Part Two
9AM.
The alarm rings.
Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I glance at my daughter as
she continues to sleep through the noise.
I killed the alarm, stretch, said a silent prayer of
gratitude for a good night’s rest.
I peeked through the blinds to check out the activities on
the street outside my daughter’s apartment.
Kids were already playing as a puto vendor tooted his horn to announce
his presence: put-o, put-o, put-u.
Beep beep. Text alert.
I’ll pass for you at
10. Let’s have brunch.
It was from my son. He lived in an apartment two blocks
away.
The first day of our 3-day long weekend had just
started. Not in a frantic pace to get to
the airport early. But in a much leisurely manner with the luxury to sleep late
into the morning with nary a worry about catching a flight.
My movement around the tiny space of my daughter finally
woke her up. In no time, we were ready and hungry as my son called to tell us
he had arrived to pick us up.
Expertly driving through the maze of one-way, no left turn
streets of Makati, my son got us to our destination: Wild Flour Café and
Bakery. The resto was packed and as we settled
ourselves around a tiny table, a much better sitting arrangement became
available. It was at a far corner which gave us the opportunity to people watch
and chat without having to raise our voices above the den of the restaurant.
We did some people watching after placing our orders: a in/famous beauty queen; a contrabida actress; there were both old and young couples and there
were families – young ones with baby and yaya, and large families with Lola, Lolo and
yaya. But the one that got much of my
attention was a young mother who was busy, not taking pictures of her husband
and child, but taking pictures of the food they ordered. I ventured a
guess—food blogger?
I also noticed that her husband was patiently keeping quiet
and waiting for her to finish taking pictures of the food on their table. Keeping my camera in my bag, I decided to
focus on my kids and our conversation. That
was the whole point of my being with them.
The conversation went along pleasant lines as we enjoyed our
late breakfast — basketball games won, funny incidents at the office, and the
latest news on friends and family.
As we settled the bill, we agreed to spend the afternoon in
the cool comforts of a movie theater. It
had been some time since I last watched a movie in a theater and I gamely
agreed on my son’s choice: The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The movie was science fiction at it’s most hi-tech
level. I soon dropped my effort to keep
track on all the sub-plots and twist and turn. I just marveled at how complicated
such movies have become and feasted my eyes on simpatico Thor.
What I learned: Even super heroes have issues.
As my son had to be elsewhere in the evening, my daughter
and I capped our day with a visit to a cosy bar named 12/10. Again, sorry no pictures to share.
Just this realization: it’s cool to have
drinks over long talks with your kiddo on how to save the world, about our
dreams and what our plans would be for the next day.
The silver lining of the previous night’s dark cloud had
shown through. Now that’s certifiably cool.
xoxoxoxox
I thoroughly enjoyed my brunch choice at Wild Flour: Croque
Madame. It consisted of ham, gruyere cheese, béchamel sauce and a fried egg
piled up on a thick slice of artisan bread.
Wanting to re-create this morning goodness but a notch
healthier, I turned to my daughter’s recipe for poached egg. You will find, as I did, that there’s nothing
too complicated to handle if you stay cool.
Curly Cook’s You-can-Poach-an-Egg-Easily, Ham and Cheese Sandwich
You will need:
A thick slice of artisan bread (don’t have it, no problem.
Use whatever bread is in you kitchen)
A slice of ham (don’t have it, no problem. Check your pantry
for luncheon meat)
A slice of gruyere cheese (don’t have it, no problem.
Cheddar or whatever cheese in the fridge works fine)
An egg (don’t have it, no problem. Borrow from neighbor)
A Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (don’t have it, no problem.
Ordinary cooking vinegar or lemon juice or calamansi works too. This is to help
coagulate the whites better)
How to Poach the Egg:
1.
Gently crack the egg into a cup or small bowl.
Set aside.
2.
Bring some water about 2-3 cups in a small pot
to a brisk boil and then lower the flame so that the water simmers. Add the vinegar.
3.
With a slotted spoon, stir the water around
quite quickly.
4.
Gently, gently slide the egg in the middle of
the turning water.
5.
Watch a delicious miracle happen as the yolk is
blanketed with the egg white.
6.
The egg is ready to be taken out with the
slotted spoon in about 2-3 minutes when the whites are no longer runny.
Don’t
worry about the white strands in the water. You can drain the water and give these to your dog or cat. Set aside the pouched egg until ready to assemble your sandwich.
Assembling the Sandwich:
1.
You may toast your bread and spread some butter
on it. No toaster, no problem. Melt the butter in a pan and press your bread on
the hot surface until nice and brown.
2.
Place your bread on a plate. Top with the ham or
luncheon meat.
3.
Follow this with the cheese.
4.
Top with your gorgeous poached egg.
5.
For some umph, sprinkle with chopped
parsley. No parsley, no problem. Some
salt and pepper will just do find.
Ta dah! Let the sun shine through your day or night.
Great poaching, mom!
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