Up North: UPDATE

So very much can and does happen in three months time.  Has it been three months already?  Let’s check the calendar and see.  We arrived home in mid-July and November is replacing October on the calendars.

Yes, I guess we have been here for about three and a half months – time for an update on what could and did happen.   There have been dry, sunny days as well as typhoon-induced windy and rainy days.  There have been good days, great days, and days better left to history alone.  

I’ll highlight the better-known (and reported) incidents.  They are, however, just the tip of this tropical iceberg called Live in the Philippines, Up North.

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HEADLINE:  Katulong – Lost and Found!

As you may know, the katulong who had taken care of our house in our absence, greeted us when we arrived, and helped us unpack is no longer in our employ.  She left us for that “higher calling” of love and marriage, and appears to be getting along well in that endeavor.  After what felt like an eternity of searching, we employed a new, part-time katulong.

An Ilocano proverb fits our situation pretty well:  “Ti napíli makapíli ti kuggangí.”  [He who is choosy often picks the worst.]

So far, so good:  our new katulong is learning the ins and outs of the job and of our expectations.  Sure, as with all new employees, there have been a few hiccups.  We solved those with improved communications, explaining the job’s requirements and limits.  You can’t do well if you don’t know what it is you are to do! 

Progress was positive, then what I believe was the inevitable happened.  You see, our katulong is a fisherman’s wife and has lived in poor fishing sitios and puroks all her life.  Not only was she learning how to keep house for us, she was learning how to keep house, period.  (It’s the often-observed result of a culturally pleasing affirmative answer whenever most pinoys/pinays are asked if they can do something.  “Can you do the work of a katulong?”  “Oh, yes!”)  She now says that we “may not be seeing her for a little while.”  (Translation:  “I give up; I’m quitting!”)

So, it will be back to “search mode” for baket ko (asawa ko) [my wife].  She still has some prospects lined up, and I’m still partial to fried Spam & rice, so things will work out.  (A little cuter this time, honey!)

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HEADLINE:  “The ‘BRO” & Internet Connectivity

Another search, this one a little more adventurous, resulted in putting us “on-line” and connecting us with the world via the Internet.  We sought out, found and obtained “broadband” service through SMART Bro.  Though fate stymied my further search for the “Share It” router and its 2Mbyte service, I remain happy with what service I have.  After all, I have “The ‘BRO’s” word that this higher speed service, which has yet to make its way to the smaller municipalities of outlying provinces, will be available next year.  In addition, I’m sure I could say that my current service is faster than “dial-up” if I had landline telephone service for comparison.

Sure, as with all new systems, there have been a few hiccups.  (I’m getting a sense of déjà vu – seems I’ve seen that somewhere before.)  Ever since the seven-day brown-out that accompanied and followed the show-stopping, three-time appearance of Typhoon Peping in early October, my connectivity has been spotty at best.  (Okay, Paul, enough with all of those hyphenated-words . . . now stop that!)  Service finally came to a halt some nights ago.  A call on the SMART Bro Hot Line resulted in the scheduling of a visit by a crack SMART Bro Tech Team on Saturday, same week.  (The little truck appeared at noon.  Manolito, Mo-Mo and Jackie-Boy had returned and they repaired a bad connection to the feed-cable inside the antenna unit.  THANK YOU, SMART Bro.) Coincidently, the LBC courier showed up the day before the “halt” with the SMART Bro bill that is due in two days’ time.  Do I detect an adventure (”turn over the money and will give you back your service”) story here somewhere?

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HEADLINE:  Rainy Season Nixes Movement

Wet weather continues to keep us close to home though, as reported here, we managed to venture out a couple of times.  This past week has been a little drier than most.  What that really means is that the rains start a little later in the day.  Planning trips or outings that will take longer than half a day is not yet possible, as, by the time you know the weather will hold for the day, there isn’t much time left in the day for the outing.

Sure, as with all . . . (insert your favorite “hiccup” déjà vu line here).  A few outings started out dry but ended up with our damp turn around for home.  There are plenty of dry days ahead of us, so those trips and outings (and their resulting articles and reports) will be on the back burner for the not so dry now.

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HEADLINE:  Wee Hour Wee Visitors

It appears that we had another visit from the “small people,” as our nephew refers to them.  I’ll refrain from saying the name “Aeta,” as I’ve since learned that they don’t really enjoy that label (ditto for “Negritos” or “Pugot”).  For lack of their proper tribal name, then, I’ll borrow on our nephew’s diplomacy and refer to them as “small people,” too.  The chronicler for this visit was our Auntie, the mother of the nephew who related the first visit.  Auntie was more forthcoming and timely in her report.

