tenPesos » dining

pesto pasta

Brian McKay — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 11:31:09 +0000

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.

sunset grille

Brian McKay — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 14:11:53 +0000

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.”

sick dog catcher

Brian McKay — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 02:11:54 +0000

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…

I wrote in July about raids on Baguio City Market and Burnham Park where Baguio City Police and animal rights advocates of Animal Kingdom Foundation and the National Meat Inspection Service arrested six or seven dog meat traders then seized more than 565 pounds of dog flesh.

Republic Act 9482 (anti-rabies law) and the Animal Welfare Act indicate a fine of 5,000 pesos and imprisonment of one to four years for persons who’re guilty of selling dog meat, to inhibit sales of meat from dogs that have died of rabies and thus curb the spread of rabies to people.

But eating dog meat is so popular in the Cordillera region. Animal Kingdom Foundation researcher Brando Gegway said that at least a dozen restaurants in Baguio City list dog meat on menus. Filipinos eat azucena, kilawing aso or kinilaw, raw dog flesh, skin and sometimes brain, marinated in vinegar and pepper or cooked a la sisig – dog’s meat and brain minced. Of course, they tend to get rabies from eating raw flesh from stray, rabid dogs, …

To butcher dogs for kilawin, Filipinos hang a dog inverted, blowtorch the fur then cut the dog to small pieces and even remove the brain to serve. A sure-fire way to contract rabies is to eat the brain of a rabid dog…

Saturday Morning in Sagada

Brian McKay — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:45:34 +0000

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…I’d intended to hike to Bomod-Ok waterfall this morning, but my body aches, perhaps from this altitude and the weather, bracing myself during a six-hour bus ride yesterday and pounding the pavement in Baguio City this week. I just ache all over, from head to feet. I suppose that my head’s sinuses ache due to change in altitude. Dominic says that we slept with the windows open, so maybe I breathed pollen overnight. Anyway, I’m drowsy from lack of enough sleep, and all my joints ache as they do when I ride in an airplane to cruising altitude, so I’m not inclined to hike this morning while I’m digesting this hearty meal. I want to hike and enjoy beautiful Sagada, to be sure, but my body doesn’t want to.

I guess that Dominic and I will walk up and down Sagada to try to find a house or two apartments to rent. We could wander in the Saturday morning marketplace on main street, I suppose, though I don’t need anything in particular.

pony up

Brian McKay — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:40:31 +0000

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.

In Burnham Park I rented tricycles for the girls and a bicycle for Nick. They always enjoy that. Unfortunately, Charlotte was zooming fast in the park when she turned too sharply and overturned her tricycle. I didn’t see her; I only saw the aftermath. I rushed to Charlotte as she lay, sobbing,on the rough pavement and righted the trike then lifted her to the ‘sidecar’ seat. I tried to find where she may be injured, but apparently she was just banged and bruised and painful (and perhaps embarrassed). Eventually she regained her composure and resumed cycling – slower than previously.

After they rode for an hour, we hiked from Burnham Park up to Gobi Mongolian Grille beside Session Road to eat Chicken Mami and drink pineapple juice. I was pleased that the kids went upstairs to wash their hands after fun in the park and that Nick thought to lead us in praying before dining. The kids have been learning.

Following lunch, we rode a taxi to Wright Park for the first time so that the kids could ride ponies for an hour through various neighborhoods near Mines View and behind the Presidential Mansion. †

Saturday in the park

Brian McKay — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:15:13 +0000

“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.

We missed getting a jeepney ride uphill out of Baguio Gold by ten minutes, so we walked up the steep Baguio Gold Road. Then we waited more than several minutes to get a jeepney ride into Baguio City. In the city, I took the sisters to UFC Taekwondo studio to show them where their brother Nick trains. We saw him high-kicking for a minute or two before we resumed walking toward Burnham Park.

