I'm sitting at my gate the airport, waiting for boarding.
Last night, my godmother called to say that they've arrived in Stockton. I thought I wouldn't have a chance to see them, but, around 6pm, Dee noticed a small woman pass by the window and ring the doorbell. We looked at each other wondering who it might be.
It took me a couple of seconds to recognize Ninang Rosie. Uncle Pol came to the door soon after she came in. They decided to come and visit us anyway since I was leaving the next day.
After hellos and introductions to the kids ("She's Ninang Lea's ninang." "Ninang" means "godmother".), Mom and Ninang Rosie decided to go out for dinner. Dee and family had Bible study scheduled that night, so it was just me, Mom, Ninang Rosie, and Uncle Pol.
We went to an Italian restaurant on Lone Tree Way with Uncle Pol driving their rental car and me giving directions.
Both Uncle Pol and I had the honey-pecan salmon salad. Yum. Mom had lasagna which she only half-finished. Ninang Rosie had meatballs and spaghetti which she barely ate and had to box up. But in the end, we shared a tiramisu that was *very* good.
Then they dropped us off.
I had a hard time falling asleep in the evening, so I only have four hours of sleep. Maybe less. So, I think I'll be plopping into bed as soon as I get home.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Jazz and sushi
Dee suggested going to a jazz place to take my nephew Ian for our outing this time. I always spend one-on-one time with him everytime I visit and it's getting harder to find things to do that we would both enjoy.
Lately, he's been into jazz and music in general, so it sounded like a good idea. I found sfjazz.org online and had planned to be here the first week of October for it. Because of my grandmother's passing, we didn't catch the shows I thought we could go see.
Dee recommended a jazz place called Yoshi's. She said that Ian went there once before with his cousin and that he enjoyed it.
Yoshi's is a sushi restaurant and jazz club. There's one in San Francisco and another in Jack London Square in Oakland. Ian said that it's a bit on the expensive side, so we decided to have dinner at Silver Dragon in Oakland's Chinatown before the show. Ian also suggested going to the 8pm show, because they usually let people stay for the 10pm show if there aren't many people for it.
I ordered our tickets online, which is surprisingly cheap -- for each person, $10 + $3 processing fee.
Anyway, I had to take care of a few things so we started out late. I decided we would just eat at Yoshi's anyway.
We got there at 7:30pm, picked up our tickets at the Will Call window and went into the club. We ordered some sushi and hot tea.
The sushi was very fresh and very good, especially the Rainbow Sushi dish that Ian ordered. The fish was so fresh that there was a certain sweetness to it.
And the show was also very good and there was good energy in the crowd. The 10pm show was cancelled altogether (not surprising, since it was a weeknight), so the band played until 10pm.
Ian, being primarily a drummer himself, was watching the drummer carefully, but he didn't want to go and chat with him after the show. But he said he enjoyed the show. And so did I.
Lately, he's been into jazz and music in general, so it sounded like a good idea. I found sfjazz.org online and had planned to be here the first week of October for it. Because of my grandmother's passing, we didn't catch the shows I thought we could go see.
Dee recommended a jazz place called Yoshi's. She said that Ian went there once before with his cousin and that he enjoyed it.
Yoshi's is a sushi restaurant and jazz club. There's one in San Francisco and another in Jack London Square in Oakland. Ian said that it's a bit on the expensive side, so we decided to have dinner at Silver Dragon in Oakland's Chinatown before the show. Ian also suggested going to the 8pm show, because they usually let people stay for the 10pm show if there aren't many people for it.
I ordered our tickets online, which is surprisingly cheap -- for each person, $10 + $3 processing fee.
Anyway, I had to take care of a few things so we started out late. I decided we would just eat at Yoshi's anyway.
We got there at 7:30pm, picked up our tickets at the Will Call window and went into the club. We ordered some sushi and hot tea.
The sushi was very fresh and very good, especially the Rainbow Sushi dish that Ian ordered. The fish was so fresh that there was a certain sweetness to it.
