There was a typhoon scheduled by the Pag-Asa (Weather Dept.) Supposed to hit on Saturday or within a day or two last week, here on Luzon (It’s not an exact science), what do you do? You could panic, and run in circles with your arms in the air shouting, Aye, Aye Aye trying to figure the three names that have been assigned to it by six different Countries, or just stock up on gas for the generator, or beer for yourself or better yet call some friends and go out for lunch!
Lunch will win every time with me, Randy Weis (AKA PapaDuck) and his loverly bride Anne, plus Anne’s Brother and Sister-in-law Rod and Pie are coming in from Manila Area (Cavite) to spend the day. Early morning phone calls informed me that they were on the way; I planned to meet them and bring them to our mountain retreat. Which began a comedy of errors that was no one’s fault except the highway system, it went like this; Phone rings, Hi Paul we’re in Lubao, I’m thinking oh, you took the National Road vice the Expressway, that’s fine. I’ll meet you in this location. Second call, we’re in Dinalupihan but what I didn’t know was they had now entered the expressway, heading toward the Subic Free Port. Third call we are at the Total Gas Station! Mmmm where the heck is that? Why it’s on the Subic Free Port, I explained to leave the Free Port and I’ll meet them on the outside under the expressway fly over. (In the Shade as the sun was still shining)
Off to Casa Mayang. The road was blocked to my street as they were working on it. This was not happening when I left 20 minutes ago. But no fear, we’ll take the long cut, which is 1.5 kilometers of bad road that will eventually bring you to Casa Mayang.
Short visit, meeting and greeting old friend plus Rod and Pie, our new friends and now off to the Loren Arms Deluxe apartments to meet up with Loren (AKA BigP) and Mercer Pogue, and have a tour of Pogue Mountain, the house they are building on the roof of their apartment complex.
Now it’s off to the Sit-N’-Bull restaurant in the Barrio, for great food and social interaction. The eight of us ate and joked and a good time seemed to be had by all. Next we as a group decided that we should drive over to Baloy Beach to the Wild Orchard Resort and have cocktails by the pool. Now Rod whose last name is Baloy had a fun time with the people thinking he was a member of the Baloy family who had owned the entire area in the distant past. Great fun with a driver’s license on a now rainy day.
The subject of our never ending search for the Blue Rock Girl came up, who is famous at the Blue Rock Resort on the water, so we moved to there. As on many-many other occasions she was not in attendance. But the bartenders were hard at work, so time and the trip had not been in vain. The ladies were well fed, and as most men married to a Filipina will know, that is the first requirement for a pleasant afternoon of shooting the breeze and male bonding. So along with our cocktails and beers, the ladies had their coffee or Mango Shakes.
By now the rain was coming down hard, but an important rule in the Philippines is to never go anyplace that the roof leaks. This rule is not carved in stone, but is learned through experience. The four ladies then informed the four guys that it was time to put this parade to bed. Wisely we quickly agreed.
The following day, all members of our group are where they should be, and now the fringe of that multi-named Typhoon decided to visit our area. We didn’t receive much wind, but the rain never stopped for the next two days. I love mountains and gravity as I watched torrents of water spill out of out oversized storm drains onto the new road and down the hill.
So one more time; when an impending calamity threatens you, call some friends and go to lunch. I did that in Puerto Rico and when I returned my house and bar were gone. Now I love height not beach front.
Note:
The Blue Rock Floating Bar, is taken ashore during the Typhoon season, that kinda’ makes sense!
Nice photos Paul!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😛
Gary;
Thank you, had fun taking them.
It’s a shame to see a plate of pinakbet like that without anyone eating it. Where’s the ampalaya and eggplant in it? And the bagoong? And where’s the steamed rice to go with it, for crying ot loud! Shame, shame, shame LOL I see you’re back wearing your Walgreen’s logo again, Paul. The name of the typhoon that hit you was “Labuyo”, wasn’t it? Labuyo is a type of chili pepper. Food vendors selling chicharon at Victory Liner terminals all over Zambales carry a bottle of vinegar with siling labuyo in it that they sprinkle on the chicharon. Sarap!
endors selling chicharon at Victory Liner terminals all over Zambales carry a bottle of vinegar with siling labuyo in it that they sprinkle on the chicharon. Haaay naku, masarap talaga! 🙂
john,
I don’t think that dish is pinakbet. As you said, it doesn’t have the talong and ampalaya and I noticed there’s too much sabaw (sauce) in it and the color is light showing the absence of bagoong. I bet it’s a chopsuey dish.
It’s pinakbet alright, but obviously the Sit-N’-Bull’s (Subic) version of it, Jonathan. You’re right about the sabaw – the pinakbet I am used to eating at the Manila Oriental in Springfield, Virginia is drier, and the sahog is usually pork, not shrimp. Maybe Ilocana Mesdames Marlyn McKee, Emy Keating, or even Mita Starr can weigh in on this and tell us if that is really pinakbet in the picture. 🙂
John;
The Great Pinalbet Wars were fought and won on the pages of LiP where most hot topics and burning questions are solved weekly or weakly. (lol) My Philly Cheese Steak was not as I had it by the Spectrum in South Philly but on Pilar Street in the Barrio it was pretty good. The company was even better, and the beer was ice cold.
My knowledge of Pinalbet would fill a thimble with a little room left at the top.
Jonathan;
I can neither confirm nor deny if that is pinalbet on that plate, but the next time I write a story about pinalbet I’ll strive for greater accuracy on the subject, that’s why I always say, “You should write about what you know, and I failed this time”
Please know that I’m just messin’ with you and John. Thank you both for your comments.
