Craving for Filipino Food

I have just finished reading my second book for the year (too slow eh?). A Taste of Home: Pinoy Expats and Food Memories is a "collection of Filipino expats’ reminiscences – especially during the writers’ growing-up-into-adulthood years – primarily of home and hometown, but having Filipino cooking as the unifying thread: favorite dishes and native delicacies, family recipes and food rituals, favorite watering holes and memorable eating places anywhere in the Philippines." The book, which was edited by Edgar B. Maranan and Len S. Maranan-Goldstein, is Lina's gift to me on my 44th birthday. Maybe because I'm fond of cooking and she's just proud that the article written by her ex-pat sister is included in the book. I was able to relate to the anecdotes shared by the contributors. 

While in Thailand for my master's study, I craved Filipino dishes even as I learned to appreciate Thai food such as khao pad, tom yum, phad thai, etc. Good thing we're in the same region hence, sourcing of ingredients had never been a problem. I also joined a group that availed of the services of a Thai cook so we were able to demand dishes cooked the Filipino way. In the US particularly in New York, New Jersey, and California, I was pleased to find Asian stores offering tropical (and even Filipino) delicacies, canned goods, and other food items at thrice the local price. In some cases, we had to make do with substitutes to complete the desired dish like spinach as a substitute for kangkong for the all-time favorite sinigang. We just had to make sure that there's plenty of sinigang powder or cubes stocked in the pantry. Now we know why our folks abroad would always ask for local food items whenever we send them pasalubong. During my first trip to the US, my sister who was pregnant then asked me to hand-carry fried Purefoods hotdogs. I was really scared as I went through the tight security because foot and mouth disease was a problem then. My sister was too glad to devour the "successful" hotdogs. We are fond of the imported corned beef but my sister would always request us to send her the meatier, chunkier, local corned beef. And who does not want adobo, kare kare, sinigang, arroz caldo, sinangag, and the like? Chow!

Sudoku Loco

While waiting for our meeting to start this morning, I scanned yesterday's newspapers. I was reading through the Entertainment section when the unsolved sudoku puzzle caught my attention. When was the last time I solved one? I'm not really into mind-boggling games. That's why I don't get eager to learn chess and similar games. But it was different with sudoku. 

I was visiting my balikbayan aunt two years ago in the then Oakwood Hotel in Makati when I saw my niece solving a puzzle. I thought it was a crossword but when I got near her, it was a sudoku puzzle. I became intrigued by it. Never had the chance though to ask her how it is solved because we became engrossed with our kwentuhan and kainan. Later, I learned that there are no mathematical operations required but pure logic. Since then, I've become a fan of sudoku. I always look for it when I get hold of a newspaper. I've been tempted to buy those puzzles displayed in bookstore shelves but my sister introduced me to web sudoku. Sometimes, she brought home printouts of the puzzle for me to solve. At one point, I even prepared ready-made grids and just copied the supplied numbers from the web to save on printer ink. Each puzzle solved brings me a certain "high" that challenges me to solve another... And then the semesters passed by. The work never ended. And now I discovered it has been a long while since my affair with sudoku. When I retire, solving sudoku puzzles will surely fill my time.

Francis Kong and his Inspiring Excellence

I came to know and read the works of Francis Kong through a friend who is also a fan of his. Francis Kong is a popular motivational speaker and author of several books. In one of the seminars I attended on the quality management systems, the speaker recommended Kong's book "The Early Bird Catches the Worm, But the Second Mouse Gets the Cheese". I immediately borrowed my friend's copy of the book and began to like the way he writes. I find his articles in businessmatters.org and the Philippine Star inspirational. I always search for his books whenever I have the chance to visit the bookstore. If you want to start your day on a positive note, his book "One Day at a Time" is highly recommended. It is supposed to be a daily dose of inspiring stories and anecdotes for one quarter of the year but I finished the whole book in just a few days. He is truly gifted in motivating people. By the way, we cannot give something that we don't have. Francis Kong inspires because he himself is full of inspiration. Inspiring excellence indeed!

Magalang, Pampanga

"Home of the sweetest tamarind in the Republic." Indeed, their tamarind is naturally sweet. The Aglibut sweet tamarind is propagated at the Pampanga Agricultural College (PAC) in Magalang, Pampanga. Unfortunately, we did not have enough fruits to taste because of the rains that came before our visit to PAC on March 9-12. The mature unharvested tamarind gets moldy when wetted according to the experts. I was with more than 20 accreditors from various state colleges and universities (SCUs) in Luzon for the accreditation survey visit. I joined the team which evaluated the BS Agricultural Engineering program on its second survey visit. Like other survey visits, there was just a short time to visit the campus, particularly the areas related to my assignment: Faculty and Research. It was my second visit to PAC since October 2003 and I'm glad to note the improvements in the College. PAC has been existing for 33 years and looking forward to being granted agricultural university status soon.

Best Travel Blog

Oops! Don't get me wrong. I'm not referring to this blog. Read on. Bobby discovered Ivan About Town while searching for some photos for his research work. He immediately forwarded the link to me with his positive comments about the site. Best Travel Blog at the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards. Wow! I scanned the posts and truly, he deserved the award. His blog is so informative. His writing style is simple that I always feel and visualize the many places he had been to. As if I was there too. And I admire the photos. He has captured the moments and sights very well. And what makes his blog extra special? It is not just about his personal travels but his heritage advocacy.