2015 Week 51

The week prior, we have been complaining about the heat. This week, there was too much rainfall because of two typhoons that entered PAR. All this as the COP21 was happening in Paris and the leaders are leaving the indigenous peoples out of the picture in the discussions on global warming mitigation.

In the two weeks of continuous discussions and negotiations, a big flood in the Southern Indian city of Chennai claimed 300 lives and destroyed both residential and commercial structures. This should be an important lesson for humanity and everyone should be extra mindful of how humans are contributing to the gradual destruction of the earth. 

It reminds me of the seminar I attended two weeks before where a presenter passionately argued against geoengineering saying that while it is a brilliant idea in the history of human civilization, we should look more to natural ways because in the long run, it is only nature's own devices which will be for the best. This echoes my firm belief in Mother Nature's self-healing methods so upon hearing those words of hers, I almost cried at the thought that finally, an architect who understands the dynamics between nature and the built environment!

The rainfall in recent days caused many to question why we are experiencing typhoons in December, an occurrence that never happened before. Now if only people were closing in on the climate talks instead of being preoccupied with Aldub and other showbiz nonsense! (*Facepalm) 

On the 15th, just coming from an almost-fever after exhausting myself in Laguna last weekend, I found myself braving the icky floods in Balintawak after attending the first of the series of Simbang Gabi this year. It already sucks going home wet but it sucks even more to see your favorite green pants suddenly turn into yellowish brown because of the floodwaters. Sigh! People in the Philippines are too conscious of their personal hygiene but cannot go beyond their bodies. The environment suffers as a result of wanton garbage disposal. I don't know if I have any right to complain since I do not partake of any actions to educate the stupid masses of the importance of keeping the surroundings clean. On the other hand, shouldn't it be first the government, second the school's responsibility to do that??? And another voice inside my head cynically retorts that since when can we rely on the government to mobilize the masses for a common good? And schools nowadays have become factories of certificates and have stopped being institutions of real learning.

[Allow me to insert one of my favorite paragraphs in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, a book that I almost dropped off my to-read list until I browsed the latter pages and found interesting takes on real education among other philosophical musings:

 "The real University, he said, has no specific location. It owns no property, pays no salaries and receives no material dues. The real University is a state of mind. It is that great heritage of rational thought that has been brought down to us through the centuries and which does not exist at any specific location. It's a state of mind which is regenerated throughout the centuries by a body of people who traditionally carry the title of professor, but even that title is not part of the real University. The real University is nothing less than the continuing body of reason itself.

"But this second university, the legal corporation, cannot teach, does not generate new knowledge or evaluate ideas. It is not the real University at all. It is just a church building, the setting, the location at which conditions have been made favorable for the real church to exist." ]

And there are so many problems in this world that we need to address. So many intertwined problems, a hypernetwork of problems that we inherited from the previous generations whose lack of foresight made the world what it is today. [And the relationships among these problems are so convoluted I always get a headache thinking about them and how to address them.] So it shall fall on today's generation to undo all these shit, which is next to impossible so the only recourse is to be less of a burden to the world and be more of a good example for others. Except, when you exhibit qualities and possess opinions different from the masses, you will be treated with contempt and ridicule. In moments like this, I am always reminded of the cruel fate my favorite PH hero Antonio Luna suffered, at the hands of fellow [read: STUPID, SELFISH, PRETENTIOUS] Filipinos no less.

So I rant again... Just yesterday we were finally done with the team Christmas party. Thank God for that. And I got what I wrote down in my wishlist: a copy of Ang Diablo sa Filipinas, originally by Isabelo delos Reyes and translated into English and Filipino. One of the translators was Benedict Anderson whose work Under Three Flags was a treasure I found in one of the libraries in UP and which I read for PI 100 class even though it was not part of the required readings. (Because I was so poor I couldn't afford to have photocopies of the required readings...) He died just last December 13, so God bless his soul.

Pesto Pasta

Because I chanced upon packed basil leaves in the grocery store last week, I made sure to make pesto sauce and leave it in the freezer for longer shelf life.

Earlier, I asked one officemate whose pesto pasta rivals those in restos for a simple recipe. I wasn't able to dutifully follow it though because as always, my being a drifter took over and one day upon arriving home from work, I had the urge to make pesto even without having nuts around.

What I did is just put the washed basil leaves, garlic, salt and pepper, few slices of pimiento cheese, and olive oil all into the blender and have everything pureed. Then I transferred the mixture to a plastic container and in it went straight to the freezer.

