‘fine’ dining
Nick and his younger sisters came uphill from their humble home in Baguio Gold neighborhood hours ahead of the 4:30 Mass time at Turning Point/Fatima Hill. I think that they wanted the opportunity to watch cartoons on TV or DVD for a while before we departed for Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church.
After Holy Mass, on a jeepney, I asked the kids where they’d like to go for dinner in Baguio City. Charlotte expressed no preference, perhaps because she can’t speak English well and she’s shy. Six-year-old Rose wanted to go to Jollibee, as usual. Nick said that he doesn’t want to go to a Jollibee (although they serve french fries, which he loves). I certainly don’t want to set foot in a Jollibee again, and I suggested Vizco’s. They didn’t know what it is nor where it is. These kids who’re growing up in Baguio Gold have very limited experience of Baguio City restaurants.
I think that they would be quite content with almost any turo-turo greasy-spoon restaurant. But we stepped off the jeepney at the junction of General Luna Road and Father Carlu Street to hike uphill past the cathedral then down Session Road’s sidewalk to look at the menu poster taped to the front window of Vizcos. Because the menu offers pasta, the girls and Nick were willing to dine there. Nick and I like pizza, also.
Well, in retrospect it was foolish to treat the kids to dinner in Vizco’s rather than Pizza Hut, KFC (they love chicken and rice), Jollibee, McDonald’s or one of a thousand turo-turo dives just because I don’t want to dine there. I spent 581 pesos plus gratuity because I like dining in Vizcos, but the girls didn’t enjoy ‘Pasta Putanesca’ at all. Nick and I traded to them our pizzas so that they’d eat something other than their bread sticks.
They would’ve eaten Jollibee or McDonald’s spaghetti and tomato sauce, but delicious pasta putanesca? No way. So now I feel foolish for taking them there. Next time we’ll just return home to Monterrazas Village and Baguio Gold after Mass, or, if I want to treat them because they’ve behaved in church, we can go to a greasy spoon diner beside Pacdal Circle then return home sooner with more money in my pocket. The kids are certainly fond of traditional, simple, Filipino fare. They would ‘inhale’ goat soup, white rice, hunks of animal bone and meat. †
