British chef Jamie Oliver has hit the headlines again. He criticized his fellow Brits by saying the quality of British cuisine has deteriorated because the Britons prefer to get drunk rather than eat. Based on comments posted in The Telegraph, some of his countrymen agree while others are furious, one even calling Oliver a “self-opinionated sanctimonious prig.”
What interests me is whether there may some truth to the observation that a hard-drinking people necessarily develops an inferior cuisine. I try to recall all the criticisms that have been thrown against Filipino cuisine — its redundancy, its lack of color, the absence of sophistication and imagination – all of which, some say, are the reasons that Filipino cuisine never made it to the global culinary stage the way Vietnamese, Malay and Indonesian food have during the last decade. Has peasant cooking not evolved into something more exciting because the peasants are more interested in their tuba, basi and lambanog? Does hard drinking totally addle a person’s brain and do his taste buds become so numb that good food and bad food become interchangeable for him? I think of Anthony Bourdain, a self-confessed former (?) alcoholic and ex-drug abuser, and I can’t say it is necessarily so.
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Why not a design with cushioned backrests? Ventilation... The cushioned seats are removable and so are their covers so they can be washed every few weeks. I’ll order a second (and maybe even a third) set of covers — one in summery colors and another in Christmassy colors. »»
Perhaps, if I had let the butter soften a bit more before creaming it, or if I had creamed the butter and sugar longer, things would have been different. Not that the cookies tasted bad. Oh no, they were delicious. It was the texture that disappointed me... »»
Having low tolerance for acidic drinks, I have learned to stay away from cirtus fruit juices. Very rarely could I drink pure orange juice and not get stomach pains. So, I learned to like non-citric fruit juices. Apple juice, previously considered by my family as a cure for infant diarrhea, became... »»
There was this plant with long narrow leaves in a pot, and it really looked ordinary and boring so I relegated it to a corner by the garden gate. Then, one day, Speedy said, "Did you see the pink flowers?" Oh, my. Oh, my. The ugly potted plant was transformed! »»
Recently in 'The Mommy Journals'...
It’s Alex’s poem, her entry to their school’s Linggo ng Wika (National Language Week) poetry contest. Everyone in her class was required to join and they all had three days to write their poems. But Alex waited until the last minute and very honestly said so. The result? Although only three winners were supposed to [...]
Continue reading 'The cutest poem' →
(Today’s column)
The last time I watched the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics was in 1992. I was pregnant with my first child and bedridden. Those were pre-cable TV days and there was nothing much to choose from. It was the Olympics or those darn afternoon soap operas. I’m not a huge sports fan, [...]
Continue reading 'Pride of the Philippines' →
Notice how the antenna’s top is hidden by fog? Rainy Sunday.
Raining so strong that we can’t go out? Isn’t Sunday the day when we leave our house, albeit reluctantly for me, so we can get reacquainted with the smelly metropolis known as Metro Manila? No, it’s foggy and rainy but not the kind of [...]
Continue reading 'Why we don’t need a second car' →
For middle class families in the Philippines today, the dizzying pace by which food prices soar is not just something to read about in newspapers with the disinterest of the unaffected. It isn’t just the marginal families who are reeling; everyone is.
While broadcast and print media have been keen on monitoring how the unprecedented [...]
Continue reading 'Travails of a middle class mom' →
If I could always have things my way, I’d be updating each of my blogs everyday. I like writing things as they happen; I like writing down my thoughts almost as soon as they cross my mind. But it’s been a busy week. Family first. Two family dinner get-togethers in three days. And yesterday was [...]
Continue reading 'Lesson learned from observing the pet' →
If you’ve read the UPCAT story, this is the sequel.
Last night, Sam finally frosted enough cupcakes to make her arm ache. I bought two boxes of disposable pastry bags last week. I baked the cupcakes late yesterday afternoon. I prepared the cream cheese frosting a few hours later. Sam was excitedly waiting for the [...]
Continue reading 'Once upon a time, she wanted to be a chef' →
Jojo Robles’ column yesterday was about two e-mails that had been circulating around for the past couple of days. I received the first e-mail four days ago from Ben Razon to whom it had been forwarded by someone else. Let me quote the text in full.
This happened to my sister-in-law just this morning at the [...]
Continue reading 'The Ateneo parking lot incident' →
A third of what’s been written about me is true, a third is half-true and the rest consists of drug-induced hallucinations. I suppose I’d better let me, rather than them, tell you 