And the show was also very good and there was good energy in the crowd. The 10pm show was cancelled altogether (not surprising, since it was a weeknight), so the band played until 10pm.
Ian, being primarily a drummer himself, was watching the drummer carefully, but he didn't want to go and chat with him after the show. But he said he enjoyed the show. And so did I.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
MNL to SFO
Am at Dee's house, freshly showered. And I tell ya, I feel much cleaner after a shower here. For one, I'm not sweating as soon as I get out of the shower.
The flight started out a bit worrisome. Even before they started serving dinner, we hit turbulence. After dinner, they turned the cabin lights off so people could sleep. I'm not sure how many hours I slept before I got woken up by the plane pitching back and forth and up and down like a roller coaster. It was the worse flight turbulence I had encountered ever. At one point, I think the plane angled about 45 degrees clockwise, but the pilot straightened the plane right away.
I lifted the eye cover they gave us to check on Mom. (Philippine Airlines gives away this satiny pouch which contains a pair of socks, an eye cover, and a travel toothbrush and toothpaste.) She looked worried. I went back to sleep. I didn't want her to see me worried too. Eventually, she did the same.
That was before we hit the dateline. The TV monitor showed the map with the plane and the route marked in red. The second half was relatively smooth, although there was still some turbulence.
A couple of hours before landing, they woke us up and served breakfast. Landing was uneventful.
There seems to be a custom, only in Philippine Airlines: After landing, the passengers would applaud. I don't think I've seen it in other airlines.
Well, I dunno about that applause. One would think that landing a plane safely should be par for the course. Otherwise, the pilot should be looking for another job, don't you agree?
That kinda reminds me of one of Mom's stories:
A priest and a jeepney driver die at the same time and they both go to heaven. Just as they believed, they were rewarded with things they could not have on earth. It was the driver who was first granted a huge mansion to live in. The priest was excited and he thought that, surely, he deserved an even bigger mansion.
But when he was lead to his new home in heaven, it was a very small cottage. He asked God why the jeepney driver got a huge mansion, while he -- who did God's work most of his life -- only got a small cottage. God replied, "That's because, when you say Mass, the people fall asleep in church. But when he drives, all his passengers pray."
I suppose that flight's pilot will be getting a big mansion.
The flight started out a bit worrisome. Even before they started serving dinner, we hit turbulence. After dinner, they turned the cabin lights off so people could sleep. I'm not sure how many hours I slept before I got woken up by the plane pitching back and forth and up and down like a roller coaster. It was the worse flight turbulence I had encountered ever. At one point, I think the plane angled about 45 degrees clockwise, but the pilot straightened the plane right away.
I lifted the eye cover they gave us to check on Mom. (Philippine Airlines gives away this satiny pouch which contains a pair of socks, an eye cover, and a travel toothbrush and toothpaste.) She looked worried. I went back to sleep. I didn't want her to see me worried too. Eventually, she did the same.
That was before we hit the dateline. The TV monitor showed the map with the plane and the route marked in red. The second half was relatively smooth, although there was still some turbulence.
A couple of hours before landing, they woke us up and served breakfast. Landing was uneventful.
There seems to be a custom, only in Philippine Airlines: After landing, the passengers would applaud. I don't think I've seen it in other airlines.
Well, I dunno about that applause. One would think that landing a plane safely should be par for the course. Otherwise, the pilot should be looking for another job, don't you agree?
That kinda reminds me of one of Mom's stories:
A priest and a jeepney driver die at the same time and they both go to heaven. Just as they believed, they were rewarded with things they could not have on earth. It was the driver who was first granted a huge mansion to live in. The priest was excited and he thought that, surely, he deserved an even bigger mansion.
But when he was lead to his new home in heaven, it was a very small cottage. He asked God why the jeepney driver got a huge mansion, while he -- who did God's work most of his life -- only got a small cottage. God replied, "That's because, when you say Mass, the people fall asleep in church. But when he drives, all his passengers pray."
