Before my dad left for India et al, we had lunch at a Filipino restaurant where one of my friends works. Surprise surprise for the both of us. Lacking my Palm, I used the voice recording function on my phone, even though it made me feel really foolish. I mean, who mumbles into a phone like that in public anyway?
At some point back in time, my family when to a South American country... Wow, I don't even remember it. So I'm either telling the story or making up the truth... So there we were, in an open restaurant, open as in it's just a roof and then the outside is there, no doors... And we were eating steak. Around us were a bunch of hulky waiters with utencils in their hands. It turns out their job is to take the steak fat off of your plate. The steak was really good, but it was a little disturbing to find a large steak utencil in front of your eyes the moment you cut the fat off the steak. Well, that's service.
And another exciting form of service was when we (as in the whole local Canlas family clan) went to this Brazilian restaurant. In Brazilian places, there's a little green and red object that kinda looks like an hour-glass, only straight and made of wood. When you turn it to green, that means you want a waiter's attention. When they come over to help you, they flip it back over. Very schway.
And for one last food memory... According to my family, I used to say sabawawaw instead of sabaw, the Filipino word for soup. I remember that. Sorta. Otherwise I'm making it up. And convincing myself. And then making it the truth.
Posted by Mark Canlas at February 24, 2002 01:26 PM