[smartads] My wife saved me from the the vampires at 0737 this morning. Of course I had to get up at 0441 to turn the driveway light out, again at 0537 to turn off the light by the BBQ area, and again at 0614 to go to the CR. Ano? Oh, the vampires, that was because I was dreaming about being stuck in this room with vampires and they just left, and left me all kinds of candy and cookies for some reason. Anyway I was escaping down the fire escape with this lady (no idea who she was) that I pretended to kill, so they’d leave her alone, and I was afraid that the vampires would come back at anytime. That’s when my wife said, “Honey! Could you help me move this?”. Whew! That was close. It’s weird because I’ve had this dream before, but I don’t remember where it left off last time. Maybe I should do a blog of all my dreams. There’d be some weird stuff in there.
Of course I ended up moving the bench all by myself, which is cool, I don’t like her moving any heavy objects when I’m around to do it. Well, back to Philippines stuff.
The BBQ business is hopping, I’m not going to say booming yet, but they are selling quite a bit. It started out so slow too, I didn’t think it was going to go well. The #1 selling thing seems to be pig guts on a stick or the fish balls, not sure which at this time. No kidding. I will put a picture of a bowl of it, before it is put on a skewer and bbq’d. Fish balls are NOT the balls of a fish. They are like fish flavored hush puppies, only usually about the size of a large marble. I already have the picture of the guts, I just wanted to let you know ahead of time what it was. Maybe tonight I’ll take a picture of 1 each of the things they are selling, and be sure to get the fish balls in there.
Today I will be going out. I haven’t been out all week. I’m going to Monterry Meat Shop, get a haircut (30 pesos) and go by Mar’s house. First I will go to Mar’s, it’s the furthest away, and then I will work my way back towards the house. I’m going by Mar’s house to pick up my Tricare form that Marlou was suppose to print for me. I filled out a form on-line and e-mailed it to him, and he is suppose to use the printer there to print it. Be glad when I can afford to get my own printer. I need to mail that form in, or maybe fax it in, if I can find a fax number. After that I will stop to get a haircut. My hair got to where I have to comb it to look good, so I’m going to get a crew cut. Well not a full crew cut, I forget what they call it here, but it’s like a crew cut only you have more hair left. Lastly I will stop by Monterry Meat Shop on the highway, remember that is our favorite meat shop here. They are suppose to have bacon today, according to my wife, and I’m to pick some up. I’ll probably grab a couple more things while I’m there too. Time to go in fact. Ramil just returned with a small car, so we don’t have to drive the big truck downtown. It’s 0945. Be back in a bit.
Okay I’m back. It’s 11:13 now. I got my form, all I have to do is package it up and mail it now, I can’t find a fax number. I got a nice new haircut, but they didn’t have any bacon today, yet. They said maybe after 4:00pm. I did get a few pictures though. I missed 2 good pictures because I didn’t have the camera ready. Actually I missed 1 of those pictures twice. The first one I missed was 2 Americans riding in one tricycle. One was sitting in the regular spot, the other was sitting on the rail out front of the tricycle. Look at the pictures of the tricycles I have on here, if you can’t picture it in your head. The 2nd one, the one I missed twice, was a picture of a horse drawn carriage going down the middle of the street, just like any other vehicle. I did get pictures of Mar’s house, Luciano’s Barber Shop, Monterry Meat House and the electric company (well at least where you pay your bill). Figured I better get pictures of things beside what’s around here. Y’all are probably ready to see more again of outside our house area. I did get some pictures from the second floor of the house, in all directions. There are some electrical and telephone wires in the way though. I may post them anyway, but not today.
When I returned, I found out Lita and Vicky were still downtown. They went to Cobo, that’s the name of the supermarket here. I’m sure they went to the Mercado also. That’s the open market. That is where they would buy the meat for the BBQ, and also buy fruits and vegetables. At least while they are gone it’s quiet around here.
I was going to eat some of the crackers on the refrigerator, but when I looked at them, they were tuna flavored. Crackers with tuna filling, is not my idea of a good cracker to eat.
Tagalog word of the day is another word just like Spanish: libro means book.
I got my first letter from the States yesterday. It was a ‘test’ note card from my Mom. She sent it to test if it would get to me or not. Well Mom, I got it. My best friend, BJ, is suppose to be sending me a package. I hope it gets here. Sending packages to the Philippines is not always a good thing, unless you send it a secure way. But BJ should know that because he’s been married to a Filipina longer than I have.
Just quickly, here are the results of my fantasy football. Of my 58 teams – I won 41 and lost 17. About 7 of those losses were pretty close too. Percy Harvin, Minnesota Def and Joshua Cribbs really did me wrong this week. I hope they can make up for it next week.
