A case of mistaken identity - Parry as Phelps

This is funny.

Carrying a cutout of Olympic star Michael Phelps, BBC’s Steve Parry was mobbed by Chinese “Phelps fans” in Tiananmen Square. They actually have a bit of a similarity which is probably why the Chinese got confused.

To have the “swimming” connection, Parry actually swam the 200m butterfly alongside Phelps during the Athens Olympics. Parry won bronze, while Phelps took the gold.

Seaweed Chocolate, anyone?

I got this pasalubong (what’s the English word for this?) from an officemate. They went on a business trip to Korea and they handed this to everyone. I didn’t know what it was but from looking at the front wrapper, it is seems to be laver, or toasted seaweed. Then, I looked at the back wrapper and saw, “milk chocolate.”

I was caught offguard.

I love seaweed. I love chocolate. Separately…. But together? I don’t know.

Here’s the pic, after I took a bite.

The taste? Um, like milk chocolate with salty seaweed. Hehe. I think you can actually recreate the taste by dipping the laver in melted milk chocolate. It was edible. Not a favorite but I can eat it.

Dandansoy (Visayan Folk Song)

Gin post ini sang isa sa nag comment sa blog ko.

Dumduman ko man, ginakanta ini sang lola ko sa akon. Galing, nasubuan ko sini nga song.

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“Dandansoy”

Dandansoy, bayaan ko ikaw,
Pauli ako sa Payao.
Ugaling kon ikaw hidlawon,
Ang Payao imo lang lantawon…

Dandansoy, kon imo apason,
Bisan tubig dili magbalon.
Ugaling kon ikaw uhawon,
Sa dalan magbobonbobon…

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Literal translation: (My attempt)

Dandansoy, I will leave you,

I am going home to Payao.

If ever you feel lonely,

Just look towards Payao.

Dandansoy, if ever you decide to follow,

Don’t bring any water.

If ever you get thirsty,

Make a well along the road.

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Salamat sang nag contribute. Si coolwaterworks. (Ari iya blog. http:\\coolwaterworks.wordpress.com. Manami iya pictures.)

My Okonomiyaki Attempt

The condiments: pork katsuo, kewpie mayo, tonkatsu sauce.

Armed with flour, eggs, and half a head of cabbage, I finally made an attempt to make my first okonomiyaki.

For those who don’t know what this is, okonomiyaki is a Japanese dish made with panfried cabbage n’ flour batter. Literally it means “anything you like cooked”, where “okonomi” is “anything you like” and “yaki” is “grilled” or “cooked”.

There are loads of recipes out there, so I won’t even bother copying them here.

Mine was pretty simple. My cabbage-flour cake was just topped with sauteed beansprouts, some pork katsuo, tonkatsu sauce and kewpie mayo.

Namit! Itadakimasu! (Daw “kaon ta” kung sa hiligaynon pa.)

Alleluia by Alejandro Consolacion as Performed by UPSA

Sa bilis ng panahon ngayon, tayo’t huminto at makinig, kahit sandali…

“Alleluia” na katha ni Alejandro Consolacion at binigyang buhay ng aking pinakapaboritong coro (biased ako), ang University of the Philippines Singing Ambassadors. Kinanta ito noong taong 2005 sa Alsace, isang probinsya sa Pransya.

(Salamat Kuya Vic sa video.)

Trivia: Ako ang nakapula sa gitna.

How I became an Eraserheads fan

I started receiving my own money when I was 12. It was from a monthly stipend I had during my four school years studying in a science high school.

At that young age, I learned how to appropriate where my money goes, which was mostly spent on breakfast, lunch, and dinner. However, I also had my set of indulgences: a pint of ice cream on a weekend (which I would finish in just one sitting), books, and music records.Among these three, the most influental was music.

