June 2023 | Off The Beaten Pat

A Cake For All Seasons

Cakes are usually enjoyed fresh from the bakery, at cafes and restaurants, at dining halls and venues or at birthday parties so imagine my surprise when my hubby came home from the airport after a flight from Manila carrying a large box of cake. I couldn’t believe he would buy a cake on purpose as pasalubong because it would be cumbersome for him to be hand-carrying it and putting it on the overhead bin. Also there is a risk of the cake spilling out when other passengers open the bin excitedly upon disembarkation in my opinion. But he said it was a present from a friend who mentioned that this particular cake is really famous for its very delicious taste.

Desert Rose

A flower so common
A flower so wild
Yet so very special
When held by a child
Who smiles and says
This is for you
You made my day
I love you too
So although this flower
Can’t compare to a rose
I would still prefer one
To a hundred of those

Sunset

The world has never been more clear
As when the sun is about to set
It basks all things in a crystalline glow
Just in case we might forget
The dewy grass, the silhouette
Of things gone by
Of things not yet

The Zumba Life

It’s been awhile since I last joined our neighborhood Zumba session and there are many new faces now. Unlike me who usually joins them only twice a week at most, they meet thrice, on Mondays at the residence of one of the members, Tita Grace Roth and on Wednesdays and Fridays at the spacious abode of Tita Shirley Napagao who is responsible for the inception of the group and the appointment of our Zumba instructor Znet Morales.

Purple Yam Cake

I have been craving for this confection for a while now. Particularly the one from my childhood, the old-fashioned kind, simple and nondescript. We would often bring this cake during excursions or serve it at kiddie parties, not as the main cake itself but as a dessert, although sometimes it could be the main cake. It is also served at buffets in bite-sized portions.

Land of Sugarcane

I live in the land of Sugarcane
Of cinnamon and cream
I live in a land where chocolate
Recalls a lovely dream
I wake in the land of Sugarcane
And everywhere there’s cheese
Where Feta, Brie and Emmental
And Gouda’s sure to please

Old Swing Set

It is faded now
For it is only made of plastic
that cannot withstand the sun’s rays
bearing down on it day after day
It stands shabby among the grass,
a remnant of days past

Life by the seaside

This is our neighbor’s frontage and the community’s common-use traditional Filipino hut a few steps away from our own house. When the kids were little, we used to play a lot here by the water. The sea is beyond the breakwater, a low wall structure extending visibly over the horizon.

Coronavirus

It started with a fever that I could not seem to shake off accompanied by chills. No, the diarrhea started it I think followed by the sore throat and then the feeling of heaviness all over. Headache wasn’t far behind too that at last I listened to my Infectious Diseases specialist sister and took a swab test. I was indeed positive in the antigen test I administered on myself and felt crushed.