A letter to the makers of Marty's Cracklin'

Dear Marty’s Cracklin’ makers (aka Oishi),

As I sit here on this fine Friday night eating my midnight snack of your salt & vinegar flavored vegetarian chicharon and a can of SMB premium malt beer—I can’t help but ask questions.

How can something so salty—so vinegary—so delicious—be made of vegetables?

In the listed ingredients at the back of the package, only dehydrated green peas, vegetable oil, and garlic powder sound like anything remotely healthy. Are those three ingredients already the factors that make this chicharon “vegetarian”?

Just how many green peas do you need to make a recipe? How come our green peas at home don’t taste like your chicharon?

Are green peas your main ingredient? Because if so, a friend of mine would like to ask—if green peas are the main ingredient, how come the chicharon isn't green?

There’s another thing! How can it have 0 grams trans fat, and 0% cholesterol? How can something so sinful be… not so sinful? It’s impossible.

I hope you don't think I'm a philosopher (pilosopo in Filipino), I just really wanted to let all my questions out.

I don’t know what you’re doing, but you’re doing it right.

Sincerely,

KVI.

The Little Things.

My mom turned 61 years old today (and no, she doesn't look it at ALL), and we had a really yummy family dinner at Aquaknox in Makati. I don't know if it's the extremely unhealthy amount of seafood + Vietnamese coffee I consumed tonight, but I'm feeling hyper... and I really, really just wanted to blog about some random things.

* Yesterday, an almost two-year old Anda was eating a banana while running around the house. She suddenly stopped running and said, "Uh-oh. No more banana."

* I had lunch with PJ (my brother) and Kenelm at the ATC food court today. Afterwards, PJ and I went around the mall because we had to do some errands. It was nice being with him for the afternoon. I'm savoring it--because I know that he'll be leaving for Canada really soon with his wifey. Okay, okay, I will not get sad yet, I will not get sad yet...

* The funniest thing happened today. The waiters at Aquaknox brought out a cake from the kitchen and started singing "Happy Birthday" to my mom... only to realize that my mom had left the table because she went to the restroom. The family was laughing hysterically while motioning to the waiters to go back to the kitchen and do it again when she came back. Note to Aquaknox waiters: Look before you sing.

* I'm amazed at how long the family dinner table has gotten. We used to be a family of seven. Now, we eat out and we reserve a table for 12 (JV included, of course!)--a table of 14 if you count the two babies. The usual scenario now is that one side of the table laughs loudly, the other side gets curious, and you have to repeat the joke.

I love it.

*end of random post*

Rain.

I want to shower right now, but I'm honestly scared that the lightning will make its way into the water heater and scald me to death.

Sad, Schmad.

Today was a day of sad news.

The first piece of news that greeted me when I woke up was that my brother's immigrant visa arrived in the mail. Come the second week of August, my bro and his wife will be moving to Canada--indefinitely. But I shall save the sadness for another day. I'm happy for them, although my happiness for them is nowhere near the amount of heartbreak I'm feeling. For now, I'll make the most of their presence while I still see them 24/7. Sob.

The other piece of news had to do with my career. I was planning on... doing something. That something would've made the future a tad bit brighter for me (and JV), and help me get on the right foot with regards to... something. But this certain thing didn't work out, and all I get out of it now is a P3,000 refund and absolutely no idea what to do next.

To top it all off, Vic is still #1 on Typing Manic. I was so happy on the top spot, but then he had to beat my score by a lousy 20,000 points. I've been trying to beat him the whole day, but all I've won so far is a possible case of Carpal Tunnel.

But it's okay. I'm okay. It will be okay. As my mom reminded me a trillion and one times today, things happen for a reason. Asides from my depleting bank account, things are going great. I'm doing great. I know that great things are in store for me. I just have to claim it :)