Binatog.

     Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a taste of binatog (soft kernels of boiled corn seasoned with salt and grated coconut). Next to fresh taho, which was piously delivered every morning by a distinguished-looking lolo, binatog, hawked in the afternoons by kuyas on bikes popularly termed then as “racers,” was my next favorite merienda as a child. Wherever my playmates and I were in the house, whether busy at play or trying to fake a nap, once we heard the hearty call for “binaTOOOG!” (accent on the last syllable that was drawn out as long as possible. Street hawkers seem to have the most melodious, bell-like voices), our ears perked up trying to gauge how far off still the mama was so that we knew how fast we needed to scramble out the front door to call for his attention. 

     “Pabili nga ho ng dalawang baso at pakidagdagan ng niyog.” 

     The shy itinerant vendor would smile and oblige, putting the requested amount on banana leaves and giving the dagdag niyog AND binatog. My playments and I would eat our snack, savoring each tasty morsel, eating slowly to make the binatog last twice as long as usual (for we never knew when the mama would return to our neck of the woods again). Once finished, we’d pat our distended tummies where we’d imagine the corn kernels expanding to twice their size (that’s what carbohydrates do we were told), making our bellies heavy and making us sleepy.

     Oh! Don’t even get me started on other tasty treats—like dirty ice cream dipped in hot chocolate sauce that hardened when it came into contact with the cold treat—yum!

     Do kids nowadays still know binatog? Or dirty ice cream with the chocolate dip, or even palitaw?

     Sigh, a pity, what a great pity if they don’t then. 

"Look into your heart and you'll find love, love, love, love . . ." :)

Here in Mactan . . .

(Click to enlarge.)

Retro post June '08.

Has summer ended? Has the rainy season begun? There I was congratulating P and myself for having had the foresight to go to the beach early this year because we have foreseen that the rainy season will come early in May 

(and it had! Cutting short people's enjoyment of the sea) and what do we have in June but merciless, summer-like, humid days? 

Argh! I give up! It's official--we have succeeded in royally f*cking up the earth. 

Sorry, kids!

From O. Wilde's "De Profundis"

“The only people I would care to be with now are artists and people who have suffered: those who know what beauty is, and those who know what sorrow is . . .”

Believing.

Sometimes the universe bestows on you the gift of knowing, just you and no one else, and you begin guarding this belief jealously as you would guard a beautiful secret.

Others may tell you that you are crazy, stubborn, maybe even arrogant to persist on something outmoded, impractical, or just plain silly, but in your gut you know, with a knowledge that defies all good sense that you are right.

Others may desert you, or mock  you, but everything else—time , circumstance, luck, serendipity, synchronicity, or whatever else you wish to f*cking call it—will conspire to give you your heart’s desire.

These are some of the things that I believe to be true:

1. It is possible to change for the better, to work at becoming your best self;
2. It is possible to forgive;
3. Soon, P and I will travel the rest of the world (but, really, we’ll settle happily with just traveling to Europe) together;
4. Anyone who has suffered (or is suffering) can become a more stronger, empathetic person;
5. There is an end to suffering;
6. If you trust in the goodness of the universe, you will receive goodness from the universe;
7. It’s good to smile;
8. It is stupid not to listen to well-meaning, sensible advice;
9. God will never forsake me (or you!);
10. To care is to love. People who care very little for others or care only for themselves do not know how to love and will, in turn, find love hard to attain.
11. In life, you should strive to play the role of “hero,” not “villain”;
12. I am blessed by the people I love and the people who love me. I may not hear about it, but I guess I, too, am a blessing to others sometimes;
13. Nothing beats the power of a fervent, honest prayer;
14. You can be wrong and it’s okay. Sometimes life will force you to your knees to learn lessons (like humility) and if you are not too stubborn, you can learn and prosper from your mistakes;
15. P will continue to love and cherish me just as he promised many years ago when I was confused and in another country. He said, “If you can’t find what you’re looking for, come back to me. I will take care of you." Awww . . .;
16. I will continue to love and cherish P because besides being a good, honest, hard-working man, he’s also a hunk! (Rrrr!) 

What do you believe in? :)

P in Ho Chi Minh '08

On novels.

“Expecting a novel to bear the weight of our whole disturbed society—to help solve our contemporary problems—seems to me a peculiarly American delusion. To write sentences of such authenticity that refuge can be taken in them. Isn’t this enough? Isn’t it a lot?” (J. Franzen)