Monday, June 30, 2003

Ahh, a new interface has replaced the old stand by. Gotta test it out right now to see how convenient and easy it is.

Costco was the destination because of a 4th of july celebration in the office on thursday. i'm bringing sausages and potato salad. someone else is bringing the george foreman grill. hope the grill works for everyone. i hear that it can cook the burgers. i wonder how fast it can cook the sausages.

i have been dining lately on soybeans. really good when they are boiled. i wish you could eat the skin, but it is kinda hairy.

Tuesday, June 24, 2003


What a difference fifteen years has made in the landscape of Filipino restaurants and stores. In the 1980's and 1990's, there were very few restaurants that sold Pin@y food here in the Bay Area. Mr. Lumpia in Oakland was one, but the service was spotty. A couple of people I knew ordered 500 lumpias for a conference. When they dropped by to pick up the lumpia, they got "No." Bwahahha. They ended up cutting some ham and cold cuts and skewering them in toothpicks. New Filipinas Restaurant in the Mission area of San Francisco was pretty good during the years 1998-2000. The food was tasty and properly prepared. (Lately however, the place has gone definitely to the dumps. They even screw up adobong baboy!) And of course, Goldilock's arrival in 1997 in Richmond was a godsend.

Another stellar store is Valerio's which originally began in Los Angeles. The store was known because of the legendary pan de sal. I myself never tasted the pan de sal because I figured that it could not be that good. How ignorant I was! I finally tasted this mana and I can say that Valerio's pan de sal is worth every single sacrifice you will have to make with respect to parking, heat from the weather, or price. Actually price is not that expensive (12 pieces for <$4).

Imagine my surprise though when I realized that Valerio's can make pan de sal from wheat. Wow! I thought that wheat was a curse from god. But in a Valerio's pan de sal, wheat becomes very, very tasty. Yet, the wheat taste is blended into the pan de sal taste. How Valerio's does it, I don't know. And if someone finds out, please e-mail to the world. Not that I would go to all that trouble to bake pan de sal. It's too much work.

This past weekend, we visited because I was hearing the call of the salted bread. I was surprised to see a sign that said "Try our Buko Pie!" BUKO PIE!!! Talk about childhood memories. This was definitely in the Top 50 of my childhood. Buko pie was synonymous to the trips to the provinces that seemed to last a lifetime. Somewhere between Bulacan and the final destination, we saw the vendors of buko pie. The pie itself is made up of stringy coconut with some gelatin like substance. The Valerios version replaces the gelatin with custard. It's a double whammy of diabetes and cardiovascular disease for everyone!!! So if you are in the Northern California area, drop by Valerio's! You won't regret it.

Monday, June 23, 2003

It is the second day of the Harry Potter craze. On Friday night, there were Harry Potter stayovers at Barnes & Noble which resulted in streets inundated with children. Even adults are not immune to the power of the magical book. Warehouse clerks were caught stealing books. Copywriters were stealing single pages. At the end of the week, Harry Potter will knock off Hillary Clinton's autobiography as the number one selling book in the country.

Yours truly can not join this mania for the Potman. I tried; I really did. I sat at the college bookstore intent on finding out what is so interesting with the book. I read through the beginning of one of the magical chronicles. But, I became antsy. The writing was too simple. I could not find any word that would make me go find a dictionary. The storytelling itself hurt my brain so much I had to stop at fifty pages. It became a chore to read the book. Instead of the drama and the high speed of imagination, I was stuck in Dullsville. Was there a plot to this book?

I personally still don't understand the obsession of adults to this book. I understand that children are attracted to it because of the magic and the adventure. I was attracted to the Hardy Boys, the Nancy Drew, the blonde twins solving mysteries too when I was ten years old. But how adults reach a religious fervor for this book is beyond me. I have seen twentysomethings tell me to read this book. When I told them that I disliked the book for blah-blah reasons, their heads rear back as if ready to strike with cobra venom.

Frankly, I have several questions: What does this book tell one about one's abilities? One is reading a book meant for a ten year old child. Is the end of civilization near? Will the decline of America occur because adults are reading at a seven year old's level of imagination? Do adults wish for a linear plot?