This episode involved only two small individuals for whom all of the neighborhood dogs barked as before (déjà vu for two?).  One of the two peered in through the gate while the other sat and enjoyed a smoke (Auntie believes it was a hand-rolled cigarette, or something of that nature, as this person’s hands were a bit busy prior to the smoke).  They stayed around for the duration of the latter’s moment of pleasure, only to hasten off again when they detected Auntie watchfully eying them.  She described them as short, stout, very dark almost black, very curly short hair, wearing shirts, shorts and slippers, and being very fleet of foot.  Having a longer look at the “small people” than her son had previously, Auntie was able to provide more detail in her descriptions of everything she witnessed.

Where was your humble columnist during this episode, you ask?  As before, here was a chance for a nocturnal, cultural adventure, AND I SLEPT RIGHT THROUGH IT!  Baket ko (Asawa ko) [My wife] now makes sure that any dog barking at night is answered by my sleepy-eyed gaze and investigation.

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HEADLINE:  Three Strikes & You’re Out!

I guess this is the major story of our first three months.  Typhoon Peping took three good strikes at us, and then was out to sea for good.  It was very similar to my going through the same typhoon three times in five day’s time while stationed in Okinawa during the early seventies.  (What is it with all of this déjà vu stuff, anyway?  Am I repeating unlearnt history?)

My “Fascination with Rice” took a new turn.  The beautiful rice crop that was in the paddies took it kind of tough during those three passes.  Early estimated reports of damage were high, but farmers are replacing those estimates with lower ones.  There were three or four different plantings of the rice crop, with the most damage suffered by the youngest crop (last planted).  Its “flowering” is doubtful and it will most likely end up as just straw.

The first planted crop was close to harvest time, so it suffered “field loss” damage – some of the grains were blown off the plant, leaving others still attached a little weaker and prone to drop off “in the field.”  The result will be fewer grains harvested and marketed.

Damage to crops planted between the first and last is extremely hard to compute.  All crops planted were a hybrid version formulated to withstand excess water and storms.  Though some of these crops were “laid down” by the high winds, signs of resurrection are hopeful.  The worries here are just how long will standing water remain in the fields, will the rice grains fill out properly, will disease or pests infect the crop, etc.

No one will really know the total damage until after the final harvest.  Prices at the market for harvested, un-milled rice may go up a little and help offset the losses a little, but profit may still be a big squeeze for the farmers, not to mention the effects of rice availability, etc.

Personally, my “banana crop” loss is approximately 75%.  I lost one entire fruiting tree and half of the fruit of another.  The remaining fruit on the latter is yet to approach harvest time, so who knows what could happen.  The three typhoon passes also eliminated 100% of the eggplant that was almost ready for harvest.  Three of four malunggay trees snapped in half with most of the remaining leaves being lost to the wind as well (good thing we harvested leaves before the storm).  I still have five calamansi fruits on one bush, and a second bush is trying to recover from storm damage.

(Note:  At the time I am drafting this acticle, Typhoon Lupit [Ramil] is threatening to finish up the damage started by Peping, and throw in some of its own for good measure.  We can only hope it decides to wend its way north an miss The Philippines all together.   We’ll find out later this week just what are Lupit’s (Ramil’s) intentions.  You have to love living here and put up with its storms, or else leave.

Further update:  After snaking around the Philippine Sea for a week, it appears that Lupit had made an abrupt turn to the ENE, lost some of its power – being downgraded to Tropical Storm – and is headed for Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands.  For this storm, waiting seems to be its worst aspect.  While six international weather services have amended their projections for Lupit to coincide with its current movements, they still warn that “the snake” could turn for us again as well as intensify prior to visiting.  That won’t happen as Lupit was last seen skirting up the coast of Japan, having lost a lot of its intensity and dispersing in cooler, northern sea waters as a low pressure area. 

Harvesting rice has become very hard work.  The fields are still flooded from all the rains, the rice plants are all soaked and heavily laden with moisture; and the cutting, carrying, threshing, etc. is more back-breaking than ever.  Reminds me of shovelling “wet” snow is winters past.

Oh yes:  Lupit hasn’t affected the remaining banana crop.  For the “Bananaphiles” out there, eight hands remain, each averaging between 14-16 fingers.)

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That’s the UPDATE from Up North.  All in all, I make a poor farmer and a merely average resident.  I just hope my article writing is a little better.

Agog For Adobo

My apologies for not writing an article recently but I have been fighting with internet problems and this morning I found out a good friend of mine here in Davao passed away during the night.

I have been a student of history for as long as I can remember and any time that I can cross that with my other passion, cooking then we have a winner.  For some time now I have been wondering about my favourite dish here in the Philippines, Adobo.

It seems more or less to be a national dish but everyone has their own way of making it.  Where my fascination lies is in the history of this humble dish.  For a long time I really wondered if it was truly a Philippine dish or something that made it’s way over during the Spanish Colonial years.  So I dug down, talked to some people and discovered some interesting things.

