Roots and recipes

The sour smell of vinegar, the spicy scent of black pepper and the sizzling sound of my mom's pan boiling and cooking the meat makes my mouth water knowing that she is making adobo.  As cousins, uncles, and i wait outside itching for the women (my aunties, sister, mom, and nana) to bring out the food we try to do activities such as playing cards or telling corny jokes to get our mind off the feast that we were about to have.  My cousin would be thinking about aunties pancit, my uncle thinking about nana's lumpia, but i know we all are waiting for something in common and that is the corrales ladies famous adobo.
As i run up and down the hall of my nana's house irratating my grandma and mom as they are making a dish i had never smelt before.  It smelt really good, like the smell of meat, vinegar, and some scent i could not name.  I kept trying to tippy toe trying to get a glimpse of what was producing this wonderful scent, and every time i remember my nana or mom saying ''go outside and wait for your cousin'sm they are coming for dinner.'' I remember trying to get smart with them and grabbing a couple of my Christopher Bear  books and using them to stand on.  i almost lifted the lid but somehow my grandma had spotted me and whack! the wooden spoon she was holding came down as fast as lightning and ended up on the back of my hand.  I dropped the lid way faster then the spoon came down and ran out of there before i got my ears chewed    off.
It took another thirty minutes before i could get the feeling back in my right hand and by then all my aunties, uncles and cousins were here.  The ladies brought out all the pans that were filled with foods like dininguan, pancit, soup and of course rice.  The only food that was missing was the unfamiliar dish that I waited to see for a bout an hour.  We blessed the food and made our plates.right when i am about to finish making my plate the pot comes out with my mom holding it.  I immedeately run to her and lift the lid.  I am unsuprised to see that it was meat since i had picked that up while they were making it.  I waste no time staring at it and put five pieces on my plate.  I take a seat and put piece in my mouth and spit it out almost simultaneously.  It was hot, like put your toungue on fire hot, in other tems SPICY!!!!!  I look around hoping no one saw me, but my dad must have because he asked me why i spit it out.  I didn't answer and put it back in as soon as possible.  I eventually ate all five pieces and didn't spit any of them out.  when everyone left I asked my mom on the way home what the meat was called and why was it spicy.  When she told me it was adobo i made a mental note in my mind to make sure i eat that every time i see it. She aslo told me the spicciness camr from the balck pepper, and naturally i made a mental note to take those out when i eat it. 
From that day on I have always eaten adobo. No matter which filipino resteraunt we eat at though, whether it be max's in waipahu or any of the golden coin chains, none of them can make it as good as my mom.