Written on Saturday 21 June 03.

Saturday, June 21, 2003


Lunch today was at Bonsai a sushi restaurant owned by a Korean who hires a real Japanese sushi chef. Located in Telegraph Avenue in the city of Oakland, Bonsai straddles Koreatown. The surrounding area is not the best for those more used to polished dining experiences. This means that the sidewalk has cracks; there can be drunks; and if one is not careful, one can get mugged at night. This should not detract those who enjoy good sushi however.

The order today was Autumn sashimi ($30) composed of yellowtail, tuna, mackerel, and salmon. Two orders each of yellowtail sushi, salmon sushi, California roll, and tuna roll. This whole shebang only cost $46. The service was great. The owner was the one serving because it was during lunch time.

The sushi chef is one of those traditionally trained in Japan. You can tell by the way in which he cuts the fish. It is as if he is envisioning how to do it before he actually does it. He focuses his chi and then performs the actual act. We had sat at the bar one time and we communicated with him. It was difficult because he does not speak English. But, we managed. He has family across the world and they are all sushi chefs.

I noticed that the quality of the fish in sushi is lower than the one in the sashimi. This time around, we did not have rice as I usually do. I wanted to experience the "only fish" taste.

Friday, June 20, 2003


Fifteen years ago, there was no place to go for Asian food except for the Chinatowns in Oakland and San Francisco and Daly City for Pin@y food. Thank God that there has been a revolution in thought in the business industry. The Pacific East Shopping Mall in Richmond is the culmination of a dream of having nice clean restaurants and good food.

Anchored by the presence of Ranch 99, the mall is a paean to Asian food and products. My personal favorites are the Pin@y music store and Goldilock's. The music store has a decent selection of music. Plus, the daughter of the owner is a pretty good singer. They sell her CD of Christmas songs. I recommend your buying it.

Before I began my odyssey in cooking, Goldilock's served as the store of last resort if I wanted something Pin@y. Dinuguan, kare-kare, and kaldereta are my personal favorites in Goldilock's. Except for the expense, I recommend Goldilock's a lot.

I'm currently listening to Freddie Aguilar as mp3 files in iTunes. What a great awesome system Macs have. It just blows away PC computers.

But for today, we will discuss Daimo. The minuses have to come first. There is always a long wait for this restaurant. It suggests to you that the food is just really good. Everyone is willing to wait for a seating. We did not know this when we went. I was thinking 20 minute wait. Folks, it was 45 minutes. The dinner was so late, I was pissed off. So, did I just rant and rave and go nuts? Hell no. I made it memorable. I said I was going to pay for it and to order everything that was good.

First up was Wonton with Shui Kau combination soup. Nice firm wontons with slices of the hundred year old eggs. Very good to get the appetite going. The Daimo offers a soup called Double Boiled buddha's delight which costs $125 for 4 people and $280 for ten people. Somehow, I don't see myself ordering this dish. If you ever order this, please inform me what exactly is in it. Maybe it has some gold or diamonds as roughage.

I ended up ordering the Peking duck next. Now, the last time we ordered this, there were some visitors to my graduate school lab. I did not nearly get enough of the duck and it was expensive. The duck is roasted and cut into pieces which are then eaten with some bread and green onions. The duck was very tasty. However, it was also very fatty and greasy. How greasy? As you bite the duck, the bread will soak up the fat that is squeezed from the duck meat. For those watching the cholesterol, this is a once every year kind of dish.

Since we occupied the same table that Sam Yick occupied, we had to order something exotic. By the way, Sam Yick owns one of the stores in Oakland's Chinatown. We got the Hot Pot Frog Legs with Chives in Chinese White Wine Sauce. This dish is not that great because the frog legs were chopped into pieces which resulted in small bones floating around. I'm sorry, but small bones are not fun to deal with when eating. I don't like smashing my teeth on a bone.

We also had ostrich with ginger and scallion tossed salad. The ostrich tasted just like beef and maybe a little saltier. I would order it again, though compared to the Peking duck, I can not remember the taste.

