A Blessed Easter to Everyone!

 

COVID-19: Be Ready

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted almost the entire world.  It can affect anyone of us at any time.  While we should continue with our daily life, how does one prepare for the day under these medical circumstances?  I found this very helpful poster from the United Nations site and I wish to share it with you.  I hope you could find it helpful.

Be safe everyone.  Always wash your hands and as much as possible, #STAYATHOME.

un.org

Sinful Kare-Kare Bagnet at Pino Restaurant

We recently had lunch at Pino Street at Maginhawa St., the famed food haven of Quezon City. We chose Pino from other eateries in the area because I read about their best seller, the Kare Kare Bagnet.

I love kare kare. It's a special dish for our family.  For the uninitiated, it is a traditional Filipino stew in thick peanut sauce.  It contains vegetables like eggplant, string beans, among others.  We usually use ox tripe but some people prefer ox tail, beef, pork leg, even mixed seafoods.  To give it an extra kick, we use bagoong alamang.

Bagnet  is an Ilocano delicacy made from pork loin that is deep fried until the skin and outside layer of meat become crispy while the inside remains juicy.

The picture at left is the first thing that you will see upon entering Pino.  It is actually a line drawing that filled an entire wall.  We decided to sit under it.  The place is rather small with just around 10 tables for three to four persons.  It wasn't full when we got there but I immediately noticed that there were only three persons serving the tables and it looked like the orders were taking some time.

From the picture in the menu, the Kare Kare Bagnet looked like trouble for someone watching his diet.  Two of us, including me, chose the Kare Kare Bagnet while the other two decided to try the seafood kare kare.  Maybe they got scared of what they saw in the picture,  It took almost thirty minutes before our orders arrived.

The Kare Kare Bagnet did not disappoint.  It consisted of three slices of bagnet with vegetables on the side and the sauce in the bottom. The set meal also comes with a cup of steamed rice and a glass of ice tea.

It tasted good, even the bagoong that came with it complemented the taste of the food.

But it is so fat! I could only finish one slice of the bagnet and I already felt heady.  If you have problems with your blood pressure like I do, I advise that you be careful with this one.  In a word it is sinful - gloriously sinful.

At its price point, the meal is a good buy. But don't over indulge or you might get more than you wished for.

The Latest in Agribusiness at Agrilink 2014

I went to the Agrilink 2014 this morning at the World Trade Center in Roxas Blvd. Agrilink is a trade exhibition on agriculture, food and aquaculture  held every October. We went there to see what latest technology and trends in agriculture that we can apply in our little farm in Mindanao.

Here are some of the things I saw in the exhibit:

Here's a very good looking Duroc boar. This reminded me of my course in college called Swine Production. 

These fowls are very nice to look at. I was attracted to the crest of feathers on their head that looked like cotton.

These are Pearl Gray Bengalas, their dotted plumage are so beautiful to look at.

I didn't get the name of this beautiful bird but its plumage is so stunning.

American Mallards. A pair cost Php4,000 during the exhibit.

The booth of the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research featured "edible landscaping" developed by the University of the Philippines at Los Banos (my alma mater). It combines vegetables such as camote, herbs, etc. with traditional garden plants.

There were also a lot of learning seminars held simultaneously for free. Most of them are focused on increasing competitiveness in the light of the ASEAN economic integration next year.  Unfortunately I did not have enough time and I wasn't prepared. Maybe next year, in the 22nd Agrilink,

Morrissey is coming to Manila

It may be almost three decades too late but Morrissey, former front man of my favorite band The Smiths, will have a one night concert here in Manila on May 13, 2012.  Since this is a Greatest Hits Tour, he will be doing his songs as well as from his former band.

Venue of the concert is the World Trade Center in Pasay City. Ticket prices are at PhP5,500 (VIP, reserved seats) and PhP3,500 (Titanium, free seating), and are now Ticketworld.

Savoring Savory

While in Trinoma Mall yesterday, I decided to try the Savory Chicken Stall at the Landmark Foodcourt.  I like Savory Chicken because it is oven roasted and it's gravy is different from those of other chicken food stores.  They have several restaurants around the city and some malls.  This is the first time I saw them as part of a food court.

