Happy Birthday Dylan! Congrats Manny!

Two big celebrations set for November 14, 2010 stirred everyone at Highway 77 El Garaje very busy: the first event was of global significance, while the second is very remarkable for one little boy whose life will forever be attached to El Garaje.

Globally significant, because it is the date for the slated fight of Manny Pacquiao, for his eighth pound-for-pound belt, against Antonio Margarito. Remarkable, because it is little Dylan's birthday and he's gonna be three years older!  Aside from Dylan, another El Garaje member will also be celebrating her birthday soon -- Doc Agnes.  

So, a pay-per-view was arranged with the cable company; the invitations circulated; orders for balloons and ice cream have been called; and donations and supports have been received.  

Ground-Laying

Pabo ni Padre: Turkey Lurkey

The pre-celebration was gruesome and bloody.  It took the lives of two guinea fowls, a turkey, an eel and other sea creatures.  

Guinea fowl ni Padre

The turkey and the guinea fowls were ex-seminarians, all donations from "Pabo ni Padre" a.k.a. Fr. Eddie. 

Cocky Lockey: Ilonggo ni

The bloody encounters grew more intense when our lone rooster was taken out of its cage by some of our in-house El Garaje cooks (full-time jobs: cooks; part-time jobs: fire fighter, banker, doctor, professor, engineer) and cut the poor rooster's crown.  

Full-time chefs at Highway 77 El Garaje:
(From the left) Chef Banker, Chef Fire Chief; and Chef Prof.

Actually, all of these victims were part of the menu to be shared with El Garaje's visitors on Nov. 14. 

Ill-fated Eel

The eel was the first one to go for the ultimate sacrifice, while the turkey and the fowls are in a container deep in brine for an overnight soaking. 

Turkey (big one) and Guinea fowls (small ones)

Chef Prof. prepared a pan on top of burning firewood. Once heated, oil was added, then followed by the eel parts. 

Chef Prof. is mixing the spices with the eel

Finished product: "Nilarang"

Some minutes more, Chef Prof. added the vinegar. Soy sauce, taosio, garlic, onion, green finger and bell peppers, ginger, green onions, and tamarind mix followed suit.  Boiled for 20 minutes, seasoned to taste, and voila!   

The Main Event

PacMan is the Man.  By the the first hour of the morning sun, the turkey has already been seasoned, foil-wrapped, and sticked-through, ready for roasting.  Little Dylan arrived early from church with his family and his cake and balloons.  A little while later: serious hot cooking started, the curtains were put up, the televisions were positioned, the chairs (courtesy of St. Isabel) were lined up and so were tables.  Everything is ready for the big "events"!

Around 9:30 a.m. Philippine time, the boob tube was turned on and everyone glued to the television's glare on Solar Sports.  The star of the dinner table then arrived from Paray's Lechon house at about 10:30 a.m., and so was a bucket of ice cream.

After one card to another, about 12:30 p.m., PacMan and Margarito came out for the main event.  After the national anthems, (with the Star-Spangled singers as El Garaje's favorite), suddenly, the entire universe stood still to witness the awaited rumble.

Cowboys Stadium Highway 77-style

To everyone who had fear and doubts on PacMan's chance to win because of Margarito's physical stats saw right after the first round that Manny can easily take home the winning belt and still appear handsomely scratch-free.  Margarito's stance was slow, and so were his punches that seemed to take eternity before they reach the PacMan's face.  With Manny's quick covers and position shifts, the punch ratio is around 1:3, with one punch from Margarito and a three-punch return from PacMan.  

Poor Margarito, at the fourth round, his performance severely drifted off.  With a swollen right eye and a long slit under it, the game should have been called off at round ten; Margarito was then getting more useless, and was already throwing punches into the air.  PacMan showed some concern to Margarito by slowing down a bit, and giving chosen and lesser strikes.  At the 12th round, the decision was made.  PacMan, with a big gap on the score cards, won the title! 

Dylan blowing out his birthday candle.  He's 3!

Birthday boy Dylan's mom and better half of
  Chef Banker (left); the one-and-only-LOVE
of Chef Fire Chief (right)

Dylan, our soon-to-be PacMan. Finally, attention was shifted to this future fighter of ours who is celebrating his third birthday.  More food, cooking, eating, drinking, and laughing marked the afternoon birthday bash. 

The Lost Lechon: After everyone has settled down

The lechon carcass was later reduced to "paksiw", much to the delight of El Garaje visitors. By the time Dylan blew out the candle on his birthday cake, we knew already that the day was made and spent happily.

rmism//