The Canteen

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The Canteen is the local joint, located right outside my boardinghouse. It serves great, cheap Filipino food like chicken or pork adobo (which is a kind of soy sauce marinade), chicken/beef curry, soups, pork chops, pig, Spanish mackeral, etc.

The owners are Mommy and Daddy, no joke. Mommy is sweet and always smiles at everyone even though she's got a fierce snaggle tooth situation. And, as Ghay told me, "She used to be FAT." "FAT," Mommy echoes, nodding like it ain't no thing. They're very open here.

If Daddy isn't doing the cooking, he's usually sprawled out on top of the picnic tables, taking a nap. The canteen is a 24 hour affair, so they take naps when they can. Of course, they have young girl helpers, but they're not very interesting. His granddaughter often sits at the table next to him, coloring and waiting for him to wake up and play with her. He usually does.

Once the power is on, the TV is always blaring. The selection is very eclectic- it ranges from Beegee's live concerts, Kareoke vidoes of sad looking couples walking on the beach, a martial arts movie, or my personal favorite from the other day: a semi-pornographic Japanese film where at the end, the girl victim makes her attacker explode with her eyes and then commits suicide. You should have seen the crowd that night - probably a record!

I eat here usually twice a day. I can get a cup of rice, a serving of meat and a sprite, all for 65 pesos! That's about $1.25. Nice, right? And because the canteen is centrally located, I get to watch all the going-ons in the street. I've become a voyeur!

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