Another ineffectual day of work. I need to get started earlier, work straight through lunch, and then I can eff-off in the afternoon.
In the evening it was out to dinner at Spooks. Mike Bird (henceforth known solely as "Bird", as he prefers) and Emelyn were there for the first time ever. Bird really shuns the nightlife when he is in The Philippines, preferring to sequester himself and his family in his riparian bamboo existence out in the jungle, save for the occasional chores and shopping and appointments. The reason they were there tonight was because they were staying at the hotel across the street, so that they could catch an early-morning ferry to the island of Bohol for a few days' vacation. Randy and Cherry Stirm were there to, out from their secret location in Cagayan De Oro, where they still are keeping their heads down after the death threats.
Epril and I usually don't eat the buffet at Spooks. I can get my 180 pisos worth... or close to it, but Epril couldn't eat 180 pisos of food at one sitting if it were Kobi steak. Bah... I should stop bitching: $3.50 for an all-you-can-eat buffet... and I'm calculating whether my Sunshine is getting her money's worth. Sorry.
The food on Spooks buffet — as I said, I haven't had it in a while — is really quite good. I started off with 5 or 6 chicken skewers brushed with a nice tangy barbeque sauce. Then there was strips of pork in a brown gravy on top of little balls of what are simply the best mashed potatoes ever. I had 4 plates of that. From there, it was on to "chicken cordon bleu nuggets"... bite sized versions of the famous dish — had about 12 of them. After that was a very nice fruit salad with bits of that local version of Velveeta, the white-colored "Eden" cheese mixed in. Three servings of that. (There were some other dishes too that I didn't try: Vegetables, pancit/pasta are the ones I can remember.)
Hell... I ate enough that between Epril and I, we got our 360 pisos worth.
After that it was back on the motorcycle home to Jasaan. Epril doesn't like riding on the motorcycle with me much. It makes her nervous. She is funny though, because she has no ability to judge speed: Sometimes I hunch down over the handlebars in my "aerodynamic pose", and Epril immediately starts poking me in the side, shouting "Slow down!" I look down at the speedometer and we are only going 60 kph (45 mph). Other times, I'll be driving along at 90 kph (60 mph), but in a sitting-up-and-relaxed position, and Epril will be as happy as a clam... or at least as happy as a clam who would rather not be on a motorcycle at all. The thing I don't understand is that back when we were in Thailand, I often went down the highway at 120 kph (80 mph), and Epril never complained about it then. (Perhaps all the cars buzzing by us at 140 kph was the reason.)
This weekend is the City of Jasaan's birthday. So all kinds of events are planned. After getting back from Spooks, we stopped by the town plaza near the house tonight and wandered around. All of the barangays (neighborhoods) had pretty little nipa huts up showing civic pride. Our "home" barangay of Kimaya (we live in the barangay of Upper Jassan, but Epril's family lives in Kimaya) had the nicest little bamboo pavilion of them all, with a collection of aubergines, ginger, and beans, and (naturally, since that is where the port is) a fish tank with the local fauna swimming about).
Finally, it was home where I played with Tyson a bit, and then went to bed.
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