Monday, 3 December – Evacuated my dog and myself from our house at around 10 AM. The typhoon wasn’t due to hit until 5 AM, but I was sure we would feel it a good 12 hours before. In the calm before the storm, however, I got bored. And hungry.
Not used to being without staff, I quickly jumped when a friend said that the kitchen was open at the resort he was staying at. It was less than a minute away so I had myself dropped off, only to find out that the resort staff was unsure as to what to do with themselves, their guests and the typhoon, but cooking definitely wasn’t on the list. I ventured into the kitchen a few times, to try to change their minds but, eventually, gave up and had whiskey-Cokes and cigarettes with my friends. The resort didn’t even have decent chips so I ended up ordering Piattos. They only had the blue and green Chippies, when we all know that the only ones worth eating are the red ones. Geez.
Later, one of the girls approached me and asked if I still wanted a pancake because they had made one for me. I couldn’t very well turn it down after they had gone through all the trouble. It was thick and awful but I forced down half since I needed something in my stomach other than whiskey-Cokes and Piattos.
The wind and rain started getting stronger but I stayed and drank with the boys until 4:30 PM, before the sky totally darkened. When I returned to the evacuation site, I found everyone huddled over their computers, in serious contemplation of the storm, while I was off my head, giggly and silly.
With nothing else to do, I checked the food supplies. Which led me to my latest discovery: Lady’s Choice CRISPY Peanut Butter. Yes, crispy, not chunky. It’s peanut butter with rice crispies! What absolute genius!!! Which begs the question: Why isn’t it an ice cream yet?!!! It doesn’t work very well with crackers but is perfect with white bread. I was still eating it by Wednesday and only stopped when I had licked the bottle clean.
I lovelovelove texture in food. Except for crunchy fruit, like apples and pears. I hate those. But, when I was a kid, I loved putting Chippy in my cheese sandwiches, which is really like having crisps with a burger, right? One time, in the absence of crisps, I put Oreo cookies in cheese sandwiches. If I were 12, I probably would have gotten away with it. But, umm… I wasn’t anywhere near 12 and I was on a boat full of English bankers in Hong Kong. Yet, underneath what were meant to be withering who-invited-the-freak stares, I continued to tuck Oreos into quite a few cheese sandwiches and made yummy noises while eating them too.
Note: When evacuating to some place, it helps to have along a friend who is also a chef that loves to cook. Suffice it to say that we ate very well that night.
Exercise: None.
Tuesday, 4 December – The typhoon passed without incident so we celebrated with a bottle of Californian red that I had brought along. As far as Siargao and myself were concerned, the most damage the typhoon wrought was on my person, with my uncontrolled eating. I got up at 4 AM just to have more peanut butter sandwiches. And then, later on, bacon and eggs, then some cheese and rillette with crackers… I stopped short of having instant noodles, even if they were calling out rather loudly to me. (I can still hear them because I know where to find them in the cupboard.)
But, as soon as the weather cleared and I got home, I made sure to have my swim and resumed eating sensibly that night.
Wednesday, 5 December – Except there was still that jar of peanut butter that needed emptying. Reset on the sensible food that night.
Exercise: Swimming
Thursday, 6 December – Swimming
Friday, 7 December – Swimming
Saturday, 8 December – Taekwondo back at Dominic’s Pink House, which is nice and dry once again after the incredibly gorgeous weather we’ve been having. Went swimming when I got back to the house.
Sunday, 9 December – Three beers at the Pacquiao fight.
And, since we’ve already established my disgusting eating habits, here’s another weird recommendation: mashed potatoes, Chippy and vegetable fried rice. My original order was for two kinds of sausages (beef and pork – they tasted the same) and mash. They took forever with my order so I ended up with other food that I ended up mixing with the mash when it finally arrived. It was really good. Salty, but good.
Exercise: Swimming
Weight, as of Monday, 10 Dec., 7 AM: 52.5 kilos. Hahahaha!!! So I didn’t eat well four days out of seven, but managed to gain a kilo only on the last day. Not bad. And, with everything going on, I only missed one day of exercise.