Furry friends and other house pe(s)ts
After this post, I will probably rename this blog, ‘Travails of a Part-time Housewife.’ Or maybe not. I’m not that angst-y (anymore) to have such a blog and I’d rather drown in food than in sorrow. But my gawd!
While I’ve lived on my own for a number of years as a foreign student and basically know how to cook and clean, I’ve never had a house I was responsible for. So, when Ron and I moved to our own (rented) place, a townhouse built in the ’70s that its owners have been renting out for the longest time (and has never been properly maintained by the renters), my OC-ness has gone into overdrive.
At this point, I can basically keep under control the need to pick up a mop or an anti-bacterial floor wipe every time our feet touch the floor, and we’ve had the cleaning down pat by hiring a cleaner who comes in once a week.
The real problem lies in the structure of the house. The house itself would probably withstand high magnitude earthquakes, but being old, it has so many holes that provide easy access for furry and crawly things. Don’t get me wrong though. I like the house and the neighborhood, but Ron goes home late at night so I always end up being the “welcoming committee” for these not-so-wanted guests.
First were the cats. I arrived home one evening to find large eyes gazing at me from the yet unlighted kitchen. I almost fainted from shock. I’m just really a dog person. Having gently coaxed that cat out the door, another cat jumped at me from under the kitchen stairs. My my, what do we have here? Not one but two cats! Good thing they kind of got my drift and left.
The cockroaches, I’ve learned to live with. We’ve never killed a single one because one dead roach wouldn’t matter anyway. This is their turf. But I am determined to make it ours. I just don’t know how.
Then there are the ants and mosquitoes. The most aggressive ones I’ve ever encountered in my life. The minute I put food on the table, the ants are there, circling the bowl, not even waiting for crumbs to drop but climbing up to get into the food. I now have the newly acquired skill of devouring food and cleaning up as quickly as I can.
The mosquitoes are equally aggressive. Having had dengue, I try as much as possible to avoid bites. That is, until now. I must be giving off way too much heat because despite being beside the Baygon plug-in mosquito repellant and the UV light mosquito “attractor,” I continue to be swarmed and bitten by these nasty striped creatures. Am I the guinea pig for all the four strains of dengue? I already smell like repellant oils as it is, should I wear pants every single day in this heat on top of that?
Speaking of guinea pigs, they’re cute. But their furry cousins are not and THEY SCARE THE HECK OUT OF ME. I’m talking about R-TS. My mom said never to call them that because they might get mad. So I refer to them as “furry friends.” Did I mention that I’M SCARED OF THEM? They frighten me to the bone.
We’ve seen huge, wet droppings in the house (as in inside the house - in the kitchen, the living room, the indoor garage…). They looked nothing like cat poop and the cleaner confirmed they were the furry friends’ (dengue and leptospirosis - this is turning out to be a count of diseases to look out for).
Then one night, I saw furry friend scurrying across the dining-living room area. Needless to say, I screamed, jumped on the couch, felt unsafe, ran to the stairs, ran back to the couch, back to the stairs…. I nearly lost my wits. Good thing Ron was there to calm me down.
But it was all I could do to keep my sanity when I again encountered “Furry” two days ago. We bumped into each other as I was on my way to the kitchen. My screams must have reached the moon (our neighbors, who were talking outside, were stunned into silence. I can just imagine the looks they shot in my direction).
It seems to have scared Furry too, because he scampered back from where he came. Having no one to rely on - Ron was still at work - and being so hungry, I unceasingly pleaded to Furry to not come out while I was in the kitchen. Is that even normal?
I SHOULDN’T HAVE MADE THE CATS LEAVE. Where are they when I need them? I was supposed to bring my labrador retriever over from my parents’ house but he is just too nice to do anything.
Oh, and did I mention that I saw a frog the size of a large coffee mug in the indoor garage? I really am at my wits’ end and just shuddering at the thought of what’s next.
