IF people can binge-eat and binge-drink this Christmas season, I can binge-write columns – like what I did one weekend while staying home to resolutely avoid the Christmas traffic that worsens on weekends.
Binge-eating is not possible on the carnivore diet. Try stuffing yourself with ribeyes, T-bone steaks, roast beef, beef patties, bulalo, lechon, crispy pata, grilled liempo, sisig, lengua estofado, and dinuguan – and that’s for one meal only.
But binge-eating is entirely possible on the Standard American Diet – a.k.a. SAD: cookies, cakes, biscuits, crackers, chips, nuts, popcorn, French fries, ice cream, fruits, desserts, etc. You can even eat all the butter cookies in that Christmas tin in one day. Which I did, once upon a time.
And binge-drinking is also possible. Once you’re drunk, there’s no stopping you from drinking more.
So, how was your noche buena? Did it meet your expectations?
As long as the lechon and dinuguan are yummy, my expectations are met. All the other dishes on the buffet table are just desserts.
Christmas is definitely the time to indulge in good food as people gather for reunions, parties, and the traditional noche buena and media noche.
The Cagayan de Oro uptowner’s main consideration now is for the resto or caterer to have an uptown branch so it’s easier to pick up the food at the agreed time.
December 24 and December 31 are the busiest dates in the lechon, resto, and catering industries. Only the lechonero can be relied on for door-to-door delivery. Good luck na lang if you expect the resto and caterer to do the same. So, picking up your order is the wise alternative.
A few Christmases ago, there was this uptown resto where people waited for hours for their orders because the kitchen failed to have the food ready at the agreed pickup time. Did they accept orders beyond their capacity? Hmmm. Lesson learned. Never again.
By the time Christmas Eve sets in, Christmas shopping, parties, traffic, and work and tax deadlines have already tested your tolerance and patience – you just want your food orders to be there ASAP.
New Year’s Eve, however, is another story. That’s the time to reflect on the outgoing year while making New Year’s resolutions that will remain hopeful until January 2 and start to fizzle out by January 3.
I’ve stopped making New Year’s resolutions after noticing they’re the same each year: diet, weight loss, and exercise. These three have become the perennial favorites since food is synonymous with Christmas. By the time you’re writing that list, your body fat has already increased by five percent.
Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are the two nights when I conveniently forget about diets since MiMo Cafe’s baked goodies and Coach Jowen Racines’s Basque cheesecakes are always worth the carbs.
As for reading, writing, and spring cleaning, they’re now my hard habits to break – I don’t have to list them down anymore.
