Halo-halo

Netnet Camomot

WAKING up with sweat running down what’s left of the fats was SOP on Saturday morning. Blackout. Again.

There was a 7 am debate on ABS-CBN starring Cagayan de Oro’s candidates for congressmen, but how to watch that without a generator?

Joy Tabor texted me last Friday about that debate, and my reply was, 7 am?!

Watching a 7 am debate is a challenge to the minute brain that’s recovering from dreamland. And it proved to be more challenging without electricity.

Good thing the lights went on before hunger pangs could worsen to begging the househelp to prepare bacon and eggs and please add garlic rice and coffee loaded with honey and cream to that.

Blackouts mean no blender. No blender means no protein shake. And on Saturday, the fats needed to unload toxins ingested on Friday night at the “LOL Laugh Out Loud” show of Ate Gay at the Rosario Strip at Limketkai Center.

In case you haven’t heard, the LKK Center has revived its nightlife for Friday and Saturday nights, featuring cool bands and yummy food. Kim Daguman and Ramil Caballero are working under the supervision of LKK’s market development officer Cristina Maagad for this latest project, and that’s where I had loads of rice, chicken barbecue, scallops with cheese, strawberry shake, fried and salty peanuts, diet soda, and chips. All in one night.

Gean Cesar looked at me and asked, Abi ba nako protein shake na lang imong diet? Well, those were not her exact words. She simply mentioned the brand of that protein shake but since that wellness brand doesn’t allow writing about the brand, there’s a need to resort to how-to-hint-about-it-without-mentioning-the-brand.

Anyway, Saturday meant detox and the protein shake but I wasn’t looking forward to shaking a shaker to make that shake. But the lights came back and–voila–I could use the blender for the shake.

Diet is a constant in the life of a recovering foodie. Because on Saturday evening, there I was again, feasting on sinugbang tiyan ng baboy, kinilaw, and a buko pandan dessert at the SM branch of Roadhouse, while also getting a bite of the bacon sandwich that Linda Costales and Pinky Curilan ordered.

And then on Sunday night, it was time for McDo goodies for the family dinner. Why McDo? The initial choices for that dinner were to-go food from the clubhouse or Roadhouse. The clubhouse eventually won because we were craving for its beef salpicado and kare-kare. But with the nephew as the only one willing to go out of the car to get that order, and the rest of us in pangbalay clothes, drive-thru food won in the end.

And then, on Monday afternoon, Kim, Ramil, Gean and I were at Ale for a meeting, and there was Gean again, looking at me like, What the…?, as I feasted on chicken, chopsuey, rice, biko, and topped all that with diet soda to lessen the guilt.

Well, that was an extended weekend to recover from income tax season–that could be the reason for my daily indulgence in food that the wellness coach has banned from my diet. And yet, despite the April 15 deadline for the income tax, there was SM CDO starting its sale on that day! And that sale lasted up to 12 midnight for both Friday and Saturday. Talk of moving forward.

Taxes are a constant in one’s life. If only we could deduct shopping expenses from our gross income, to lessen the income tax due. Yup, dream on.

Each blackout gives us a reason to not pay taxes and to blame the government again for its lack of foresight. That government has had many years to prepare the country and enable it to catch up with its Asian neighbors. And yet, listening to the presidentiables talk makes us want to focus on our mayoralty candidates instead since the result of the local election will have an immediate impact on the city. You’re stuck in traffic, you see the vendors at Cogon and those chickens along Limketkai Drive, and you’ll realize how important it is to choose a city mayor who can stick to his campaign promises.

This is 2016, it’s the 21st century. There are now many ways to communicate with each other as long as you have a gadget and wifi which I love to call as wheeeee-fee because “free” wifi in Pinas still requires at least paying for a cup of coffee.

And even if that wifi is “free,” it still requires some god to say, Let there be light. No power means generator. But no generator means no wifi. Who among us can afford to buy generators? Thus, we go to the mall when there’s a blackout. Have some halo-halo there so you can avail of the “free” wifi. Make sure the halo-halo has all of Cagayan de Oro’s political colors–yellow, violet, orange, green–because halo-halo if translated to English means “mixed together.” Now, what can you mix together if you have only one color there?

With the coolness of the halo-halo now rushing through your fats, you can finally discern the meaning behind the words that these political candidates are blurting out in their debates. And then, you pick a color from that halo-halo and make that as the basis of your choices on May 9. Will it be mango, ube, orange or avocado, or a halo-halo of these colors? Abangan.