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.