I tried the 155-peso "solo meal", which included a quarter of a chicken, a choice of side dish and a choice of either plain rice or yang chow rice.  There were several choices for the side dish, including fish fillet in sweet and sour sauce, pansit canton, mixed vegetables, and others.   I chose their mixed vegetables and the yang chow rice.

The part I got was a lot bigger than those from other eateries.  It was also tender and yes, juicy.  The gravy which I like the most was sufficient for the part.  The mixed vegetables also tasted really good but I was disappointed with the yang chow rice.  It didn't taste like one at all and the only thing that makes it a yang chow rice is the yellow color.

I also ordered their spinach seafood soup, which cost only PhP10 per cup when bought with the meal.  All in all I spent PhP165 for the meal, excluding the drink.  You have to shell out an additional PhP20 for a 12-oz. cup of juice or iced tea.

Inspite the rice, I still enjoyed my meal.  I didn't finish the chicken though because the serving was really too big for me.  I will try the pansit canton next time.  Too bad I didn't have a camera yesterday.

I Don't Get It

A friend showed me this picture recently.  He was laughing so hard like it's the funniest photo he's seen. I looked at the photo intently and all I could see were cans of NAN milk and a big BATMAAAN at the bottom.

I asked my friend what's the connection between the cans of milk and Batman. I also asked him what's so funny about the picture.

"Don't you see?" He asked. "What am I supposed to see that's really funny about the picture." I answered.

At this point, my friend stopped laughing and a look of bewilderment was on his face.

"I really don't get it." I said with finality.

He pointed out how the cans were arranged with only the "NA" part of the brand visible.  "So?" I told him. "Wow" he said while he shook his head.  Then he asked me to sing the theme song of the old Batman TV series.

"Nananananananaa... Batmaaan..." I finally got it.

It scared that I am getting old and I couldn't understand these things anymore, the way people the generation before ours couldn't understand what makes us tick.  Now I can relate to them and maybe I should be more patient with them when they just couldn't understand.  I can't imagine myself getting confused at something that I just couldn't catch.

Why I've Been Away

Whew... It's already February and I still have only one post for the year.  So many things have happened already and I've been silent.  Let's see why.

My sister gave me a Magnavox Blu Ray player last Christmas and I've been very busy with it.  The first Blu Ray Disc I bought was the Disney Pixar movie UP (4 disc set) and can't get over it.  I love this movie and all those added features.  The first disc contained the movie and some bonus features, including two short features.  The second contained documentaries about the making of the film.  The third is a DVD version of the film.  The fourth disc enabled me to download a digital copy of the movie through the iTunes store so now I have the movie in my iPod Touch and iPad.  Blu Ray is a thingamagig! The clarity of the image and the sound are superb that you wonder what you've been missing all these years.  By the way, to get the maximum effect, you must also have a good HD TV and of course, a HDMI cable.

Another gadget I've been busy with the last two months is my iPod Touch 4th generation.  Although I already have an iPad, I was enticed to get this baby because of FaceTime! I can't get over this app because now, not only can I talk with my sisters, I can even see them. One time, I was even speaking to my sister and her kids while they were having dinner.  It as almost like being there with them.  I am really excited what technology will come out this year.  There are already talks about the second generation iPad which will also have both front and back facing cameras.  Does this mean that we'll be able to do FaceTime on the iPad soon? I can't wait!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

I finally watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 yesterday one week after its local release.  It wasn't my intention to miss the opening weekend but I got sick so I wasn't I able to go to the movie house.  One of the advantages of watching it late though is the crowd has relatively thinned and there's no need to fall in line just to get to tickets.

This is of course the second to the last movie about the boy who lived, based on the final book in the Harry Potter series.  Although I was excited to see how the movie treated the original material, I deliberately downgraded my expectations this time because I was disappointed in the last two installments.  That is why I am glad to find out that among the 6 movies produced so far, this one stayed closest to the book.  Nevertheless, there were still some materials that were left out, although it was referred to in passing.

In Deathly Hallows Part 1, we follow Harry's search for the remaining horcruxes and witness the return to power of Voldemort and his death eaters.  It began with an ominous statement from the Minister of Magic himself and this set the tone of the whole movie.  We see the three young protagonists dealing with more adult problems now, including the possibility of death.  In fact, somebody close to them died in the early part of the story and another one died in the end.  The final scene seems to be a warning to everyone that the next chapter will be even darker.

