Friday, April 25, 2014

Orange halo-halo and Sunday Morning on a Friday afternoon

I don’t know if it’s because I got stung by a bee on my right eyelid or because my body thermometer is saying that it was the hottest day of summer so far, that I decided to grab a quick ride on my bike.

I wanted to start off trembling so I opted to take the San Salvador to Tibig road which gave me almost 3 kilometers of ro-ah-ah-ah-ugh road before turning right to Tangway and exiting to the main highway.  I dropped by La Salle for a quick spot check of the Green Wall then proceeded to Lodlod via Villa Lourdes.

I like this loop going toward San Jose, passing by Lodlod and Pangao.  It is fast, with a lot of downhiiiiiillllls that will generate enough momentum for the uh-uh-uh-uphills, and not to mention the occasional aggressive-looking dogs that amp the adrenaline rush a notch.  But I also was on a mission to sample halo-halo, any halo-halo, which turned out to be a problem because the more I thought of it, the more I got thirsty.  So when I saw the first halo-halo stand as I reached Pangao, my thirsty instinct was to pull over.

I knew I was making a mistake when I slowed down and made a motion of stopping because some 10 meters ahead to the left was another halo-halo stand which looked more interesting.  Unfortunately, a thin man lying across a bamboo bench, alerted by my presence, suddenly sprang up wearing a welcoming smile.  We made eye contact and it was clear that he was prepared to serve me halo-halo.  I was trapped.

I saw the man spoon one color of gulaman after another, then red sago, then what looked like minatamis na saging, kamote, corn, ube and brown sugar, which he topped with shaved ice and milk.  It looked like any halo-halo, but this one was different in that every time I stirred the mixture using my spoon, something was spilling over the lip of the plastic cup no matter how careful I was.  By the time I was ready to sample the halo-halo, my hands were all gooey and wet.

I think the halo-halo man played some sleight of hand on me because I was so sure he put in assorted colors of gulaman, but I only saw orange.  I fished them out first, planning to move on to a different color.  But lo and behold, every time I spoon orange gulaman into my mouth, more orange morsels appeared.   I was holding a cup of miracle in my hands.  I really don’t like gulamans in halo-halo, lucky for the thin man it was the right color – my favorite.

In my headset Adam Levine was crooning “That maybe all I need, in darkness she is all I see,” and I was nodding and weaving my head to the tune.  Unfortunately, the thin man gazed at me as I was doing this and again we made eye contact.  He smiled the smile of a satisfied host.  He asked, “Ayos, sir?”  What can I say, “Hindi?”  So I gave him the thumbs up sign.

I paid the man P15 for my halo-halo.

Like a shopper not satisfied with his find, I pedaled slow as I scanned the other halo-halo stand.  It was beside the road with a long wooden bench adjacent to the table where the condiments were neatly placed.  I said to myself, “Sayang, nakaupo sana akong parang mukhang tambay lang.”

And I saw the halo-halo man in that stand, bald (shiny kind of bald, not like my shaved kind of bald), dark with a big belly menacingly protruding from his waist.  He was wearing dark-colored sando with his nipples poking fun at the thinness of the cloth.  And I was thinking, “Sayang! How cool would it be to be served halo-halo by this tough looking dude.”  And I imagined how he would react if our eyes met and he sees my head bobbing up and down to Sunday Morning, would he smile or would he ask, “Ayos ka lang ga?” with a growl?


Oh well, as they say, good things come to those who wait, or in my case, pedal some 10 meters more.


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

#100Happydays, joys and hushed tugs to the heart

Rockies, Mt. Maculot
Lately, I’ve been encountering a lot of #100Happydays from my friends’ facebook posts, and I am thinking, “Huh, do you actually count the number of days that you are happy?”   That is sad, because as far as I am concerned, I prefer making lists (But I don’t have one written down, and if I did, it would run up to 365) over counting.  But that is just me.  Easter came and it produced even more counting numbers, and since I am a newbie (and blissfully ignorant) to a lot of things modern and current, I decided to use Google to discretely satisfy my curiosity (and ignorance).

Ahhh, yun pala yun.  #100Happydays according to 100Happydays.com is actually a challenge for anyone to post a picture on facebook and Instagram -- any picture, of any place, of any person, of any event, of anything, really -- that has made a participant happy.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Not really. According to the website, a full 71% of those who decided to participate in the challenge failed to complete the task primarily because of their lack of time.

The rationale behind the challenge: to make people realize that happiness is literally just around the corner  – runs smack against the pace by which people run their lives nowadays, which is too fast, too frenetic, too frantic and too competitive to be even taking track of happy occurrences, let alone snapping a shot.  Sad but true.  People have become too enamored with the pursuit of happiness – however one defines it – that they fail to realize that it is not even running away from them.  It is just there.  If one learns how to slow down.

In Dingalan Bay, Aurora

My Harvard-educated graduate school professor always says that for anyone to be truly happy, he/she must be able to live with himself/herself first.  I love being alone.  I guess this makes me a happy person.
I like to keep things simple.  It is no wonder then that the things that give me the greatest joy are right wherever I am; or at the very least will take some effort to get and some luck to come across, but they never cost much.  I just have to be ready.