In the park, I rented tricycles for the girls then sat on the grass while they enjoyed recreation with the other kids. Afterward, we hiked back up to the Porta Vaga Building to meet with Nick after his class. Minutes after ascending the staircase toward the cathedral and UFC Taekwondo, we went down them to Session Road, crossed it and entered Gobi Mongolian Grill to eat chicken mami.

After dinner we bought student supplies in all four CID stores along Session Road and got cold medicine before returning to Tuding. I walked with the kids in the darkness on Main Avenue and Baguio Gold down to their shack in Baguio Gold, carrying Rose over the rough, unpaved segments, as we had no flashlights. In their home, I talked with Mack, Pat, Nick and Nanay of Sagada and about schools in Tuding and Baguio City while the girls played with a new toy that I’d bought.

Around 8:45 I got up to begin my hike uphill to my home. Dominic came home from Leah’s and Mike’s home a minute after me.

Happy birthday, Charlotte

Brian McKay — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:06:15 +0000

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.

My intention was to go to Baguio City with Nanay and her grandchildren so that Nick could go to his first Taekwondo class and Charlotte could have a little shopping spree for clothes and/or shoes. Nick’s class would be an hour and a half, so I thought we might also visit a bookstore for new or used children’s books. Or we could walk to Burnham Park so that the sisters could enjoy bicycling or tricycling.

Well, Baguio Gold Elementary School did not ‘let out’ the students at 3:00, as scheduled, so Nanay and I waited and wondered. After inflating the party balloons, I hiked up to the school to try to ascertain what’s up. It was like a ghost town, because the schoolyard was empty, I saw no signs of life, and the weather-beaten clapboard building reminded me of Old Tucson. So I went to the principal’s office to ask when the kids would be released. He said something about 3:35 or 3:45. So I walked down to the shack again to await the arrival of Nick and Charlotte with Nanay.

Eventually the kids showed up, and Charlotte was pleased to see all the balloons, a gift bag standing on the table and me. I sang “happy birthday” to her, and she opened her greeting card and gifts. Then she, Rose, Nanay and I tossed the flying ring toy for a few minutes while we waited for a jeepney ride from Baguio Gold into Baguio City. Nick had to leave for his first Taekwondo class as soon as he came home and dropped off his school bag and picked up the backpack containing his uniform.

Downtown, in Tiong San Harrison department store, Charlotte and Nanay picked out a blouse and pants and flip-flops while Rose and I waited and Rose perused flip-flops. Rose’s flip-flops were a stiff, transparent plastic that had cracked almost all the way through. And although I’d bought for her two pair of Crocs-type slip-ons and she has another pair of flip-flops, I bought green foam flip-flops for her when I checked-out with Charlotte’s picks.

We walked from Tiong San on Harrison Road up to Pizza Hut beside Session Road, across the street from the post office, because Charlotte wanted to dine there. I’d like to have visited the post office before the “lockbox section” gate was locked at 6:00. Oh, well. Nick came from the Taekwondo studio to join us and we feasted on pasta and pizza. You know, I’ve eaten alot of pizza and pasta in five months here in Asia.

After dinner, at which I sang “happy birthday” again, we strolled down Session Road’s east sidewalk to Goldilocks bakery to get a cake to take home. Charlotte chose a chocolate cake, and an artist decorated it with her name. We got a taxi ride for the five of us into Monterrazas Village and the girls, Nick and Nanay began watching cartoons immediately while I unboxed the cake, inserted lousy, cheap candles in it and tried to light them.

I sang “happy birthday” again with Nick and Nanay attempting accompaniment, then I had to tell Charlotte, “Now make a wish to God. … Did you make a wish? Okay, now blow out the candles.” I could see that this is all new to her. She didn’t blow out eight flames in three breaths. Will her wish be granted?

Here are some photos. Please pray that Charlotte has a blessed new year and a fruitful year in grade two in Baguio Gold Elementary School.

Charlotte (left) and her sister, Rose (right)