Green Eggs and Ham; Pinangat and Pili Nut; Pompano and Crabs too!

(Attempting to come up with catchy “dr. Seussy” rhymes but failing miserably hehehe)

Yup, I’m back! The Legazpi trip went well, as expected. On our last two days though, there was a typhoon. Thankfully it was just signal no. 1. Our flight back to Manila was awfully delayed though that we got so bored from being stuck at the airport too long.

Although I did not expect it at all, the Manila leg of the trip proved to be very satisfying. Well, I was never fond of Manila, no pun intended. I guess it’s just that I’m not much of a “city girl” really. My ideal travel would be to go some place where it boasts of a very rich and fascinating culture; or where I’ll be close to nature; or both.

I’m not much of a mall rat either so… But ah, imagine my delight when in some obscure bookstore in what they say is the biggest mall in the city, I came face to face with the biggest collection of Dr. Seuss books that I’ve ever seen. Well, I do exaggerate. But really, I’ve been to lots of bookstores and book sales and each time I would ask if they have some of Dr. Seuss’ work, they would only have one or two. Almost always, it’s “The Foot Book” and I already have a copy of that.

I bought a total of eleven “Bright and Early” books, eight of which by Dr. Seuss. Imagine that. The first thing I found was a copy of “O Say Can You Say.” When I came across, “Green Eggs and Ham," I almost shrieked out loud hehehe I’ve always wanted to have a copy but never found one. So imagine how I felt when I found a copy that is real neat and shiny, and on a sale yet.

I was also able to buy, “Raising a Son: Parents and the Making of a Healthy Man” by Don and Jean Elium that is proving to be such a good read. To date, I’m yet at page 16 and I’ve had had several insights already.

The books cost me most of my allowance money. I wasn’t even able to buy Bolo anything. When I got home and saw Baby shouting in delight and really excited at seeing so much books, I knew that it was all worth it. He was really beside himself. He tried to carry the books all at once and kept shouting, “Book! Book!” He was really endearing to watch.

Another interesting experience I had in Manila had something to do with food. When I think about food and travel, it is always Gen. San that comes to mind, owing to their fresh seafood at such low, low prices. These days, I also think fondly of Legazpi. I’m afraid “pinangat” and “kinunot” won me over. I’m not much of a “gata-person.” We rarely prepare viands with coconut milk at home while we were growing up. But we love spicy food so it’s no wonder if I took to Bicolano cuisine immediately.

Now, here comes Manila. The real reason why we had to stay there longer than we should is because we had to wait for one of the writers who is arriving in Manila only that Sunday evening. So we couldn’t meet until then. At first, we intended to just hold the meeting at “Chowking.” Really funny. But we were not really that particular about the venue and the food. It was the meeting that was most important. Besides, none of us are really that picky with food. But somewhere along our coordinating for the meeting we were told that a really “important” person is going to join us too. So we kind of thought of a more appropriate place to hold the meeting.

We usually hold our meetings on the hotel where we are billeted. In this group’s case, it is always over at Sulo. This time though, we were billeted a lot closer to the airport. And the restaurant of the hotel wasn’t exactly what we’d think appropriate so we agreed it had to be somewhere else. The ever resourceful me, I asked the taxi driver who took us to Mall of Asia that morning for a restaurant he could recommend for a meeting. Somewhere closeby and not exactly that pricey. Hehehe The taxi driver huh? But yeah, they ought to know these things. But anyway, he referred us to the “seaside” strip over at the Macapagal Highway (The most expensive highway ever constructed according to the Book of Guinness Records”) But anyway, I digress again.

The strip was totally a treat. The concept is that there’s a series of resto’s there and somewhere in the middle of it is a fresh seafood market selling, well, seafood of all kinds. The customers get to do the marketing and then they choose from among the restaurants there where to have the fare cooked. The resto’s cook them for a fee, depending on the per kilo and the kind of cooking that is preferred. If it’s just steaming, its at around Php 120 only but for a more fancy dish, they could charge up to 300. I guess it depends on the other ingredients that would have to be added. Actually, it’s cheap, considering it’s in Manila where food is usually quite pricey.

So there, that was how my recent travel experience went. I have another travel lined up for end of this month and on November. I couldn’t say I do not look forward to them but I’m not exactly excited about them either as it would take me away from Baby again for some time. What I’m certainly looking forward to is a travel of a leisure kind with family and friends… Hopefully, soon…