AT my birthday dinner, my family had fun with some songs’ lyrics.
For example, there’s The Bangles’ “Eternal Flame”: Close your eyes, open your eyes, close again/I don’t want to close open/Do you understand? I don’t understand.
Try singing that. Let’s see if it’s fun for you, too.
For Men Without Hats’ “The Safety Dance,” change its first line to, We can dance Boholano. Or, We can dance Cebuano.
For Foreigner’s “I Want To Know What Love Is,” change that to, Among iro way rabis.
For Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder’s “Ebony and Ivory”: Imo ni ug ako ni.
Haha!
And since I had reached a certain age that day, we, the older generation, started recalling the venues of Cagayan de Oro’s nightlife way back when: Zigzag at Pabayo Street, Channel One at Caprice by the Sea, Atlantis near Ororama Cogon, On Deck at Cruz Taal Street, Salamin at Mindanao Hotel, Prince near Cogon, Colors near Philtown, and Gonzi along Velez Street, second floor of Persimmon, I think.
Nowadays, the nightlife doesn’t revolve around the disco anymore but at the bars located at Corrales, SM Northwing, uptown CDO, downtown CDO, wherever they are, the bar-hoppers will be there. Much like how coffee drinkers will want to spend quality time at cafés even if the coffee at home is the cheaper choice.
It’s the ambience that people look for. The right ambience for the tequila and apple-flavored light beer, for the Spanish latte and caramel macchiato, plus the pulutan and the baked goodies.
The ambience does not necessarily have to be classy and sosyal. Sometimes the more rustic, the better, where you can relax and forget about the business permit renewal and the value-added tax and the real property tax. That’s for the first quarter of the year. And then, there’s April when the income tax is due. Compute all that while sipping alcohol and coffee.
Which is better, alcohol or coffee? With my current diet, an electrolyte drink is highly recommended. Just add salt to water and voila! But champagne is still the best for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
Leftovers are the norm after special occasions and we’ve been having lechon paksiw since Christmas Day. It’s perfect for the low-carb diet. Since there are two birthdays in the family this month, it’s lechon paksiw forevermore. The palate fatigue resulting from this meat diet may be fixed by bulad which has a different taste and texture.
After indulging in high-carb goodies during the holidays and my birthday, I take comfort in what low-carb advocate Dr. Eric Westman said: “You do the best you can. Progress, not perfection, is really the mantra we have.”
Amy Berger, who’s Westman’s colleague, also has something to say about what the Philippine low-carb community calls as “nadapa” in high-carb food: “I always encourage doing what works for you. Eat bacon and eggs for three days, or steak and eggs, or sardines, and no keto products. For those who are hungry, don’t worry about the calories as long as there are no carbs. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Keep the carbs only 50 grams a day.”
Only 50 grams a day? It can even be zero grams a day. Absolutely no carbs at all. Yes, good luck na lang.
