Something Fishy

After much furor and a handful of errors, my fledgling chef career has reached its lowest point. I came from the grocery store and brought home a small plastic bag of galunggong, among others, to cook sometime in the middle of the week. Incidentally, I googled galunggong or gigi for short and learned that female gigi is hard-tail mackerel in English while male gigi is round scad. Of course, I had no way of telling the gender of the bunch of dead fish lying on the kitchen sink so I'm not going to refer to these in English for purposes of this entry but will instead use the fish's popular nickname among us Pinoys.


It was my second time to buy gigi and the first time was uneventful as it should be. And so nothing prepared me for the shock of finding my gigis unready for the freezer, uncleaned, complete with all their insides that should have been taken care of by the grocery staff. I was in panic mode! My husband was not there to do something or, at the very least, to listen to me curse. I had never cleaned a single fish in my life before and had no idea how to do it. All I knew was that there was icky stuff to take out of it and that was it. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it! Gore has never been my kind of thing. I watched Kill Bill with eyes closed for the most part of the movie. I dropped out of B.S. Biology knowing I'd never have the stomach to open up a frog. So how? How on earth could I possibly pull this one off?


I took a deep breath, tongs in one hand, plastic covering the other, I tried to extract whatever needed extracting but everything just won't come off. So I did away with the tongs and gave it another try with my kitchen shears. When that still didn't work, I settled with my hands.

Only when I was over and done with the job did I really stop to look again at the poor gigis. It was an appalling sight! One fish's body gaped open as if it was attacked by a wild animal. One seemed to have lost its head to a vicious encounter with a psychopath. And the rest looked like they were abused, mauled, tortured by a person who had gone amok.


I was home alone and was near tears. By the time my husband showed up, I was in a foul mood and I refused to speak to him until I fell asleep. It took me quite some time to accept that I just did not take to cooking—and other related tasks—like a fish to water.

25 Random Things About Moi

Just sharing something that has been going around Facebook for weeks now. So here goes:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.

1. I am banlag. For those who do not know, banlag is the opposite of cross-eyed. In my case, caused by watching TV sideways. Though no doctor has ever confirmed this.
2. I’m always on a high after a videoke night. Yes, even if I never hit the high notes or any notes for that matter.
3. I had piano lessons with a lola for six years and had secret hopes of becoming a virtuoso which, of course, did not materialize.
4. I was a quiz bee champion. In Philippine History. I lost the division level—2 steps before national level—to a very easy question that I overlooked while reviewing. My mother was furious.
5. Every night for more than a month, my husband Nubs and I never missed a viewing of Across the Universe, either the making or the movie itself.
6. I started smoking at age 13 and quit only when my father was diagnosed with lung cancer.
7. I have not forgiven the adult person who, on several occasions, was deliberately unkind to my little Indie. Hell hath no fury like a mother whose child was scorned.
8. I am a certified hothead.
9. On the other hand, I can be very charming when I choose to be—at Customs when I’m carrying excess baggage or at flea markets when I’m haggling for something I’m dying to get my hands on.
10. I used to be quite good at billiards.
11. My most embarrassing moment was standing under the rain somewhere near the Sunken Garden with suds in my hair. (No, don’t blame it on the rain. Blame it on the shower gel that I grabbed when I ran out of gel!)
12. I honestly enjoy doing any domestic chore that involves water. Washing clothes. Cleaning the bathroom. Anything.
13. Tell me a secret and I will bring it to my grave. As in.
14. Many times I have been called a bad influence. But that remains to be proven. Haha!
15. As I push 40, age has become a consideration when I’m shopping for clothes. And yes, shoes. I have this feeling that one cannot get away with everything upon reaching a certain age. I am not Madonna, after all.
16. A psychic friend once told me that I have powers the same as hers.
17. I am a shameless kuripot. I’m a sucker for bargains. And a “sale” sign is enough to send me into frenzy.
18. A good conversation is enough to keep me entertained on a night out. Alcohol is now just an option.
19. I have survived the first 38 years of my life without seafood and vegetables. And I just turned 38 late last year.
20. I need funny people in my life.
21. I wish I were all grown-up during the 60s and the 70s.
22. I am extremely close to my sisters. And I absolutely adore my nephews and niece.
23. I would like to believe that I’m a very reliable friend.
24. I’m on to something that I should have done before. But I ain't telling. Yet.
25. This is my second life. Period.

Shiny Happy Little People

I have found time and time again that kids are the easiest people to please in the world. It also doesn't take much to make them happy. Extremely happy.

It was a seemingly ordinary morning on the last Saturday of January when we, transients in my mother's Batangas home, woke unusually early. We all decided to the make most of the morning, quickly jumped out of bed and headed for the beach. The beach was no longer the beach of my childhood. There was a new promenade to speak of. And there were playgrounds! The kids ran to make a go for the swing, monkey bars and everything. So I took out my camera and tried the best I could to capture the smiles on their young excited faces.