essay draft

I smiled at the sight I was seeing. There was chattering and laughter filling the whole pavilion. I could hear my cousins yelling and chasing each other playfully. Then I heard my dad taking out a bag of ice, I looked at him in confusion. He didn’t need so much ice for a drink and he could’ve kept it in the freezer. Then he turned around and took out 3 bottles. One that I recognized immediately from the white, clear cubes, all squeezed in together, it was a bottle of macapuno (sweetened coconut meat). I saw my sisters looking at the same thing as me. We all knew what it was, the ingredients for halo-halo.
My dad took out the rest of the ingredients, all cold. As soon as he took out the shave ice machine I was already next to him with a glass and eager to make mine. But I wasn’t the only one, my sisters and my cousins were next to me too. My dad chuckled; he said “Don’t hurt each other” and walked away. I started filling my cup with the stuff I wanted, first a spoonful of the soft, brown sweetened kidney beans. Next the big, green garbanzos (chickpeas) and the golden yellow slices of langka (jackfruit). Then a spoonful of the small and yellow sweetened corn kernels. I got a cup of ice and poured it in the shave ice machine, as it was grinding, making little pieces of clear ice, a drop of sweat rolled down my head. I could already taste it in my mouth.
I added the shaved ice and poured the condensed milk. I added a portion of the custard on top of it. It was still screaming for something, there was something missing. I knew it right away; I opened the freezer and saw it, ube ice cream. I opened the box and the cold, purple dessert was revealed. I grabbed a spoonful and added in on top of my halo-halo. It was done. Water was trickling down the side of it from the chilly ice. I gulped, my stomach was screaming for it. The colorful bottom, then a huge white part from the ice and on top a big purple piece of creamy ube.
After I finished eating it, I could still taste the ube in my tongue. My mind and my brain were satisfied. I couldn’t help but smile. I looked around and nearly every table in the pavilion had someone eating a glass of halo-halo. I sat down by my dad and he said, “I was afraid to get mobbed by our hungry family, just like how my dad was”. We laughed at the sight of my sister feeding it to my nephew. I couldn’t help but feel the sense of happiness from this day. Mostly because, it was the first time I ate halo-halo in a long time. But also from the happiness that it brought to my family.