17/365: Secret Stash of Forbidden Delights

I had acid reflux disease when I worked as Special Assistant to a Cabinet Secretary eons ago. In the Philippines, that is. That was a stressful time, magnified to the n-to-the-thousandth degree.

It was a high pressure, high profile job that required me walking the wire between efficient public service and effective secrecy. Everything that I did required diplomacy and tact - be it dealing with internal constituencies or external ones. An imprudent word here, an unguarded letter there, and someone somewhere has to do damage control quickly, literally. I must've been so high strung my tummy developed all sorts of problems.

One of my secret pleasures at that time was Lipton's milk tea. In the midst of a panic situation, you'd catch me taking a break, drinking my sweet milk tea in my Boss's rarely used private room. Never mind that my impatient heart doctor - one of Manila's finest - had emphasized staying off the brew for a very long while.

Milk tea calmed me, if not my stomach, so to hell with dire medical warnings. I was willing to pay the price...and pay it I did, frequently, with hyperacidity and mild anxiety attacks, heh.

In America though, there's no ready-to-drink milk tea. So I make it from scratch. With Z's visit to Florida, he brought with him a stash of milk tea, courtesy of his ever thoughtful wifey P. Praise God for sweet sisters-in-law!