Adobo originated hundreds of years ago as a way of preserving pork for long periods of time.  Basically around 3 kilos or more of fatty pork were placed in an earthen jar and simmered over a low fire with salt, a little water and coconut vinegar.  After 3 hours of cooking most of the fat has rendered out and the Adobo is placed into a glass jar and sealed.  The fat rises to the top and creates a seal which will keep the pork from spoiling for allegedly up to 6 months.  The French have a similar dish called pork confit and it serves the same purpose, to preserve meat without refrigeration.  Sometime around the 1700’s Bay leaves, garlic and peppercorns were introduced into the country and made their way into Adobo.  It wasn’t until the late 1800’s when toyo or soy sauce was brought into the country and Adobo transformed from a simmered dish into the quick cooking dish we are familiar with today.  Well I just had to try my hand at making some of the historical stuff, so starting with 1 kilo of pork belly I cut it into cubes and added it to a pot with 1/4 c water, 1/8 c salt, 1 T peppercorns, 3 bay leaves and 6 whole cloves of garlic, peeled.  Simmer for 15 minutes then add 1/2 c Coconut Vinegar (Sukang Tuba), reduce heat to low and simmer very slowly for 2 1/2 – 3 hours.  The smell alone while it was cooking was divine and by the time it was done the meat had taken on a nice brown color and was melt in your mouth tender.  I don’t think my wife was too thrilled with it but I put the leftovers in a mason jar and left it on the kitchen table overnight.  The next day the flavors had melded together and I was in love with the taste.  It was the best pork I have had while living here.  If I would change anything the next time I make it, it would be to add some cayenne pepper.  My wife and I have really gotten into eating spicy food lately,  and well at least cayenne is healthier than MSG.

Going Bananas Over Rainy Season (Pt II)

It’s been quite a quest to beat the blues of “Rainy Season,” but those blues appear to be on the run.  They’re being chased by a purplish pod – a banana blossom – and little green hands of banana fingers that, when ripened and yellow, should provide delicious entertainment to our taste buds. 

Going bananas?  Seeing colors?  Too much time without direct sunshine and Vitamin D?  Just what is going one here?

Have patience, dear reader, as we unwrap the pedals of this blossoming tale.

Continuing my wordy love affair with a fairer fruit, we resume the log as something afoul approaches:

10/01/2009 - I thought I would get some photos from a different angle.  This shot provides a better view of the hands that have been uncovered and the beginning of their rise toward the sky.  No pedals dropped away today, but a few more seem to be getting ready for the leap.  This blossom is starting to look like the typical bunch of bananas.

 

 

 

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10/02/2009 – Hands and fingers are really popping out all over. As we are expecting a visit from Typhoon Pepeng (Parma), and don’t know when the first band of rain showers and winds will appear, I took this picture a little earlier in the afternoon. Wow! Look at all those fingers – and to think there are more under each of those pedals. I’ll have to ask Emy to dig up some banana recipes. We certainly will have enough ingredients! Also might be able to sell some at the tienda (palengke) [market].

 

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10/3/2009 – We had heavy, periodic rain overnight accompanied by some stong wind gusts. Today is mostly overcast and periodic downpours and gusts. During a break between rains, the sun came out and so did the digital camera. Last night’s weather helped clear a few pedals from the blossom and reveal the hands hiding beneath them. There are quite a few hands attached to the stem, and still a lot of pedals left to shed. The plant next to this one is showing signs of a possible blossom, too. Oh, the bananas!

 

 

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10/04/09 – Typhoon Pepeng visited us last night, and demanded bananas.  We bartered all night long – he was quite windy – and we came to an arrangement.  Pepeng would take the banana plant that was just starting to show signs of a blossom.  I could keep the banana plant that I had been documenting, but . . . .  So others would know that he drives a hard bargain, Pepeng tipped my banana plant about 45°.  The fruit should continue to develop but it’s as if the plant has a sign that says, “Pepeng was here” hanging about its branches.  For the rest of the day, Pepeng danced all around the neighborhood, making a bargain here, taking something there, breaking something way over there, etc.

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10/05/2009 – The typhoon is lingering about 245km away, and weather conditions let up enough for a close-up of our surviving banana plant.  The hands look healthy, but I still wonder if all will be well.  There is word that Typhoon Pepeng may return.  If so, will Pepeng demand more bananas?   After all these days, I’d hate to give them up.

 

 

 

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10/06/2009 – Typhoon Pepeng must have liked his bananas.  He made a U-turn and came back across Pasuquin and Ilocos Norte.  My small banana grove now consists of four small (less than a meter tall) plants and the plant that I’ve been tracking.   All I can do is to wait and see whether my survivor is on Pepeng’s menu.

