02/01/2012 - 03/01/2012 - Cure for Mondays

Burby’s Grill, at last

Sinigang na hipon

When a restaurant is a two-minute walk away from your house, you start believing you’ve actually been there. Visual psychotic repetition is what I’d like to call it.

Wednesday night, we decided to eat out since nobody was up to preparing dinner after the long trip we made to and from Marikina City. My sister and her lovies moved in to their new home, which meant Eeyore had to finally come back home to us. He’s five feet tall and about 180-inch plump around the middle. So you see, he does need his space — and a lot of it. We don’t really have the luxury of space in our home, but a big, big friend has got to come home, doesn’t he?

We’re all happy that Eeyore’s home, but the two-hour trip was a theatrical interpretation of a kilometric car wash where there was an alternate play of rain and heat — a calculated prelude to a migraine. So, the enervated bunch that we were decided to march to the nearest diner so we could be served and fed.

We went to Burby’s Grill, at last. We have been planning to have dinner there since last year, but when a restaurant is a two-minute walk away from your house, you start believing you’ve actually been there. Visual psychotic repetition is what I’d like to call it.

Now, the menu
The dreadlocked husband and I wanted something we’ve never tried in other restaurants. Unfortunately, kare-kare lechon was the only novel thing to us on the menu. It wasn’t entirely new, just the concept of putting both kare-kare (an elaborate Filipino stew, with a complex history, made with peanuts and mixed with different kinds of vegetables) and lechon (roast pig) in one dish. Kare-kare is one of my favorite dishes but I often get disappointed because there are only a few people who can cook the dish the way (I deem) it should be. Most fail in the stew itself, maybe because “getting it right” with peanuts in a stew isn’t nearly a cinch unless maybe you’ve been cooking kare-kare for a long time and have finally perfected it after a hundred tries. I’m happy to say Burby’s did not disappoint. It wasn’t the best kare-kare but the way the subtle taste of peanut blended in the thick curry-like sauce was a treat to the palate. The eggplant could have been a little more tender but clap, clap nonetheless.

The tuna kinilaw (ceviche or seviche) was also a happy experience. Fresh fish and good vinegar are a perfect marriage in the language of food. Burby’s sinigang na hipon was the right kind of sour. Hubby is not entirely a sour soup fan but Cole (my ten-year old) goes crazy over it, and since I haven’t had the time to cook sinigang for him for some time now, it was his call. Sinigang may be a simple dish to make, but it has to be a perfect combination of sour and salty. Most of the sinigang I’ve tasted from carinderias (food stalls commonly found at street sides) did not have the zing because they’re usually too light for the kind of sour we hanker for. What made Burby’s a bit different also was that the soup was thicker than usual. Cole gave it a thumbs up and added, “A few more notches and it will be as delicious as yours.” Loyalty is still on top of everything.

The wrap up
Overall, the dinner was good. I would definitely go back to taste the others on the menu. I just have to say though that the servings did not quite match the price attached to them. A platter that was supposedly good for four really turned out to be good for only two persons. So if you’re planning to dine at Burby’s Grill, you either double your order or go when you think your appetite won’t get bigger than their plate.

Nope, no to-go for us that night.

Kare-kare lechon

Tuna kinilaw

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, by Frances Beldia

birthday gift

The Philippines: Through the eye of a happy fish

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, by Frances Beldia

black sambo

Recipe: Magic sambo

I like my magic sambo marble-like

What’s the fastest dessert you can whip up? Mine is ice cream. I grab a tub from the freezer, scoop out the frozen goody and place a generous serving in a cup. That’s dessert in a jiffy with zero imagination.

Santy, a former colleague, came to visit us last weekend and my head went blank when I tried to think of something to prepare. As a last recourse, I spun around and yelped, “Mother!”

I can think of three reasons why black sambo is one of the most popular desserts around. One, it’s yummy. Two, it’s easy on the budget. Three, it’s so easy to prepare.

Let’s get back to number three. My mother created her own version of this dessert and you won’t believe how she has made it even simpler. If you only have five minutes to prepare and 30 minutes waiting time, I promise you, you will have a divine dessert waiting for your guest. I also took the liberty of renaming this dessert to magic sambo.

Magic sambo is an answered prayer for chocolate lovers. Instead of using a creamy white layer like what others usually do when they prepare black sambo, my mother created one that’s purely made of chocolate.

I’m not quite sure why it’s called “black sambo” since the latter already means black. What I know is that I named this dessert magic sambo because one afternoon, I left the kitchen for a few minutes to feed my daughter. When I went back, the dessert was already in the freezer waiting to set. Yes, just like magic.

