Ibalik’s comment is the perfect segue into my next entry. I’m posting here a few pasalubongs* that I’ve received from various people:
Here’s one brought over by family friend Swerte from her trip to Europe. They’re mini chocolate donuts made in Spain called Filipinos. I believe they’ve been featured in a recent issue of Giant Robot magazine. True to form, an equivalent American snack is called Flipz which are chocolate-covered pretzels.
Here’s a PhilWeavers shirt courtesy of Kyo who brought it over from his trip to the Philippines back in December. Thanks Kyo!
Those things above are what you call katol, green coils of mosquito killer that you burn on one end. We don’t have a mosquito problem here in California, mind you. This was a personal request of mine, believe it or not. Over the years, when my wife’s relatives would go to the Philippines I would ask them to bring back a box of Elephant Brand katol. This is the katol I remember from my youth and I wanted to incorporate elements of the packaging into this idea I had for a design piece. Well, each time my wife’s relatives would come back from PI, they would bring back the wrong brand. I don’t think I made myself clear that any brand other than Elephant is useless to me. But who am I to complain? Katol is katol and apparently, the Elephant Brand is hard to find. So as you see I’ve amassed boxes of poisonous green coil that I’ll never use. The design of the Lion-Tiger Brand, however, is starting to grow on me.
*gifts brought from other lands (or more specifically, from the motherland)
7 Comments
ahahaha, those damn katols…ewan ba kahit na gaano kadalas gamitin ang katol sa mga lamok, babalik at babalik pa rin sila. mas mauna pa tayong mamamatay dahil sa katol, kesa mga lamok.
only if they come up with incense designed to burn like katol, that would be just guhreaat.
i’ll sell you my katol if you like. buy now, i’ll give you a discount.
better yet, put it up on ebay. ahahaha.
OMG! That chocolate bar looks so awesome! “Filipinos”! Who knew, really?
Is it ok if I share that picture with other browsers on my website? I will credit your website and advertise it for ya as well. 
Please email me so that I can find out if I’m allowed to do it. Thanks!
Hi Bebe, sure you may put up the picture. But I’d rather you just put a link back to this page:
http://www.deebeedee.com/blog/archives/000170.php
I’m glad you enjoyed this post. “Filipinos” tasted pretty good too. Oh yeah, I tried your email but it bounced back.
hi there! i came across your site while looking for a link to “pasalubong” for my blog. are you tuteet (did i spell this correctly?), pollyana’s (annie) brother? i was her friend from st. jo who used to come over your house in p4 (back when we were in grade 3). if so, pls say hello to your sister. its been awhile since we’ve been in touch.
Hi Pazzie! Oh my, that far back, eh? The internet’s amazing. I just told Annie about your comment and she should be contacting you soon.
What’s your blog url, by the way?