 

 

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10/07/2009 – The storm left us heading south.  Pepeng must have taken someone else’s bananas as my survivor is still hanging in there.  Unfortunately, the winds associated with Pepeng’s return removed some of the blossom’s pedals prematurely.  You can see the under-developed fingers near the blossom.  All with be touch-and-go from this point on.  I don’t know if there was any internal damage to the plant.  Gee, what a way to chase the rainy season blues away!

 

 

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10/08/2009 – We had to remove the plant’s blossom from the bunch.  It is no longer producing fingers that would develop into edible fruit.  While the amputation was a rather sad occasion, something positive resulted as well.  When a blossom has produced all of the fingers it has, its remaining part is edible as well.  Like an artichoke, peeling away the remaining leaves reveals a “heart.”  Though one can eat it raw, the heart is a great ingredient for making a delicious soup.

 

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10/09/2009 – The remaining hands of banana fingers on the bunch are in need of sunshine.  Overcast skies remain from the weather systems that passed over us.  Whether or not these remaining hands will survive and become fruit will be up to the sun.  Having gone a week without sunshine (and mostly harsh winds and rain) can’t be too good for fruiting.

 

 

 

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10/10/2009 – Finally, the sun is out.  Birds are singing. Farmers are gathering in their rice fields to assess storm damage to their rice crops.  Me?  I’m looking at what’s left of my bananas.  Perhaps another story may come from this plant.  Another story may come from its twin that was starting to show those familiar signs of motherhood right next to my plant, until Pepeng knocked her to the ground and took her bananas.   Who knows?  For now, however, it’s time to end the log.

 

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All should be convinced by now:  I’ve gone bananas over rainy season!

Chriselle Snack Hauz and Fast Food!

In 1993, My wife was spending a lot of time away from the Hotel so I got to wondering what she was up to as I knew that she was doing something in secret so one day when a local builder friend came in to collect my ladder I just asked him how the project was going on and in good Filipino fashion he immediately told me all about it! There are no well kept secrets in the Philippines!

Now I knew what was going on, I jumped into the pick up and “just by chance” happened to stumble onto the secret! Ellie had got a very good deal from a relation to rent a small building right opposite the Yellow Bus Station on the National Highway in Gen San and was converting it into a small eatery as it was a prime site for such a venture even though it was the center building in a block of 5 similar businesses, all eateries! Ellie was quite surprised to see me and had no choice but to tell me her plan, I asked her why she had not told me about it and she said that she wanted to surprise me! She had succeeded in doing so I will admit!

Now that I was in the loop, I was put on the construction gang, I was doing the electrics, plumbing etc, The walls were being paneled  with the outer skin of the Coconut Tree, in order to save the men time, I brought my small electric Chain Saw down to the site and the workers were amazed of how fast I could trim the edges of each piece of skin in order to fit them together! We replaced the old toilet and fitted one with a flush, the floor was all concreted, the concrete walls were all painted! We fitted a raised section in the roof so that the smoke and fumes would go outside and the natural breeze would blow in! Several wall fans were installed and I fitted a cooker hood over the non-gas cooking area! I even fitted a 12 volt backup light system running from a vehicle battery in case of brown outs! I was really enjoying this project!

Ellie was in charge of the cooking and serving equipment! She had made a stainless steel food warmer which was very rare around here, all the tables were covered with white Formica which was easy clean! We fitted a Stereo unit which we brought from UK so the sound was good! Everything about the place was looking very good and people were showing a lot of interest and asking when we would open for business! As opening day was getting nearer, Ellie went into overdrive and managed to get the refrigerators from San Miguel and Coke, she also added a freezer for ice making! Much of the cooking items we already had spare at the hotel so they were brought down! Decorations and posters, A sign board from San Miguel was set above the door! We were now ready to open but we had to wait a couple of days as we had to wait for a date with the Chinese lucky number 8 in it, i.e 08, 18, 28!

The big day came and we opened the doors waiting for the hungry public to arrive but to our amazement everyone still went to the other 4 eateries in the line and nobody came into ours! This went on until just before lunch time and the staff started asking people what was wrong and why people were not coming in and one Jeepney Driver summed up the problem very simple, he said, your place is too clean and everyone think its too expensive to eat and drink there! This guy was correct so we gave him and his conductor a free meal and showed him the price list and he was surprised to see that we were the same as the rest so he went away happily and became a regular customer! Once people realised that not only were our prices the same as the other in the block but our drinks were cold and the food was hot so from then on, we had a good clientele but it took a few days for the word to get out!