You know if there is anything in the Philippines that y’all would like a link to or a picture of, I can probably get it and post it. I guess you could do the same thing, but in case you think of something that would be good for this site, so we can share with the others, please let me know. As long as it isn’t anything obscene (Keith), then I would probably post it.
Tonight I am having steak, fried onions and rice to dinner. In fact, I’m just about finished with it now. There was a little left after the initial meal, so I’m just finishing it off. Had to cook it myself though. Lita marinated it for me, but I had to do all the hard work. It’s cool though, I didn’t mind.
For our little outing to Cebu, I think I’ve found a restaurant we can go to. I found a couple, but this one is closer to the Stateside cuisine I was looking for. Strange thing is, in the States, I rarely went to this restaurant, but I’m hoping the taste is very similar to the Stateside flavor. The name of the restaurant is a secret until tomorrow’s post.
It’s raining again, by the way. That’s like the 4th time it’s rained today. Did the same thing yesterday. Wonder if it will tomorrow.
Tomorrow, tomorrow is when I will post next, because this one is coming to an end. New pictures of my short outing today will be posted tonight. Please leave comments and suggestions for the pictures and for new things I can put here.
Salamat, Paalam
Ive eaten at BZB for over three years. If you want great TexMex, (Chicken in Chopotle Sauce, Fajita grilled Steak, TexMex Chcicken Taco Salad or Fish Tacos) this is the real deal. Not expensive as other places, generous portions, they also serve Cajun, Creole & Soul. The key to this restaurant is that the chef actually cooks in the kitchen. Also he is an ex-pat from America, who knows his way around a kitchen. It has two floors, first floor Bar area, for smokers, and those who enjoy to sit and eat at the bar, then the second floor has mostly families. The great thing about this place is everyone goes there. Filipino’s, ex-pats, tourist, its basically a whole in the wall, but it serves great food, great music, attentive waitstaff, and it doesnt cost a fortune. Try it next time your in Banilad, Crossroads Mall.
You’re hilarious, UJ. What’s the “U” for? Ulysses? Nice looking meat shop. Re your BBQ, I know no one who eats the innards, least of all me. But if that’s what sells there, hey, supply and demand. If you sell beer, that is probably good for sumsuman. Mind you, you don’t want a bunch of rowdy drunks to keep away other customers.
Seriously, I don’t even like the looks of dinugoan You know what that is, don’t you? >:-} Ask Lita. 🙂
Am trying the italic html tags here to see if they work. Just for the local words.
Great idea, posting photos of your surroundings and features or landmarks of Calbayog. Gives us an idea on whether you deserve hardship or combat pay. 🙂
No, not Ulysses, Uncle.
Well there are a lot of people here that eat innards. Lita said she didn’t like them until she marinated them and cooked them, now she does too.
No, I don’t think we’ll be selling beer, at least not now. Maybe after she gets the store fully operational, we’ll consider it.
Oh yeah, I know what it is.
The italic tags worked well here, but in the email I received in my mail, it was messed up.
I want to post my surroundings to give y’all a better idea of what it’s like here. I need to get out more anyway, getting fat again just sitting here. Plus I need more readers and I’m hoping if I jazz it up a bit, or something, then y’all will tell others about my site, they will tell others, and so forth and so on. Getting sponsors is really a secondary thing, I’m starting to like all this blogging stuff, but it’s a close second.
TGI Fridays is my wife’s favorite place but it is expensive. We usually eat at the one at SM Galleria in Manila when we are in the big city. They were supposed to open one at the new Marquis Mall in Angeles City but, thankfully, that has not opened yet.
I’m going to find someplace in Cebu. I heard Dave’s Steakhouse is okay, but then I’ve seen bad reviews on it too.
Also Olin’s Steak house there. TGI Fridays just seems so right, but not sure the cousins will want to spend that much.
Hey, just send that stuff to my email address….JK
Okay…will do! jk2
My favorite restaurant in Cebu is the Blue Zydeco Bayou Bar & Grille. As you can guess from the name, it has cajun and creole foods. The owner/chef is from Louisiana. I had the jambalaya on my last foray there and it was superb. I had it prepared with medium heat and I am glad I did. It was plenty hot. I can’t imagine how hot the hot would be. You can find it at the crossroads mall.
I’m not much into cajun food. I’d like some Tex-Mex or a good steak though. Thinking about going to TGI Fridays there, but it is a bit expensive. May do it anyway because they have so many things I like. Oops! I gave away the secret restaurant in Cebu. Oh well, everyone won’t read this, right? Winda probably will though.