The Sweetest Memories

The Sweetest Memories

I’ve never outgrown my sweet tooth. This young adult overjoyed by ice cream and macarons wasn’t that different as a child when it came to her love for sweets. I found love for desserts and chocolates amidst the equally-delicious selection of sinigang, nilaga, and other Filipino food made by my mother. As a child, I loved sweets for their flavor and the happiness they bring people. I then realized I share the same love for the memories associated with them. Those, for me, are some of the sweetest memories.

Mango crêpes were my go-to dessert. My uncle was a chef whose specialty was dessert, and he made me his official taste-tester. I remember waking up with a crêpe on the dining table with my name on it, complete with fresh mango slices, walnuts, and a hint of vanilla ice cream – my favorite. My uncle moved to Australia a few years back, and when he visits, I ask for the same mango crêpe to relive my childhood. Luckily for me, mangoes are everywhere here in the Philippines.

Shortly after my uncle left for Australia, my mother and I moved to Beijing, China and gone were the days with crêpes for breakfast. It was a new place, new school, new friends, and an old pastry shop along the roads of Beijing. The warm and soft pastry puff with creamy and sweet filling was covered with caramelized brown sugar which broke after the first bite. Once or twice a month, my mother would buy me a box and I’m still surprised how I still have a full set of teeth. I could still taste the delicacy today and crave for cream puffs every now and then.

The sweetest surprises, however, were chocolate Kinder eggs. After frolicking in the playground with schoolmates in the cool Beijing air, we’d visit a small and dark convenience store and buy ourselves Kinder eggs which we would eat while chasing around ladybugs of red, yellow, and orange. I loved the chocolate, but I loved the surprise inside