Tag Archives: lockdown

It’s almost a year of quarantine

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The storm drain where we rescued my cats. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

It will soon be the first anniversary of COVID-19 quarantine. I don’t know how long I can take it anymore. One year. We’re now experiencing a second wave, with daily new cases reaching 3000 3,500. But this stupid government still doesn’t have a clear vaccination on program. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Anyway, this also meant that my cats will be almost 1 year old. We found them late April or early May at the back of Institute of Chemistry. I visited today on my bike that storm drain where we found them trapped. It was so overgrown with weeds and other debris.

My cats are so lucky we found them before they died of hunger and dehydration in this storm drain. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I went around the Science Complex before proceeding to the vegetable shop for our weekly supplies. My bike now sports a new detachable handlebar bag from Decathlon so that my green leafy veggies will not get crushed in the other bag tied to my pannier. I’m so happy with it. I no longer have to carry a backpack (which is annoying when I bike).

I love my bike. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

This coming Holy Week I will be bringing the girls and our bikes to my hometown. Let’s see if I can reach other towns in Laguna with just my pedaling power. Maybe I’ll ride with some high school classmates. It’ll be a whole new adventure going around Laguna on a bike.

Bittersweet

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National Science Complex, UP Diliman. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

This is the first time I’ve been here for months. We used to have our daily walks here during the lockdown. Most of the time it was just the two of us here. We walked around past Math, Chem (where we rescued the cats), around the observatory. We used to see sheep roaming around and sometimes when we passed by them, we could smell the stench of those animals.

Another angle. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

It was at this same hour we would be having those walks. To have a bit of “fresh” air. We used to watch the birds flit from branches. There were colorful birds that hopped on the grass, enjoying the absence of humans. Dogs past Math used to bark at us savagely. We still used to hold hands then… Before everything went south. Or was he pretending then because he didn’t have a choice since he was stuck because of the lockdown?

And if I would erase memories, I would be conflicted about erasing those memories here in Science Complex. Just like Joel in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, he suddenly didn’t want those memories erased. But the process has begun to wipe out Clementine.

How do we live with memories? I don’t know… I have this uncanny ability of wiping out memories. I have done it many times, especially when it hurt so bad. My cousin and my sis-in-law had to remind me of a very important but painful memory that was the biggest warning sign that I shouldn’t have gotten married 13 years ago. It was completely blocked out of my mind; I had no recollection of it but they told it was real and that it happened.

In the movie Eternal Sunshine, the one doing the erasing is a laboratory. In real life, I am the Lacuna Inc, I can do it on my own. The question is, do I want everything wiped out?

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