Today I cooked my fiber-rich corkscrew pasta and used pesto for my sauce. That, plus squid rings.

I'm sad to say I am lightyears away from achieving the perfect pesto pasta. Sigh! Will have to do it again tomorrow...

Aligue Pasta and Tuyo Pasta

Yesterday I successfully cooked tuyo pasta. I didn't make it spicy even though recently I just bought Lee Kum Kee chili oil and packs of various pasta types to last me at least five months since I will be embarking on a major project soon and I need to have tighter grip on my moolah.

The day before, I had aligue pasta. For both dishes I used angel hair pasta, which I have been wanting to do for a long time now. Angel hair pasta easily cooks and the sauce sticks easily because of its very small diameter. Thing is, I seldom see angel hair pasta in grocery stores.

Aligue Pasta:

Sautée garlic and add a spoon of aligue. I got mine bottled, taken home by my sister. Then add pasta. Mix a little and then you're good to go.

A piece of porkchop, leftover from dinner the night before, accompanied my pasta. It was from Tasty Dumplings because just last Sunday we had early dinner there after mass.

Tuyo Pasta:

Sautée garlic in extra virgin olive oil. Add the tuyo flakes and chopped tomatoes. (Good thing we have two leftover from Saturday breakfast.) Toss in cooked angel hair pasta. Add more olive oil as needed, to make sure that the noodles are well-oiled. Mix.

I topped this with a few pieces of pork tocino which we had for breakfast.

I have stopped eating breakfast again because I'd rather have longer sleeping time. It sucks not to have househelp. Sigh.

The Horse and His Boy

Last November 15, I found myself eager to watch another play. Trumpets was having "The Horse and His Boy" in Meralco Theater so I asked the friendly Archaeo guy to watch with me, just because he happened to PM me on Facebook at the very moment I was looking for interesting shows to watch.

We met up at Robinsons Galleria way too early because I didn't want to risk being stuck in bad traffic. Since we have more than an hour to go, we dropped the the Japanese stores there to buy wasabi and wasabi-flavored chips. Then we walked to the theater. I'm frustrated at how the metro is being modelled to be rich men's playground, darn it, they blocked the path to the theater!!! So if you're just a normal poorita with no car of her own, you jump over that stupid blockade.

"The Horse and His Boy" is based on C.S. Lewis' book about a young boy named Shasta who fled his land with a talking horse named Bree. Along the way they met Aravis, a princess in search of freedom, and her talking horse Hwin. Both Hwin and Bree are originally from Narnia and both aim to return to their homeland.

What makes the play stand out from the other plays I've watched is effort exerted to make the horses come out alive. Most times manned by two people, each of the magical horse adopts another person when it's time for either Sasha or Aravis to mount. And the way the horses act! It's amusing to see them. Except there's a part at the beginning where I laughed out loud because Bree was hopping instead of galloping and I thought maybe the two men behind Bree were already confused. 

As for the ending, I am rather disappointed that Bree and Hwin did not end up together. But maybe their personalities do not jive much because Bree is too full of himself whereas Hwin is always cheerful and kindhearted.

Over-all it's a wonderful play. We bought the cheapest ticket, at P800. I could have sat on the most expensive rows as I am wont to do when I am alone but I had to consider my companion. Next time, I'm definitely watching alone so I can pick out the best seats.

2015 at a Glance

So finally I can relax and spend more time with my books.

It feels as if I were a student again this year as I managed several things at once. January to April, four months in all, were spent traveling on weekends to different provinces for heritage documentation. As an Iska, this is my way of offering my skills and services to my country without sacrificing my happiness. I almost resigned from my current job but quickly retracted at the last minute after achieving enlightenment. That stint in the US was very tempting, especially since it involved historical documents, but I had to let it go. My life is too full of regrets to add another bad decision.

I was also able to participate in an excavation in February. It was one of my dream sites and I would love to explore every place in Mindoro. I finally visited Singapore and got to stay at Four Seasons Hotel for three nights thanks to my cousin. I returned to Bohol this time as a volunteer in a mapping workshop. It was my first time to be a workshop facilitator.

(Many of my friends are pushing me to work in the public sector seeing how my skills can be put to good use. Then again, I would refuse without second thought. I don't trust the government and I don't want to be put in a situation wherein it would seem like I were working under the government when in fact I am working FOR the government. Ugh! If ever, there is only one project I'd like to be part of but I think I have to level up fast first.)