Great food and even better company on a Tuesday. Lunch at Wooden Spoon, a restaurant owned by noted culinary family, the Dazas, along Katipunan Avenue, QC, to celebrate the birthday of a good friend and one of the best lawyers in town!
It’s been close to a month since we moved to our “own” place in Loyola Heights. I’m finally making use of the electric grill/skillet and the rice cooker, but Ron and I still eat out half of the time. It’s quite tempting to do so because the Katipunan/Loyola Heights area, being a university town, is teeming with food places. Some of our favorites: Persepolis, for student-budget Middle Eastern food; Brickfire, for juicy steaks that are friendly on the wallet; and Fruit Magic, for healthy eating.
Double Mother’s Day Celebrations! Lunch with Ron’s family at Pan de Amerikana, a restaurant-bakery along Katipunan Extension, QC, and dinner with my family at Ga Mi Jung, a nondescript Korean restaurant along Sumulong Highway, Antipolo that turned out to be really good.
Just got back from Bohol, the island of the tarsiers! Some cool cafes we’ve tried in between work and sight-seeing:
1. Bohol Bee Farm, Panglao - Not just a bee farm but a dive site as well. You can check into the resort and go diving, or make a day trip to shop for bee farm items such as honey (obviously), bread spreads, hair and body products, and local delicacies. Bohol Bee Farm is also known for their ice cream. I’ve tried and loved the avocado and malunggay flavors as well as the spicy ginger one, which also has that sting despite being ice cream. Aside from shopping, you can hang-out at Buzz Cafe, located by the dive area. They have garden salad varieties that comprise of greens and stuff that look like bougainvillea petals and chrysanthemum flowers, picked from their organic vegetable farm. And, aside from cafe staples such as pasta and herb chicken, they also offer local dishes such as kilawin and halo halo.
2. Cafe Lawis, Dauis - The cafe is on the first floor of what looks like an old “bahay na bato” beside the Dauis Church. Upon entering, you will see an arts and crafts souvenir area on the right, and a mini-museum and diorama exhibit on the far left, all of which reminded me of the displays in the Ayala Museum. Not a coincidence though, because I later learned that Bea Zobel had a hand in developing the cafe, together with the parish and the diocese of Tagbilaran. While waiting for your food, you can take a stroll along the cafe grounds - the backyard opens out to the sea and there sits a circular deck, shaded by a large acacia tree, on which to gaze out into the horizon. When we were there, a group of local kids were using the deck as rehearsal space for some sort of dance performance. The cafe’s pasta and sandwiches are quite good, but the bestsellers include the ‘tsokolate eh’ and ‘ube kinampay’ souffles.
3. Garden Cafe, Tagbilaran - A cowboy-themed cafe decorated with what seems to be authentic Wild West paraphernalia. If you’re after an alternative ambience, this could be a good place to explore. The food is a bit hit or miss - the chopsuey and grilled tanigue (fish) were quite good, but the sandwiches were just so-so. I heard that the cakes are great as well. (It was so hot I wanted ice cream. Being the cheapskate that I am, I bought Cornetto from an outside store.) What makes this cafe special though, is that majority of the wait staff are deaf and mute. You can actually learn some sign language while reading the menu, which has a section that illustrates the sign language for basic orders. I tried doing “water” and it worked!
Just a reminder. The food usually takes a long time to be served in these cafes so I suggest making a visit an hour before your scheduled eating time.
An afternoon shower welcomed our visit to the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. Spent the time at a souvenir shop and when we came out, this rainbow was beaming at us, hinting at pleasant things ahead.
Having seen the flurry of business at Europe’s financial capital, my friend took me to the other side of Frankfurt. Romerberg Square, in Frankfurt’s Old Town, was largely destroyed during World War II but has now been reconstructed to its former beauty.