Business was doing fine and many people who were waiting for buses or dropping from the bus station came to eat and drink with us before continuing on their journeys, even the bus crews were now regulars! We had many requests to put a Cable TV in as well which we did and we also started to open 24 hours a day as there were lots of night guests also but unfortunately many wanted a place to sleep while waiting For an early bus and this made the place look like a doss house for vagrants at times so we again closed down on a night time! After about a year of operation we realized that we would never do too well with an eatery because with living away from the premises we could not control everything so we were thinking of what to do when the City Council made the decision for us by telling us that the front sections of all the eateries were illegal and had to be removed as the National Highway was going to be widened and in order to accommodate the project our front section had to go!

That was the excuse that we needed so we gave the place to the relations who were helping to run the business and moved ourselves totally out of it! It closed down completely not long afterward when the Yellow Bus Company moved its operation to the new station further away in an other part of the City!

The Eatery was a very interesting project as we found out for ourselves, Filipino’s did not trust clean thinking it meant expensive! The Family unit who usually own the small eateries are real hero’s to me as its very long working hours, you have to deal with awkward or drunken customers and you have always got to be ready on time with your service or your customers will go somewhere else! We tried to make this small eatery into a viable business for ourselves which we actually did but with fuel costs to and from the hotel several times a day, cooking food at the hotel and delivering it and with me drinking beer there, in the end it all became too expensive so we had the good sense to get out before things went bad for us!

The moral of this story is: If at first you don’t succeed, get out before you lose your shirt!

Going Bananas Over Rainy Season (Pt I)

As I write this article, it is still the “Rainy Season” up here in Pasuquin.  This season usually runs from sometime around May or June to sometime during the “ber” months.  One just can’t put a finger on a definite period – like seven days in a week – to define this season.  (I was going to use a month for an example but, you know, 30, 31, 28, or 29 days doesn’t really make my point.)  Rainy season starts when the rains start, and ends when the rains end, more or less.

Technically, the season is rooted in such things like tropical convection zones, monsoonal conditions, tropical depressions, and so on.  All I care to know is whether I’ll need my payong (payong) [umbrella] when I go out.  Sometimes the rains are monsoon-like:  A constant, consistent rainfall that hardly varies at all for hours on end.   Most common are afternoon and evening thunderstorms.  Occasionally, a tropical depression develops into a tropical storm that builds into a typhoon.  That means a lot of very mean rain and very high winds, plus chances for thunderstorms and funnel clouds/waterspouts.

We felt the last round of storms – those that caused the horrific flooding in Manila and surrounding areas – as gusty winds and one Friday night’s worth of very mean downpours and thunderstorms.  The next morning, rice fields revealed that a few microbursts of wind and rain flattened the crop in some small areas.  Sort of like “crop circles” but definitely storm related.  Other than that, not much damage accompanied the driving rains.

The Thursday before the storm, I was alone.  Baket ko (Asawa ko) [My wife] Emy was in Manila with some relatives picking up a used car and bringing it back up north.  While they were fortunately making their way north, I celebrated my 60^th birthday by discovering a curious growth on one of our banana trees.

There was a purplish growth or pod coming out from the top leaves.  I hadn’t noticed it before but there it was.  This definitely was not another leaf to grow and unfurl, as did a number of leaves before it.  Nature was providing me a birthday present.  The tree was producing a blossom – I was going to be a daddy to a bunch of bananas!

As I looked at it, I thought, “Here’s a way to chase any rainy season-induced blues away.  I’ll document its growth with pictures.  A picture a day – that should keep me busy for the rest of the rainy season, however long that may be.  I’ll add some comments and have a logbook or a (ho-hum) journal.  (In my youth I developed a severe dislike for journals – those were things that the “snooty kids” would make for extra credit in school.)

My goal will be to put together an interesting article, while beating back those blues.  Hopefully readers will enjoy this little log.

09/24/09 – First noticed a blossom appearing on one of our banana trees.  Will try to keep a runnng log on its progress for as long as I dare.

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09/25/09 - I almost forgot that I was going to take pictures of the banana tree each day.  Around 3:30 PM, I pulled out my digital camera and walked out to the tree.  I was amazed at the speed of development.  This blossom was definitely coming out of the leaves and would soon “make its turn” and start showing some signs of the fruit once “petals” started to open up and fall off.  I thought that it’s only Friday – better not expect too much right away.

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09/26/09 - Overnight was quite a storm – Tropical Storm Ketsana (Ondoy) to be exact.  Thunder, lightning, wind gusts and very heavy downpour.  During the night, I didn’t really expect the blossom to be there when daylight broke.  I was sure the storm would have claimed it as its victim.  I was quite surprised (and relieved) to see the storm’s effects.  Like some form of natural mid-wife, the storm helped the blossom “make its turn.”  That was quick but I’m sure, storm induced.  Could this occur at such a quick pace on its own?

