The Sinugba Experience

*happened last night, posted it today ^^;*
*hehehe, sorry if I have to insert some Cebuano (Philippine dialect). You can ask me on what it means. ^^;*

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What a tiring day~!

And yes, after a whole day of work (preparations for the College Days), everyone's hungry.

"Jan, would you like to buy us the dinner?", asked Kristine. Oh well, who am I to resist. I am hungry myself. XD "You can ask anyone to accompany you, for I still have something to do...", and she handed me over P700.00.

And no, no one accompanied me. Everyone's busy...with the Ms. ICS pictorials, and also in taking their OWN pictures. Oh, they're so-so busy. *sigh*. But meh, that won't stop me from going on my own. I'm not Soliloquy for nothing. XD

So there, I'm off to Colonnade Mall to purchase two roasted chicken worth P145.00 each. Yeah, and the check-out counteris yet full of people waiting in line. Does "first-come-first-served" ring a bell. Correct.

After presenting my proof of purchase (receipt), eagerly he butchered the chicken. There's not much juice coming outon both, probably because most of it had already dripped off since this morning. A lady wanted to buy one; sadly there's not one left. Hehehe, early birds get the worms. In this case though, the chickens. :P

Next stop: Osmeña Blvd, where there is a long line (not again) of barbecue grills. Though, you can see more "fish" than"pork/beef/chicken" being grilled. Que se joda. I'm after sinugbang isda (grilled fish) anyway. *evil laugh*

But wait, still have to buy some puso(pronounced as pusô. It is rice wrapped in coconut leaves shaped like a diamond). It's amazing how they swiped the sharp cutter onto the puso bundles without hurting their hands. Great precision, and with great price: 80 pieces for P1.00 each. Cheap!

Seventy pesos I have to shell out from my budget for the sinugbang bariles (a kind of fish). Mahal-mahal sad da.

With no one to talk to, I decided to open up a conversation with "Ate," since that what I usually call women older than me.Ate is around her mid-twenties, a bit chubby, but with a sweet smile. You don't see that everyday, you know. ^^;

I asked her if they always pose themselves along the stretch to sell sinugba. I wasn't able to see them last Saturday to buy sinugba. "Didto na lang gud ko nipalit ug isda sa may unahan," I avered while pointing to a three-storey building a few meters away from the mainstream 'sugbahanan'. One of their relatives (I forgot what specific "relative" got sick; maybe a family member) got sick, and they have to attend to its needs, so they weren't able to sell last Saturday.

"Is the cash flow (income) in selling sinugba in this place good enough?"
"It depends. There are times where we earn a lot (even sold-out); there are also times where we earn less. It is usually whenpayday that we consider our "peak season", and when classes are ending, expect that there will be a decline on sales. Another factor is the weather; it is during rainy days that we only have a few customers. Add the fact that we have a lot of competitors along this stretch."

I pointed out to one of the fishes and asked if that was the "bariles."
"Uhuh, that one on the right is the 'bariles' on the left is the 'anduhaw.' The bariles have white meat, while the anduhaw has red one. We go to Pasil Fish Market early to purchase kilos of fish. They are becoming more expensive, even escalating to P120.00 per kilo, almost equal to a kilo of pork or chicken meat. That's why we even hear our customers saying that they opt to buy the latter than fish.

And here's the sad part: a kilo of fish usually contains two to three pieces of fish only, depending on the size."

"Unya Te, dali ra na maluto?" (I asked her if the fish cooks fast, since I know that those guys are "dead hungry" waiting. Hah!)

"That's the reason why we pre-cook the fishes to make the cooking process time shorter, especially with bigger fishes where the area near its bones takes time to cook. We seldom buy gargantuan fishes; we settle with those medium-sized ones which takes earlier to cook."

After a few minutes, the fish is already cooked. They wrapped the sinugba with banana leaves, then put some sarsa/sauce (consisting of the concotion of soy sauce, vinegar, lemon, chili, and onions). One won't be complete without the other.

I bid goodbye to Ate.
Money spent: P440.00. Change: P260.00. *evil laugh*
Hmmm, I never thought that my little trip would go on great. Hehehe, now I know what's the difference between anduhaw and bariles. :P