Some of my friends who obviously did not read the book asked me why there were so many new characters in this movie.  I explained that these characters will be, hopefully, explained more in the second part.  Others pointed out that the middle part, when Harry, Hermione and Ron went into exile, dragged and slowed down the movie. I also wondered why the director decided to stretch this part when there were other parts of the book that were interesting, including the family background of Dumbledore.  

I read somewhere that the entire series took 10 years to complete.  No wonder some of the characters already looked too old.  Alan Rickman looked so old in the few scenes he was in.  The three main characters, especially Daniel Radcliffe who played Harry Potter, already looked old to be 17 years old.

Nevertheless I truly enjoyed the movie.  For one, the special effects in this one are far more superior than in the earlier films.  This installment already covered almost two-thirds of the book.  If the next one will also stay close to the original material, then it will be even more exciting.  There will be a half blind dragon, a return to Hogwarts and a battle scene that will include centaurs, house elves, giants and lots of wizards and witches.  It would be fun and I can't wait.

Heroes in Debt

A friend of mine recently sent me a link to a story on the Emirates 24/7 website which said that among expatriates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Filipinos are the most indebted. Our countrymen account for 27 percent of personal loans in that country, followed by the Indians and Pakistanis.

For years, we have credited them for propping up our economy through their remittances even in the midst of the global financial crisis.  We could only guess that one of the reasons our kababayans (countrymen) had to take personal loans was to send the money to their relatives here.  The sad truth is, many of them go abroad to do just that, send money to the family they left behind here.

It is also sad to note that even before they leave for their work abroad, many of our overseas workers are already heavily in debt.  We have read and heard a lot of stories about families borrowing money even with usurious interest rates just to send the father or mother abroad.  Some even go to the extent of using their properties as collateral for a loan to raise the amount needed for various fees just to get an overseas job for a family member.  

We could only hope that their relatives and our government realize the sacrifice these workers had to go through just to send those precious dollars here. 

American Idol Season 9 Top 12: What were they thinking?!?

After the performances of the remaining 16 finalists, the top 12 American Idol hopefuls were revealed tonight and I guess I am not the only one who was shocked at the results.  Two of the better singers were dumped by the American voting public in favor of those who performed below par in the last two days.

Alex Lambert and Lilly Scott, are now out of the running.  What a tragedy,  Alex has one of the most unique voices in this year's competition.  He was just starting to show what he could offer but sadly, he won't be able to show more of what he's got.  Lilly is one of my favorites since Hollywood week.  I wanted her to be in this competition because of her Indie sounding style.  I guess that's what spelled her doom because the show does not attract the Indie music crowd.

But even more shocking was the fact that instead of these two performers making it to the top 12, two of the weakest ones got in.  Tim Urban, the replacement finalist who had to reshoot his reaction shot as a one of the top 24 guys will come back next week, and Paige Miles, whom Simon boldly predicted to leave tonight, miraculously survived.  Paige Miles! Believe it or not, after what she did to Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" and after making all judges simultaneously frown at her performance made it to the top 12.

 The guys behind votefortheworst.com are jumping in joy right now and congratulating themselves after their two picks made it.  They just couldn't believe their luck over their double victory.

If this would be the trend this season I can't blame those naysayers when they say that the Idol franchise has reached its breaking point.  The only bright spots I am seeing this season are Crystal Bowersox and Siobhan Magnus for the girls, and Casey James and Big Mike Lynche for the boys.  I can't even remember the name of the others who would soon be eliminated starting next week. Oh yes, there's Andrew Garcia, but he's become boring singing all those songs.  He's now even in the reserve list of votefortheworst.com.

To be fair to everybody I got from the official americanidol.com site the name of  the rest of the top 12.  They are Aaron Kelly, Didi Benami, Katie Stevens, Lacey Brown, and Lee Dewyze.  Next week the lucky dozen will be doing songs from the Rolling Stones.  Let's see whose head will be the first to roll...

