The Quarantined Life: Missing Silay City's Kakanin!

(Yummy delicacies galore!😍)

One morning, a month before this awful pandemic, I got up early just as the sun was peeping through the eastern horizon of Negros Island here in the Philippines.

And my reason for waking up early?

(Purple-colored puto lanson and 

kalamay-hati wrapped in banana leaves)

To visit Silay City, the home of my favorite delicacies ever since my palate learned how to savor and enjoy dulce gatas, salab, fresh lumpia, puto lanson, bitso-bitso and other yummy snacks that Tia Bodók carried on her wide winnowing basket! 

Silay is a charming city in Negros Occidental in the Philippines that proudly celebrates its own gastronomic heritage!

When I was still in grade school, Tia Bodók was the vendor from Silay City who roamed my neighborhood in Victorias and singlehandedly introduced the flavors of Silay when she came to town during weekdays. 

(Colored puttu, or puto)

Schools and offices were open during the week and it was during these days that her delicacies sold out before lunch time and she could go back home to Silay to probably nap the whole afternoon.😄 

It was a long time ago; dear Tia Bodók must have passed since. It's sad I never knew her real name. I guess, as a kid, my attention was always on her yummy snacks all the time.😭

 (Combô or banana slices fried in batter, leftmost,

 turon in the middle and bitso-bitso on the right)

(Turon is golden banana slices, wrapped and then bathed in caramelized brown sugar!)

On that day when I made the trip, I thought of Tia Bodók and the daily bus rides she made to get to Victorias along with the delicacies that were prepared by Silaynons for the enjoyment of their neighbors, the Victoriahanons. 

 (White and purple puttu!)

(Bitso-bitso!)

And during this quarantine period, I have been deprived of those delicacies as vendors could not source kakanin from the Silay City Public Market as people from other towns could not get into the market. There was no public transport available, too.

           (A tourist eyeing his favorite delicacies)

(Out-of-towners visiting the kakanin stalls 
inside Silay City Public Market)

But hopefully, when the restrictions are lifted and I am able to travel to Silay City with my face mask, hand sanitizers and excitement, I could get inside the Silay City Public Market again and get myself those yummy Silaynon delicacies to enjoy! 😀

Let the countdown begin!😎

La Cuaresma De Cuarentena: A Quarantined Lent

The corona virus picked the perfect time of the year to punish us all: Lent. 

These days, Lent really feels like how it was during the Holy Week of the past when no one blared their radios and music players, television shows were all about biblical stories, most fasted and abstained from eating meat, and everyone stayed home.

Before, it was bad luck when people went to the beach or traveled during the Holy Week. Drowning incidents about revelers who went to rivers or beaches to frolic were attributed to the 'mari-it' atmosphere. 

'Mari-it' is a Hiligaynon word that means haunted because it is believed that engkantos are out and about during the Holy Week, and those who didn't care about staying put had it coming, so to speak. 

But this time, as the government ordered an enhanced community quarantine, no one freely roams the streets except to get food, no one travels to other places in the island except to deliver food, and sadly for most, no one can party due to social distance rules. Worse, no one can get married at the church and no requiem mass can be said for the dead. This virus literally can hold off a couple's public display of affection as well as postpone a departed's trip to heaven.

Fisherfolk though can still go out to the sea to fish but probably have to sell them at cheaper prices since they could not freely bring them to the public markets. But their kids, I'm sure, are having a good time swimming close by. I envy them. 😄

And also the farmers - they are still able to cultivate their backyard farms and harvest any fruit or vegetable they need. And their kids can play in the gardens under the sun. I envy them, too. 😜

But for us here in the urban settlements, we need to stay home. It's for the best. 

We restrict our movements; we restrict the virus from moving around.  Nobody knows if one is a carrier because he or she looks healthy, until he or she gets sick or gets tested. 

We all stay home but still share extra food with those who we think need it more. 

But let's not forget: we don't let politicians exploit the situation.

Call them out for passing the donated goods as their own. 

Call them out for not being transparent, for overpricing goods for donation, for keeping the choice donations for their own use, for using the crisis as a publicity to further their political agenda, and most important, for not making sure the rice and perishable goods paid for by taxpayers' money and distributed to the people are actually fit for human consumption.

In short, call them out for being dishonest and inconsiderate human beings in this time of crisis and especially in this time of Lent - the only time during the year when we re all reminded that...

Someone shared His life, bread and wine with others.

Someone preferred to wash the dusty, dirty feet of his followers than they washed His.

Someone preferred to be sold like a piece of commodity for 30 pieces of silver and even forgave such betrayal.

And Someone was crucified so that others would be redeemed. 😭

Quarantined or not, it is still Lent. 🙏

                                    * * *

Now, help this little boy find his mother and tell him to stay home.😍