Taken January 5, 2016...this is the first official photo I took this year, a pleasant surprise on the first Tuesday of the year. My mom is a St. Anne devotee, and has always told me that most of the delightful surprises she experiences happen on a Tuesday since it is said that when you pray for the intercession of St. Anne, a blessing in disguise can unexpectedly happen on a Tuesday. Now, I'm not saying that I prayed to eat cake in Calea, it's just that year after year they have this tradition of closing down the cafe for several days after the New Year and I never get to eat my slice of cake before heading back to Manila because I usually leave on January 5, right after my grandmother's birthday. It breaks my heart, really. This year though, I moved it on the 6th because I always get stressed out with the preparations on the 4th because my lola lives with us, and having to wake up at the break of dawn to catch a flight after hosting a lunch-to-dinner party the day prior is dreadful.
With January 5 finally free, I got to visit another lola, a cousin of my father's mother who I love having conversations with, especially hearing stories from the past and gossips that goes on around the city. My parents, my brother and I went to her house, but one of her secretaries told us that we should turn around to Balay Quince because she was waiting for us in Calea. We were all smiles with the news for cake-reasons. One thing that's always at the back of my mind whenever I'm in Bacolod is to eat a slice of Coffee Crunch cake (as seen on the photo...the one up front) since it's one of my favorite cakes evaaaah! It's really light and spongy, not too sweet with a thick whipped buttercream frosting and pieces of chewy honeycomb topping. Urgh. I love it. Getting a chance to eat my favorite slice of cake for free was the pleasant surprise I got that Tuesday afternoon. Yes, it's time I learn to find delight in simple joys, like a slice of cake, in order to make little things be more special...in turn make my day a little less ordinary. So yeah, true enough she was there sitting in wait, monitoring the work of the men who were cutting the unruly branches off the front yard of the establishment. We chatted for a bit, I gave her my gift while she handed over her pabaon and we left before dinner. It made me realize...I should start booking my return flights to Manila after the holidays on the 6th now instead of Jan 5.
The other two cakes on the photo is the Window Cathedral or Broken Glass cake...a rather rare dessert to find in cafes just like the elusive Black Sambo. It's basically made up of different fruit flavors of jello cut into cubes and is remolded with a milk and cream based gelatin. The other slice is their Imported Chocolate Cake, a really yummeh-gooey chocolate cake that I'm guessing is made out of Ghirardelli chocolate. It also has an addicting caramel custard center that perfectly blends with the rest of the cake.
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