cheap thrills
can you add more to this list?1. watching fishes in an aquarium.2. watching the ripples grow bigger.3. watching a dish in a microwave oven.4. lying on the ground waiting for cool cloud formations.5. waiting for a star to fall.6. laban ng gagamba.7. having a pair of beetles compete as to which one comes upright first. (variation: lagyan ng bubble gum sa likod ng salagubang, pahigain on its side, at hintayin kung alin ang mauuna. ang saya!)8. waiting for which person in the procession will accidentally step on a pile of shit in the middle of the road.so what else did i miss?
pwetster
pwetster (n). 1. a hipster gone bad. 2. a midsection wardrobe malfunction. 3. the grease boy wanderer in Halang, Calamba
A month ago, en route to Tagaytay from Los Baños, our van stopped for gas in Halang, Calamba. This is the territory of one of those infamous wanderers whose greasy hair and body paled in comparison to his pair of pants - it was a wardrobe malfunction. The common deduction was that "grease boy" probably originally styled a birthday suit until someone gave him a pair of pants. From then on, he became something else entirely.
PWETSTER.
It was my 9-yr old cousin, Dexter, who came up with that name. As he saw Grease Boy do his cat walk, he chuckled when he conceptualized the name. He thought it was creative; the adults thought Dex was brilliant.
The kids in the van (a 5yr old, a 9, 10, 21, 28, 42, 43, 52 & 59 yr old) were following those pair of buns with amusement. How could someone in that outfit look from the front? This was the question posed by our 5yr old. So as the van started, the excitement built up. However, at just the exact time, Pwetster turned into a corner, leaving an imprint in our minds of nothing more than his pwet.
(Collective groan from the kids).
"That's ok," the optimist said. "We have a cam. We can take his picture on his way home!"
(Collective YEHEY from the kids)
This was momentarily pushed aside as we enjoyed Tagaytay. After our usual morning mass, we shopped around and agreed to have some cheap thrill at Mushroom Booger Burger. Two hours later, we went to our favorite Reject* store in Sta Rosa, Laguna for yema and treats.
And then, it was time to go home.
It was somewhere in the Real, Calamba shortcut that we remembered our supposed mission. We scoured the highway for any signs of Pwetster ("You guys look right, we're looking left"), and found our man in a waiting shed near the Badminton place, just a few meters from the gas station. Our boy was seated, face front, with one leg up! (GASP!)
However, there was no wardrobe malfunction to speak of. Our mission was a failure.
Still, the adults in the van (the kids' parents, the designated patriarch, the designated matriarch, and the designated photographer) thought it was probably for the best. What would the imprint be on the kids' minds when Pwetster became something else entirely? Would DICKSTER traumatize these kids, leave them with a complex, or would they grow up to be normal adults like the rest of us?
Nevertheless, DICKSTER wouldn't exactly be thrilling for our 9-yr old DEXTER.
On a lighter note, DARNA is a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen.
*Reject Stores is the term our barkada in the van calls the chain of stores along the highway of Sta Rosa, a few meters from the Enchanted Kingdom. It is in these stores where rejected chocolate chip cookies, chocolate mallows, choco-covered cookies, pretzels, wafers, and other sweets are sold in factory/reject/consuelo-de-bobo prices. The only treats not considered precious rejects are those humongous pointy yemas in boxes that also sell cheap.
catting
One August night 10 years ago, Alma, Mish, Cel and I had bet.
These sisses were my seatmates in Advanced Genetics 1. We sat side-by-side in the lecture hall twice a week half-listening, half passing notes to each other. Each note was funnier than the last. (I even have one of those in my room that I unearthed recently). We have a particular fondness for conspiracy theories, the kookier it got, the better. We sometimes like to regard ourselves as the Puppet Masters of the existing love teams in our organization.
Ironically, we didn't have a love team of our own.
And so, one starry August night, as with any other night, the four of us traversed the lush scenery that stretched from Biosci to the UP gate. We always favored walking than the jeep. It allowed us to extend our verbal intercourse even on subjects as trivial as the longevity of the career of upcoming horizontally-challenged bold stars as Priscilla Almeda. In the middle of our tittering, jeering, and the quasi-devious scheming reminiscent of Mr. Burns, the absence of someone to give that spark hit us with a mammoth blow. We weren't disturbed by it before, but that August night was bizarre. Maybe it was the stars. Maybe it was the sound of frat men singing in their tambayan. Or maybe it was the thought that we were again spending Christmas with no one to make our hearts do the macarena. Not that it mattered before. It was then that someone suggested that we have to take matters into our own hands and generate a love team for ourselves. May it be for love, for friendship, for the need for a new alalay who would withstand our numerous idiosyncrasies and worship us like goddesses; may it be for free amenities, or for mere bragging rights. We were, after all, the Puppet Masters.
