-27-
Monday smothered
Monday smothered
Vengeance is mine said my bike
Motherless weekend
Monday, February 25, 2019
Monday, February 18, 2019
A LONG WEEKEND
It was a 4-day weekend for me and the wife.
Both of us took leaves of absence on Friday and Monday on top of Saturday and Sunday not for vacation but for an intense 4 days of labor for the love of the Order.
Except for a cancelled flight that cut two hours from our District Convention program, everything went as planned and if we are to believe the feedbacks we have received so far, we did good.
There was tension though on how the Convention should be designed but in the end, we were guided accordingly by those to whom we are accountable to an outcome which seems to be appreciated by the Subordinate Courts who were spared further pressure and stressful preparations.
It should be the case since ours is a social organization, a diversion from our routine where we cast away our cares and enjoy life, not another calvary to crucify and punish ourselves.
We had a good time feeling Bagets again after being called from labor to enjoy the wine of refreshment which I let flow freely so the cups of the Sir Knights present will never run dry.
Food of course figured prominently and what is more fitting for a Friday reception dinner than having it at Aling Lucing's in Angeles City where the iconic sisig of Filipino cuisine was invented.
Even Anthony Bourdain came to dine and drink beer there and so did we before the managed buffet and long tables of Saturday.
The food toured with us on Sunday, starting with the CLSU president hosting a Filipino-American breakfast of tilading, beef tapa and eggs, pandesal and kesong puti, ham and cheese, and a salad bowl; and a lunch buffet of grilled liempo and bangus, fried chicken, chop suey and sinampalukang manok home-cooked by Ate Rose and Kuya Jason of Pantabangan Bonari Court No. 46.
Kuya Cris and Ate Mildred laid an impromptu fellowship of grilled wild tilapia, pork barbecue and beer after showing us around Pantabangan Dam, then a bunch of sweet ripe bananas for our afternoon snacks in Kuya Ading's work place at BFAR-CLSU.
We concluded with Thyme Street's usual menu of buttered prawn, crispy pata, kare-kare, lumpiang shanghai and chop suey in a despedida dinner tendered by Kuya Theody and Ate Elvie of Munoz Royal Court No. 17.
And then it was Monday.
The wife slept all day after taking the Grand Royal Matron and Patron to the airport while I reminisced on my 5 days of biking to prep up for the Convention, before plotting this week's route to celebrate the unfolding conclusion of our incumbency.
Both of us took leaves of absence on Friday and Monday on top of Saturday and Sunday not for vacation but for an intense 4 days of labor for the love of the Order.
Except for a cancelled flight that cut two hours from our District Convention program, everything went as planned and if we are to believe the feedbacks we have received so far, we did good.
There was tension though on how the Convention should be designed but in the end, we were guided accordingly by those to whom we are accountable to an outcome which seems to be appreciated by the Subordinate Courts who were spared further pressure and stressful preparations.
It should be the case since ours is a social organization, a diversion from our routine where we cast away our cares and enjoy life, not another calvary to crucify and punish ourselves.
We had a good time feeling Bagets again after being called from labor to enjoy the wine of refreshment which I let flow freely so the cups of the Sir Knights present will never run dry.
Food of course figured prominently and what is more fitting for a Friday reception dinner than having it at Aling Lucing's in Angeles City where the iconic sisig of Filipino cuisine was invented.
Even Anthony Bourdain came to dine and drink beer there and so did we before the managed buffet and long tables of Saturday.
The food toured with us on Sunday, starting with the CLSU president hosting a Filipino-American breakfast of tilading, beef tapa and eggs, pandesal and kesong puti, ham and cheese, and a salad bowl; and a lunch buffet of grilled liempo and bangus, fried chicken, chop suey and sinampalukang manok home-cooked by Ate Rose and Kuya Jason of Pantabangan Bonari Court No. 46.
Kuya Cris and Ate Mildred laid an impromptu fellowship of grilled wild tilapia, pork barbecue and beer after showing us around Pantabangan Dam, then a bunch of sweet ripe bananas for our afternoon snacks in Kuya Ading's work place at BFAR-CLSU.
We concluded with Thyme Street's usual menu of buttered prawn, crispy pata, kare-kare, lumpiang shanghai and chop suey in a despedida dinner tendered by Kuya Theody and Ate Elvie of Munoz Royal Court No. 17.
And then it was Monday.
The wife slept all day after taking the Grand Royal Matron and Patron to the airport while I reminisced on my 5 days of biking to prep up for the Convention, before plotting this week's route to celebrate the unfolding conclusion of our incumbency.
Monday, February 11, 2019
OF CRABS AND PORK [and sticky rice with mango]
First came the wealthy and honest pig who chased away the loyal dog with dancing dragons and exploding firecrackers to ward off bad luck amidst a throng of curious adherents of Pope Gregory XIII's calendar who descended upon the world's oldest Chinatown.
