Fiesta

Netnet Camomot .

SOMEONE greeted me, Merry Christmas, this Aug. 19. I had to tell him, Next month pa ang Christmas oi. The American who can understand Cebuano will surely comment on that: But Christmas is in December! Yes, in the United States. But in Pinas, it starts in September.

“Do you remember the 21st night of September?” We danced to that in the late ’70s. Forty years later, “September” is still much around, proving that good music has the power to remain relevant forevermore.

Aretha Franklin, a pillar in the music industry, passed away this Aug. 16. The way she sang, no matter if the one listening were male or female, he/she could relate with this: “’Cause you make me feel/You make me feel/You make me feel like/A natural woman (woman).”

Franklin was a living legend, and now that she has passed on, she left a legacy that only a few could ever copy-paste. People can plagiarize all they want in their drive to become relevant, but pure talent can never be transferred to the desperate wannabe.

There are people who want to have your life. So, they steal your ideas, steal your friends, and malign your reputation. That’s when you realize how important it is to choose your friends.

Politicians also rely on that one true friend when it’s time for them to make crucial decisions. They may listen to their political party or their rivals or their minions, but when they need some wisdom thoughts, they look for their true friend. And that should be unsolicited advice to the political greenhorn whose direction is neither here nor there and who ends up as the aimless candidate—a “friend” to all but a true friend to no one. Be warned that advice from so-called friends is for the latter’s benefit and not yours.

“Dog eat dog” is a term that may shock those with pet dogs, but in this oh so cruel world of users, misusers and abusers, it can be the reality.

And now that it’s Cagayan de Oro’s fiesta, the Cagayanon is definitely not thinking of azucena. Or should that be asocena, with emphasis on the first three letters—aso—the Tagalog word for dog. Imagine a roasted dog as the centerpiece of a fiesta’s buffet table. Que horror! But switch that thought to a roasted pig a.k.a. lechon, and that’s enough to whet the Pinoy’s appetite.

So, dogs as pets, pigs as food. If only that lechon on the buffet table can talk, it will say, It’s unfair! But the possibility of the dog ending up as asocena, hmmm, “All is fair in love and war.”

At the latest Kumbira, though, I could only hope that ingredients were the usual since by the time I finally had the chance to drop by at the Limketkai Atrium on Aug. 17, it was not only on the last day but on the last three hours of the last day—during its awarding ceremonies.

Kumbira has been the flagship project of the Cagayan de Oro Hotel and Restaurant Association (Cohara), with this year’s event as the 22nd. All those years of annually preparing for the culinary show in time for the city fiesta has made Cohara an expert in organizing it.

I covered Kumbira way back when—2004?—for another community paper and would return each year as a media representative to cover it again or as a simple foodie to buy yummy goodies that the exhibitors sell.

Some exhibitors had closed their booths by the time I arrived but “where there’s a will, there’s a way” for the fan who’s hungry for yummy finds. And here’s a new discovery—goods are on sale on the last few hours on the last day. Yay! Suman for P5 apiece. Banana chips almost have of the original price. And there was masi! The seller called it special tikoy, and there I was, insisting, No, that’s masi. As good as the ones sold at Cebu’s La Fortuna. Yum!

Kumbira is the perfect appetizer for the city fiesta. The constant guest may feel like he’s been there, done that with the annual event, but the students, chefs, culinary schools, flair-bartenders, restaurants, hotels, etc. that join the contests will always look forward to the time when they, too, will win the grand prize. It also gives the clueless like me a bird’s eye view of the joy of cooking and baking.

So, the proper Cagayanon greeting for this month is, Happy Fiesta! Next month, it’s going to be, Merry Christmas! Sigh. How time flies.