Anyway, to give you a backgrounder, my musical tastes between the ages 2 to 12 evolved from Batibot’s “Alin Ang Naiba”, to Manilyn Reynes’ and Sheryl Cruz’s repertoire (remember Mr. Disco and Mr. Dreamboy?), to the kundimans, broadway musicals, and classical music (thanks to my piano and voice teachers).

Then, one uneventful morning at school, my classmate, Charmaine, came up to me and told me about this song she heard called “Ligaya”. She was raving about it. Kanami daw. Naturally, I got curious, so, that weekend, I bought my first ever pinoy band album.

That album was called “ultraelectromagneticpop” by a then ‘emerging-into-the-mainstream’ band named the Eraserheads. During that time, I think I bought it (cassette) for 150 pesos (or was it 100?). It quickly became my favorite. Playing it over and over in my dormitory room until I had memorized each song.

The following year, I got CiRcuS (my fave). Then, Cutterpillow in 1995. This was the last Eraserheads album I bought during my teen years. (Ten years later, I bought the “ultraelectromagneticjam” album, which was some kind of an early tribute. It wasn’t the same.)

This unassuming band rocked my world when I was 13 and I remained a fan years after. Their songs gave me one of the best memories of my life.This is the reason why I still have “Ligaya” in my current playlist.

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Years after disbanding, the Eraserheads will hold a “one night only” reunion concert on August 30, 2008. I wanted to go but I can’t. Aaah! I want to cry!

“Namets” Schedule in Cinemalaya

Ari ang schedule sang “Namets” sa Cinemalaya. How I wish makatan-aw ako.

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Namets by Jay Abello is a colorful celebration of food as well as love, and the love of food above all, which is central to being Negrosanon and being Filipino. It follows the flirtation between Jacko and Cassie, two Negrenses who grew up in Bacolod, and whose lives revolve around food. The film will be shot on location in Negros Occidental and will be primarily in Hiligaynon, the language spoken in that region.

13 July/Sun, 3:30PM (GALA), Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theatre)
15 July/Tue, 6:15PM, Tanghalang Huseng Batute
16 July/Wed, 9:00PM, Tanghalang Nicanor Aberlardo (CCP Main Theatre)
18 July/Fri, 3:30PM, Bulwangang Alagad Ng Sining (CCP MKP Hall)
18 July/Fri, 6:15PM, Tanghalang Nicanor Aberlardo (CCP Main Theatre)
19 July/Sat, 12:45PM, Bulwangang Alagad Ng Sining (CCP MKP Hall)

Source: PEP

My Brazo de Mercedes Horror Story

I was desperately craving for Brazo de Mercedes. Since they don’t have it here in Japan, I googled for a recipe hoping I will be able to “simulate” it. Here’s what I found. (I am tamad, so I won’t even bother trying to edit this. I’ll just copy and paste the recipe. Sue me. Nah, thanks to this site: http://www.pinoyrecipe.net)

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Ingredients:

Filling:

• 5 cups milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 8 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup finely ground and toasted cashew nuts

Meringue:

• 10 egg whites
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cooking Instructions:

Filling:

• In a saucepan, simmer milk over low heat until reduced to 2 cups. Add sugar, butter, and vanilla extract, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
• Beat egg yolks in mixing bowl. Add a little of the milk to the egg yolks, stir, then gradually add mixture by spoonfuls back into the saucepan, beating constantly. Stir well to avoid curdling.
• Add cashew nuts and continue cooking entire mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture has the consistency of a paste. Set aside.
  

Meringue:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Beat egg whites until stiff. Gradually add 1 cup sugar, beating continuously. Stir in vanilla.
  
• Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper greased with butter and spread meringue on top. Bake until brown.
  
• Spread filling evenly on top of meringue and roll into a log.
  
• Brush with butter and brown again in oven.

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I had everything on the ingredients list, so I proceeded on having a go at it. Bahala na si Batman. (I quartered the proportion of all the ingredients since I will only be feeding myself.)