What you need
Condensed milk, 1 can
All purpose cream, 250 ml (1 tetra pack)
Knox gelatin, 3 packs
Cocoa powder, ½ cup
Water, 2 cups

What to do

1. In a bowl, mix condensed milk and all purpose cream. Set aside.
2. Dissolve ½ cup chocolate in a cup of water. Pour it in a skillet and allow to simmer over low fire. Stir slowly until it is ready.
3. Slowly mix chocolate over your bowl of condensed milk and all purpose cream.
4. In a cup of water, melt three packs of Knox gelatin.
5. Gradually add the gelatin mix to the other ingredients and mix them thoroughly. Remember that your gelatin will hold your ingredients together so it is crucial that you are able to mix them well.
6. Once your ingredients have been mixed thoroughly, pour the mix into your desired container. For my magic sambo, I like it in a flat bottom glass bowl (Pyrex).
7. Place in the freezer. It will be ready in 30 minutes.
8. Savor every bite!

You might also want to check out my recipe for trevally in butter and garlic.

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, by Frances Beldia

brother

Big brother shopping

Cole shops for Attika

We knew he was saving for an additional video game but he unselfishly offered his own savings for his sister even if it meant he might need to start with a zero balance all over again.

We dropped by the baby store after we had lunch at Sushi King last Saturday because the little lady of the house needed a few things. The short list included shoes. Time went by so quickly—it literally zipped and zapped right before my eyes, and those lovely feet significantly grew bigger without me noticing. I get kicked here and there, alright, but until I tried to put on her Carter’s canvass skimmer pre-walkers, they looked the same to me.

So the pairs she had on her shoe shelf suddenly became yesterday’s fashion. I had to hold myself while looking for a good pair of shoes because those tiny little things make me go crazy and I’d want to buy all the cute ones I’d see on the shelves. But a budget is a budget is a budget is a budget… That has become my mantra since I became a mother, which is why we try to stick to what is essential, if we can help it. We’re not big spenders; we just think a lot of things are important. Ha-ha, ten fingers pointing back at me — silly me. And well, hubby.

Sole search
We let Attika try on a few pairs. The doting dad wanted to get all the pinks and I wanted to get her boys’ shoes so we had to ask Attika which ones she liked. She responds by pointing when she’s asked to make choices. It’s an exercise Cole taught her. You hold two things up to her then she’ll point or touch the one she likes.

Turns out Her Majesty fell for a pair of pre-walker Mary Janes and a cute pair of sandals. The two pairs were thrown into the shopping basket along with baby wipes and a trainer cup. With the sippy cup, Cole made her choose between the elephant and the giraffe. She looked back and forth between the two for about a minute until she decided the giraffe was more like her style.

Values for money
When it was time to pay, Cole suddenly got the shopping cradle from me. It’s really like him to be helpful so I gladly gave it to him, but then he suddenly set it down on the floor, knelt down beside it and got something out of his pocket. He took out his money (which I did not know he had) and started counting. When he finished he got up and said, “I’m paying.”

That very moment I was almost moved to tears because any other 10-year old would rather buy stuff for himself. We knew he was saving for an additional video game but he unselfishly offered his own savings for his sister even if it meant he might need to start with a zero balance all over again. Honestly, I don’t know how much money he’s keeping. All I know is that he knows how to save money and he does it well.

Attika went home with her new shoes; my husband and I went home with newfound pride. Kids do listen. That’s one thing we learned from our son—the ever loving brother.

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, by Frances Beldia

Global Genes Project

Rally for RARE Disease

Photo courtesy of PSOD

February 29 is World RARE Disease Day.

A whopping 7,000 rare diseases have already been identified affecting more that 350 million people worldwide. According to The Global Genes Project, 75% of those with RARE disease are children.

On the global front, The Global Genes Project has been raising awareness about RARE disease since 2010. Mom Bloggers for Social Good is an active ally in this effort to raise awareness. Reaching out to more people means getting more support, and hopefully, sufficient funding for the development of treatments and cure.

Please help us in spreading the word about RARE disease by doing the following:

1.)    Join the “1 Million for RARE” movement and like the
        Global Genes Project Facebook page: 1 Million for RARE

2.)    Tweet @GlobalGenes. Use #1Mil4RARE

3.) Forward to a friend!

In the Philippines, the Philippine Society for Orphan Disorders (PSOD) is also seeking for help for those affected by RARE disease. It is the sentiment of the people behind PSOD that people with RARE disease are orphaned by society because very little is known about their condition. Since 1991, a group of doctors from the University of the Philippines, National Institute of Health, and Institute of Human Genetics have been dedicating their time attending to patients, and have also been continuously undertaking clinical trials to find ways to improve the health of Filipinos affected with the difficult condition.