I suppose that flight's pilot will be getting a big mansion.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Candelaria to Manila
Going home was a big production. *sigh* I would have preferred a quiet exit, but since Mom was with me, I suppose Auntie Eying felt it was necessary to give us a big send-off.
We were woken up on Sunday morning at 3:45am by my aunt, knocking on our door. I quickly took a shower (Mom took hers the night before) and we all hurriedly finished packing. The van had arrived at 1am from Manila to pick us up.
By 5:00am, we were piling into the van. It wasn't as full as it was when my cousins went back to Manila, but it was still full. The driver Benny came with Zaldy's right-hand Mator, who sat in front with Boyet. Mom, Auntie Eying and I sat in the middle row. JJ sat in the back with the luggage.
We picked up Auntie Baby in Amungan an hour later. She had been waiting since 5am with Uncle Use and her son Jeffrey. And off we went.
Well, when you have Mom, Auntie Eying, and Auntie Baby all in one vehicle, don't expect to get any sleep. They were chatting and joking and laughing all the way to Manila, reminiscing about old incidents, telling funny stories about schoolchildren (both Auntie Eying and Auntie Baby are grade school teachers), retelling familiar jokes.
We stopped at the JollyBee in SBMA (Subic Bay Military Area?) for breakfast, then we were off again. We arrived in Manila close to lunch.
On Friday, I made reservations online for Rothmann Hotel where I stayed last May. Unfortunately, they couldn't process my reservation for two business days. I just assumed they would have an opening. So when Zaldy et al arrived, I asked him to confirm my reservation, and it turned out that they were full. (I later found an email where they responded to my question but no confirmation of my reservation.) They recommended the hostel across the street.
So, we drove to the hostel and they luckily had vacancies. But the rooms were very small. It's about half the size of a regular hotel room. But, at least, there were private bathrooms. The clerk gave us "deluxe" rooms, which were slightly bigger, for the same price as regular rooms. And they allowed us to have three people in each room, so we only had to rent two rooms. The price was PhP1900 for each room with breakfast for two, plus PhP450 for an additional person and PhP200 for an additional breakfast. Then I purchased a 16-hour internet access card for PhP965.
They had a small dining area in the front of the lobby where the cousins laid out the food they brought with them. Judith brought several boxes of buko pie; we took two. I ordered 200 pieces of yema from Sonia, but she refused to charge me for it. She even made extras for us to eat right there. And they were better than the ones I brought home in May. She made them with finely ground peanuts, which adds a unique flavor to them. I'm gonna have to learn how to make them.
Two days prior, Mom had ordered some pastillas from a local maker and they were very good too. They are softer and a much better quality than the premade ones that are sold at the bus depot and other roadside stores. Then she asked Auntie Baby to buy PhP1000 worth of linga, which is sweetened sesame seed sticks. We were snacking on them on the way to Manila.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure we made such a ruckus at the hotel with all the little children running around and arguing about a video game. It was already 3pm when the last of the cousins left. Mom and Auntie Baby decided to go shopping at the nearby Robinsons Mall. I went upstairs to work.
In the evening, Auntie Eying, JJ and Mom went back to Robinsons for dinner. Auntie Baby stayed behind until I finished work and we headed out to search for them. We thought Boyet was with them, but it turned out that he got left behind. When we found them, they were at a restaurant right next to Goldilocks and they weren't happy with the food at all. Auntie Baby and I decided to go to Goldilocks after hearing that review.
We ordered bangus belly sinigang, laing (gabi leaves cooked in coconut milk), barbequed pork on a stick, and sago at gulaman for drinks. It was a very good meal. When Mom, Auntie Eying, and JJ joined us, we ordered halo-halo for dessert. I was stuffed.
