Wish You All a Peaceful 2016
Last day of 2015 and I am in a panic mode. There are still so many things to do before the old year is over.
Hit the gym was on top of my list. Ok, I have done that! I must because I feel and look so bloated after the holiday season eating-binge I had. It is also because this would be the last day that I would be pumping iron before my home trip to the Philippines for five months. That should be enough time to become a bonafide Zumo fighter; by the looks, at least. Think of six meals a day where you are home. No more long walks because it could be agonizingly hot that you would rather spend your time in air-conditioned rooms, malls, and cars.
I refuse to work out when I’m home. There are no suitable fitness clubs in my town. I take that back, sorry. There are at least two that I know of, but I won’t do them. One is on the second floor of a two-story building. On the ground floor is a funeral parol where caskets are on display. Hello! The fitness equipment in the other club are going rusty you get free antibiotics after every use; tetanus, you know! The whole fitness room smells of eggs and bacon because the wife of the manager cooks breakfast in one corner of the gym — for members after a workout. Hello again!
Do the groceries is next. I must not forget to get rice because my mom used to say it invites terrible luck if you don’t have grains in your house before the year is over. Thus, I see to it that I have rice at home, year in, and year out—ditto with salt.
I wanted to serve Chicken Arrozcaldo for midnight but changed my mind after talking with my sister, who lives in Sydney. You don’t make a chicken dish for the New Year because chickens do “Isang kahig-Isang tuka” (scratch and peck). Living a hand-to-mouth existence is the closest translation I can come up with.
“You don’t want to make a subsistence living for the next year,” she said. My sister was not the first person to tell me that! Another Filipino superstition; we have a lot of them.
I’ll make tortilla instead, although a cup of piping-hot Arroz Caldo spiced with fresh ginger and spring onions sounds better, especially on a cold day/night like today. I wonder what she had to say.
I have to beat the eggs, which is not Ok because you’re supposed to have spherical objects on the last day of the year. Round things bring good luck; hence you find apples, grapes, queso de bola, oranges, pomelos, and everything with a round shape on a Filipino dining table when welcoming the New Year. Hmm, I have tomatoes and persimmons, but the persimmons are not crispy anymore; they look sad and soggy. Would they still bring me good luck for the coming year? I don’t feel like going to the grocery store now to get fresh ones, so I’ll keep you posted on how I fared in 2016.
Apropos, don’t forget to wear clothes with red dots. My sister says they bring good luck!
Here’s wishing you all a peaceful 2016!
“Toi, Toi, Toi!” the Austrians say.