archive for the “dining” category
Months ago, I ate pesto pasta with chicken several times in Pizza Volante of Baguio City, but I had not tried it in Vizco’s until last week. I love it! I like Vizco’s pesto so much more than Volante’s, and the fresh bread is also delicious. I have dined on this several times last week and this week. Now, the chicken atop the pasta (optional) is battered and fried irregular scraps of meat — not elegant. In Pizza Volante it’s neatly-sliced, almost uniform strips arrayed across the top of pasta on a dished oval plate. In Vizco’s, the pasta is served in a bowl, and it’s so delicious. I heartily recommend it.
Today, as two weeks ago, Esmond (from Britain and South Africa), Analyn, and Randy (from Massachusetts) hosted a patio party on a balcony near Tam-Awan Village in Baguio City, overlooking Luzon’s coast and the sunset on South China Sea. We didn’t have as many folks as last time, but we enjoyed conversation and ate imported steaks tilapia, chop suey, white rice, chips and dip, rocky road ice cream… “A good time was had by all.”
Quezon City police stopped Enrique Panlaque in a Mitsubishi L300 cargo van about 10 p.m. on Sunday. In the van were 75 dogs, including 67 sick ones, that Mr. Panlaque intended to sell to butchers for 600 pesos ($12.24) each. His employees had been observed buying unwanted dogs and snatching stray dogs to sell to meat markets although Panlaque has been arrested six times previously in seven years for selling dog meat. Apparently he wasn’t convicted and punished enough to dissuade him from resuming snatching and selling sick dogs to butchers in Northern Luzon. Demand and supply… »→
The young people filling some of the other rooms in Olahbinan woke me at 6:30. I prayed then arose to got to breakfast in Masferré. The Saturday street market was in full swing under a cloudy sky by the time I arrived. But I didn’t peruse the stalls as I did last month; I wanted to break fast and get some caffeine. Outside Masferré the staff had a table holding four pots, and I asked for a bowl of Aroscaldo to take inside for an appetizer while I awaited my Mountain Tea and Spanish omelet (which turned out to contain fish!). The “toast” on the menu was a round sourdough roll sliced into fourths and untoasted. No butter, jam or jelly… »→
Today Nick (12) brought his sisters, Charlotte (8) and Rose (6) to the apartment, and after I ate breakfast and drank a cup of tea while they watched cartoons, we headed to Baguio City. I expected that we’d ride a jeepney, as is customary. But every jeepney that passed us as we stood beside Tuding Road was full. Rural residents like to go to the big city for shopping, churchgoing or selling their wares (handicrafts), produce and livestock. So we couldn’t get a jeepney to stop for us. We boarded one of the several taxis that were going toward the city without passenger. »→
“Saturday… in the park” is a lyric from an old Chicago song that I’ve liked. Today, after lunch in Leah’s home, I rode atop a jeepney to the Monterrazas Village entrance then walked down to Baguio Gold to ask the girls if they’d like to go tricycling in Baguio City’s Burnham Park. »→
Today is Charlotte’s eighth birthday, and her family is too poor to do anything to celebrate. I doubt that they’ve ever celebrated birthdays ‘American-style.’ I walked down to Baguio Gold and went in their shack to blow up balloons while the kids were in school. I carried a bag of inexpensive gifts that I’d bought when I shopped for Nick’s and Rose’s birthdays. »→
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. »→
……Nick came up from Baguio Gold after his chores so that we could go together to Baguio City and register him for Taekwondo training in UFC Fitness Center. Upon arrival downtown, we checked my mailbox for his birth certificate again (not there, alas). Then we crossed Father Carlu Street, walked toward the cathedral and descended into the Porta Vaga Building that the diocese owns to go into UFC’s martial arts school. »→
Tonight Nick came to the flat soaking wet, cold and shivering. He said that he had walked from Baguio City to Monterrazas Village. I asked why he didn’t ride a jeepney with 10 of the 20 pesos that I’d left for him. He claims that he lost it. »→
Today I went shopping in Baguio City for more birthday gifts for Pat, Nick, Rose and Charlotte. I also bought gift tote bags, greeting cards and a cake emblazoned with the names Pat, Nick and Rose. Then I went to 50′s Diner to await the arrival of the A-V-C-A family and Dominic to have a celebratory dinner. Today is Pat’s seventeenth or eighteenth birthday, tomorrow is Nick’s twelfth birthday, and Sunday is Rose’s sixth birthday. Charlotte will be eight on August 11. »→
Nick came to the flat, with his sister Rose in tow, and knocked on the door. I asked why he wasn’t in school, and he replied that his stomach hurt. I asked if he wanted to go to a pharmacy or herbal remedy store or a physician’s office. He wouldn’t express a preference. The quickest and cheapest thing to do is to go to a pharmacy and buy Pepto-Bismol or Maalox or Tums. These can’t be had in grocery stores and convenience stores in the Philippines. »→
Andy didn’t come from Aurora Hill to visit this weekend. But Nick and Mack came uphill from Baguio Gold to go to 4:30 Mass and to get the weekly allowance for jeepney fare, lunches and snacks. Dominic and I took the boys by jeepney to Session Road and we treated them to dinner in Pizza Volante. Dominic and I like pizza. The boys wouldn’t state a preference for Filipino cuisine in Solibao, Sizzling Plate, Andok’s, Jack’s or a turo-turo dive. »→
Today the kids didn’t have to go to school in Baguio Gold, so Nick and Rose came to visit. They were dressed nicely, so I asked if they’d like to accompany me to Baguio City to check my mail box for their birth certificate copies and have lunch. Of course they were more than willing. »→
I arose at 7:00 to shave then eat breakfast and drink tea while looking at the TV news channels. At 8:05 I gathered my wallet, keys, camera bag, tripod, umbrella, and walked out of the apartment into a light rain. I had expected Nick and a sibling or two and perhaps a friend to come to the flat between 7:45 and 8:00 as agreed for a field trip by jeepney to Philippine Military Academy in Fort Del Pilar. »→
Have a blessed Fathers’ Day!
I have had an easy day at home, reading until Nick and Rose came up from Baguio Gold to visit with me and Dominic. After a while, Mack arrived. I showered, shaved and dressed, then we went to Holy Mass in Turning Point.
I enjoyed the scripture readings, hymns and homily which mentioned laboring in the vineyard, evangelizing and serving each other. I felt, as I did in Jamaica, that I am doing what Jesus and the priest exhort us to do. But I’m not saving souls, winning converts as missionaries do. »→
(Dominic) I promised the kids that I would take them to the mall (SM City Baguio). Of course the entire place is full of overpriced crap and full of people stupid enough to pay, including me.
After giving the kids a lecture that they should not shop in places like this, we started shopping. Actually, we went to eat in Pizza Hut. What a joke. I spent 20 bucks feeding a teenager, two little kids and myself!
I wanted to get out of the flat, so I asked the visiting boys and Dominic if they wanted to go hiking or walking in the city or to visit Camp John Hay. The boys were keenly interested in seeing Camp John Hay, a tourist enclave which they hadn’t set foot on before, and Dominic just wanted to go anywhere for lunch. »→
