Daily Report: Beer, Then BBQ, Then Babies

Another rather bad day of work. I spent a bit too much time blogging, I'm afraid. Well, some days are like that.

I had leftover sweet and sour chicken that Epril made. Susan taught her how to make the dish on Monday, and then Epril made it herself on Thursday. That dish goes a long way: We're going to get four meals out of one batch, and that batch only cost $4. Tasty and economical, and as Martha says, that's a good thing.

In the evening, it was out to Spooks for beers. Maybe someday The Philippines will get to the point where imported beers find their way into the market... but for now, you have only one major and two minor choices, all made in The Philippines. I chatted with all of my friends: Ron VanOrden, Andy Gilbert, Chris MacQueen, Harry Hopkins. (By the way Ron, "tit for tat" is a 500-year-old phrase explained here.)

After that, Epril and I went over to Kinse Amigos to hang out with the locals and have some bar-be-que. I don't know why I enjoy their chicken so much there compared to other places, but I do. It must be the way the outside is dripping with bar-be-que sauce, with those layers of fire-blackened skin that slide right off, and nice tender meat underneath. Epril and I ate a whole small chicken together, I had a beer and she had a coke. Total price, $3.80. That's a good thing too.

Kinse Amigos is easy to find if you're a local, impossible to find if you're not. The best I can do is put up this map on the right (here it is in wikimapia). Maybe I'll see you there someday. It's one of the few regular expatriate watering holes in town.

Oh... I forgot to mention: They also have free WiFi internet there and also you can rent Honda Wave motorcycles there for 200 pisos ($4) per day.

Later in the evening, we joined up with Michael Turner and his Valles-family in-laws for a little nephew's first birthday party. The family had rented out Sentro Restaurant for the bash, and there was a buffet meal. In the Philippines, the biggest parties always seem to be for babies. Teenagers and adults... and even kids: I've never seen a big party for them, but first birthday parties always rock.

Anyway, there were tons of cute babies at the party, and I love cute Asian babies (that's the birthday boy in the photo to the left). They love me too: Baby jaws drop to the floor when they see their first face with hair growing out of it. Then, I don't know why... maybe even at that young age they can recall Jesus and Santa or something... then they are all smiles.