By the time we left, they were about ready to close and the line was no longer there. Ha! That shows you how serious I am about food. Make me wait? Forget it. I will make sure that I eat well.

Kain na!!!
What is Food Irradiation?
Irradiated food has been exposed to radiation equivalent to millions of chest x-rays, in order to destroy invasive insects and drastically extend shelf life. This process allows multinational food corporations to ship food all over the world and exert tremendous control over the food system. Local and indigenous farms and farm workers will be pushed aside to build huge factory farms controlled by powerful agribusiness corporations. In Southeast Asia, the U.S. irradiation company SureBeam has been actively negotiating in at least three countries to construct facilities, threatening the livelihood and well-being of farmers throughout the region.

The above is from a message from PUSOD in Berkeley CA. I feel bad for the peasant farmers in the world. But, the world is changing so fast that one must adapt to the changes because if one does not, one becomes disposable. The world is based on change. Even nature is a story of change. Nothing stays the same forever. To try and make everything the same only leads to the inevitable failure.

I personally don't know how I can help the farmers in the world. But in this one book of tai chi, the instructor suggested that one must try to help the world one person at a time. For myself, as a capitalist who lives in a democracy, I have to support businesses that try to make money. Certainly, I believe that there will be costs here as well as in the Philippines. The goal is to try and be the one making the corporation.
What is Food Irradiation?
Irradiated food has been exposed to radiation equivalent to millions of chest x-rays, in order to destroy invasive insects and drastically extend shelf life. This process allows multinational food corporations to ship food all over the world and exert tremendous control over the food system. Local and indigenous farms and farm workers will be pushed aside to build huge factory farms controlled by powerful agribusiness corporations. In Southeast Asia, the U.S. irradiation company SureBeam has been actively negotiating in at least three countries to construct facilities, threatening the livelihood and well-being of farmers throughout the region.

The above is from a message from PUSOD in Berkeley CA. I feel bad for the peasant farmers in the world. But, the world is changing so fast that one must adapt to the changes because if one does not, one becomes disposable. The world is based on change. Even nature is a story of change. Nothing stays the same forever. To try and make everything the same only leads to the inevitable failure.

I personally don't know how I can help the farmers in the world. But in this one book of tai chi, the instructor suggested that one must try to help the world one person at a time. For myself, as a capitalist who lives in a democracy, I have to support businesses that try to make money. Certainly, I believe that there will be costs here as well as in the Philippines. The goal is to try and be the one making the corporation.

Thursday, June 19, 2003


I have just cleaned my bathroom. Because this is such a chore for me, I usually don't do it. But I have been entering a different phase in my life such that I am now forced to take responsibilities for everyday chores. I guess it is time for me to grow up and take care of business.

I recommend mopping the floor with some nice biodegradeable product like a citrus based cleaner. Because the local Long's drugstore did not have the usual citrus based product, I grabbed this pine nut derived cleaner called Hexol. I hope it works just as well.

How many here hate washing the toilet bowl? I work with urine, but man, I hate the smell of ammonia. The scientist in me says that it is just a chemical compound, but the evolution product that is me tells me to run away because this place is polluted. Find some other place where you can breathe fresh air.

I hope the next place in my life is to be able to clean the bedroom that I have been using as a storage place. Time for me to grow up.

I have just cleaned my bathroom. Because this is such a chore for me, I usually don't do it. But I have been entering a different phase in my life such that I am now forced to take responsibilities for everyday chores. I guess it is time for me to grow up and take care of business.

I recommend mopping the floor with some nice biodegradeable product like a citrus based cleaner. Because the local Long's drugstore did not have the usual citrus based product, I grabbed this pine nut derived cleaner called Hexol. I hope it works just as well.

How many here hate washing the toilet bowl? I work with urine, but man, I hate the smell of ammonia. The scientist in me says that it is just a chemical compound, but the evolution product that is me tells me to run away because this place is polluted. Find some other place where you can breathe fresh air.

I hope the next place in my life is to be able to clean the bedroom that I have been using as a storage place. Time for me to grow up.