Then we headed home and I worked some more, while Mom and Auntie Baby went over to the other room to play cards. We all went to bed by 9pm, but I got up around 2am to prepare for the burning of a virtual temple. A little after 4am, I took a nap for a little over an hour then got up again around 5:30am. The temple burn ended at 7am.
Everybody had already woken up and were clamoring for breakfast. Boyet had left very early in the morning for his 5am flight. Mom and Auntie Baby took a shower before I did. I was having problems with the preparation for the second burn, so I said I'd follow them downstairs. They were able to claim their free breakfast tickets and I asked for my breakfast to be packed. I rushed back to the room to keep working. JJ delivered my breakfast soon after.
The hotel's wireless network proved to be less reliable than the internet cafe. Thankfully, I had some help. The second burn ended at 7am, but I took care of a few things before signing out and taking another half hour nap.
The hotel allowed half-day rentals, so I extended our room for a half day so I could take a nap. Auntie Eying and JJ had to go to the Veterans Administration, then they checked out of their room and moved their things to our room. Mom and Auntie Baby left for lunch while I was taking a nap. They came back with very good food that they purchased from a turo-turo (literally "point-point", it's a small eatery or cafeteria where you point at what dishes you want). I had tinola (a chicken dish with broth and green papaya), lechon kawali (pan fried pork), and rice. I set the dried fish aside for Auntie Eying.
Then I alternated between napping and using up my internet minutes. I was able to show Auntie Baby the YouTube video of my nephews, and another of my niece and sister.
At 5:30pm, we got ready to leave. We said goodbye to Auntie Baby, Auntie Eying, and JJ in front of the hotel as our ride arrived.
There was traffic as we expected. We decided to go with the hotel's airport transportation for PhP700. They said a cab would have cost us PhP300. (I'll have to check how much it cost me last May.) But for our safety, we decided to go with the hotel car. Mom was chatting with the driver the whole time. And we were lucky to get a glimpse of the infamous sunset over Manila Bay as we turned into Roxas Boulevard.
Check-in was fairly easy. As I expected, we went through security three times. But there was a porter who helped us with our luggage from the car to the check-in counter.
We just got through the third and final security and documents check before we board, and we're waiting fohr our flight. Two more hours....
We were woken up on Sunday morning at 3:45am by my aunt, knocking on our door. I quickly took a shower (Mom took hers the night before) and we all hurriedly finished packing. The van had arrived at 1am from Manila to pick us up.
By 5:00am, we were piling into the van. It wasn't as full as it was when my cousins went back to Manila, but it was still full. The driver Benny came with Zaldy's right-hand Mator, who sat in front with Boyet. Mom, Auntie Eying and I sat in the middle row. JJ sat in the back with the luggage.
We picked up Auntie Baby in Amungan an hour later. She had been waiting since 5am with Uncle Use and her son Jeffrey. And off we went.
Well, when you have Mom, Auntie Eying, and Auntie Baby all in one vehicle, don't expect to get any sleep. They were chatting and joking and laughing all the way to Manila, reminiscing about old incidents, telling funny stories about schoolchildren (both Auntie Eying and Auntie Baby are grade school teachers), retelling familiar jokes.
We stopped at the JollyBee in SBMA (Subic Bay Military Area?) for breakfast, then we were off again. We arrived in Manila close to lunch.
On Friday, I made reservations online for Rothmann Hotel where I stayed last May. Unfortunately, they couldn't process my reservation for two business days. I just assumed they would have an opening. So when Zaldy et al arrived, I asked him to confirm my reservation, and it turned out that they were full. (I later found an email where they responded to my question but no confirmation of my reservation.) They recommended the hostel across the street.
So, we drove to the hostel and they luckily had vacancies. But the rooms were very small. It's about half the size of a regular hotel room. But, at least, there were private bathrooms. The clerk gave us "deluxe" rooms, which were slightly bigger, for the same price as regular rooms. And they allowed us to have three people in each room, so we only had to rent two rooms. The price was PhP1900 for each room with breakfast for two, plus PhP450 for an additional person and PhP200 for an additional breakfast. Then I purchased a 16-hour internet access card for PhP965.