This year also marks the start of my active participation in the volunteering community. I signed up to distribute goods to schoolchildren in the Mountain Province and participated in painting a school in Botolan, Zambales. For the first, I am thankful to my team mates who donated milk for the kids. 

In June, the Light of my life disappeared, leaving me hurting everytime I think of her. (Just earlier today while at mass in UP, I thought of her and uncontrollable tears rolled down ny cheeks. It must be because the day after my birthday, my sisters asked me if I dreamed of her and I told them I have been dreamless for a long time and they wouldn't believe me yet unfortunately, it's true.)

Another childhood dream was achieved when I went to Mexico this year to attend a conference. Even though it was just for 10 days, it will remain as my most unforgettable trip. I never thought I had that courage to go that far on my own. After that, I felt like I could go anywhere in the world. (Okay I exaggerate. I will certainly have second thoughts about going to India on my own.)

A trip to HongKong was just what I needed in August to give in to wanderlust without killing the wallet that much. It was good to be with my cousins again and I will very fondly cherish my first bike adventure because they were with me. Also, I am surprised to find myself booking a flight just to attend a seminar abroad. While in HK, I made sure to finish my powerpoint presentations and scripts for my paper reader since the trip coincided with a conference where I was to present two papers, both on heritage documentation, a big leap from my 2014 paper which was on archaeology and animé.

September to November passed by with me too focused on work. Those months were uneventful except I finally found the time to attend concerts and plays. The whole month of November, I participated in the Asian Month and I submitted a few articles, mainly writing about extraordinary Thais who contributed to positive changes in Thailand. It was also during this time that I went out with friends again since prior to this, it was always hard to ask me out. I also assisted a friend archaeologist in touring his class around Binondo for two days and one day in the National Museum where I gave a short lecture on glass artifacts.

Today marks the end of a personal project. Plus I attended a seminar. It coincided with our company Christmas party in Pampanga but I chose to attend the seminar seeing it as more important. Walking inside UP Campus on a drizzling night, I took in the smell of wet earth, mushrooms, and frogs which I so miss. UP has been and will always be my sanctuary.

The remaining days this month will see me reading history books and writing papers in preparation for next year.

Whole Day Cooking 11292015

Yesterday was such a tiring day. I was supposed to coop up at home and finish submitting articles which I promised for a month-long project. But then on a Sunday with the boys at home, pity the girl brought up in a family that believes in gendered activities. (So I grow up thinking it sucks to have been born a girl. Tsk.)

With suddenly no househelp around, only the four of us females are doing household chores. I wonder why mom adamantly sticks to that distorted view that house chores are for girls only. Despite my repeated impromptu speeches on gender equality, she will only end up with a sigh and say that's the fate of a woman, to be a servant to men. No wonder the world is full of chauvinistic males! As if these males can be relied upon in difficult times. Bah!

So anyway, enough of the rants. I woke up early to cook potato soup with macaroni. What you'll need to make life a bit easier is to have a pack of Nestlé Professional mashed potatoes around, a carrot to be diced, onions to be chopped, garlic to be minced, a 100 g pack of macaroni to be boiled and you´re good to go. Plus, salt and pepper, and a few dashes of McCormick´s Italian Seasoning. Big bonus is if you have chicken stock stocked around (pun intended), which we did, for the extra flavor. No need for meat since the veggies and the chicken broth will do the trick.

Ingredients:

• 1 carrot in small cubes
• 1 tablespoon garlic
• 2 onions, minced
• 100 g macaroni
• 1 cup Nestlé Professional mashed potatoes
• McCormick´s Italian Seasoning
• salt and pepper
• chicken broth

Boil around 5 liters of water. But just before water boils, you know, that moment when bubbles are just forming, add salt and pepper and garlic and onions. I don't know if it's just me but I do believe this way, flavor is enhanced. Then just add everything and bring everything to boil. You'll have a creamy macaroni soup. Yum! (I forgot the leeks... Sigh!)

Note: I heard my brother looking for leftover soup today. Okay, that says a lot. :)

Then off to writing. Come 11:59AM (and good thing I happened to glance at the clock), I ran down to the kitchen to fry the daing the bangus which mom had left on the table to defrost. It was my first time to fry daing and I cringed at the thought of destroying such beautiful fish which my sister did when she cooked bangus once. Anyway, suffering from oily projectiles even though armed with my trusty wok cover, I succeeded in producing wonderfully fried daing na bangus. I just hope I can do it again in the future. Probably just beginner's luck.

Off to writing again. Then it was past 1PM when my sisters arrived. So I took a quick bath and had quick lunch and dashed out of the house to go on a date (just a friendly date with a boy whom I first met in the mountains). 

