One of My Digital Calendar’s Recurring Events
By: Dr. Nestor Alonso II There are some yearly events like birthdays and anniversaries that you do not want to forget. It would be best if you had a digital calendar to remind you of the dates that are closest to you.
My social media calendar is etched in my email address and sends a message a day before the event. It serves as my address book when new contacts are encoded in my phone, a Samsung Galaxy A735G.
One of the events with repeating invitations and scheduling is the birthday of a dear friend, Cathy Yap, proprietor of Cathy’s Knowboi Carenderia. She operates this eatery with the business philosophy of serving the best Pinoy and Chinese food at very affordable prices.
Last month, Cathy celebrated her birthday and she served some of the best dishes of her eatery. Cebu lechon was placed at the center of the carving station at the buffet celebration and my early arrival gave me the chance to remove the covers of the lechon.
This act prevents moisture from accumulating inside the box and ensures that the lechon skin will be crunchy.
The dishes served at the buffet table were the following: Pancit Bam-I Guisado, Fried Turkey, Katambak Sweet & Sour, Dalupapa (Giant Squid) BBQ, Grilled Tuna Fillet, Humba, Chopseuy, Chicken Cordon Blu, Garlic Shrimp, Vegetable Lumpia, Braised Dalupapa (Giant Squid), and Fried Turkey. A separate table served desserts like fresh fruits (grapes and rambutan) and the birthday cakes she received from friends.
Friends from Luzon often ask me what the differences between the Adobo and Humba are. Both are braised pork dishes and Humba traces its roots to Chinese traders from the Fujian province who brought the red braised pork belly called the hongbah/hong-mah.
Adobo and Humba are quite similar, but Humba has additional ingredients like black beans, juice from pineapple, and sugar. The meat in the adobo can also be replaced with fish, beef, and vegetables but Humba recipes only use pork.
I just came from Luzon to attend another recurring event, a very important anniversary in my fraternity. Facebook calls it a “life event” and indeed it was because it was an occasion to meet fraternity brothers I have not seen in the past 30 to 50 years and one brother, I have not met in 55 years. More on this in my next article.
Back to Cathy Yap’s birthday, it was a lovely celebration, and I hope and pray that the Lord will grant you many more birthdays to come!