Roadtrip Day 5
Location: Santiago City, Isabela

Claire's POV:

"Oh! I'm sorry if I didn't tell you my name! I am Isabel. Nice to meet you!"

Alice allowed our lady customer to board into our food truck to guide us to her village...where we will learn the identity of the tribe of the lady.

From the paved roads, we then hit the sandy and rocky roads...as we go away into the town proper, the nature took over...trees and vast grassland surrounds us...until...a wooden arc stand before us...it is a tribal settlement, where a group of villagers come and greeted us...

"Woah...colorful..." Flonne and Danica is astonished by the colorful clothes that the villagers are wearing...and that didn't wear off when we go down from the truck...

"Well, feel yourself at home!" Isabel offer us a smile...and a simple house that the tribe is given...perhaps to every guests that just passing by this village.

"Hello, my friends." Then, an old man, apparently the village chief, step forward and greeted us. "We would like to welcome you to the humble and simple village of the tribe of the north Luzon."

"We are one of the indigenous tribes here in the north, my friends." Isabel continues the village chief's explanation. "We have been in this area for generations now...relying on the nearby rivers for fish and other resources...because of it, and our intimate loyalty to our homeland, we were able to preserve our culture for the past centuries. And right now, we would want to share our blessings to you...by joining in to our feast today. I'm inviting you to create your dishes at your own desire. Surprise us! Hehehe!"

Alice smiled upon hearing those words as she is already thinking of an idea...she then walked to Alex and whispered something...in which Alex didn't like...

"Huh? I'm no doing that!!" Alex objects the whispered plan.

"Come on, Alex!" Alice pouts at him. "Alright...I have so many debts to pay for you...but this is the last time. Just work this out and...I'll promise, I concede the competition to you today."

"Hmph! Make sure of that!" Alex slightly pouted at her. "Alright then, let's do it!"

"You can participate in our feast by taking one of our native chickens in our nearby farm." The village chief directed us. Well, of course, catching one chicken is not a very easy plan...

Alice and Alex worked together to catch a native chicken. They run all morning around the pen to trap it...

"Flonne! Stand opposite of the pen!"

"Yes, Alex!"

Alex and Alice surround a lost chicken at the end of the pen. At the right timing, Alex runs towards the chicken so it could run on the other side...only to be caught be Alice, though...

"Ouch! Ouch! He scratches my arm!!!" The native chicken struggles to get free from Alice by its claws.

"Here! Here! Let me help you!" But Alex came to the rescue and carries the chicken together.

Receiving the caught chicken, the village chief performs a ritual...calling all the gods and goddesses to guide him on what he is about to do...and in a stroke of his bolo...

"Blam!!!" He took the chicken's head off and the blood's coming out...

"EEEEK!!!" ...much to the shock of Alice and Danica.

The elders then pluck out its feathers...clean the exposed meat...and cut it into parts...

"Here's the fruit of your labor, my children." Isabel showed to us the raw chicken meat prepared for us. "Come, do your creations on your own desire."

Alice and Alex then makes a huddle, exchanging each other's ideas through whispers. After a little while, they both nodded and then turned to Danica and me...

"Guys, we need your help again. We planning to have a banquet to treat our tribe using the chicken we just caught. Do you have any ideas to make our dishes more delicious?"

"Hmm...let's see. How about we make a pinakbet?" Danica suggest a dish. "We still have some vegetables in stock, then we can add chicken by turning them into strips?"

"Oh...I never thought of that." Alice smiled at her creative suggestion. "How about you, Claire. Do you have any dish that you can suggest?"

"Well...my idea was stolen by Danica! Hehehe!" I make a pun to my friend. "Just joking! Can we try making chicken sweet barbeque? We still have soy sauce and sugar in the kitchen?"

Alex whispered first to the village chief...perhaps asking if my suggestion is right according to their tribal customs...after the chief gives his response, Alex turned back at me.

"Yes, they allow to do it. In fact, they would like you to have cook it because that's their tribal dish."

"Okay! Don't worry, I will cook it right away!"

Immediately, we started to work. I quickly go back to the food truck and bring two lumps of sugar to a pan so it could melt. When it does, I mixed it with soy sauce in a bowl before I marinate my part of the native chicken on it. While I waited for the meat to be soaked, I saw Alice and Alex preparing pinakbet: Alex is busy stripping the chicken meat, removing the bones from it; while Alice is already sautéing ginger and garlic in a large wok...being heated by a bonfire.