They had a small dining area in the front of the lobby where the cousins laid out the food they brought with them. Judith brought several boxes of buko pie; we took two. I ordered 200 pieces of yema from Sonia, but she refused to charge me for it. She even made extras for us to eat right there. And they were better than the ones I brought home in May. She made them with finely ground peanuts, which adds a unique flavor to them. I'm gonna have to learn how to make them.
Two days prior, Mom had ordered some pastillas from a local maker and they were very good too. They are softer and a much better quality than the premade ones that are sold at the bus depot and other roadside stores. Then she asked Auntie Baby to buy PhP1000 worth of linga, which is sweetened sesame seed sticks. We were snacking on them on the way to Manila.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure we made such a ruckus at the hotel with all the little children running around and arguing about a video game. It was already 3pm when the last of the cousins left. Mom and Auntie Baby decided to go shopping at the nearby Robinsons Mall. I went upstairs to work.
In the evening, Auntie Eying, JJ and Mom went back to Robinsons for dinner. Auntie Baby stayed behind until I finished work and we headed out to search for them. We thought Boyet was with them, but it turned out that he got left behind. When we found them, they were at a restaurant right next to Goldilocks and they weren't happy with the food at all. Auntie Baby and I decided to go to Goldilocks after hearing that review.
We ordered bangus belly sinigang, laing (gabi leaves cooked in coconut milk), barbequed pork on a stick, and sago at gulaman for drinks. It was a very good meal. When Mom, Auntie Eying, and JJ joined us, we ordered halo-halo for dessert. I was stuffed.
Then we headed home and I worked some more, while Mom and Auntie Baby went over to the other room to play cards. We all went to bed by 9pm, but I got up around 2am to prepare for the burning of a virtual temple. A little after 4am, I took a nap for a little over an hour then got up again around 5:30am. The temple burn ended at 7am.
Everybody had already woken up and were clamoring for breakfast. Boyet had left very early in the morning for his 5am flight. Mom and Auntie Baby took a shower before I did. I was having problems with the preparation for the second burn, so I said I'd follow them downstairs. They were able to claim their free breakfast tickets and I asked for my breakfast to be packed. I rushed back to the room to keep working. JJ delivered my breakfast soon after.
The hotel's wireless network proved to be less reliable than the internet cafe. Thankfully, I had some help. The second burn ended at 7am, but I took care of a few things before signing out and taking another half hour nap.
The hotel allowed half-day rentals, so I extended our room for a half day so I could take a nap. Auntie Eying and JJ had to go to the Veterans Administration, then they checked out of their room and moved their things to our room. Mom and Auntie Baby left for lunch while I was taking a nap. They came back with very good food that they purchased from a turo-turo (literally "point-point", it's a small eatery or cafeteria where you point at what dishes you want). I had tinola (a chicken dish with broth and green papaya), lechon kawali (pan fried pork), and rice. I set the dried fish aside for Auntie Eying.
Then I alternated between napping and using up my internet minutes. I was able to show Auntie Baby the YouTube video of my nephews, and another of my niece and sister.
At 5:30pm, we got ready to leave. We said goodbye to Auntie Baby, Auntie Eying, and JJ in front of the hotel as our ride arrived.
There was traffic as we expected. We decided to go with the hotel's airport transportation for PhP700. They said a cab would have cost us PhP300. (I'll have to check how much it cost me last May.) But for our safety, we decided to go with the hotel car. Mom was chatting with the driver the whole time. And we were lucky to get a glimpse of the infamous sunset over Manila Bay as we turned into Roxas Boulevard.
Check-in was fairly easy. As I expected, we went through security three times. But there was a porter who helped us with our luggage from the car to the check-in counter.
We just got through the third and final security and documents check before we board, and we're waiting fohr our flight. Two more hours....
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Filipino food!
