Sunday, May 16, 2010

Toasties Do Laguna: Food, History, and Footwear


The Toasties' 3rd Food Trip.

April 9, 2010 - Food, History, and Chinelas Shopping Tour!

First, Bulacan. Second, Binondo. And now, the Toasties do Laguna.

That our club was named after food could be a foreboding of the foodfests that were to happen, an indication of the superhuman powers of our esophaguses/ esophagi?? to process food.

So, on the day of heroes (Araw ng Kagitingan), the superheroes of gastronomia met at different points of Metro Manila, converged at Magallanes, and went on a joy joy joy ride to Laguna.

First stop was RSM, supposedly just for tapsilog. But the lure of the turo-turo won us over, and thus began the food orgy. Sigig, seafood bouillabaisse, and many other dishes not designed for morning stomachs served as the day's appetizer.

Digesting the food required a great deal of aerobic and cardio exercises, aka laughing, so the Toasties spent some time playing with cocks, wooden roosters actually, before we set off for Calamba.

Calamba's famous landmark is the childhood home of Jose Rizal, there in avocado green splendor. The home was a comfortable, well-ventilated refuge on that hot, hot day. It was nice walking around the rooms and imagining Teodora Alonzo and her daughters doing their daily chores, mother and son slash future national hero reading and studying with the help of a kerosene lamp, the Mercado family dining around the great dining table under the giant overhead pamaypay made of dusty jacquard fabric.

There were photo opps galore, especially at the exhibit hall, where the images of Jose Rizal were shamefully exploited by the Toasties.

Last rounds of group photos up the stairs and under Rizal's famous quote finally had us out of the Rizal home, but not without a raid of the sorbetero's cart before finally traveling all the way to Longos for lunch.

The long drive was made extremely enjoyable by the Toasties' intelligent humor. Well, this refers to the intelligence of those who got the jokes, those who eventually figured out what to bring to the Music Room Party. Those who didn't get it just made up their own lame party. But it was fun for intelligent and not-so-intelligent folks alike.

After a breakfast as heavy as what we had, it was surprising that we have all built up an appetite for lunch. But we believe all the laughing and ribbing burned up thousands of calories for us.

Welcome to Exotik Restaurant at Barangay Longos, Kalayaan, Laguna.

A kalaw bird (hornbill) greeted us and a slumbering (thankfully well-fed) python shocked us. Animals featured in the menu as well -- snails, snakes, and other safer dishes. The pictures in Facebook really tell the story of the blending of good food and even better company.

The restaurant's shimmering blue swimming pool,with its rocky waterfall, was very tempting, but we had more places to go to, and Liliw was calling Elaine's name.

After a sneak peek at Laguna's shoe industry via Step Rite, we went to the motherlode of footwear, Liliw Laguna, known for its chinelatic wonders. We took a lovely stopover at the charming and rustic home of Alvin A's uncle and aunt. They were so gracious, and the buchi they served us was the best I've ever had. They even gave us Indian mangoes to go. Such hospitality.

The sun set while we were in the van exchanging laff-in type jokes that kept us laughing all the way to chinelaslandia.

Then, it was a shopping frenzy as we tried to buy whatever we could before the stores closed.

With most of our energy, money, and time spent, we drove home and had dinner at (please insert the name, which I forgot, here).

The long drive back home had us again in stitches as we talked about Fu's (private joke) US adventures.


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