Ooey, gooey, champurado

Ooey, gooey, champurado

Summer is almost over and the kids are revving up for another busy school year. We’ve had our fill of pool water, SPF 70, spying on baby bunnies and birdies, marshmallow roasts and sweet New Jersey corn. It’s time to get serious. Right?

Let’s not forget there is one weekend left, one last hurrah to be spent before we stow away our summer dresses and sandy Sanoks. So keep those flip flops on girls and boys, we’re heading back to Lola’s and Lolo’s house to celebrate Labor Day, a holiday that gives most of us that extra day off. A holiday that is the culmination of all things summer and sweat, joy and exasperation, beer and barbecue. Girls, we will badminton till the sun goes down. And Emil, we will let you splash us to your hearts content because in our sunny exaltation we just won’t give a ….care. All of us will enjoy the hearty Lola breakfast that brings all of us together at that cramped yet cozy breakfast bar. Homemade waffles or pancakes with whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries, sausages, and, crescendo please, that creamy chocolate delight we call champurado ! It is every kid’s dream to have this oogey, gooey chocolate dish for breakfast. Better get up early or you’re likely to be scrapping the bottom of the bowl for an ounce of this stuff. For those that don’t know, champurado is a traditional Filipino breakfast treat that is usually eaten with something salty, ie salted fish or what we call tuyo. My kids pass on the fish part and blast spoonfuls of pure chocolate bliss into their mouths. Don’t worry all you healthnuts, this is a treat that can only be enjoyed at Lola’s house as I have tried and failed to replicate her recipe to the exact gooeyness. And why is that…no matter how precise I am in following any of her recipes, it never turns out the same?

Lola’s and Lolo’s is a place where we can all be kids. It’s a place where we can relax, get in each other’s business, laugh and relax again. That is why we love going there. This summer it has been every other weekend or so and it will certainly dwindle down as school begins. So kids, are you ready to go to Lola’s house?

Click on photo for a link to RecipeZaar’s Champurado recipe.

(fyi, lola and lolo are filipino terms of endearment for grandmother/grandfather or elderly person; Spaniards brought chocolate to the Philippines; there are other versions of this dish including Mexican champurrado)