You did just fine, Paul. IMHO, it’s really pinakbet, only it’s Sit-N’-Bull’s version of it. The plate of pinakbet in the picture fulfilled the basic requirement of what pinakbet consists of. It is mixed vegetables. From that point on, the ingredients and the sahog differ from region to region. I like mine cooked with a bunch of veggies like ampalaya, eggplant, calabasa, and string beans sauteed in bagoong or shrimp paste, and topped off with malutong na baboy. (Crispy crackling roasted pork) LOL
https://www.google.com/search?q=pinakbet&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=pS8VUv3HL7e84APtt4DgBA&sqi=2&ved=0CDsQsAQ&biw=930&bih=615
John;
Whew thanks, I almost decided never to order it again, as I felt slighted by the owners of Sit-N’’-Bull wait, I never ordered it in the first place (LOL).
So the next trip there I’ll order the Boiled New England Dinner (Corn beef and Cabbage) even though they don’t add turnips to the potatoes! The ladies all enjoy the food there, if it wasn’t flooding I’d go to Mongolian BBQ tomorrow night.
John,
I never seen so much images of pinakbet lol. Those are the pinakbets that I know of. Anyhoo, if what they ordered was pinakbet who am I to disagree…NOW, BRING ME THE RICE PLEASE!!!!!
Paul,
I always enjoy your stories whether pinakbet or not….lol
Jonathan;
They don’t serve rice there only French Fries, “WAIT JOKE ONLY”, mounds of rice were ferried to the table and happiness was upon the day.
Jonathan;
Thank you for I enjoy your comments too.
John;
My Philly Cheese Steak sandwich was wonderful! As for the rest, I heard no moaning. My Walgreens shirt said “Philippines across the front. (lol) The News had 3 names for the storm but yes Labuyo was the most commen name.
The people at the table with the pinakbet did not start eating until the rest of the food was delivered, and there is a bowl of steamed rice next to the hamburger in the fifth picture. As I remember it, there were several bowls delivered. As for the ingredients of the pinakbet I wouldn’t know as I had a delicious hamburger, but none of the ladies complained and at least two of them would have raised hell if it wasn’t made right. I had a great time and just maybe the BLUE ROCK GIRL picture is as good to find as the BLUE ROCK GIRL; since we have not found her we can plan to search again.
Loren;
Tommy’s home and wants to get together this week, the search will continue!!! Failure is not an option.
One of the most humble person I have laid eyes on in the way he carries himself, evident through his body language in all of the pictures I have seen to date, and in the manner he expresses himself on LiP. Hard to believe he served in the Marine Corps.
John;
When you have the right stuff, there is no need for bragging, the majority of Marines and Seal’s also that I’ve encountered were quite unassuming people, who did the job they had to do. I’m not surprised at all.
Looks like a nice pre-typhoon get together. Those food portions are decent sized too. I hope all of you weathered the storm OK. I have just seen some pics taken in Manila with some of the flooding.
Bob NY;
It was a fun afternoon, good times, with good people. The food portion is large and the prices are great. Our area caught the outside fringe with mostly heavy rain and low land flooding, right after the typhoon cleared then we received two low pressure areas in a row, and have had 5 days of heavy rain, Manila flooded again.
Paul,
It was a great time had by everyone. Rod/Pie really enjoyed themselves and listening to all the “war stories” lol. This recent rain we had has not been fun. Monday morning we woke up with to 3 feet of water in the house due to a dam breaking and the heavy rains. Today its down to about 6 inches of water in the house and were going to Manila to stay overnight and fly out to Iloilo tomorrow morning to visit friends, if the flight is not cancelled. I called him it was sunny there. Your lucky never any flooding on the mountain.
Jay;
We saw on the News the flooding in Cavite and Mayang called me in to ask if I’d heard from you or Anne and are you safe. Now I know. No matter where you live in the Philippines it’s not, Location, location location it’s Elevation elevation elevation.
Tell Rod and Pie that we all enjoyed meeting them and of course you and Anne and we hope that happens again. Stay driy my friend!
Hi Paul,
I want to take this opportunity to apologize for stereotyping you and people who live in certain areas of the Philippines in my responses to comments on my recent post. Thank you for calling me out on my post! I need to work on not stereotyping people. It is one of my many character flaws. Not very long after my wife arrived here in Raleigh she was getting money at an ATM. There was a guy in front of her who after getting money saw my wife and showed her his greenbacks and said, “I got money.” I guess he was assuming my wife was a prostitute because she was Filipina and wearing a short skirt. I was not present when this incident happened my wife was scared by this incident and I was angered. My wife started dressing more conservatively after the incident and would not go to ATM’s for a while. It was wrong for that guy to stereotype my wife and it was wrong for me to stereotype you. Sorry.
Thanks for sharing your story and pictures I enjoyed reading and looking at them!
Jay;
What happen to your wife was uncalled for anywhere on Earth, but remember ignorance is also rampant most places on Earth. Here in Olongapo 20 years ago my wife was snubbed at a bank for being married to a Kano I went to the bank manager, told him what happened and he gave me the Filipino shoulder shrug. I had him withdraw 5,800 dollars from my dollar account, I handed it to my wife and told her; Honey I make more money in one month that this man makes in a year, you’re the high person here.” He stereotyped my bride and I taught him that he shouldn’t. It happened even to Oprah. (Switzerland last month)
So once more “No Apologies Required” Do you see why I never write about anything that hasn’t happened to me. “A Filipina in North Carolina” her take through your eyes of adjusting to living in the states is something I would tune into every week! Your story about her at that ATM machine and how it made her feel would make a great story. Just saying!