I chanced upon this site, Coffeerama.com, a blog dedicated to reviewing all types of coffee and coffeemakers in Arizona.  I go back to it every now and then, looking at the pictures of and reading at all these different cafes that the blogger’s visited. I just think that it’s one cool site because every time I visit it, I learn something new. 

Like my last visit, I learned that what we here in the Philippines call tapioca “pearls” or “Zagu” are called “Boba’s” in the states.  See, I always thought that those gummy pieces of white grain are an Asian invention and so yeah, I never thought that they existed outside of the Philippines.  It was very narrow-minded of me, I know.

Anyway I just remembered that tiny bit of info because this afternoon, after years of not tasting one, I’ve finally had a Zagu concoction.  I was invited by a couple of neighbors to hang out this afternoon at a neighbor’s house and because I had nothing else to do, I braved the bristling two in the afternoon heat and walked the three blocks between our house and Eloisa’s house.

I arrived a couple of hours late already and I missed much of the photo-shoot scheduled for the day.  But we did talk all about course differences in college because Mara and Jolo are incoming college freshies this June and Eloisa’s thinking of shifting courses.  Ah, to be young and in school again, how I’ve missed the feeling. 

We were in the middle of HBO’s True Blood’s first episode online when the electricity went out, taking the wireless internet down with it.  I don’t know why exactly the power was out, but it’s been years since we’ve experienced that and we weren’t accustomed to the heat.  We had no Internet connection, no television, no electric fans, no nothing and we weren’t pleased.

So we were just lying there on the couch, staring at nothingness when somebody suggested that we order halo-halo’s from Chowking.  Fortunately Eloisa’s family helper was going to the town market and we were spared the trip.  But as Ate Emily asked for the specifics of our orders we all somehow changed our mind and told her to bring back Zagu’s. 

I had the crème brûlée flavored Zagu, Eloisa’s treat, and it was exactly what we needed to stave off the heat.  The three of us sat on Eloisa’s garden set outside the house, sipping Boba pearls from humongous straws and swapping scary stories.  The full moon rose out of the darkness, bringing a perfect background for our scary story-telling session.

It was clean fun, and for me it was the perfect way to start the Holy Week.