19 June 2003

I would have to say that since I was in high school I have been chasing something. At a basic level I have been chasing women, grades or that particular something that supposedly will make you feel good. Today, while on vacation for two days, I felt that need to chase something again. I ended up going to a record store thinking that maybe music will pick me up. I looked at some DVD's and some records, but I realized rather quickly that buying will not make me feel any better.

As I was leaving Rasputin's, which is a record store chain in the Bay Area, someone flagged me down. It turns out it was one of the tutors I had when I first attended Berkeley. She's currently the director of the Learning Center which will be celebrating its 30th year at Berkeley. I look back and realize that it's been about 15 years since I was an undergraduate. How time flies!

Even then as an undergraduate, I was searching for something. I tried becoming a tutor thinking that the ability to teach would give me something. For a few years, it gave me my speed. But now, I look back and realize that it is just part of the journey for the search for truth.

I was with the SO last night visiting a friend I had not seen in a while. Our friend is very interesting because she has this impenetrable piece of shield about her. She enjoys learning about everyone else, but does not allow others into herself. It is a very lonely and isolating type of life to live. It reminds me of how I used to live. It is not difficult to do when you are in your 20's, but if you are a monkey, you get bored really easily. That's probably why I kept pissing off people in my 20's. Damn, it's amazing that they actually stuck by me. I sure as hell would not have.

I sensed last night that our friend is searching for a truth. In what shape the truth will appear should be interesting. To some truth appears in the form of money. To others, it appears as an art or skill to be practiced and lived. Still to others, truth evades them for some past transgressions in this life or a past one. I suppose that each day, if I don't watch it, I might miss the truth that I have been searching for.
I'm watching the lowest of the low in daytime programming. The show is Ricky Lake. Currently, this woman is complaining about how her husband has been showing his body to other women in the internet. Guess how she met the guy.... Ahh, she met the guy through the internet when he was showing himself to the internet.

Hmm, 80% of the world is made up of people who are not very smart. To top it all off, the woman now added a snoop program into the computer of the guy. Ohh, and did I tell you that she is breaking into his account? How silly is your password that people can break into your e-mail account?

Hmm, privacy issues anyone? How can you love the guy if you can't trust him? When you are at the point of having cameramen follow your fiance, it's time to pack up and leave.

Monday, June 16, 2003

The wedding feast was fit for royalty. Headlining the appetizer was the tandoori chicken. The appetizer is really a misnomer because it was a full meal in of itself. The terminology "feast" is quite appropriate because the guests were fed to the gills. Ironically, the stuffed guests are then supposed to dance the night and the calories away to bangara music.

The tandoori chicken was accompanied by breaded fish which is very different from the Western concept of breaded fish. The fish itself measured 1 inch by 2 inches by 1 inch. The ouside skin / breading was crispy fried while the inside had the consistency of meat. For a few minutes, I had to stop and analyze the texture of the food to determine whether it was chicken or fish. Another meat dish that was breaded and fried was most likely lamb, although I could not detect the smell of lamb. The dish had the texture of pork, but since the celebrants were Sikh, I can only assume that they do not eat pork.

I just went surfing and found this website which discusses eating meat and being a Sikh. So, the meat that was fried could most likely be pork. Just had to figure this out because this would drive me to walk outside of the lines.

The samosa which is potato stuffed into a wrapping that is then fried also made an appearance. The two sauces which accompanied the appetizers were the sweet tamarind sauce and the a spicier green chutney sauce. And the desert was a sweet rice cake that was flavored with coconuts.

Sunday, June 15, 2003

Happy Father's Day to everyone out there. I guess I don't mind that the greeting card industry created celebratory days like Father's, Mother's and Secretary's Day because it allows us to appreciate those who are most important to our well being.

It's been a week since I went to Fresno for the SO's sister's friend's wedding. Fresno is HOT. Since the destination was a wedding, I was worried that I would have to wear a suit. Boy, that would have been a disaster. As it was, I ended up wearing a white shirt with no tie. Thank God!!! By the way, Fresno is a testament to the ability of water to irrigate a barren place. Good Lord, that place is essentially a desert. If it were not for the ingenuity and engineering skills of man, it would still be a desert.