Super tired on a Friday night and wanted to eat out. We decided to go to our fallback place - Maginhawa Street in Quezon City. I love frequenting the small affordable cafes there that are not on the usual Manila foodie trail (even though the area itself is known to be a foodie haven). Cafe Quezon is one such. The cafe’s uniqueness lies in specialty dishes that originate from Quezon province, including Pancit habhab and Lucban longganiza (cooked in a variety of ways). Their desserts are also tops.
Eating our way around Ho Chi Minh City… Some of the best stuff we’ve had:
1. Pho - One of the best pho places in town, Pho Hoa Pasteur at 260C Pasteur Street, looks like a roadside eatery (as do most of the good ones in HCMC) but their beef noodles are superb. Plus, all the add-ons are right on your table.
2. Chicken in lemongrass and chili - Choosing among the many restaurants lining the streets of the backpackers’ area, we decided on dinner at Huong Vy in Pham Ngu Lao Street. The flavors of this chicken dish just exploded in our mouths.
3. Vietnamese cacao and coffee - All cafes serve delicious cacao and coffee, whether iced or hot. If you’re looking for an elegant ambience, go to any of the Trung Nguyen Cafes in the city.
4. Elephant Ear fish - An ordinary fried dish presented so attractively. Had this for lunch during a tour of the Mekong Delta. It was almost a pity to have to eat such a delightful thing.
5. Fried pork spring roll - My absolute favorite Vietnamese dish. It has rice noodles inside and is wrapped in very thin rice paper. Again, any cafe will do but we especially liked the food at Coffee May, which is right beside the Notre Dame Basilica. The view from the second floor is great too.
6. Hotel breakfast buffet - Our taxi dropped us off at the wrong hotel and we had to walk a couple of blocks at 1 am looking for the Mai Gia Huy Hotel (how were we supposed to know there were a lot of “Gia Huy” hotels in the vicinity?). The complimentary breakfast surely put us in high spirits.
Snapshots of Ho Chi Minh City…
If you have time and don’t mind sweating buckets and dodging flying motorbikes, walking is the best way to go around Ho Chi Minh City. Walking helps you discover cafes, parks, wayside shops, and monuments that are not on the tourist list. A stroll also provides a good vantage point for appreciating those little things that make the city tick - colonial architecture, art on the walls, old men playing some sort of checkers game, ambulant vendors plying their trade, and the hustle and bustle of a laid back city life. Walking should not be a drag because the air is quite clean, despite all the motorbikes, and the sidewalks are substantial and canopied by trees. When tired, you can always rest at one of the many parks fanned out across the city, or go into the cafe nearest you - there will surely be one.
Some of the things you can do while walking in Ho Chi Minh:
1. Visit the usual tourist attractions such as the Notre Dame Basilica, the Reunification Hall, the Post Office, the War Remnants Museum, and the Ben Thanh market. On the way, you will pass by other important colonial structures that are still used as offices today.
2. Check out all the cafes and make sure to order Vietnamese coffee and/or Vietnamese cacao. While you’re at it, have some pho and fried spring rolls too - post coming soon.
3. Head to the backpackers’ areas around Bui Vien and De Tham Streets. The shops are set at tourist prices (very expensive) but sometimes, you can find surprising bargains - we found Tintin framed art print for VND65,000 (it was VND90,000 at the Post Office shop and VND180,000 at Ben Thanh market). There are really good bars and restos in the area too.
4. Eat a baguette from one of the many baguette carts on the streets. The basic “banh mi” is filled with liver pate and chili, but you can also opt to fill it with cold cuts, egg, and vegetables. Try other kinds of street food as well.
5. Go to a tourist office and book half-day or day tours to the outskirts of the city. We went to the The Sinh Tourist office and booked a whole day tour of the Mekong Delta, going around Ben Tre and My Tho, for only USD15 per person. The tour took us to rice paper, coconut candy, and honey making industries, and includes transportation, lunch, and all the taste tests and boat rides.