As always, since my kitchen isn’t really a kitchen but a cube with a hotplate, ricecooker and a microwave/convection oven, I did the impossible. My filling turned out great. But my meringue was terrible! See, I do everything by hand and I beat my eggwhites using a fork! Yes, a fork! (That’s how cruel single, nomadic living is. Nonetheless, it’s still pretty fun!) Back to our subject.

So, I had to “fluff” the freaking eggwhites, right? And there I was, beating the crap out of it for half an hour (while watching “Sex in the City” reruns in my laptop), so I thought, maybe what I made was “fluffy” enough. I really haven’t seen how fluffy a meringue should be so I was taking a guess. Also, I had to stop because my arms felt like I had been rowing for miles or something.

After doing the rest of the instructions, I put the thing in the oven and let it brown… alas, my meringue turned out into something like baked egg whites with sugar and vanilla. Ay ambot! The recipe was supposed to be the generic Brazo de Mercedes recipe and I still managed to ruined it. Oh well. Practice makes perfect, so they say.

Anyway, so I had this pseudo Brazo de Mercedes and I still ate it. I saved some of the filling and stored it in the ref. I could use some custard dessert tomorrow.

Rice Cooker Cake!

Two Saturdays ago, we were invited to lunch by a Japanese co-worker at her house. Come dessert time, she served us tea and a slice of chiffon cake. The cake was actually very ordinary that I thought she just bought it from the local bakeshop. That was until she told us she made it using the rice cooker.

I was amazed and curious at the same time.

See, the one thing I never did in the kitchen was to bake, and I have given up on the idea of doing so. This rice cooker cake thing, though, was just too hard to pass up. So, I thought, “Hey, I have a rice cooker. Why not use it and experiment on my first cake?”

So I did.

We asked our host for the recipe and it was simple.

Here it is.
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Ingredients:

70g butter
60g sugar
2 eggs
100g hot cake mix
30ml milk
(optional, a dash of lemon juice)

What I did:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. (I don’t know the rules of baking but first I beat the eggs, put it the hotcake mix, butter, then sugar, then milk. Last was the lemon juice. I didn’t have a mixer so I did this purely by hand.)

2. Pour the mixture into the rice cooker. Push the button and you’re all set!

(Don’t forget to butter the rice cooker before you pour your mixture. I forgot this step when I made this cake.) (For added fun, lick some of the batter! Not recommended for children, though. Hehe.)

3. You’ll know the cake is done when after sticking a toothpick, nothing attaches to it.

4. Turn the cake over onto a plate. (This is what happened because I forgot to butter the rice cooker but I didn’t care anyway.)

5. Voila! Yummy rice cooker cake!

10 Minute Beansprout Ramen

It was 9pm when I got home from work. I was really tired and hungry, so I decided to eat instant noodles for dinner. (Big scowl from mother!) I didn’t think I could last for another 30 minutes (rice cooking waiting time), so I scoured for things in my refrigerator to whip up a decent instant noodle meal.

Here’s what I came up with and I thought of sharing this to you.

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Main character: 1 pack instant noodles (any flavor, but I’d recommend pork or chicken)

Supporting characters: a handful of bean sprouts (togue), 2 stalks leeks, 1 egg

Crew: pepper, assorted chili powder, sesame oil

The Plot:

1. Boil around 2 cups of water in a sauce pan.

2. Chop leeks. Wash bean sprouts in cold water.

3. When the water is boiling, dunk in the instant noodle along with its seasoning (usually in a packet).

4. After around 2 minutes, put the bean sprouts into the pot.

5. After about 30 seconds, put the leeks. Add pepper.

6. Turn off heat. Then, crack one egg unto the steaming noodles.

7. Transfer in a bowl. Add around 1 teaspoon of sesame oil for taste. Sprinkle chili powder on top.

Serve and enjoy your ramen!

Ari akon:

P.S. For added taste, you can also sprinkle some dried nori strips (seasoned dried seaweed).