The wedding was really a reception after a wedding. The actual wedding happened in India. The bride was resplendent and beautiful. Aftar was wearing a beautiful red sari that was decorated with gold threads. She did not have the traditional henna decorations, however, one of her photos showed just how intricate and beautiful the patterns are. I have to do some research on the meaning of henna because there is always a meaning to bodily decorations.

Saturday, June 14, 2003

Dinner last night was at Sinugba which is located on the Westborough exit at Daly City. This is my personal favorite when it comes to Pin@y restaurants simply because they never fail to deliver on the quantity and the quality of the food. I did notice that perhaps there has been a change in the owner. The boss last night was a different woman. There was also another change in that the time that the restaurant stays open has been changed to 11PM. What a great loss to Daly City. Maybe even Sinugba has been affected by the downturn in the economy. Gob Bless America and nowhere else!

The order last night was talong salad. It comes with bagoong, onions, tomatoes and eggplant that has been grilled. I first tasted this dish when the SO had a visitor staying with her from Dallas. We had come from the show of the Helobung Troupe sometime in February. Her visitor ended up buying $2000 worth of products. She ended up buying several T'boli mens clothing and some jewelry for women. I don't know if everything was tax deductible, but if it were me, I would have started a company just to do that.

Back to the food. The eggplant salad is a great dish if you like to mix your Pin@y food while eating. I usually enjoy the saltiness of the bagoong mixing in with the onion and the lovely acidity of the lemon. My mouth is watering as I write this. Nggg, ang asim!!!

The other dish I had was the TapSiLog which is composed of tapa, sinangag and itlog. The Silogs began sometime in the 1990's if I remember correctly. Basically, sinangag and itlog are the mainstays of the Pin@y meal. I first heard of the tapsilogs, longsilogs and tosilogs in Los Angeles when I was on my way to the airport. My family would take me to the airport and on the way there, we would end up going to breakfast / brunch. It became a sort of tradition for my family that whenever I left to go back to Berkeley, the longsilogs would be on the way.

The tapsilog was excellent. The beef was cut thinly and was cooked all the way through just like any dish cooked by a Pin@y. There is no medium rare in the Pin@y vocabulary. It is either cooked or burnt. The eggs were sunny side up and very delicious with the sinangag. The SO had halo-halo which was quite appropriate because we had finished watching Halo-halo II. The only problem was that we did not realize that they close now at 11PM. We overstayed our welcome.

I am obsessed with beauty. How does the brain decide what is beautiful and what is not? In my art, how do I reconcile my need and necessity to create beautiful things with the necessity of having a message in the art? I refuse to believe that beauty and message are mutually exclusive. I tend to believe that having both makes you an artist.

The Wednesday June 11, 2003 Datebook of the SF Chronicle contains a review of a new book by Denis Donoghue. The title of the book is "Speaking of Beauty" (Yale, 209 pages, $24.95) and is a "survey of various thinkers' ideas about beauty, from Plato, Kant and Hegel to Theodor Adorno, Elaine Scarry and Hans Urs von Balthasar."

Hmm, I just noticed the lack of contrast with respect to Eastern / Asian / Pacific islander aspect. Perhaps, that is another topic of discussion for us.

My current movement is towards documenting through photography the beauty of Pin@ys on this wonderful planet. My plan is to start first in the United States and then Europe and then Asia. If we have time, maybe Africa. The Pin@y is the quintessential migrant. Pin@ys go where the work will lead them. Is the training located in the harsh sleet with only two hours of daylight? No problem. Me my pot of adobo and rice cooker will be there. We'll bring a an oil lamp and a flashlight.





13june03
Friday night was a treat because of the Halo-Halo II: A Queer Pin@y Reveue show at Bindlestiff Studios. For those Pin@ys who are unaware, Bindlestiff is a collective of Pin@ys in the San Francisco / Bay Area whose goal is to provide a venue for Pin@y artists. Halo-Halo was produced by Maiana Minahal & Lolan Sevilla. Here is a quote from their liners from the program:

"Filipino American culture gets equated with straight and mainstream and not gay, not queer. As members of a marginalized community within a marginalized community, many queer Pin@ys believe they have to split their identities, that being Pin@y means giving up being queer, and that being queer means giving up being Pin@y. Part of doing this show is to say that you don't have to make that choice, to say very clearly that those two identities are not mutually exclusive."