I told Neelam and June that it is not actually the right time to visit Binondo but we went anyway since it's their first although we have to force our way through a red sea of riot through Ongpin and the hungry horde lined outside packed restaurants that left us no option but to dine on fake meat at New Quan Yin Chay since Neelam turned out to be a vegan anyway.
It's the Lunar New Year which in China triggers a massive exodus mostly from the cities to the provinces for annual Spring Festival family reunions, and such was the case the next day at the ISEA office where I got reunited with former komrads from PRRM before flying to Bangkok.
I forego a long weekend for my first trip to Bangkok in the Year of the Pig and the third for 2019 so it better be good and it is after finally having time to search for the "unforgettable crab dishes" of Nhong Rim Klong which is a 2.3-kilometer walk from the Ekkamai BTS Station with the guidance of a malfunctioning Google Map that, as the "klong" in the name implies, sits right over a murky canal.
I came for its famous crab omelette which I regrettably found to be too much for one and not really "unforgettable", specially after witnessing to-die-for dishes pass me for other costumers and realizing that I should have asked first instead of relying on online reviews, but nevertheless enough reason to come back someday.
That was breakfast before my meeting with Alex and Bob, and since Val already showed where Kuayjup Mr. JO is located during my last trip to Bangkok, I made an excuse of meeting someone for lunch and hoped into a BTS train for Saphan Taksin and a 1.3-kilometer walk to Bangkok's second-best crispy pork belly [best for me is that of Thanee Restaurant] and a comforting bowl of curly rice noodle with slices of fried pork belly that I agree to be "bursting with intense flavor".
And that is worth the missed long weekend and my mispelled name in a workshop poster where I presented for three minutes after having to travel 4,416 kilometers to and from, but which on the other hand got me reunited to "Cabbages and Condoms", my first serious Thai restaurant experience during my first ever trip to Bangkok and outside the Philippines more than a decade ago, where Gate told me of a place that makes the best sticky-rice-with-mango in Bangkok.
In other words, I walked another 2.8 kilometers the next day before going to the airport for the return flight home, to the Mae Varee Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango at a street corner just after the Thong Lo BTS Station where the sweet sticky rice comes in three colors, smothered with a thick coconut milk, drizzled with crispy rice puffs and the mango turned out bland and anemic compared to the super sweet one I bought off Sukhumvit Road a night ago.
Yes, that below is the super sweet mango from a street stall along Sukhumvit but I had a freshly squeezed orange juice instead of the pomegranate.
I told Neelam and June that it is not actually the right time to visit Binondo but we went anyway since it's their first although we have to force our way through a red sea of riot through Ongpin and the hungry horde lined outside packed restaurants that left us no option but to dine on fake meat at New Quan Yin Chay since Neelam turned out to be a vegan anyway.
It's the Lunar New Year which in China triggers a massive exodus mostly from the cities to the provinces for annual Spring Festival family reunions, and such was the case the next day at the ISEA office where I got reunited with former komrads from PRRM before flying to Bangkok.
I forego a long weekend for my first trip to Bangkok in the Year of the Pig and the third for 2019 so it better be good and it is after finally having time to search for the "unforgettable crab dishes" of Nhong Rim Klong which is a 2.3-kilometer walk from the Ekkamai BTS Station with the guidance of a malfunctioning Google Map that, as the "klong" in the name implies, sits right over a murky canal.
I came for its famous crab omelette which I regrettably found to be too much for one and not really "unforgettable", specially after witnessing to-die-for dishes pass me for other costumers and realizing that I should have asked first instead of relying on online reviews, but nevertheless enough reason to come back someday.
That was breakfast before my meeting with Alex and Bob, and since Val already showed where Kuayjup Mr. JO is located during my last trip to Bangkok, I made an excuse of meeting someone for lunch and hoped into a BTS train for Saphan Taksin and a 1.3-kilometer walk to Bangkok's second-best crispy pork belly [best for me is that of Thanee Restaurant] and a comforting bowl of curly rice noodle with slices of fried pork belly that I agree to be "bursting with intense flavor".
And that is worth the missed long weekend and my mispelled name in a workshop poster where I presented for three minutes after having to travel 4,416 kilometers to and from, but which on the other hand got me reunited to "Cabbages and Condoms", my first serious Thai restaurant experience during my first ever trip to Bangkok and outside the Philippines more than a decade ago, where Gate told me of a place that makes the best sticky-rice-with-mango in Bangkok.
In other words, I walked another 2.8 kilometers the next day before going to the airport for the return flight home, to the Mae Varee Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango at a street corner just after the Thong Lo BTS Station where the sweet sticky rice comes in three colors, smothered with a thick coconut milk, drizzled with crispy rice puffs and the mango turned out bland and anemic compared to the super sweet one I bought off Sukhumvit Road a night ago.
Yes, that below is the super sweet mango from a street stall along Sukhumvit but I had a freshly squeezed orange juice instead of the pomegranate.
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