Washing the Dishes and Honoring My Mom
Being the youngest of three siblings, it was customary and almost mandatory for me to be the one to do the errands, to water the plants, and yes, to do the dishes. But my mother never assigned those chores without first doing them herself and showing me how to do them.
In the absence of what we now routinely use to wash away stubborn stain on frying pans and pots such as "scotchbrite" dishwashing sponge, she always uses fine grain sand which was always available nearby since our house was located near a river, or the better option was to use "ipa" or rice hull which she collects whenever we buy a piece or a block of ice from the corner store ice-dealer. Rice-hull as I later found out, not only cleans the dishes but leaves them glistening and shiny specially when sunlight strikes them. Used in tin pans, one gets a smooth shiny metallic appearance making them look like they're always brand new. My mom had numerous "tricks of the trade" so to speak. And apparently she had one for every type of pot or pan or dish.
In today's super busy world, in many households, washing the dishes is as easy as putting the dishes into a machine called a dishwasher, flipping a switch or pushing a button on and that's it. One can then just lounge on the sofa and watch a favorite TV program, or a movie on DVD. But as I observed in my recent experience with these machines, the end result is far from that which is manually or hand washed in the old traditional way - the way my mother used to do. Admittedly, today's ways may be time-saving, but the results are simply unacceptable, in my view. There are certain ways of doing things in "ye olde" traditional way that still yield the best and most desirable outcome.
Today, as in the last several weeks, inspite of the modern, cutting-edge technology in dish-washing at my full disposal, I've opted to wash each plate, each piece of silver ware, each goblet and mug, in the old fashioned hand-washed method, sans the sand or rice hull, of course. And instead of air drying them inside the dish washer, I wipe them dry and watch them glisten in the sun. Wiping them dry avoids the unsightly spots left by dried water on the surface of the wares specially on sliver ware. Not only does one sees the dishes glisten in the sunlight, but there's also a certain feel of cleanliness in them.
Every time I hand wash the dishes, it's like I'm honoring a timeless tradition and a great legacy of a great household chore master - my mother.
I would have loved to hand wash the clothes as well.
although I bought a dishwasher ages ago I've never used it and have stashed it in our house sa Cebu....coz I could never get the idea off my head na kulang pa ang linis :-)
ReplyDeleteparang, how can one scrape off whatever na nagstick sa plate?
sometimes I use vinegar (for glasses) and my mom (weird for me, pero she swears by it ha) uses yung mga plastic (there's a particular shiny one she says na mas ok daw) to wipe off oil and such from the plate before hand rinsing them...
here's to us who do manual dishwashing (and manual handwashing sa laundry too in my case)
Here, here! At one point in my life, I also did both, i.e. hand washed dishes and hand washed clothes. I even used to iron my own clothes as well (which I still do from time to time today).
ReplyDeletehooray for moms! natuto ako maglaba, magplantsa, maglinis ng banyo, maghugas ng plato, maglampaso ng sahig, atbp sa nanay ko.
ReplyDeleteay...yan ang ayaw ko..plantsa....nevah! you can ask me to handwash isang room full of dishes in return for 1 hour of ironing clothes :-)
ReplyDeleteenjoy naman ako mamalantsa.
ReplyDeleteAko din enjoy ako diyan. At parang na-aamoy ko nga ngayon yung dahon ng saging :-)
ReplyDeleteKorek!
ReplyDeleteTama ka Chito. When I visit my sister in the States, that's what I do - wash dishes by hand. One day my brother -in-law said " Let's use the dishwasher today, Manang. It might not work anymore and you're back in Cebu!"
ReplyDeleteMy brothers are the prized husbands they are now because they were taught how to cook, wash and iron clothes, wash dishes, lampaso, dilig and even crochet (Lola taught our Kuya that). Mommy and Daddy used to say that there is no gender involved in all these chores.
ReplyDeleteHehehe.
ReplyDeleteSiyanga pala, pati yang paghahalaman dahil din sa Nanay ko. She also gave me other chores such as magbantay ng sari-sari store, at maglako ng longganisa (ang bigat dalhin non!) sa neighborhood.
ReplyDelete"The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes." - Agatha Christie
ReplyDelete"The reason that everybody likes planning is that nobody has to do anything." -Jerry Brown
ReplyDeleteor trimming the lawn...
ReplyDeleteAng Lola Lilang ko naman used to make lots of salted peanuts and peanut brittle which we called "Pinatapi". Every morning I brought a biscuit can of the Pinatapi to sell in school. Ayan, she taught me how to sell - until now I'm still selling stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhen i first saw rudy whistling while washing the dishes in their house, it filled my heart with something like love for him. for hope you encounter in old men, who somehow go forth in the world armed only with a good mind, a pleasant heart for mundane things like washing the dishes, and the innate goodness to love you back...
ReplyDeleteHi Janet. Did you know that Rudy's father and mine were office mates in the Bureau of Lands (pre-cursor of Land Registration Commission)?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if today's generation of parents still have the same dedication to their children.
ReplyDeleteyes chit i do know. we still have their pictures.
ReplyDelete