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09/27/09 - The blossom is showing signs of continued growth and it is drooping further.  I can’t believe the speed of nature.  I only first noticed this miracle of life a few days ago.  Already it has progressed along quite well and quite quickly.  I can see a pedal or two starting to pull away from the blossom.  There will be layer after layer of pedals.  Beneath each pedal will be a “hand” of about 12-20 “fingers” or bananas.  I’ve also noticed that most of the growth and movement occurs overnight, so far.

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09/28/09 - The outer pedals of the blossom started to pull away from the blossom today.  In only four days, this blossom went from barely peaking through the other leaves to growing thick and having its outer pedals pull away.  Along with being thicker, I’m starting to detect some “ripples” along the pedals.  Could those be the baby bananas, waiting for the pedal to pull away and fall off?  I wonder when I’ll find out the answer.  The day-to-day changes are amazing.

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09/29/09 - There it is!  The first hand to come into view as the pedal that protected it moved away.  It’s  not even a week and I’m seeing a hand full of fingers.  Later in the day, its job finished, the blossom pedal (directly being the hand in the picture) fell away from the plant.  A second pedal is pulling away and, yes, beneath it is another hand.  I’m beginning to wonder just how many hands and how many fingers I’ll have.  A bunch, or banana stem, can weigh 30-50 kg and have up to 400 fingers, or bananas grouped approximately 12-20 fingers per hand.

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09/30/3009 - Overnight, another pedal dropped off and exposed a second hand full of fingers.  Additionally, the first hand has started its own turn upward.  Bananas grow “bottoms up” and each hand will turn upward toward the sky.  During the afternoon, yet another pedal started to pull away from the blossom.  That means three full hands are now visible.  Even the second hand that appeared overnight started to make its turn to the sky.  This has to be the fastest growing fruit I’ve ever seen.

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Little did I know at the end of September that some changes were in store for me, my banana plant and all those hands and fingers.  There’s a storm a-brewin’ – a BIG storm.

I Think I’m Turning Chinese

I worked for quite a few years in the food service industry so to say I know my way around a kitchen is an understatement.  I can cook most any recipe from simple to complicated.  Recently I have been focusing on the simple part by trying a variety of Chinese recipes.  I do this for a number of reasons but I think paramount on the list is the availability of fresh ingredients here that I would have to buy tinned in the states.  Bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, etc.  Another is is that it so much cheaper and I daresay healthier to cook stir fry with less meat and lots of fresh veggies.

I really got interested in doing stir fry the first time I went to the wet market with my wife and saw all the vegetables available here.  Many of the things Filipinos consider their own are actually transplants from China, Eggplant, Asparagus and celery being the biggest examples.  It is relatively cheap to get a small bag of bean sprouts and usually the same vendor will have fresh sliced bamboo shoots.  One day I had a bunch of leftover bamboo shoots and made a stir fry of them and Chinese sausage with mushrooms.  I don’t think my wife was too impressed but I liked it and it was a recipe from an area of China usually overlooked in western cuisine.

Pancit Canton, the dish that I see every birthday and holiday, is a staple item here in the Philippines.  The name says alot as it gives us a historical look at the Chinese influence on Filipino cooking.  To you or me pansit is Lo Mein, a humdrum staple to be found on every Chinese Menu in the states but this dish has authentic Chinese roots unlike my favourite dish, General Tso’s Chicken.  There are 8 great traditions in Chinese Cuisine, centered on geographical areas, Anhui,  Cantonese,  Fujian, Hunan, Jinagsu, Shandong, Sichuan, and Zhejiang.  Most are unknown in the USA as they come from mountainous regeions of China which had few people immigrate around the world, however the spicy Sichuan cooking is well known as well as some Hunan dishes but it is Cantonese that we concern ourself with today.  Ah yes this gets us in full circle back to Pansit Canton which is a Cantonese dish in it’s original form.  Here in the Philippines the dish has been tweaked with a bit over the years to appeal to the local tastes more, and also Chorizo Bilbao a Spanish element has replaced the sweeter dried Cantonese Sausage.  Cantonese used to be the height of the Culinary art back in the 1920’s and many chefs tried to replicate the cuisine of that area.

So how are my culinary experiments going?  I’d have to say very well.  I’m not starving, I feel healthier and my wife hasn’t hit me with the wok yet so I must be doing something right.  I’ve been thinking for awhile in which direction I want to take my column here on LiP and I am still ever led back to something to do with cooking.  What do you think?  Would you like to see me post a weekly recipe here or should I just stick to articles?

How to make Biko(sticky rice)

I will share with you the recipe on how to make the sticky rice. Its really not that hard. Just a few ingredients with it. Really you can buy lots of sticky rice here in some of the snack shops, but I want to make it the way my mom used to make and use the coconut that just came from our farm.

