Home for the Holidays 2007

My Top 10 Must Try’s in ZC (not in order):
1. Morning Sun’s or Jimmy’s Satti
2. Antonio’s butong pie
3. Manang Terry’s chicken inato
4. Marinated bangus
5. Curacha (a kind of giant crab) with Alavar’s sauce
6. Cheap seafood (try kilawin, it’s my ultimate favorite dish)
7. Master Baker’s super cheese bread and cheese bibingka
8. Apollo (from the barter)
9. Ric & Remy’s biscocho
10. Saging rebusao or banana cue (grilled then slathered with margarine and sugar)

I flew home to my hometown on Christmas eve and ate noche Buena with my family. Christmas day was spent with College classmates. I met Nald and Tupe, my dear ‘kuya’ whom I hadn’t seen in years, at our alma mater.

While they attended mass, I walked around my old alma mater to bask in 16 years worth of nostalgia.

When Nald and Tupe finally got out, we headed to Cate’s home to have lunch there. Her dad had bought squid specifically for me because he thought I had a rare opportunity to eat those in Manila, which is not true but still, I was really touched by the gesture.

From there we moved on to Golf beach resort where Roni’s family and the company they owned were having their annual Christmas picnic (which I have been invited to for the third year in a row). We rented a separate table and were soon joined by Maya, Joy, Tyne, and Austine.

 

We chatted for a few hours before deciding to hang out at Coffee Mix, a popular coffee place in town. One great thing about ZC – the food is really cheap here! My big glass of Apple slush cost me only P60 when its equivalent in Manila would have cost twice as much.

When there were only five of us left, we decided to go home, but just then, Lester showed up, and we couldn’t just leave him, so we decided to have dinner…seafood at Lantaka Hotel. While waiting for our bilaos of food to be served, we posed by the seaside. The view was terrific!

And so was the food, which we enjoyed inside a nipa hut. I especially couldn’t get enough of the bangus. The ones in Manila taste like mud, as Austine would put it. Now I remember why this was my favorite fish growing up.

After dinner, we walked towards the city hall and Plaza Pershing, both all aglow with lights and teeming with people all doing what we did – pose for pictures, of course!

So this was how people spent Christmas night? This was the first time I spent mine outdoors. I would have enjoyed the beauty of the night a lot more had it not been for a lot of indiscriminate firecracker explosions all around – my greatest fear.

I had lunch at my favorite chicken barbeque place, Manang Terry’s Chicken Inato, the next day, with two of my best friends, Cate and Roni.

I had dinner with my high school classmates at Antonio’s, where I could not resist a slice of their delectable butong pie.

It was hard to be heard over the loud singing of the performers, so after dinner we transferred to a quieter place for conversation, Mr Bean Café within the Catribo Complex, the newest cool hangout place in town.

It was here that we cooked up a plan to visit Sta. Cruz island, notable for its pink sand. Though it’s less than an hour away by banca, some of us had never been there in the more than 20 years we lived in ZC.

Friday is the best day to get your fortune told, so Roni and I paid a visit to Manang Pepeng at her small wooden house in Nunez street to know what lay in store for us in 2008.

After that I bought some biscocho at Ric & Remy’s for pasalubong then we ate satti at Jimmy’s. The delicacy is a lot spicier than I remember it.

On Saturday I was in Santa Cruz island.

Sunday night found me back at Catribo again. Both high school and college classmates were there, but I stayed only for a few minutes with the Berchs to participate in the exchange gifts which we did greed-style. I picked Ja’s gift, a limited edition Ateneo seal keychain made specially for Ateneo Fiesta 2007 judges.

We college classmates met up at Mr. Bean Café then decided to move to Gimik Videoke. The room was really small, but could seat a maximum of 8 people. We could bring food in at no extra cost and the room costs only P100/hour. OMG, what a steal! In Makati that’s only the per person rate!

The food was really cheap in there too. A bottle of Cali costs only P30. We ended up singing for 3 hours. Lester showed up at the last hour with his niece, I think. I now have more songs to add to my list of must-sings at videoke sessions. Way cool!

On New Year’s Eve we awaited the countdown on TV and greeted my dad happy birthday at midnight. Our family does not condone fireworks ever since a wayward whistle bomb exploded on my brother’s foot when he was a kid. I was actually glad when it rained at around 11:30 pm because it meant there would be less explosions, haha.

We all slept early and I was up early also the next day because I had to pack and be at the airport in time for my 1030am flight. Back to Manila…back to my Korea market again. The vacation is over. Glad I had one, though!