I ran down for shower but the painter was working on the window of the bathroom. I can see his feet and I do not want to put a show for him. His ladder was also blocking the way out for my car. I thought maybe the chance is only helping me to keep my resolution away from unnecessary expenses.
Then Grace cited that we can actually just explore and have lunch. We were particularly hoping there would be some Filipino food there. Hong was very supportive of our plan. He knew that parking would be a concern and he drove us to the venue. The fair covered a considerable length of the street. And it took us three hours to comb the display.
The thing reminded me of a Tabo-an. It was relaxing for us to walk around and bringing back memories of the Tabo sa Banay for me and Divisoria and Baclaran for Grace. The smell of food started to stir our appetite. Our first stop was a Korean BBQ and it was $3 a stick. We had our apprehensions so we took just one each. It was good. We started talking about sisig, shomai, paksiw, cassava and many more so that our desire for Pinoy food heightened.
Over an hour later, we came across a Chinese dumpling. It was $5 for 6 pieces and we started to drool. Still having doubts on the taste we decided to share and it was good. Much later we came across a Filipino stall and finally we found the shomai. It was $5 for 4 pieces. Although it was a bit costly compared to the other two we felt sure that was what we wanted. We decided we should get one order each. To our dismay, the dish tasted more of the extender rather than its expected ingredients. It was horrible. We could hardly finish it and if it was not of the amount we paid I personally feel like throwing it.
Not far from the Pinoy stall was another kababayan selling halo-halo. The weather was getting cold but simply because we missed the food we ordered one but this time we decided to share. We sat by the side of the road like street children and dug our plastic spoons into our cup. In all honestly and practicality we knew we could make a better one by crushing ice at home and putting in whatever bottled ingredients we can buy in the Asian shop. It was a frustrating conclusion.
Late in the night, I lie in bed thinking of my friends cooking which I am happy to pay but did not, Paul's empanada; Michelle's mandunggo; Adrian's roasted beef; Wawa's chicharon; Meur's BBQ sauce; Danny's kinilaw, Jo's pochero, Ron's Sisig and many more. I wondered, if they can why can't we? Shall we change career to business and give NZ a better taste of Filipino food?