Done! The meat is already marinated...but...how I could grill it...if the bonfire is already taken? Oh wait! Did I find an unused griller in the kitchen? Well...it's now the chance to make it usable for a while...

Okay...I turn on the stove...put in the griller...and lay the marinated chicken on it. I turned the parts every time and then to make sure that it is cooked properly. And while at it, I turned to back to what the couple...huehehe, I mean...Alice and Alex is doing right now.

I noticed that Alice has mixed all the vegetables...and the chicken needed for pinakbet, and right now, Alex is tossing it all up in the wok.

"Woah! I didn't know that you mastered this technique!" Alice marveled and smiled at his skill.

"Well, for a fast food cook like me, a pan-toss is really important, especially if we are serving breakfast meals with sinangag."

Within hours, Alice's pinakbet and my sweet chicken barbecue are finished cooking at the sane time. Danica, on the other hand, is busy preparing, with the tribesmen, banana leaves that will serve as our plate for this occasion.

But before we dig in to our dish, the tribe has exhibited to us their renown native dances:

They invited us to join their ritual dance. Well, the steps are easy and simple to learn: we just sway our hands...and move our body into the beat of the gong. Though we are exhausted at first, when we get a hang of it, it's pretty refreshing.

And now, we cheese in to our simple banquet. First is the pinakbet...

"Hmm...crunchy. Just the right way to cook it." The village chief comments as he tasted the dish. "Young lady, you have done a pretty good job in blending vegetables together. Each vegetable has a unique and distinctive taste...sometimes that not all of our villagers can take it. But because of your expertise, I'm sure that my people will take vegetables more seriously. Well, Isabel is right, because of your cooking...you are a noble lady."

"Um...huehehe...thank you." The chief's praise makes Alice's face blushed. "If you want, I can teach you in making my pinakbet dish."

"OK, time for our chicken barbecue..." My heart goes bumping as the village chief taste my creation. This is the first time somebody else will judge my cooking.

"Mmm!!! Exactly as what we expected!" The chief is delighted by the taste. "The sweetness and the tanginess of your chicken captures the real taste of tribal food...not to mention the aroma that comes with it. It is cooked to perfection...what is the secret for your recipe, milady?"

"Hehehe! It's just...soy sauce and sugar, sir."

"Hmm...not bad. With this two creations you had in our banquet, our feast will never be the same!"

"Hehehe...so chief, which dish do you think is the most delicious of all?"

"WHAAAT?!?! DANICA!!!" We are startled and shouted at Danica. It is supposed to be cooperation, not a competition!

"Hehehe! Don't worry, my little children. Nothing's ahead with your dishes. Both of you have the tastiest cookings around."

And the feast continues, more songs and dances have been played through gongs as we happily ate the banquet we have given to the tribal village. But one thing...I'm wondering. What's the relation of Isabel to the first customers that we have when we arrived in Santiago? I wasn't listening to what Isabel said...because I'm sightseeing to the places we passed by before reaching the village.

"Alice, can you tell me about the two children that we've served earlier?"

"Ha! You're not listening, do you?" I scratched my head as my best friend punned me. "Anyway, those children are Isabel's daughters. They wondered everyday at the streets, begging for food to eat for them and their family. When they saw us...and I gave that nilagang munggo, they immediately returned to the village and eat it with Isabel and some starving villagers. When they found out that it came from a 'visitor selling foods', Isabel stood out and find us...to give us a reward for helping the children."

"Oh, that makes more sense...."

"FLONNE!!! CLAIRE!!!" Then a familiar voice was heard.

"Hey, what is it, Alex?"

"Come on, teach me how to follow the tribal dance."

"Hehehe!!! It's so easy to do it...but for you, you can't?!" Alice finally stood and demonstrate the tribal dance. "Alright, here's how to do it!"

Meanwhile,

A random guy's POV:

Preemptive evacuation is being in place in Santiago City. The province of Cagayan and Isabela are under Public Storm Warning Signal No. 5...as a powerful super typhoon is inches its way to a landfall by tomorrow afternoon...