Halo-Halong Pinoy

Do you remember your first Halo-Halo? This unassuming Filipino dessert must excite some fond memories of childhood and in a way, enjoying a glass now would make one feel like a kid again! Back in the olden days, halo-halo was a big part of a Filipino family life.

On hot summer days it is easy to find neighbors setting tables at the street corner with ice shavings carefully packed into a Styrofoam box and halo-halo ingredients displayed in little bowls. In rural areas, these ingredients were laid in plastic containers atop bamboo slabs and an aluminium ice shaver at the side. Even mothers find it pleasing to prepare halo-halo in their own kitchens for the little kiddies. Having your own ice shaver in the home was a hit back in the eighties, some brands coming from Japan and others from China. Kids would scream in delight and family members find a good laugh at gingerly turning levers to grind ice cubes into shavings.

With our more sophisticated lifestyles, one can easily get halo-halo from stores and restaurants in the malls. In a way halo-halo is typically Pinoy with its mix of colorful ingredients, just like the Filipino whose character is a vibrant mix of American, Spanish, indigenous cultural influences - a mix that is pleasing to all.

Now there''s a place you can enjoy as many scoops and glasses of halo-halo all you like. Port Seafood Restaurant at Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino in Lahug that offers all-you-can-scoop Halo-Halo Bar for only Php 99 that also comes free with the P299 daily dinner buffet plus free Sizzling Beef Tenderloin Steak. Port is also a WiFi hot zone! You can Surf and sip Bottomless Brewed Coffee for just P60 and for their Summer Special, Bottomless Brewed Coffee and All You Can Scoop Halo-Halo Bar for just P99 available from 10:00 a.m. till 12:00 midnight. Daily lunch buffet is P199. Call 231-7441, 232-6888, 412-4627 . 0917-300-PORT for more details.

The ingredients of Port''s Halo-Halo Bar are beautifully laid out for you to choose and create your own wondrous mix. Invent your own mixture of shaved ice, milk and sugar and add the various sweet beans and fruits then top it with the creamy homemade ice cream as much as the tall glass could hold. Red mung (monggo) beans, sugar palm fruit (red and green kaong), jackfruit (langka), tapioca or sago, nata de coco, pinipig or corn flakes, leche flan, sweetened banana, fresh buko strips and fresh mango cubes. Waiting my turn to scoop some creamy home-made ice cream onto my halo-halo concoction makes me feel like a kid again. If only I wasn''t in posh surroundings, I would have jumped up and down in excited delight! It''s a hell of a way to beat the summer heat!