For me the highlight of the show was the dance performance by Frances Gay Teves Sedayao entitled "they = you = i". Music to the performance was "Sacred Ground" by Sweet Honey in the Rock, and "World Without Rules" by Paul Haslinger. Frances' bio reads: Frances is a Pilipino native / lesbian / dancer / artist in all sorts of ways, Frances began training in dance and Taekwondo at CSU, Hayward. She has danced and peformed since throughout the Bay Area, and toured nationally with Joey Ayala, Pilipino composer / recording artist and Pearl Ubungen Dancers & Musicians. Frances' background includes works with Eveleyn Thomas' NUBA Dance Theatre, Robert Henry Johnson, Dandelion Dance Theatre, Veronica Combs' Liquid Fire Project, Laura Ellis, Anne Bluethenthal Dancers and Musicians, Nina Haft, Paufve Dance and Facing East Dance and Music. Frances premiered original new works in SF (Cultures Crossing), and Vancouver BC (Lotus Roots) in 2002, and is currently a core artist in Jill Togawa's Purple Moon Dance Project."

The dance performed can be defined as modern dance. I saw influences of the Japanese butoh form in that stylized slow movements opened and closed the dance. However, the middle parts are modern dance. As I sat watching, I realized or rather felt that this would be the way how people felt the first time they saw Martha Graham dance. There is no absolute flowing rhythm. Rather there are staccatos of pure joy interspersed with moments of contemplation. The fierce and sudden arm and leg movements punctuate the beauty of the human body exploding into the air like a bird. But, even the sudden leaps and bounds are unexpected and a total delight in its sudden appearance. The use of black clothing only accentuated the arms and legs in the black background of the theatre. It was as if there were only two hands and two feet suddenly performing in the middle of the air. I held my breath and savored each second of this performance.

The last show is tonight. Catch it if you can.

Friday, June 13, 2003

I made it to another Friday. Work has been taxing what with the headless nature of the beast. It is difficult to do the job when you don't know if you will have a job. I wish the company would communicate more. Certainly when I run my company, this will not happen under my watch.

Thursday, June 12, 2003

Happy Independence Day! Kinda ironic that a Pin@y is wishing independence using English. I guess it's that adage of I am here in America because your ancestors were in the land of my birth.

Hermit Queen has started a Pin@y haiku with a structure of one, two and three words. I came up with the following haiku.

simmering
cauldrons of
kare-kare, adobo, and pinakbet

Dinner tonight was at TopDog a karinderia selling hotdogs. It is a classic Berkeley icon having started I believe in the Northside of campus. Going to TopDog is a tradition during football games in the fall. The Berkeley team might not be as dominant as it was in the 1930's, but gosh darn it, we will not be hungry during the games.

The hotdogs are awesome when they are warm. The taste is just marvelous. The dogs become average when eaten after the warmth has left the dogs.

The Calebrese hotdog was described as "Italian, all pork, paprika, chili, fennel, sem-hot. My tastebuds reported a spiciness to the hotdog. The texture was firm and the onions and sauerkraut mixed together to meld into a wonderful taste. The firm texture inside was matched by a crunchiness to the skin of the hotdog.







Saturday, June 07, 2003

I finally got to try duck's feet last night when we went to Sun Hong Kong Restaurant in Oakland. Sun Hong Kong is one of the few restaurants that stay open late till 3AM. Yes, of course, to those sophisticated royalty who have spent half their lives in the Big Apple, 3 AM is not late, but this is the west coast after all. People have lives here. People sleep in the west coast so that they can pay attention to the world. West Coasties don't have to go on artificial highs induced by staying up late and going to restaurants at 4 or 5 in the morning to say that they are sophisticated.

