilaga, mami, or another simple broth, he never failed to fill our home with the comforting aroma of something gently simmering on the stove.

Looking back, indeed, I realize he wasn't just preparing a meal. He was taking care of us. As children, we thought he was simply cooking because we were hungry. Now I understand. Every bowl was his quiet way of saying, "Rest." "You'll feel better soon." "I'm here."

 

 

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Eugenia C. Martin (Ms. Eugene) is a Registered Guidance Counselor, Licensed Professional Teacher, wife, mother, songwriter, gardener, traveler, and home cook. Her life's lessons have come from many classrooms—the school, the counseling room, her parents' kitchen, the family garden, and the backyard shoe-making business where she first learned the values of perseverance, entrepreneurship, and community. Through her writing, she reflects on mental health, parenting, education, relationships, faith, music, gardening, and the journeys that continue to shape her understanding of people and life.