That hometown feeling 14 SHARES LODESTAR - Danton Remoto (The Philippine Star) - May 5, 2018 - 12:00am Oas is a strange town. It is famous for the number of priests it produces while on the next town sits Polangui, one of Albay’s sources of the best bailarinas (dance hall girls) in the country. But aside from this, Oas also sports food that can do any small town proud. It has white bagoong which, when mixed with calamansi juice, tastes like no other in the country. They also have binasuso (rice cakes) and balls of cocoa made from madre de cacao that grew in profusion in the land. There was laing, of course, dried taro leaves simmered in coconut milk, pork or shrimp, ginger and bagoong. I was there one Holy Week many years ago. When we arrived, my grandfather was already there, still tall but thinner than I remember him. He stood by the gate and we waved at him. My parents, aunt and uncle walked over to him and kissed his hand. They were beginning to make small noises about the trip