One day at the House of Yale, Rej decided to make tinola. We had all the ingredients: chicken, sayote, dahon ng sili, patis, luya, and ... oh noes! The were no chicken broth cubes! We upturned the cupboards, scoured the fridge, even scared some hapless mice out of their hidey-holes, but alas! No chicken broth cubes were found.

So, after much pleading on Rej's part, I sallied forth on a Quest to Find the Chicken Broth Cubes. So there I was, riding up and down Yale street (without a Patsy or a Concorde beside me, banging the coconut shells), seeking out the much-needed cubes, but to no avail. Dejected (and basically thinking bwisetkaRejformakingmegooutatninePMinsearchofartificialflavoring), I slunk back to Yale.

I was about to tromp across the drawbridge when *pouf!* the Chicken Broth Cube Fairy appeared with a sprinking of sparkly chicken broth cube dust.(Lasang-lasang manok!) This ... singular creature looked exactly like Tita Maggi, but had a five o'clock shadow and spoke to me in the most charming baritone. "I have seen your quest, good sir, and will now reward your efforts appropriately!"

And with that, the fairy's hand stretched forth (putangina, ang laki ng kamay!) and handed me three chicken broth cubes! "Add this to your soup tonight," I was instructed. "But beware! If you do not finish all of it tonight, in the morning a beanstalk will grow from your stove, reaching high into the heavens, laden with chicken pieces, peeled and chopped sayote, and wilted sili leaves!" At this point, I expected mascara tears to accompany this most serious warning.

As if horrified by the prophecy, the Chicken Broth Cube Fairy disappeared, again with the cloud of sparkly chicken broth cube dust.

I returned home, bearing the magic chicken broth cubes and my ... very strange tale, which I recounted to the Yale denizens in full detail. Of course by then, the bastards were too hungry to care and just plopped the cubes into the soup and had dinner. They might've been hungry, but not hungry enough to finish everything.

The next morning, I rushed (!) into the kitchen, but alas (!) there was no strange, mutant beanstalk, leaving me to wonder if the Chicken Broth Cube Fairy was at all real.

So children, what's the moral of the story?

Gutom lang 'yan.