I say coconut that came from our farm, what I mean for that is I will have the coconut milk from the coconut that grew in our farm. My sisters really know how to choose the right coconut for that. They really know if the coconut is way old already which means had less coconut milk or way too young. I used to know all those tricks before. My sister got the talent of my mom on making all kinds of good snacks. In short I am not good on that.

Honestly my nieces and nephews that grew up in the farm know the difference between the sticky rice that’s made by my mom and the one that just bought in the store.

Anyway here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• Sticky rice 2 kilos
• Sugar ( 1/2 kilo brown sugar & 1/2 kilo muscavado sugar-Kinugay) Splenda is good too.
• 8 to 10 cups coconut milk
• 1 glass of  water
• dash of salt
• Banana leaves( you can find it in any Asian store)

Procedure:

First cook the sticky rice just the way you cook the regular rice. When its cooked then let it cool. On a big pan put the coconut milk and let it be simmer in a medium heat keep on stirring. It could take up to almost an hour. When its simmering you can see small pieces floating that small pieces(we call it lunok here in Bisaya). You can also see that it’s getting oily since its came from coconut.  Take out the lunok and put it in a bowl and you can eat it. Don’t eat too much though its not good for your tummy.  Then add the sugar half a kilo first in the pan and keep stirring, and add  a glass of water and a dash of salt, continue stirring until the sugar mix well and  dissolved.  Keep tasting until your desired sweetness. When you see that the sugar mixed well keep stirring for maybe like 10 minutes. Then take out like a cup from the batter you just made and put in a bowl and put aside. Then time to add the sticky rice slowly to the batter, a little bit at a time and continue mixing until you reach your desired consistency. Some people like me to have our sticky rice a bit drier, some people in my family likes it to be a bit more saucy.  You can add the sauce that ou save in a bowl if needed. Then put the banana leaves on top and put the lid and let it cool a bit before eating.

A lot of us in our family likes our biko eaten the next day. It’s good with coffee and sikwati/tsokolate(cacao). Some people put some nuts or some shredded young coconut or more muscavado sugar on top of the biko. Really its up to you. You can also put food coloring on it too. I saw some colored  biko like yellow, purple, green and many others.

Hope you guys will try it. Have fun cooking.

Cheers!

Let’s count our blessings

This article is from Mindanao Bob’s Journal, which is a regular weekly column in SunStar Davao Newspaper.  This column appeared in SunStar today, October 2, 2009.

This past weekend, the scenes on TV from Manila were horrific.  The flooding in Manila was devastating.  The suffering of the people was heart wrenching.  It’s really a time to count our blessings.

Count our blessings? Yes, I believe it is time for that.  We are blessed to be Dabawenyos.  Imagine the differences here compared to other places around the Philippines.  Mindanao is the only part of the Philippines that is outside the typhoon belt, we have beautiful weather here!  We have an abundance of so many things here in Davao, we really need to count our blessings for that.

Davao is hounded with flooding whenever it rains very hard, but it certainly is nothing like we saw on TV over the weekend.  Yes, we get a few centimeters of water on the City Streets, and we complain.  It’s human nature, we want the streets to remain dry, of course.  But, when was the last time you saw the water waist deep, or heaven forbid neck deep in Davao City?  It just doesn’t happen here.

As the flooding hit Manila, what was the next thing we saw on TV?  People were hungry.  Here in Mindanao we live in a land of abundance when it comes to food.  Fruits and other kinds of foods are plentiful, and inexpensive too.

Yes, I believe that as Dabawenyos we are really blessed.  Those who are from other areas, though, away from Mindanao, only talk about what a bad, or dangerous place Mindanao is.  Just the mention of Mindanao brings fear to those people.  It seems they don’t realize that only a few parts of Mindanao present danger, the vast majority of Mindanao is a beautiful, unspoiled and safe place!  Especially Davao City.

A lot of times, when we have visitors come to Davao they rave about the place.  It’s so beautiful, such a wonderful life!  The food is so cheap and abundant.  Yet, others tell them to fear Mindanao.  Why?  Because those who advise fear have never set foot in Mindanao.  And, when it comes to danger, that’s about as far as you could get from Davao while still remaining on the Island.

Yes, even as I write this, things are not comfortable for those in Metro Manila.  Most of the water has drained off, leaving a ton of mud on the streets, in the homes and just about anyplace you might look.  It’s dirty, and there is a lot of work to be done.  I feel sorry for the people in Manila, no doubt about that, and I pray for their well being.  I wonder, though, if they realize just how much different life in Davao is?

I’m thinking of starting smoking!

Are you a smoker?  If so, how often do you smoke?  I would have to say, regardless of whatever you might think or hear, smoking, I believe, is very good for you.  It tastes good too!

