I just saw a sign on a Sari-Sari Store: "Ice Candy for Sale Php5.00".

In the summers of my childhood, it used to sell for only Php1.00. sometimes even 50 centavos.  It cheaply quenched my thirst on a hot summer day and soothed the soul of a team beaten in siatong or tigso.

Battle-weary from all the games we played, we would line up in front of the neighborhood store, buy ice candy or ice kendi and sit on the sidewalk while eating and recalling the merits and demerits of tour just concluded game.

Protocol required the iced treat to bequickly be eaten to avoid the sticky liquid melting in our hands.

Ice Candy came in different flavors of whichever fruit was in season.  There was buko, avocado, mango, langka (jackfruit), durian, name it…   But mostly, it was powdered orange juice or chocolate.

We never did come up with a papaya flavored or santol flavored ice candy.  Had we experimented with these flavors, we would have come up with a new and interesting addition to this summer treat.  But I wonder if it would have ever sold as much as the traditional ones?

Anyway, the ice candy sign sure did bring back happy memories of care-free childhood days.  I think I'm going to buy one…