But then, if we're talking 4months, that was a long shot for us. So we made a more reasonable bet:
The first one who comes closest to having a boyfriend before Christmas vacation sets in, wins. Losers get to throw the party.
The first step to this bet is choosing our victims within the UP campus premises. Mish and Cel had their targets. Alma and I had to find one.
The one that came to mind is this guy whom I found interesting some 2years before. He was interesting. Not precisely the object of my affection, but enough to get me interested. He wasn't, by general opinion, a matinee idol. That was precisely what I got attracted to. He had a certain charm that breathed a new definition for coolness. I just didn't take an active effort to be interested before. But since the advent of this bet, I had better get my moves on. He was my crush in a blink of an eye. Making that a reality was only a matter of time.
The only rules were not to do anything that would degrade the org and ourselves as we had a rep to protect. Employing the aid of a bridge was a violation.
Once we named out targets, it was all systems go.
I hadn't counted on some sisses outside the bet getting wind of the situation. Their watchful eyes were glued on to us. They kept score. Their proficiency in commentating went from non-existent to competent. Our girls were neck-deep in their compassion to give us a daily, accurate blow-by-blow account of where our targets were and who was leading the race. They were the unbiased outsiders we inadvertently needed to ascertain whether out targets were getting goo-goo eyes for us as well. They didn't mind that they were not in on the bet. It was their time to take the back seat and swoon! The more they monitored us with our targets, the more I found out they were falling for my target! They suddenly realized what I saw in this guy and understood why those pretty boys in the same league as Rico Yan wasn't appealing to me. It was flattering for me. It covertly meant that I have good taste, I think. What I didn't count on was Alma also found herself enamored with this guy and losing interest in her own!! Arrrgh! He's mine!!!
As the months progressed, it became confusing as to which girl was following which guy. It seemed as though my rivals were gradually drawn to all of our targets, particularly mine. I surmise it was played up with the reality that our audience and commentators were smitten with my target.
Fast forward: Christmas party, 10 yrs ago. Mish, Alma, Cel & I had a separate party in a private pool over gin and sprite. No one won.
Irony does wonders to one’s psyche. We pondered on our adeptness as Puppet Masters for a whole minute. Melancholy wasn’t in our agenda. At least no one was heart-broken.
phad thai
A friend suggested that I make a mirror blog of the existing one I had in friendster for reasons I'd rather not enumerate. However, this would entail copying all that I've written into this new blog, which is toxic! So I'll start making that mirror today. Yay!Think of this recipe as my way of welcoming ya.This was what I was doing last night. Haven’t done it in 2 years! I lost the recipe I was accustomed to, and couldn’t quite remember that version to a T. So I googled for a vegetarian version. I got lots of them, but it wasn’t quite as my original recipe. This is the closest that I got. However, it ain’t ovo-lacto-friendly! But I took care of that! ;-)
Phad thais, like in most thai restos, have chicken. But you can make your own alterations – tahong, or mushrooms for instance.
Another alteration is the egg. My original veggie version had the egg scrambled first, sliced up, and then added to the mix. I haven’t tried this version where you add the egg like it was nido soup.
You can also add peanut sauce or use 1tsp peanut oil. Honestly, I haven’t tried it with peanut sauce/oil yet because wala kami nun dito sa bahay. Hehe! Hanggang roasted peanuts lang na binayo. Syempre, wala din po akong lime wedges. Hehe!
The recipe calls for 2 tbsp of paprika (labuyo). I used 4 small pcs which is approximately 1/2 tbsp, They found it so hot na raw. What more if I did 2 tbsp!
Finally, the rice noodles that are best for this is the flat, white/transparent rice noodles. They’re available at your local Supermarket. Cheap lang. You probably just don’t notice it. I haven’t, until I found the need to search for one.
I’m no coke/pepsi fan, pero masarap it with coke or sago with pandan.
Ayos ba? Kung masipag ka, go!
Phad Thai
Ingredients:
8 Oz rice noodles
1/4 cup oil
1/3 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 T paprika
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup sugar
2 T tamarind juice or concentrate
1 cup Extra firm tofu, fried in 1 cc cubes
1 egg
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 pound beheaded, deshelled, deveined, tail removed and otherwise massicred shrimp or thinly sliced boneless chicken breast
1 lime cut into wedges
Soak rice noodles in warm water for 1 hour. Drain
In large wok, heat oil, garlic and meat over medium high heat until meat is cooked
Add rice noodles, stirring often until rice noodles turn translucent
Add fish sauce, tamarind, sugar, and paparika
Stir fry until mixture combined
Stir in tofu & egg. Cook until egg sets
Remove from heat, mix in bean sprouts, chopped onion and peanuts
Lightly dust with more paparika and garnish with lime wedges.
