Traydor

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COVID-19 is really a traitor. It sneaks up on you and steals into the night.

My uncle, my mother’s younger brother and closest sibling, died last Sunday night. He was cremated in 24 hours or at 9 pm last night, as per Department of Health protocol for all suspected coronavirus deaths.

He had on and off fever since Saturday last week and a headache that didn’t go away. They had him undergo rapid antibody test but it turned out negative so this didn’t warrant a hospital stay. But on Sunday after waking up from a nap, he complained again of a debilitating headache. He became delirious and collapsed. He didn’t make it to the hospital.

He wasn’t able to take a swab test. Since he presented some symptoms of coronavirus infection and he was high risk (70 years old), he was treated as a suspect case. His wife and my cousin and those who helped in reviving him at home had to take the swab (RT-PCR) test.

Cause of death in his certificate: community acquired pneumonia.

It was so sudden. He was snatched away like that. I confirmed to my mom on the phone at midnight. She was wailing, more than she did when I told her my father already passed (exactly 15 yrs ago this month). Maybe because she already expected my dad to go anytime soon. Maybe she was shell-shocked.

But in the case of her brother, it was so unexpected that’s why my mom was hysterical.

And just like that, a life was stolen by COVID-19. An unseen menace. It feels like you are risking your life every time you go out of the house. It’s like you are on your own as this government doesn’t care since it’s busy trying to suppress people. It seems like, it’s just a matter of time that you will be the next.

Goodbye, Uncle Benny. You are in a safer place now.

Sunset taken in Angono, Rizal. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

Shopping in the time of COVID-19

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Because of social distancing, there is a long queue before you can even get inside the supermarket. Photo taken from outside Save More. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

Grocery shopping for me is an undesirable chore. Moreso with this pandemic. It’s torture. As much as possible I try to minimize the time spent grocery shopping. Pre-COVID-19, I allot an hour for grocery shopping. But now…🤷🏻‍♀️ I’ll be lucky if I only stay in line to enter the supermarket for 30 mins, an hour to get what my household needs, and another 30 mins to queue up for the cashier.

The long line to the supermarket that I must endure every week. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

I used to shop at Hi-Top Aurora Blvd in Project 4 because 1) there are so many choices there; 2) they have items on sale every week; 3) they have Monterey meat section; and 4) grocery items are cheaper compared to bigger chains. But because of the pandemic, the lines are now unbearably long there. I am forced to stick to the big chains like Save More which do not give me choices that much and grocery items are more expensive.

This is what my grocery cart looked like in Hi-Top:

This can last us for two weeks and I only had to do a top-up shop the following week for perishables like vegetables and eggs. This was taken before the lockdown at Hi-Top. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

But because my grocery shopping has gotten more expensive as I now do shopping closer to home, my cart now looks like this:

Let’s not forget the uncomfortable masks. Good thing that the masks I made are breathable and snug but my other masks that were bought from tiangges and street vendors are so thick that I may end up with carbon dioxide poisoning.

Now that the Monterey Community Market is open in my village, I can do now my weekly shopping for food in the nearby mini mart, vegetables at the vegetable stand infront of it if I’m not able to go to UPD (the fruit and vegetable stand in the old tennis court) then meat at Monterey. This way I can avoid the long lines at the bigger supermarket chains.

Grocery shopping these days requires more strategizing. Tedious. I want my weekends back.

Lockdown kusinera

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Prepping the lechon kawali for tomorrow

It has been 60 days since we’ve been on a lockdown. I haven’t ventured beyond Araneta Cubao in the south and Batasan in the north for two months. The first few weeks were hard but we learned to cope.

To help me stay sane, I’ve been cooking a variety of dishes because sawa na ko sa usual luto ko. Plus I need to keep my household healthy by cooking vegetable dishes.

I tried avoiding meat but my children and kasambahay are carnivores so it was difficult to go hardcore.

Anyway, I am restarting this blog by posting this lechon kawali prep. You have to boil the pork for 30 mins with star anise, salt, and peppercorn. Let it cool for a bit. Then freeze. I am thinking of what to do with the broth. 🤔 Maybe some soup with mishua and pechay?

Will let you know how my battle with oil splatters while deep-frying these babies goes.

UPDATE: The next day I thawed the pork, seasoned it with salt and fried it.

Chopped lechon kawali. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

But wait, before that, I cut the fat and skin to make chicharon (or pupor as we called it in Batangas). I fried them then let them cool for a bit by putting them in the freezer. After I finished frying the first batch of the lechon kawali, I took out the cooled fat/skin and deep fried them again. Le voilá!

Chicharon á la lechon kawali a.k.a. pupor in Batangas. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

Warning: This is highly addictive but bad for the health.

Earth has shut down

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Has it only been a few days since I last posted? It seems like a lifetime ago. The world has gone mad and had to shut down because of COVID-19.

Italy is now on a lockdown, as well as Malaysia while Australia has closed its borders to all incoming flights. Stock markets around the world are at a tailspin while economies are spiraling down.

It has only been 6 days since the government implemented the lockdown but it feels like we had been under it for a month. And take note, we will still be under lockdown for another 3 weeks and one day. I see anecdotal reports on Twitter that some people are lining up at the pawnshop because businesses/means of livelihood have been shut down.

Empty vegetable section and meat chillers at Shopwise. These photos are owned by callmecreation.com

I don’t know how long we can keep at this. So many people going hungry now–the daily wage earners, the PUV drivers, street vendors…

Doctors, young and old, are dying here in the Philippines…and elsewhere. This stupid government has not taken this pandemic seriously and chose to protect the interests of China before its own people. It didn’t prepare for the event that we will be infected. We don’t have enough test kits, we don’t have enough laboratories, we don’t have enough facilities and healthcare workers.

My God, what are we to do? Please, Lord, protect the most vulnerable–the poor.

And in these troubled times, we need to find beauty in unlikely places to make us sane.

Sunset somewhere in UP Diliman. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com