The duck's feet came with shitaki mushrooms and bean curd. I must say, the use of shitaki mushrooms is just appaling. Five years ago, one would be hardpressed to find a dish that served shitaki. But now, Chinese!!! food actually has the damned little fungus. What is the deal?

The meal consisted of fried calamari, and no, it is not the small squid type calamari. This was the large calamari. The batter came out yellow after being fried. I wonder what type of food coloriing was used. The calamari had pieces of small noodle like substances that were crispy in texture. And, the squid plate came with pieces of chopped pepper for that extra zing. Very delicious. Give that dish a five oxtail rating.

Next up was the fried shrimp. Everyone else seemed to like it. But I actually forgot to taste it. The participants of the dinner were discussing whether or not they actually took out the chitin skin / shell of the shrimp. I just eat the whole thing except for the tail. Unless of course, someone out there would like to lovingly peel off the shrimp shell and separate it from the delicious white meat. Ummm, my mommy used to do that! Any volunteers?

The sesame chicken was the next plate served. The chicken had a sticky sauce that surrounded it. The chicken itself was deep fried and then covered with the sticky semi=sweet sauce. I mostly ate the chicken so that I could watch my girlish figure. Don't want anything sagging anywhere, you know. This one deserves a three oxtail rating. I figure the chicken should have not so sticky sauce.

The other Chinese diners in our table noticed that we ate a lot of rice. I guess they don't really eat any rice. But, us Pin@ay love our rice! We can eat more because we get to dilute the taste. And, with practice, you can have large servings of everything because the taste buds don't get overloaded.

We're off to Fresno today. Off to attend a wedding reception of an Indian friend. I wonder if chutney will be on the menu.




Thursday, June 05, 2003

This was a hard week. It started off with the leaving of the CEO of the company I work for. Then today, I learned that a lot more people are actually leaving. Talk about a wholesale housecleaning of management, this is it. The odd thing is that this week began with new landscaping of the areas around the building. The gardeners were pulling stakes, little trees and plants on Monday. The gardeners began the new landscaping on Tuesday and were continuing the process today. What is even odder is that several weeks ago, I placed in the recycling bin some stuff associated with the company's management. I was hoping that a new opportunity would present itself. Odd how that opportunity goes to others rather than to me.

To top it all off, the FDA came on by for a visit. It is a good thing that the people who were leaving decided to stay on board for a few days to help out during the audit. Otherwise, it could have been a painful experience for us. Luckily enough, there does not seem to be any serious citations for the company. However, with people leaving, the building had a gloomy feeling to it. It was as if the air had been sucked out of the place.

I wonder how the new management will deal with the situation. Hopefully, everything works out for the best.








Monday, June 02, 2003

Seeker (not her real name) is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology. I met her through the SO. They went to the same high school and were exposed to the solar radiation which probably explains their both having beauty and brains. I always thought that Seeker should have been the little sister I never had. She's intelligent, sarcastic, and absolutely curses way too much for her own good.

Seeker reminded me of an issue I had with images of Jesus Christ. I always wondered why in the Philippines, some of the Jesus Christ images were black. The images had European features, but the images had black skin. I never understood racial dynamics.

So, it turns out that sometime in the Protestant movement, Europeans decided that Christ had to separated from his Jewish people. So, the move was on to portray Christ with the European features. That is why today, Mexicans, Latinos and Pin@ays worhip the image of a white man on the cross.

Seeker's parents wanted to buy her a Sto Nino. Seeker suggested that she wanted one that was black. Hahahhahah. The mother asked her why she was being blasphemous. Hehehheheh.







The SO ----was gracious enough to pick me up from NBW. To repay the graciousness of the SO, I suggested that I was going to clear the stuff from her refrigerator and cook for her. I mentioned that there were two bottles of wine that were not going to be drunk. We might as well figure out what a white sauce tastes like.

Off we went to the home abode of the SO. I brought along deboned chicken thighs and chicken wings. Also got some yellow onions, tomatoes, and baby carrots. The recipe and what I did is shown in the May 31st entry.

