Rain, food, books and work

Today's weather was not an improvement on yesterday's. We woke up to ceaseless wind, rain and fog. At least, I did wake up ahead of everyone else in our small household; Rolly, who is usually an early riser, got up reluctantly at 9:30 a.m.

Nobody was in the mood to cook although we were all famished and wished for hot soup, arroz caldo, fried rice and tuyo--you know, rainy weather fare. But who was gonna prepare them?

Not I, said this housewife who has never gotten the hang of running a house. I had too much writing and editing work, chief of which was a book manuscript, on my plate, and deadlines were a pitiless lot.

So I said, I'm treating everyone to lunch at HOY (short for House of Yolo Yogurt) on Marcos Highway, a few minutes drive away from our place. Rolly couldn't be parted from his bed and blanket so Kimi, Kai and I dressed warmly and each carried an umbrella to the car.

I told Kimi to drive carefully through the zero-visibility fog, fearing she might bump into a stray dog or a human. We reached HOY without incident. Hardly had we sat, then the place began to fill up despite it being way past the lunch hour. Then we realized today was a holiday--Eid Mubarak!

Hot choco for my grandchild Kai

Daing na bangus with red mountain rice and fried eggs

Booboo Babeth looking ghostly amid the thick fog. Photo by Kai

Kai back in the warmth of Rolly Fernandez's room/library. Photo by Babeth

I settled for my favorite daing na bangus with mountain rice and two well-done fried eggs. Kimi had the bulalo which was for sharing. Kai had a little of my viand and her mother's, paired with a cup of rice and another cup of hot choco.

While Kimi was driving home through the zigzag road, I told her to slow down because I had a very full tummy and didn't want to throw up.

We brought home takeaway food (sirloin tapa with rice and sunny side up eggs) for Rolly. In all, it was a blessed day, the weather notwithstanding.

Like hearts

“Tulips are like hearts.” ~ Simeon Dumdum Jr.

Not only are they like hearts, they seem to be edible, too, and can replace onions in some recipes, so the magazine Country Living tells me, the gardening idiot but full-blown admirer of these flowers that were endemic to Asia before The Netherlands claimed them as their own

My family once tried growing them in pots. The bulbs were gifts from a friend who had just visited Europe. We thought that Baguio weather from January to early March would sustain them, but as soon as they flowered in glorious coral, pink and orange, wild birds swooped down, attracted to the visual candy on our balcony. They pecked at the tulips until only the stalks and leaves remained. Well, the fact that they’re edible must be a reason why the birds fed on them. My daughter tried covering the tulips with nets to no avail.

exotic expensive extraordinarily
pretty, dear tulips now breaking out
of a glass vase, your perfectly symmetrical
petals and buds are the opposite
of my asymmetrical life

your beauty also feeds
physical hunger but enough
that my one famished soul
had you for companions

Photos of tulips grown through indoor aquaphonics by Junic Lolarga

The girl with intense eyes

I've taken maybe over a thousand pictures already of this girl, but none satisfies me as much as this random shot. She was waiting for her mother to return to the great-grandma's abode and then to be taken back to her highland home. See you in a week or two again, not so little button of my heart.  She has said goodbye to us temporarily, to the lower land's humidity and prickly heat. Early tomorrow she says hello again to a kinder clime and her friend, the fog. Photo by Booboo Babeth