When I am alone I get to notice fleeting moments that will not necessarily alter my life noticeably, but will certainly warm and enrich my soul no end.  I once saw a hummingbird as I was coming home from a bike ride (click here for story), and for a few seconds I was mesmerized by the beauty and stealth of this amazing bird that was no bigger than a wasp.  One of my earliest recollections of amazing bird encounters was of a blue kingfisher that was snappily searching for prey in the small fishpond that my father dug in our family farm in Pangasinan when I was still in elementary, but the rich hue and majestic flight of the bird are still vividly etched in my mind.  Recently, in a hike along Maculot, two birds, perhaps owls, suddenly took wing not far from where we were treading; undoubtedly disturbed by our footfalls.  It was a magical moment for me. And so are the frequent sightings of birds, of all colors and sizes, in our yard, some giving us the privilege of a few minutes, others are content to letting us hear their songs.

I love random things that I see.  In my head I paint pictures, framing scenes that otherwise would look ordinary.  These scenes are precious because I may never see or experience them the same way again.

At a  secret bike getaway




UP Sunken Garden




Dingalan Port, Aurora




Nueva Ecija




Taal Lake, Balete, Batangas


It's not only the sight that inspires me, but the scents of the road as well.  I remember during one span in our epic Manila to Dingalan, Aurora ride where we passed by a citrus orchard that seemed to stretch up to a kilometer, thrilling my nostrils with the sweet smell of citrus blooms.  It was heavenly.  And so are the smells of Narra flowers, and Ilang-ilang which waft in the air in some of my secret bike routes in Lipa.  And when the air does not host any memorable scent, it would suffice if I can hear it swiftly whistle past my ears as I zip by at some speed.

It does not take a lot to make me happy -- joyfully happy.  Leave me alone and happiness will take care of itself.  I guess that's what #100Happydays is all about.  I hope you also have a limitless share of happy stories to tell.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Dirty Halo-halo Ala Pacquiao

Distance from home: 22.9 kilometers
Place:  Barangay San Lucas
Establishment name:  Apartment for Rent



The back story:
I have the road literally to myself because it’s Pacquiao fight day; proof of this is the 35kph I registered along the normally busy stretch along De lasalle where, on a normal day, one would be lucky to do 10 without stopping or pulling over to give way to tricycles or motorcycles who are themselves being muscled to the side by jeeps, cars, buses and trucks.  So while Pacquiao re-established himself as a boxing icon, I was king of the road.



The Stopover:
The halo-halo stand I chose was not my first option.  The first, which came at around Km 20 into my ride, turned me down because it had run out of ingredients.  The store, I suppose, is either doing good business, or must have a store policy against serving halo-halo to tall, sweaty bikers.

I knew I had a winner when I passed by this particular stand with an Apartment for Rent banner to call attention to its ware.  Anyway, aside from not saying it sells halo-halo, what sets this halo-halo stand apart from any I have seen is that the number of children gathered around it was greater than the number of ingredients in the halo-halo itself – I counted 10, all below 5 years old, 11 if you counted the baby inside the womb of the woman shaving the ice.


Now, you know that when there are so many tykes gathered in one place there must be a birthday party somewhere, right?  I don’t know.  I can’t tell.  There were no balloons, spaghetti or cakes, only kids getting their hands all over the big block of ice used for the halo-halo.  I understand the relief the freezing cold must be to the kids who are sweaty from running around and playing hide and seek --  they were squealing in delight -- but hey, as long as they are happy then I can forego my concern with sanitation.  At least the ice was kids-tested and found effective in bringing cheer.  So this must be a fun halo-halo.

The Candidate:


The halo-halo looked, well, like any regular halo-halo, with ice on top and colorful rekados at the bottom.  I stirred and swirled the mix until the colors at the bottom had generally spread around the plastic cup.  I could see langka strips, minatamis na saba, melon strands, pinipig, minatamis na kamote, and colored sago.  I’m pretty sure there’s also ube in it, or at least some purple colored goo that has lent its color to the mixture.

The first spoonful was satisfying enough.  It could have been better though if the jueteng kubrador, who was passing by, announced that the store owner’s bet won; I could have gotten the halo-halo for free as a balato.  But no, I wasn’t that lucky.  But still, the halo-halo was satisfying, it was not too sweet nor too bland.  Though the number of rekados paled in comparison with the number of squealing kids, the halo-halo however came with a two-year old playing with my bike’s rear tire and a grandfather asking how much my bike costs.  Now, that's something you don't get everyday.



The Verdict:

Because of the overall impact of small children cheering me as I spooned the rekados and drank the liquid, this Halo-halo is a winner, as far as I am concerned.  Perhaps, the kids are pleased that I am taking in the product of their dirty hands with considerable gusto.  And at P15 a pop, this halo-halo is not a bad deal at all.  I even asked for some extra kids-massaged ice shaving for my water bottle, so what more can I ask for?