What I forgot to mention was the following: After sautéing the chicken, I told the SO that I was going to reduce the chicken by adding red wine (I believe a 2002 Charles Shaw Merlot, which tasted reasonably) to the iron skillet. The SO complained that I was going to burn down the house if I continued to reduce by adding the red wine. At this moment, the spirit of Jacques Pepin and Emeril entered my body. I straightened my back and said: "Bam! Bam! How can-I burn down zee kizchen? I am a world reznowned chef! Putwah!"

To add injury to the insult, the SO then took the fire extinguisher, took off the lock, and pointed it at the iron skillet and my precious, lily-soft hands. "Where is zee faith? Where is zee trust? Am I znut a Profezzional? Am I nut a zhef? Ahh! I will walk zee out. I will zee strike and demonstrate outzide."

Thankfully however, the skillet and my hair did not catch on fire. The house is still there. And I have red wine - white wine chicken.
This past Saturday, I visited North Berkeley Wines\ to see how their store was doing. North Berkeley Wines used to be located on Shattuck in Berkeley. I usually buy gift wines at NBW because I figured that a $40 wine must be good. Ahem! That was five years ago and now, I have to taste the wine before I give it the thumbs up.

The new store (ate least for me) is very classy with wooden blinds. The wines are all laid out in their glorious cherry cabinets. The interesting thing about NBW is that they travel to Europe, taste the wine from the barrels, and negotiate with the owner of the wineries about bottling and importing the wine for NBW. Talk about high maintenance!!! The bottle label will even have the name of NBW on it.

The main business for NBW is mail-order. The store has a catalog which discusses the various finds from around the world. I wish I could spend $300 on wine. I would have liked to try some of them out.

Sunday, June 01, 2003

Sunday morning was spent at the Alameda Naval Station where the Alameda Antiques Fair is held on the first Sunday of the month, rain or shine. And boy, did it ever shine this past Sunday. It must have reached the 80 degree mark. It was so hot that you could have denatured albumin on the sidewalk.

The fair is a treasure trove for bargain and antique hunters. Everyone and anyone goes to the antique fair. Even children have to pay for the excesses of their parents. Once a mother has her eye on that kitchen cabinet, she will not be stopped by a crying two year old. Admission is dependent on the time of arrival. Earlybirds arrive at 5AM and will pay the premium price of $10. Those arriving at 7AM to 9AM will pay $7, and regular admission is $5.

I went there to visit my friend Armand Cating of Northern Cordillera Imports. Armand imports pasikings, baskets, weapons, jewelry and wood carvings from the Northern Cordilleras in the Northern section of Luzon Philippines. I first met Armand in the Alameda antique fair. I was surprised to meet someone selling Igorot artifacts. I was specially drawn to Igorot necklaces and armbands made from boar tusks. For the last two or three years, I have been a steady customer and Armand has continually given me great products to purchase for my future home.

Armand and I will be collaborating on a book project about the pasiking. The pasiking is akin to a backpack but it is made from weaving bamboos and other parts of the bamboo tree and rattan. Armand has a huge collection of pasiking backpacks in his home. It's quite incredible to actually see his home because it is essentially a museum what with all of the various antiques he has imported from the Philippines. The central pieces though are the pasikings.

One of the reasons I have a great respect for Armand and his business is that he treats his business with respect. Considering that one is making money from the selling of one's history, one can see that it can be a difficult business to retain one's perspective of self-worth. After all, who would sell his culture or his history?

My short answer to this is that Armand respects the products that he sells by educating the people who buy the imports. One case in point is yours truly. If it were not for Armand, I would have to resort to purchasing goods from the Philippines without really interacting with the various histories of the items that are being sold. I would have bought some armbands and just placed it out there as a decoration without knowing the social significance of the arm band.

I have learned so much about the grandeur and the history of the Igorots that I can really say that it has opened my eyes. One case in point is the jewelry that were used by the inhabitants of the Cordillera region. One of the jewelry that women wear to decorate their hair is the skeleton of a snake!!! I can' think of anything more ingenous than that. Not only can you eat the flesh of the snake, you use them as a decoration to enhance your beauty. One of these days, I will make a site where you can see the photos of these objects.

For now though, this will be a short blog because of work for tomorrow.