We went to Amungan to visit Auntie Baby today. Mom, Auntie Eying, Boyet, JJ, Aling Meding (who took care of Mamang). JJ's brother Michael drove his grandmother's van.
When we piled into the van, Michael asked me to explain to Mom that the van doesn't have air conditioning. I told him to just open up the windows and tell her that it's "natural" air conditioning. After we got going, the breeze was so nice and cool. Auntie Eying was feeling cold.
We left Candelaria at 9am and got to Amungan in half an hour or so and, as soon as we got there, they started serving food -- puto, suman, and buko juice. (Puto is steamed bread. Suman is sticky rice wrapped in palm leaves. Buko is young coconut.)
And talk, talk, talk.
At noon, they served lunch. With rice, we had pusit (calamari), alimasag (crab), nilagang baboy (pork boiled with vegetables), pinakbet (vegetables cooked a certain way) with fish, and more buko juice.
More talk, talk, talk.
Auntie Baby has two grandsons with her son Jeffrey and his wife Maricel -- Ivan and James. When I was last here in 2005, I met them for the first time. Ivan was fierce and carried around a real bolo (a kind of hatchet) that was bigger than him. James (whom Ivan calls "James Bond" or "JemsBan" in the local accent ;) ) was still a babe then. James is now three and takes a liking to me. He has huge enticing eyes. Everytime I ask him something, his response is "Opo," which is the respectful version of "yes." The boy is a charmer.
When Jeffrey arrives, he showed us a monitor lizard that got caught in a trap. Thankfully, it was tied up. The kids hovered around it and weren't afraid at all.
Auntie Eying sent a text to Paz, whom we met during the wake. It turned out that Paz got training as a massage therapist and she had given Mom a full body massage for PhP100. Yes, that's US$2. And then she had the misfortune of playing "tong-its" (a card game) with Mom during Mamang's wake. Their agreement was that, if Paz won, Mom would pay her double the price of the massage, and, if Mom won, the massage was free. Needless to say, by the end of the evening, Paz owed Mom eight hours of massage. Poor Paz.
Anyway, Paz arrived in a tricycle after lunch, and more relatives who live in the baybay (seashore) passed by after finding out from the tricycle driver that there were guests. Soon, there were a lot of people, but that's not unusual at Auntie Baby's house. Her house is Grand Central Station of Amungan.
Around 1pm, while Paz was paying for her debt (i.e.: giving Mom a massage), a vendor of rice cakes arrived. She was selling a huge tray of bibingka, which is sticky rice topped with sticky caramel sauce. And it was freshly made and still very hot. She sold us quite a bit.
Someone came by with four large yellow-fin fish, freshly caught, for PhP400. Mom said to give PhP500. We left one with Auntie Baby and gave one to Michael, who only charged us for fuel.
After Mom's massage, we started back since I'm on a deadline and had to get to the internet cafe. When we got back, I took a quick nap and when I woke up, we had again snacked on Auntie Eying's macaroni salad. Then JJ and I headed to the internet cafe. It was 3pm.
JJ had to wait a couple of hours because the internet cafe was full. I was able to work right away because I had my own laptop and they just provided me with a network cable and a power outlet. I usually sit just outside the door where it's cooler and less crowded. While he waited, JJ bought some pastillas (a milk candy shaped into sticks) and shared with me.
The internet cafe usually closes at 7pm, but they stayed open a little later today. But as I was finishing up, JJ asked if I wanted some barbequed chicken intestines on a stick. They also had barbequed meat on a stick and we decided to get that. And since Mom and Auntie Eying had been talking about balut, we decided to get ten of those too. For those who are not in the know, balut is an infamous Filipino delicacy.
Really, it's just boiled egg...
Boiled duck egg...
Boiled fertilized duck egg...
Yes, with a duck fetus inside...
But very yummy.
So we took the yummy stuff home, had dinner and enjoyed our balut. Then we watched the mermaid show "Dyezebel" until bedtime.