.

What do you think?

Oh, wait!  You think I’m talking about smoking cigarettes?  Cigars?  Ha ha… no, I’m talking about smoking food!  Like, making smoked fish or other kids of food!  Like I say, I believe that smoking is a way of preparing foods that adds no fat, tastes delicious, and is a healthy way of eating.

I never have done a lot of food smoking, although I used to own a charcoal smoker when we lived in the States.  It was kind of old, had some rusty parts on it, and such, so I just threw it away when we moved to the Philippines.  In recent years, though, I have been wanting to get into smoking foods here in the Philippines.  Primarily, I want to smoke different types of fish.  There is such an abundance of fish available in the local markets, and I love smoked fish, so this is something that I really do want to do.

The problem is, even though I’ve been looking for several years now, I have yet to find any kind of commercially available smoker here in the Philippines.  So, what it comes down to is that you need to make your own smoker, if you want to smoke foods here.  Over the years, I have been looking at several different smoker designs, but have just never gotten busy and actually tried to build the smoker!

Last week, I found a discussion on the Internet about smoking foods, and somebody mentioned a YouTube video (which is actually a TV show segment) about a simple smoker design.  I watched the video and found the design to be easy, and all of the items should be easily available here in the Philippines.

Have a look at the video yourself and see what you think.  If you have experience smoking food, do you have any suggestions, either positive or negative, about this design?  Do you think it will work well?  I am certainly interested to hear your thoughts.

After building the smoker, the next challenge will be finding what kinds of woods that are locally available will be good for smoking the foods.  I have always thought that Mango tree wood would possibly be a nice wood to smoke with, but a few weeks ago, I heard from a friend that Mango wood is possibly not healthy and has some component to it that is possibly poisonous for smoking.  I will have to research that before I try it!

Any suggestions on locally available woods for smoking?  I know that wood chips are not commercially available for smoking, so it will be a matter of going out collecting the wood, cutting it up into chips, drying it out, etc.  It won’t be easy, but I think it will be a fun project.

Scalloped Pineapple

As you may know, here in the Philippines there two places that I know which are famous for growing pineapple.  They are both here in Mindanao.

One place is Bukidnon, the Del Monte Plantation is in Manolo Fortich. The other one is in Polomolok, near GenSan, the Dole Plantation. If you go to these places, everywhere you look at its all pineapple as far as you can see. You will be in awe just by looking at the place as all your eyes can see were the pineapple plants. I was asked before by a family member in the States if the pineapple grow in a tree? I told them NO. They really were shocked. I told them how the was pineapple planted and how to harvest it and how we can tell that its ready to be picked, we are not pineapple farmers, but we have some in our farm that my parents planted for our consumption. So we are not experts on this though.  But we like to eat pineapple.

One time we went to Polomolok with the kids, we showed the kids the pineapple plantation just at the foot of Mt. Matutum. The kids were so amazed by it. All of the sudden a security guard come running to us and telling us to leave because people are not allowed to take photos of the fields. We just didn’t argue with the guard we just left.

Anyway, I will share with you the scalloped recipe I got from Bob’s mom that she usually made it when we were still in the States. She will make this during Easter and Christmas time. Scalloped pineapple really compliments good with ham. Since we have lots of pineapple here in Mindanao I make this recipe every now and then. Really the only time we can avail plenty of ham here just during the holiday season. Its coming up soon. But Swiss Deli and Hola Espana carry ham all year round. I’m happy for that, its just a bit of hassle sometimes going there with the traffic on the way. Its a headache.

Oh well, almost Christmas time I know of a good place to order a really delicious ham here in Davao. I’m really looking forward to it. Whenever I make this recipe with my family they always think its for snacks. Hey they think that because with ham it should be rice you know? But people here in our household they will eat it with ham and they like it.

Scalloped Pineapple

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup or 1 stick butter melted (room temperature)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk ( I made half and half – 1/4 milk & 1/4 all purpose cream)
• 1 can pineapple chunk drained ( Hey look for Dole or Del Monte made in the Philippines)
• 10 slices bread cut in cubes or 4 cups cube size bread ( crust removed)

Procedures:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (162 degrees Celsius)I usually put my oven temperature to 200 degrees Celsius. Our oven doesn’t really give good heat, so I crank up a notch a lot of times.

Beat the sugar and the melted butter until smooth. Add the egg one at a time and keep beating. Personally I put just 2 drops of vanilla just to give a delicious smell. Mix in the milk and pineapple and keep stirring. Then toss the slices bread and stir until mix well.

Pour the mixture into the buttered 9 inches dish. Bake it for at least an hour until lightly browned on top.

I hope you guys enjoy the recipe. Let me know if you tried already.

Have fun eating.

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