Upon arriving home at 7PM, I immediately pulled out the things I need to cook spaghetti. When we're at our wits' end to think of what to prepare for dinner, I would always volunteer to cook pasta. This time, we have Dole Sweet Italian sauce which at first I was hesitant to use but there was no other alternative. Turns out to be one blessing with thick tomato sauce. YUM!!!

Ingredients for the spaghetti (which reminded me of the pomodoro I recently enjoyed somewhere):

• 2 minced onions
• 1 tablespoon garlic
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• McCormick Italian Seasoning
• 1 kg spaghetti, cooked al dente (except with Royal I don't know how to achieve this...)
• half a cup of shitake mushrooms, sliced
• 3 pieces hotdogs, sliced (because we had no ground meat in the freezer... #drifterasalways)
• 2 tablespoons black olives, sliced (which fortunately I bought from a grocery store on my way home)
• 1 kg Dole Sweet Italian pasta sauce (I'm an instant fan)

Caramelize onions, then put in garlic and tomatoes. Add salt. For some reason, I believe that flavor is better when you add salt at this stage. Put in the hotdogs. Then pasta sauce. Did I mention to have hot water ready? Yes, pour hot water in. Add McCormick Italian Seasoning, just a few dashes will do. Then mushrooms. Serve separate from the pasta.

Pangasinan Trip Part 2

Last week, because of the APEC meeting, relatives from my mom's side decided to spend an evening in Pangasinan to visit my grandmother. Mom chose me to go with her saying I wouldn't be of much help at home anyway since we no longer have any househelp. (Ah but she totally disregards the fact that among us siblings I'm the only one who is willing to wash my own clothes :P)

We left Manila late in the afternoon of the 21st. The whole morning was spent in the kitchen washing the dishes, cooking lunch, and preparing apple mint shake for our travel. I had to make sure that this time I would be well hydrated because the last time, I felt funny when we got home.

(Part 1 of our travel was a bit traumatic because I ended up with a bad stomachache and fever kept me from reporting to work. Because that week I suffered from intermittent stomachaches, I thought it might be something serious so I had to endure going to the hospital where they made me wait soooo long and any minute I could collapse because of headache. I had to endure the doctor reprimanding me why the hell I took Pocari sweat instead of Gatorade and why I didn't want to take meds. It was a bit awkward but I had to make it clear to her that I was only after the stool analysis to see if maybe I ingested something weird so I can take the necessary steps to eliminate it from my system.)

While part 1 was not enjoyable because there were too many of us and the introvert in me was screaming for solitude, part 2 is relatively tolerable because there were less people so I was in my best behavior. LOL. My cousins always ask me  why I am always in a bad mood. Tsk. If only they knew how much I wanted to run away every time we have a reunion were it not for the wonderful food... Plus seeing my maarte cousins. O.o

It was pretty funny to be with just my mom and her sisters. I played mahjong with them. It's been a while since my last game so maybe that was why I won big time, gaining 70% more than my original number of chips. At night I shared the same bed with my 4th Aunt and they were all surprised when in the morning they commented how I slept like a log when throughout the night there was an orchestra of snoring women. LOL.

The following morning we visited Manaoag Church, my third time to do so this year. Traffic was really bad. Tsk. Roads are narrow in the provinces and yet many of the people there already drive cars. Sigh! It feels like Antipolo. Since I had to accompany my grandma, the two of us plus an aunt got separated from mom and two other aunts. The bad thing is that they didn't bring their phones so it was no use calling them. I had to rely on gut feel to find them while grandma and 3rd Aunt stayed on one place. So anyway we did come home all together.

And I'm happy to learn that my cousin's kids are doing well in school. Awesome! I just hope that they are not taught the same stupid traditional stuff we got in my generation. The youth of today should learn how to discern truth from media reports and to exercise critical thinking and not just take in without contemplation what is fed to them by the media, and by the elders for that matter. In short, I would want the next generation, especially in my family, to be freethinkers.

On the way home, we stopped by Cafe France for dinner. I finally gave in to their request to treat them except I didn't have cash with me and I had to use my CC. Guess what? Only one order was charged and the rest declined. So mom had to pay for the rest! BTW, I so love their seafood marinara. Yumyum! In fact, I love Cafe France's food because they taste like hospital food, you know, with clean taste so you don't feel so guilty afterwards.

We went home at 9PM, tired and sleepy. I miss reading my books. I brought Three Cups of Tea with me but never got around to read even a page.