Yeah, I think we were eating once an hour today. So much good stuff.
When we piled into the van, Michael asked me to explain to Mom that the van doesn't have air conditioning. I told him to just open up the windows and tell her that it's "natural" air conditioning. After we got going, the breeze was so nice and cool. Auntie Eying was feeling cold.
We left Candelaria at 9am and got to Amungan in half an hour or so and, as soon as we got there, they started serving food -- puto, suman, and buko juice. (Puto is steamed bread. Suman is sticky rice wrapped in palm leaves. Buko is young coconut.)
And talk, talk, talk.
At noon, they served lunch. With rice, we had pusit (calamari), alimasag (crab), nilagang baboy (pork boiled with vegetables), pinakbet (vegetables cooked a certain way) with fish, and more buko juice.
More talk, talk, talk.
Auntie Baby has two grandsons with her son Jeffrey and his wife Maricel -- Ivan and James. When I was last here in 2005, I met them for the first time. Ivan was fierce and carried around a real bolo (a kind of hatchet) that was bigger than him. James (whom Ivan calls "James Bond" or "JemsBan" in the local accent ;) ) was still a babe then. James is now three and takes a liking to me. He has huge enticing eyes. Everytime I ask him something, his response is "Opo," which is the respectful version of "yes." The boy is a charmer.
When Jeffrey arrives, he showed us a monitor lizard that got caught in a trap. Thankfully, it was tied up. The kids hovered around it and weren't afraid at all.
Auntie Eying sent a text to Paz, whom we met during the wake. It turned out that Paz got training as a massage therapist and she had given Mom a full body massage for PhP100. Yes, that's US$2. And then she had the misfortune of playing "tong-its" (a card game) with Mom during Mamang's wake. Their agreement was that, if Paz won, Mom would pay her double the price of the massage, and, if Mom won, the massage was free. Needless to say, by the end of the evening, Paz owed Mom eight hours of massage. Poor Paz.
Anyway, Paz arrived in a tricycle after lunch, and more relatives who live in the baybay (seashore) passed by after finding out from the tricycle driver that there were guests. Soon, there were a lot of people, but that's not unusual at Auntie Baby's house. Her house is Grand Central Station of Amungan.
Around 1pm, while Paz was paying for her debt (i.e.: giving Mom a massage), a vendor of rice cakes arrived. She was selling a huge tray of bibingka, which is sticky rice topped with sticky caramel sauce. And it was freshly made and still very hot. She sold us quite a bit.
Someone came by with four large yellow-fin fish, freshly caught, for PhP400. Mom said to give PhP500. We left one with Auntie Baby and gave one to Michael, who only charged us for fuel.
After Mom's massage, we started back since I'm on a deadline and had to get to the internet cafe. When we got back, I took a quick nap and when I woke up, we had again snacked on Auntie Eying's macaroni salad. Then JJ and I headed to the internet cafe. It was 3pm.
JJ had to wait a couple of hours because the internet cafe was full. I was able to work right away because I had my own laptop and they just provided me with a network cable and a power outlet. I usually sit just outside the door where it's cooler and less crowded. While he waited, JJ bought some pastillas (a milk candy shaped into sticks) and shared with me.
The internet cafe usually closes at 7pm, but they stayed open a little later today. But as I was finishing up, JJ asked if I wanted some barbequed chicken intestines on a stick. They also had barbequed meat on a stick and we decided to get that. And since Mom and Auntie Eying had been talking about balut, we decided to get ten of those too. For those who are not in the know, balut is an infamous Filipino delicacy.
Really, it's just boiled egg...
Boiled duck egg...
Boiled fertilized duck egg...
Yes, with a duck fetus inside...
But very yummy.
So we took the yummy stuff home, had dinner and enjoyed our balut. Then we watched the mermaid show "Dyezebel" until bedtime.
Yeah, I think we were eating once an hour today. So much good stuff.