THE ASINGANIAN JOURNAL: one night to remember...

at the church gala night

"Oh no!" I muttered when I woke up that morning of Saturday, March 24. My left big toe was swollen and I for the first time, I could not walk without limping about.

"Could this be gout??" I said after coming out in the bathroom and settling down in the living room couch. Then I thought of my son who at one time could not walk because his foot was also swollen, because of gout, at least that's what his physician said. He was a beer drinker. And he loves red meat.

Please, not today, I said silently. We bought a couple of tickets two weeks ago for this church gala dance, 65$ each. A ticket holder is entitled to heaps of food and barrels of drink ( it was an open bar to a mainly Italian crowd ) and you know how the Italians love their food. It said on the ticket, "anti pasto bar". What the heck is an anti-pasto bar? Oodles of noodles? Noodles with what? Well, I gotta attend the affair to find out what it is and not to waste the 130$ spent for the tickets. But how, with this sore big toe?

The pain lingered on the whole morning, and it was carried over into the early afternoon until I decide to try a couple of tylenols just to ease the pain. An hour later the pain started to subside and I said.."Alleluia, Somebody up there likes me.."

When Zeny, a church friend came at 5:15, my foot pain was almost gone.

We reached the Banquet Hall, one of these grand looking joints with chandeliers and pretty curtains draped around and we saw waiters setting up some tables in the middle of the hall. At precisely 6:00 pm, the food bar ( the antipasto ) opened. There were two sections: one section was mainly pasta, ( all kinds ) and the other one were seafoods, mussels, sliced calamare (squid ) mostly cooked with vinegar and tomatoes.Then a huge pile of boiled lobsters split in the middle and laying about with their claws cracked. For veggie lovers there was this sliced eggplants broiled and cooked with roasted pepper swimming in oil and vinegar. The other section is the actual pasta ( all kinds of pasta ), but the line was so long I did not have the patience lining up. Miguelita did and she said there was a whole palanggana of sliced cheese. The Italians really love their food!

Wine was complementary. Two bottles, one red and one white were already in the middle of our table. I thoughtof my toe, looked at my plate of food, pondered for a minute then I said,' What the heck.." I poured myself a glass of red wine.

And there was this silent auction. Items were displayed at the back section. Items that caught my interest were: a set of 3 Samurai swords patterened after the ones used in the movie KILL BILL..Starting bid is 160, black colored wooden stand included. Then there was this golf club bag, brand new starting bid was 50$,..Farther on there was a small Nikon camera 7 Mb pixel, only 80$..A clipboard with a pen and an info sheet was displayed right in front of each item..

Miguelita placed a bid on 6 Hydrangia plants : 20$ for all 6 . "One plant in the plant store cost about 20 $," she said. I put a bid on the golf club bag because Miguelita, in a United Way raffle about 3 months ago won a set of 9 brand new golf clubs (Golfsmith, a minor brand ) but no bag was included. My grandaughter Mia learned how to play the game and so we were thinking of giving the set to her ( clubs and bag ) someday if we will not be able to learn how to play the game.

I also put a bid on the digital camera. But more people would also bid as the night went on until the time all bidding closes. Then you check the last name crossed with a red marker and if it's your name, then you take the slip and pay for the item to a couple of cashiers at the lobby.

At the end of the bidding session, we found our names with the hydrangia plants and the golf bag. The Nikon camera ended at 220$. I dropped out of the bidding at the 100$ mark. The bag started at 50 $ and went up to 110, the price I paid. The plants ended at 45$. Zeny's car trunk was crammed with our loot for the evening.

And as I write this piece this morning, I checked my big left toe. Alleluia! No more pain. Not even with all the yummy appetizers I ate the night before!---#