Disperas and on Daddy’s birthday (album)

Nov 22 – 23, 2007. Ciudad sa Sugbu, Nasod sa Pilipinas.

Arrived in Mactan Airport at around 9 pm. Of course – hungry mood! Since I was now the driver because it was night (my dad can still drive around at his age as long as its daylight and at 82 thats not too shabby of dear old pappy)… I thought of passing by Banilad Town Center as it may have a new resto.

On a whim, I just picked out a resto named “Spice Fusion”. Even though it was almost closing time, they let us in and a couple of mouthwatering dishes later, I almost blessed the guard with a hug and a pinch on his cheeks in gratitude.

I was so hungry and the food was devoured so quickly that I had no time to take a picture of it (I did the quickest devouring). But it was good. I say that with enough confidence because my dad is the pickiest eater in the world! I don’t know if his tongue or taste buds have been ruined due to all the smoking and candies he chews on, but its a small miracle by itself if we partake of a meal and he doesn’t have one negative comment about it. I think he was a food critic in his previous life…that or its a side-effect of age creeping up on him 🙂

This time though he was happy with what I ordered and I daringly put more and more snippets of it on his plate after he didn’t comment and just munched on his rice and prawn meat. Thank goodness!….I also told him and my mom that they resembled “taw-taw sa humayan” (scarecrows on ricefields or literally “person-person on a ricefield”) since they were appallingly thin.

My mom loved the mahi-mahi they had as it was also quite tender, with no fishy smell or taste. The sauces they paired it with were spicy – but not too hot to bother my parents and not too mild to make me complain about the lack of heat.

Except for the prawns which I set aside for my dad as he rarely eats much nowadays… all the other dishes were shared with my mom, our helper Rosemarie and moi. I finally topped it off with some sticky rice and mangoes for dessert..and all of us were happy enough to go home and visit dreamland.

The next day, I told my dad I’d treat him to a birthday lunch (he is getting more thrifty as time goes by and refused to have a party)…..this time we went to Cafe Laguna at Ayala – the outdoor branch.

The first branch for this resto was located near the Lahug military camp and was well known for its lengua estofado. Now this is one dish I associate with Cafe Laguna, along with some merienda I used to order e.g. dugo-dugo and puto, sikwate (tsokolate-eh) and bibingka, guinomis, tokwa’t-baboy….to name a few.

We arrived at the resto after the lunch hour and so were able to sit comfortably. With the Ayala Cebu renovation going on, it was disappointing to have one side of the resto facing a blank wall, but the food more than made up for the lack of beautifully balanced scenery. Well, I could have gone to the other branch inside the mall itself but its nice to look out into the sunshine and dream of days gone by.

I ordered the lengua estofado (a bit different from our other favorite lengua which comes from Beehive on Ramos St. in Cebu and usually paired with a lovely crusty warm french bread). I added crispy fried pork belly, and the usual fish dish for my mom – this time I chose a delicately flavoured lapu-lapu escabeche…ah! the memories of this dish when cooked by my mom and maternal grandma when she was still alive (God Bless her soul) made me hanker for it once more.

Afterwards, we dropped by Ayala Mall to see the new grocery of Rustan’s. They had moved out from their original building which was located beside my alma mater, St. Theresa’s College (Mango Ave. or known also as Gen. Maxilom Ave., Cebu City) . They have one more outlet near the Convergys office in Guadalupe if I am not mistaken.

Ayala Cebu also made an extension of one side of its building…and I laughed out loud when aside from seeing the other newly opened branded stores missing in Cebu before…I also saw a lot of people crowding inside the Crocs store. I remembered Ms G. but who could buy any pair of shoes at all when we customers slithered like irritated fish in a crowded aquarium-tank in the outlet?

After flitting from one shop to another and checking the goods and on-sale items, my parents refused merienda or early dinner (to me and my stomach’s disappointment) and we made off with the groceries we had bought, then went home. And that was how my dad’s official day for turning 82 years of age went.

Not too worry though as I had asked a favor from one of my college buddies to see if we could visit their resthouse by the sea in Alcoy, a town about 91 km from Cebu City going towards the southern part of the island.

My last visit has probably been in the last century (meaning late 1990s!!). For good measure, I asked Benjie and her kids (who were suffering from piskat or sore eyes) to come along so we could start on a mini-reunion (see Patio Isabel reunion on who Benjie and my other college buddies are).

Of course, I begged her to bring some lechon and meat for grilling too as I certainly missed the smells of this kind of food while in Manila. That was to happen the next day. The promise of puso (hanging rice) and smell of grilled meat was what my dreams were made of that night.

– Dec 6, ’07 12:35 AM