John Mayer in Manila on May 16

It's official: John Mayer is bringing his Battle Studies Tour 2010 to Manila on May 16.  Barring any unforeseen incident, the concert will be at the SM Mall of Asia Grounds.

I first go wind of this great news from a Twitter post by Tim Yap in February.  Yap posted that Channel V, an Asian music channel, is bringing Mayer on May 15.  At that time, there was no official word on his site yet but there was a big gap between John's last stop in Australia and his next stop in Portugal.  Everybody was crossing hoping the tweet was true.

While waiting for confirmation of his schedule, news broke out about Mayer's racy remarks about his girlfriends and his sexual preference on Playboy Magazine. I guess you have heard or read about his online apologies for said interview.   There was still no word, however, about his stop in the country.

The official announcement came out just yesterday on his website that for the first time ever, John Mayer will have a show in the Philippines.  It will be after his two night stand in Japan.  No information about ticket sales was posted yet so I will have to monitor this one.

I am definitely going to this one.  I didn't see some great foreign acts before because their concerts were at the SM MOA grounds but this one will be an exception.  In fact I am already preparing myself for the concert by filling up my iPod with all the albums of John Mayer.  

Bananas!

I love bananas.  Here in the Philippines, we have several types of bananas.  Small and fat, long and thin, yellow, red, white and even green bananas.  I love bananas because they are easy to eat, just peel off the hygienic natural packaging and you’re ready to chomp on them.  They also contain lots of vitamins and minerals.  My meal is almost incomplete without it.

I bought a variety we call saba.  This one is often used for the banana que I kept on having as merienda.  But this type of banana can be cooked in different ways.  My father likes it fried in oil and usually eat this during breakfast. I cooked some in two of the most common methods:  boiled and sweetened.  

I boiled the bananas with the peel on and had them for my mid-morning snack.  I was happy as can be, of course.  I also ate some while surfing the Internet.  Though it’s gone cold for the length of time that lapsed since I cooked it, it still tasted good.  In fact it tasted refreshing on a warm morning we had today.

In some parts of the Philippines, particularly in the Visayas, saba is cooked before they are fully ripened.  Then they eat with bagoong, the smelly fish sauce that is uniquely Filipino.  I haven’t tried this one yet but maybe someday, when i get the courage to do it. 

The sweetened bananas were reserved for dessert after lunch.  I cooked the bananas by boiling them, peeled of course,  in a mixture of brown sugar and water.  For added flavor, I placed a couple of tablespoons of the preserved jackfruit I was keeping in the fridge.  It was so delicious I couldn’t stop myself from eating a few pieces even though they were still hot.  I usually put some shaved ice to make it cold.  Other people even put some milk to make it creamier.

I ate this while watching the TV news after lunch.  Then I had some more of both the boiled and sweetened ones for merienda.  Unfortunately, I ran out of ice to shave that I contented myself by eating eat just cold and not chilled.

I had more bananas after dinner and in fact, I plan to eat the rest of the boiled bananas during breakfast tomorrow.

You may say that I really love bananas but I do!  I go bananas over bananas!

Rudeness

Is rudeness now the norm than the exception in this country?

Last weekend, I went to take a walk in the nearby mall. It was packed with people of all sizes and yet there were some children running around and making a ruckus. One boy bumped into me and even tried to push me aside. I was taken aback and in reaction I looked for his adult companion who was nowhere to be seen. As I walked away, the same boy bumped into me again and this time I told him to stop running around as the place was not a park. Instead of listening to me, the boy tried to push me again, I repeated my request. A young woman approached me and pulled the boy away. No "sorry" or "excuse" and they left without even looking at me.

This led me to thinking: How many times have I been subjected to such rude behavior? Not once, but many times. I am not even sure if I were guilty myself.

Just recently, I went to attend a wedding in a Catholic church and there was this woman who works for the church giving instructions to the people. Being a church worker, you would expect that she would be patient and courteous but no. She was barking at people, treating us like we were some insignificant matters.

There was also this female salesclerk in a computer shop who wouldn't even answer your question about their product simply because she believes you will not buy. I did buy the product from the same store after somebody else assisted me. I overheard the first clerk told her co-worker that I was her client first. I smiled at her and told her that she didn't want to help me so how could I be her client.

