By Landon Blackhall
The Philippines is an intriguing mish-mash of Eastern and Western. The locals are proud of their traditions, but at the same time, they have a unique ability to adapt to a changing world without it affecting them.
It could also be said that those endearing qualities of the Philippines are embodied in its national dessert, the halo-halo (or “mix-mix”). There’s no specific recipe for this dish – what we do know is that it’s bright, colourful and chock-full of sweet sugary goodness.
Halo-halo is usually made up of shaved ice and milk, which are added to various sweet beans (red mung beans or kidney beans) which are caramelised in sugar. This is then added to fruits, such as papayas, bananas, mangoes, kiwifruits and cherries.
Some of the variations of halo-halo include sweet rice, avocado, custard, coconut and even sweet potatoes or corn kernels. It may sound strange – our blog team is firmly split on the merits of this dish – but it made a refreshing addition to the buffet at last night’s welcome party.
Several players will be able to enjoy a dish of halo-halo by the pool this afternoon after being eliminated in the early going on day 1A. And if halo-halo isn’t quite their cup of tea, APPT Tournament Director Danny McDonagh has just advised players that two of the gorgeous promo girls wandering the room today are available to hear their tales of woe in the APPT Cebu Bad Beat Lounge – for 100 pesos (USD $2) per minute, players can let off steam and do their bit to raise funds for the Filipino typhoon victims.
Among those departures was David Steicke, the enigmatic and astoundingly successful Australian player, currently based in Hong Kong, who won the $100,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event at the 2009 Aussie Millions.
An opponent limped in for 200 from early position, only to see the USA’s Kenny Shih raise to 800 and Steicke reraise to 2400 from the small blind. The early position opponent got out of the way, Shih moved all in and Steicke called for the last of his short stack, tabling A-Q but was way behind Shih’s pocket kings. The board ran out 9-10-9-J-7, sending Steicke out of the tent.
APPT Macau fourth-place finisher Daoxing “Bao-Bao” Chen has also been sent to the rail at the hands of Mongolia’s Meenelai Bold, after moving all-in on a flop holding top pair but ran into the nut straight of Bold.
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