Thursday, December 29, 2011

PI Vacay Day 1: Gastronomic Adventures and Disasters

 To say that my family to include mommy dearest was excited for Fam Och's arrival would be an understatement. We arrived at Casa Corazon at 0230 on 30 November after the missing baggage fiasco at the airport and the ever enlightening drive on the SLEX (pronounced ES-Lex...as in South Luzon Expressway) in which I believed our van would catapult to our certain deaths once every ten seconds or so. A welcome party to include a house blessing was scheduled that same afternoon.

It was ambitious, yes, considering factors of jet lag and children and such. But surprisingly, sleep struggles were not to be an issue this trip.  Apparently, the fam somehow managed to nap at precisely the perfect times during our flights to synchronize our internal clocks to that of the Philippine time zone. I have no clue how that came about, although there were many a time back in the Yukon in which I attempted to figure out some sort of sleeping schedule strategy on the plane (yeah, waste of time...but I had to try).

What didn't come as a surprise was the Mister's stint with food poisoning. The Philippines and food poisoning are best friends. Drinking water is the usual culprit. My mother was thoroughly prepared for our weak foreign stomachs and had a cache of filtered water at the ready...in the kitchen, in the upstairs fridge, and even in all the bathrooms (we were not even allowed to dip our toothbrushes in water from the tap).  Even the ice cubes in the freezer were filtered. So we should have been all set, right?

Well...no. This is MY husband after all, whose luck with these sort of things could qualify him as a certifiable jinx.

The man got food poisoning ON THE PLANE.  Yep, you heard me. Somewhere between the continental United States, Korea, and the Philippines, a nasty little bug claimed my hubbyman as victim. Upon landing in Manila, he had already broken out into a sweat and as I feared for our lives during the drive to momma's, he was curled up into a ball of spastic intestines.

Aside from the precursor introductions, the Mister spent Day One in the bathroom or in bed. Poor guy.


The parish priest made a house call to bless the house after extensive renovations were completed.

After a blessing, it is tradition to throw some coins for prosperity. 

Yeah, that's a whole pig. Roasted on a spit for hours and hours. The Mister was uber excited for this...poor guy missed out.

My Auntie Elsie's specialty pork kebabs marinated in her super secret sauce. This stuff is so good it's ridiculous. Liv loved this so much, she ate this for the majority of her meals there.

Huge shrimp for our seafood aficionado, Sophia. She refused to eat anything else. 

Pancit bihon. Soooo good.

The food spread was expansive. It took two long tables to lay everything out. I was in tummy time heaven.

The girls made friends effortlessly. They were always surrounded by my cousins and their children. 
JR, Jasper, Sophie, Richelle, Justin

Liv and two of her favorite three friends, Jasper, being her original number one "friend".

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