MEComposing

I do not know why or how my post got deleted because it was OK when I last checked it yesterday.

Anyway, rather than let this dampen my mood... fine, i'd retype what I can...

HIGHLIGHTS in bullet form of my super looong weekend

* Left for Bicol last Wednesday night. 11 hours and 4 stopovers later (once, when Duday had to cough up her supper in some starkly lonely Quezon winding road), we all arrived safely in Bicol. Spent most of the day just eating and sleeping.

* JRA LOVED the seafood... all freshly caught and simply cooked. We had crabs and Bangkulis (a kind of tuna) for lunch, and Liswik and another kind of tuna for dinner. We went swimming in the afternoon... and hung out by the makeshift pier (ala Boardwalk) that night. (and yeah, i keep forgetting to take pictures of the food before diving in and gorging...ahehe)

* Friday, I cooked spaghetti. It's official, the best spaghetti sauce would be a combination of Del Monte Sweet-style and Filipino-style sauces. Then some tomato paste and some sugar (yes, I like my spaghetti sweet). And lots of ground beef and sliced hotdogs. And cheese.

* Also helped in making buko pandan. 18 cups of gelatin (some make it using buko juice, most just boil pandan leaves and use the 'flavored' water) will require 2 bars of chopped Eden Cheese (the small one), 3 Nestle Cream cans, 4 Carnation condensed milk, 13-15 buko meat and my mother's secret ingredient... Nido Full Cream Powdered Milk. I swear, many LOVE my Mom's buko pandan.

* Shared Tulong Gapo with my brother and JRA. Its waters are deep and placidly misleading... part of the Pacific Ocean that yields all those fresh bounties I so love. JRA, my bro and Don (bro's friend) all encouraged (and laughed) at my attempts to make sisid.

* Yellowfin Tuna, cocido style is very easy to cook actually. But for it to taste real good, you just really need a REALLY fresh fish. Sorry but since barrio folk seldom use measuring spoons and cups, let's just play this one by ear. In a pot, put the tuna in with some water. Then add tomatoes (remove the seeds) and 2-3 chillies (the long green ones). Add some salt as seasoning. Let this cook (boil). On a bowl, squeeze calamansi and mix with some more water. Make sure you remove the calamansi seeds. Chop 2-3 onions, add half of which to the pot. Add the remaining onions to the calamansi. When the tuna is almost done, add the calamansi mixture. Boil one last time. Serve.

* Advised JRA to hang out with the guys but also told him to help out with the laundry (because I already did it the previous night and was already registering allergic reactions to detergent, plus, I seemed to have pulled a back muscle). Men talaga... selective listening... I ended up helping with the laundry again... and picking a fight.

* Half of Saturday was spent with me seething and sulking. But still, I promised my young cousin a dip very early in the morning. Eventhough we enjoyed the sun rise, there wasn't much sun that appeared that day. And who knew jellyfishes clean the waters at this time of day? We couldn't really swim and frolick lest we end up stinged. As it was, we were already itchy.

* Refused to make up with JRA. He had to go to Sorsogon proper alone. Returned wet from rain. I was still unmoved. But fate had a way of rearranging my priorities. The broken sliding panel of the old wooden bed where I was moping fell, smack dab on my forehead, giving me this bruise on my hairline, making me cry, making me feel more WAWA and menstrual. Of course, only JRA's loving touch can soothe me. (But i haven't forgiven him pa din)

* Town fiesta found us house-hopping for free food. Love it....

* Fell in love with BUSANG, crabs that are slightly smaller than regular ones... and whose appearance looked like it had prickly heat. But it was 10 times more tastier and around 7x easier to crack than the regular crab. It took all my self-respect and control not to ask for take homes. And sadly for me (or woe to my future husband perhaps? mwehehehe), it's a very native type of crab, which can only be found in Bulan, Sorsogon (that's 3 hours away from Bacon, and nearer Masbate by ferry)

* Left that Saturday night. God was with us and spared us from accidents. We passed by 2 vehicles which turned turtle before crashing... and one that managed to jump over a ravine.

* Sunday, 8:00 AM, was already in JRA's bed in BFRV. Slept till past 12 NN and then enjoyed his Lola's 85th birthday party

* The start of the party, however, is Alyanna... who, at 9 months, impressed me with her voracious eating habits. Ain't she cute?

* Watched Allan Quatermaine (?) and the Lost City of Gold

* Glad to be safely home, but totally looking forward to another long weekend again. (Nov. 1-2 fall on Tues and Wed, *hint*)
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