I wonder where the boy got the idea that it is okay to bump other people and even try to push them aside when they want to. I just hope that the boy would learn someday how to say sorry or excuse me even if his adult companion do not think it's necessary.

Let's hope he won't grow up like that church woman or that salesclerk.

Typhoon Frank

It was almost a week ago when Typhoon Frank (internationally code-named: Fengshen) visited our country. It was Sunday morning, and I woke up to a dark room and the wind pounding on my closed windows. The rain was pouring noisily outside.

There was no electricity, and the house was dark. I managed to have breakfast with only candles for light.

I was out of touch for some time. No TV, no radio, and no Internet. Luckily, the mobile phones were still working, so I could exchange SMS with my parents and brother.

Electric power returned by midday, but there was no cable TV. My source of information was the Internet. I was able to track the path of the typhoon and found out that it would pass by our area late in the afternoon.

By mid-afternoon, the worst of the typhoon was upon us. Winds buffeted the trees in the yard, tearing off some of the branches. A bird's nest fell from one of the trees; the poor little chicks died when they hit the concrete.

Surprisingly, the electric power didn't go off. Cable TV was even restored, even as the typhoon unleashed its fury on our area. After a couple of hours, the winds and rains calmed down.

TV news started broadcasting all the horrific images of devastation in the other provinces of the country. Scores died in the wake of the typhoon. Near where I was, there was news of a couple getting electrocuted because floodwaters reached their electrical outlets before they got to higher ground.

The worst story was about a ship that capsized in the middle of the typhoon after huge waves hit it. Some 800 souls were aboard that ship, and it was only the day after that reports of survivors, only 20 at first and now 50, came out.

The name Frank has just been removed from the list of typhoon names in the country because of its strength and the devastation it wrought.

Taxi Drivers

I take a taxi to work every day. It's not because I want to, but because I have to so that I won't be late for work. It's an added cost for me, but at least I get to work on time. Aside from that, I don't have to take at least two jeepney rides to reach the workplace.

It's so convenient. I just get in the cab, tell the driver where to go, and I can sit back and relax as my cab goes through the early morning rush hour.

Filipino taxi drivers are a class of their own. They are proud of what they can do with their taxis. If you tell them you need to get to a place pronto, they'll go through all sorts of places to avoid the notorious Manila traffic jams so you can reach your destination at the time you wanted to, with more minutes to spare to fix your hair.

Just this morning, I had an experience with what could be a cab driver from hell. I was running late for an appointment and I didn't want to keep my colleagues waiting. So I got into his taxi and told him to get me to Makati by all means. Boy did he take my word seriously. If it weren't against the law, he could have ran over half of the traffic aides in the road. He was cutting here and there; if he saw space between two cars, he took advantage of it to put his taxi ahead of everybody. When we reached our destination, he was sneering at me as if he won a gold medal in the olympics. I must have been so shaken that when the people I was supposed to meet saw me, they all said that I looked like I saw a ghost.

Another characteristic of a Filipino taxi driver I find amusing is that they are very opinionated. With only the radio as their company almost all day, most of them are up to date on current events in the country. Do you think they passively listen to the radio? You are dead wrong. Don't get them started, and they'll give their take on all issues: from the rice shortage to the different crimes in the country, up to the performance of the President. Name it, and they know a thing or two about these issues. They can be wrong at times, but the fact that they know about these issues is certainly impressive.

Then there are taxi drivers who choose to be silent throughout the trip. They'll just drive you to your destination, and when you get there, they'll take your payment, thank you, and off they go.

My most memorable taxi ride was the one I took with a good friend. In the middle of our trip, Mr. Taxi Driver started pouring his heart out, telling us how his wife (actually a live-in partner) left him. The woman ran away with his best friend and left him with their children, and, dig this, HER children to take care of. He was thinking of just driving the taxi off a bridge to end it all. My companion talked to him, advising him how important it is to live and that, with the help of God, things would come to pass and get better. I just silently listened to their exchange, half amused and half afraid that he would drive his taxi off a bridge or a flyover with us on board.

What would my commute be without the taxi? It would be boring, I think. That's why I cheer the Filipino taxi driver for making life a bit more interesting.