Say Cheese

My buddy and Nay made a short detour to our province before going to Camarines Sur for their New Year’s celebration. I was thrilled to bits. I had been waiting for seven days to see the birthday boy. =)

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My mother was, as usual, non-stop with her stories. I was a bit embarrassed because Ma almost took over their conversation, like a main hostess of a talk show. Random topics, my mother. I think, Pa has a very excellent training ground for good listening because of her. Fortunately, Nay endured their exchange.

But don't get me wrong, my mother is chatty in a welcoming and charming way.

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I'm gald Nay enjoyed their 2-day stay here. Aside from the cool puff of air in my parents' bedroom where Nay and I slept (my parents have been sleeping in my grandmother's bedroom since she passed away three years ago) and the red crabs we had at lunch, I think my mother's rap session and my father's challenge to a chess match were key ingredients. Wala pang tongits yun ha. If Nay and Pa could've just found one more eager person to play with them, my buddy would’ve been nagging his mother until sundown for a prolonged send-off (he was already nagging her this morning during the chess match).

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It was a quick visit, which made me a little sullen because we missed each other's company for two special days in a row-- first time in three years.

Supertrump

Happy birthday, buddy ko!

mi luv yah.

Grains

Pa arrived a bit late from the market this morning. We were supposed to eat breakfast together. Hmp. I had finished my bowl of cereals, and started with the second CD of our morning background (which I discovered from the CD pudding case I had brought with me) when he showed up, clutching striped plastic bags of chicken cuts and vegetables. He would be THE king of the kitchen today because my Tia Rose and cousins Rach, James and Jay, would be coming over to spend the night with us. As promised, he would give one sack of rice to them if and only if they would sleep over, which, of course, they did-- not because of the "reward" but because of my parents' prodding. Apart from the choice cuts and greens, he already bought round fruits (suprisingly, including bananas) in preparation for New Year's eve. And, as usual, he polished off our morning with today's broadsheet— sort of a bribe for skipping our sunrise date.

I was enjoying my dose of scoop, particularly on Hatton's challenge to Pacman and on the Chateau Royale feature article, until I browsed the next set of pages. The well-known Honesty Coffee Shop in Batanes was robbed. I was dismayed, awfully sad about it. [Many people are familiar with that store— probably the only establishment in the world that does not have any lock or any person watching over it. All transactions are based on honesty system as the shop's name implies. A customer chooses an item then he or she simply leaves an exact payment.] But then it happened. Someone disrupted the time-honored passivity. Worse, the incident was not the "first" in the renowned zero-crime-rate town. There were other cases that, according to the article, had been reported as "minor incidents" only. Those crimes have been kept (or maybe settled subtly) to preserve the good image of the Ivatans. Come on now.

Good thing there was the Entertainment section to the rescue. Plus the sight of my father, doing his daily dumbbell exercises to the tune of In Love With Bacharach's last track.

*****
Hay. Batanes is our would-be next stop.

Breather

Longest holiday break. Ever.

I've already had my to-do list, which include doing some movie and series marathon, running for 30 minutes daily, enhancing my blog and our Multiply account, vacuuming certain areas of our house, organizing music info on my Ipod, editing pictures, creating Kat's short AVP, and bonding with my family and relatives. Definitely, action-packed.

The only drawback I could think of is that it's also going to be the longest time that I wouldn't see him since the time we've started spending three to four times a week. Oh. A little heartbreaking. I'm going to miss him badly until his birthday, which would require me to count for six more days. =(

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Update wih Ashtece. I had not been so confident since our previous encounter. I made a number of boo-boos then. But, lucky me, I had my third chance. We had some email correspondence for almost three weeks, mostly about confirmation for our next redezvous.

That day came, the same day I would be leaving for the province. I was supposed to be super excited because I would be going home. But I had to allot some time for our meeting and endure the Christmas rush on my way to Heritage, plus, of course, deal with my very limited sense of direction. When I got there, however, things turned out pretty OK. I was more at ease and assertive, although I missed two simple but significant details.

I'm not too complacent though. But I hope a good impression has been established. I hope another blessing will happen at the start of the new year.

Just crossing my fingers for whatever.

*****
You can't really get the perfect package. Even the finest options have a room for strain.

Fine China

The Chinatown's Best's eat-all-you-can was S-U-L-I-T. Forget about the small steamed crabs-- you still had a seafood feast anyway. Almost all of the foodstuff there tasted really, really good. Authentic and relatively easy on the pocket. I loved their tempura (even though we needed to remove the thick flour coating), sea bass (which Nay really enjoyed to pieces), sautéed mushroom with garlic (which I still had on my second plate), California maki (which, of course, you didn't try), and the veggie dishes (which complemented every set I prepared). I wanted to try their prawn salad, but I was so full already.

Chinatown's Best is in Banawe, QC. P499 per head.

*****
It was a sweet semi-surprise. I didn't mean to snoop on your calendar. It was totally unpremeditated. Swear. =)

Best Foodie

I saw a card that reads:

I love you, delicious.

Perfect.
Happy 40th month. Yummy. =)

Spoon 168

We woke up early last Monday, and had a spur-of-the-moment drive to try Divisoria. It was the last day of our long weekend anyway. And the past two days were spent almost entirely at home-- cuddling, watching Heroes and Prison Break, sorting audio files for our playlists, and editing my Christmas gift for Gabi.

The trip was a bit off course; it gave us déjà vu of our Binondo spree, when we tried to find Crepe de Chine (and ended up eating in another Chinese resto that can also be found in malls). First, we missed our stop in Lawton. So we needed to walk back from Carriedo, where the mini bus made its final stop. Second, we somehow got lost in Divisoria. Funny, he was insisting that Divisoria Mall is Tutuban 168. I thought he knew the place. Silly, I very nearly doubted myself and believed him, knowing my awfully limited talent in directions. But I was so sure that these are two different establishments-- based on the pictures on the blogs that I frequently visit.

We still checked out Divisoria Mall. Mahn, there was a massive crowd of shoppers, colliding with one another, flocking to every stall. But I was rather amazed on how bargain hunters (probably, most of them are regulars) find so much willpower to invade the place. After a few minutes, we made our exit to look for 168. By the time we found it, we were already starving. So instead of rummaging for a piece of whatever, we started to search for Chopsticks and Spoons, which his Uncle Jeff had been telling him. He spotted it immediately. Finding a table was one challenge; getting our order was another. Weird, he did not even order the bestsellers. Maybe it was the hunger. It was a pretty good lunch for a famished stomach, though.

By the time we were ready to "shop", we were both a little used-up. But we were still determined to buy something so that our Divi tour would not be wasted. I found four cool statement shirts with almost the same soft fine fabric as that of People are People. He purchased a couple of plaid shorts after quite a lot of fitting, and a pair of cute Chuck Taylor copycat for Gabi. I can say, we had a good buy. =)

We went home by 4PM, strolling back to Carriedo from Tutuban. We could have done that on our way there that morning. Too bad and too late. we realized we made a huge u-turn earlier. [Oh, what happened to the the-shortest-distance-between-two-points-is-a-straight-line method? Fine, now, at least, we know. ]

*****
Albeit global recession, businesses in Divisoria are far from being on the rocks [and so many people are still willing to splurge]. Or, maybe it was just the holiday fever.