Show A thanksgiving DINNER IN THE philippines it was eaten in an old stone hacienda over whisp walls the red white and yellow roses flung their rich embroidery and from whose decrepit balconies fragrant starry jasmine waved aved side by side with the family wash how much of the excellence of the meal was due to the culinary skill of jim the colonel colonels s auchu cho who went into the kitchen to help the chinese cook and how much to that almond eyed juggler with pots and pans could not be determined by the guests but both claimed the honor the table was set out of doors under the shade of an immense arbor del fuego or fire tree which a few months hence would be a blaze of flaming blossoms the chickens roamed about freely among the guests and oc caslo casio nally one bolder than the rest would fly up among the dishes it was etiquette tor for the nearest guest to shoo it down otherwise such little incidents passed without notice the first dish served was the strictly american one of ham and eggs but as ham Is 60 50 cents a pound in M ulla it was a costly delicacy and had a better right to appear at the feast than even the tried fried and roasted chickens which fol lowed these are no longer cooked in rancid cocoanut oil since the united states army brought canned butter over the pacific you will never appreciate the ellow jellow product of the cow until you have eaten chicken tried fried in co chanut oil tle taste of it stays on the plate for weeks it Is a samson among flavors for nothing else Is strong enough to kill it not even sperm oil which is its first cousin after the fowls appeared a huge baked fish stuffed with onions and red peppers and borne on a platter garlanded with paper flowers this was what turkey is to the amert amerl can or roast beet beef to the englishman Engl lhman the piece de re si stance of the dinner amer lean ican canned beet beef came next doled out in email small portions to each guest tor for a filipino will give you almost anything he owns for a can of beef and so highly does he esteem it that he even saves the empty cans perhaps to cheat himself or his friends into believing he has a supply on hand and therefore Is a man worth cultivating A spanish stew was on the menu after the fish a genuine olla podrida which no doubt was being cooked tor for supper in spain when columbus was sailing westward on his voyage of discovery rice potatoes minced caribou steak onions dried fish everything in the larder goes into the olla podrida which Is very liberally seasoned with red pepper so liberally that all the guests tell fell to weeping over the first mouthful and the appearance of a pot of jam was hailed with delight the jam was passed around by a halt half naked knife boy and everybody took a spoonful returning the spoon to the jam to be used by the next person it would be regarded as a grave breach of manners to take a clean spoon then the american guests saw trally lit ll rally the locusts and wild honey of john the baptist with the excellent coffee small pieces of honey in the comb were placed at each plate and a heaping basket of crisp brown cakes some thing like the old fashioned cookies of new england was carried around the table by the knife boy maco oon ca a pan e dili dill mehiko ca a pan do you eat locusts or do you not care for them politely inquired the host the cakes were made of locusts stripped of their wings and ground to a fine flour which was mixed sweetened raised the same as other pastry and baked a light delicious brown anybody who has ever had the curiosity and temerity to taste a particularly brown hard puppy cake ill have a good idea of the flavor of the filipino locust cake except of course it Is sweetened only one american had courage enough to nibble one but all the native guests ate two or three the omnipresent cigarette or cigar arrived with the coffee and soon the remains of the feast were enveloped in a pale blue haze senorita paciencia Pa the daughter of 0 the ho ise smoked lolling back carelessly in her gown of rich black silk with a big cigar between her rosy lips this same senorita pa alencia was the innocent cause of much em barras to the colonel during the meal it Is filipino custom for the hostess to teed feed the i ses l principal dish to the guest of honor so when the fish was brought on miss dacien cla eta changed her seat to one at the colonel colonels s side and carefully selecting tha the choicest morsels and freeing treeing them from bones and skin popped them into the colonel colonels s mouth to have demurred would have been a deadly insult to the host eo so the colonel was obliged submit with the best grace he could muster though tha the spectacle of a husky american soldier be ing led fed like a baby was almost too much for the self control ot of his compatriots especially when somebody said very soft ly and distinctly lovey dovey the gallant colonel colonels s ordeal came to an end after a time but it left him very red and uncomfortable and nursing a firm re solve to accept no mo more re invitations to dine out in the philippines it Is only fair to the senorita to explain that before she took her place at the colonel colonels s side a knife boy appeared bearing a bowl of perfumed water and a clean towel and that she carefully washed and dried her hands |