Some of the rare diseases in the IHG-PSOD registry are: 6 Pyruvoltetrahydropterin Synthase Deficiency, Holocarboxylase Synthase Deficiency, Maple Syrup Urine Disorder, Mucopolysaccharidosis, and Tay Sach’s Disease, to name a few in a long list of diseases we may never have heard of before. You can learn more about them through PSOD.

There are patients who are appealing for help for their medication, treatment, life-saving therapies and medical equipment.

Spread the word by forwarding this article to everyone you know. Please help save a life today.

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, by Frances Beldia

ancestral house

Winds from Laguna de Bay

Villa Mercedes, our ancestral home in Bohol
Photo courtesy of Jenny Dawn Beldia

It was unusually cold again yesterday. When you’re in Metro Manila, experiencing temperature that falls somewhere between 20°C-25°C is a treat — well at least it is for me. The weather has been my good friend these last few weeks. Our huge windows allow the wind to come in and pass through from all directions, so a gush of wind can either be pleasant… or scary. It depends on who’s telling you about it. Since her youth my mother has blamed the wind for her episodic vertigo attacks, so she likes breezeless, warm, dry weather. My husband and son sometimes feel like they’re being punished by it. My sister visited a week ago and when the wind suddenly went wild at four in the afternoon and (as usual) I refused to close the doors and windows, she looked at me and bawled out, “Why do we have to suffer from this?”

It’s normal for stuff in our house to go flying around, mocking a localized hurricane, or more fittingly, a poltergeist. On some days it’s not unusual to see a carpet upturned, rugs from different parts of the house strewn in different places, and all kinds of stuff thrown on the floor. On one occasion, our east-hugging wooden bench (that carries an inexplainable character of egotism) moved about half an inch when a strong wind swished through our veranda.

So what is there to like about all this? It’s quite difficult to explain really. I am an island girl who grew up reveling in the sun and wind. Our house was near the wharf and I have fond memories of afternoons bathing in the pleasantly warm sunshine, and chasing small leaves blown by the wind. I am a tad embarrassed that this is beginning to sound like poetry, but my life in the 70’s and 80’s was beautiful. I can sum it up in a haiku, but won’t.

My paternal grandparents’ old Spanish house is my mental scrapbook of great memories. It had seven huge rooms of which three shared a balcony. The carved balcony balustrade allowed me to see the other side, so when my small feet became tired from tiptoeing I’d sit and watch small boats crossing the silvery sea through the gaps. The wind would almost lull me to sleep, but my siblings and cousins would suddenly tug me and bring me right back to reality. We’d all run down and towards the vineyard and play a game of hide-and-seek.

Years later, we moved across the ocean and lived in a tiny city by the sea. You see, the wind and the sea have never left me.

I’ve lived in daydreams all my life and the wind is my music. On some days when I turn down the music at home, it irks the other living beings in there (one big boy called a husband, the other not-so-big boy called a son). I fail to explain that whenever I do that I’d just want to go back to my first homes where I could chase leaves on the wharf, or watch boats floating on silvery seas. But those can only happen in my mind now.

I thought I’d completely been orphaned by the wind when we moved here In Manila. I was always surrounded by buildings and the suffocating realities of life in a big city until I reunited with the sea (well, almost. It’s a lake), the mountain and the blue sky right here in our own veranda.

The wind is my most welcome visitor. To close the doors and windows in my house is like closing the doors to my old, old friend.

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, by Frances Beldia

Chronicle superhero film movie Hollywood Cure for Mondays Thinkmodo flying New York

Flying people

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, by Frances Beldia

avocado

Introducing solid food to my 6-month old

Happily anticipating her first "bite".

When she turned four months old, she could hold her head upright in a steady position, was always chewing and was making noises with her mouth, and could sit well on my lap. All of these were signs that she was ready to go a notch higher on her diet.

You know what they say about the power that babies have to change the lives of those around them. Now everyone suddenly wants to be named household president after the coming of our baby girl. Frannie, my sister’s daughter and my namesake, is now in her terrible twos, which means the limelight for the celebrity baby has shifted focus and has been turned towards my six-month old Attika.

They say mothers know best, but then the females of the species in our family have grown up and all of us have become mothers ourselves (I have two sisters and we have cousins closest to us who are also an all-girl bunch). Sometimes, discussions about raising children become exasperating especially if you’re a mother who likes to think that you have to think you know everything. I raise my hand and declare myself guilty. But then, my foolish pride simmers down at the realization that the people around me only want the best for the little ones in our family.

Seeing the signs
When Attika was only three months old, I started researching about the introduction of solid food to babies because I wanted to know when the right time was to do it. I stumbled upon so many articles that said mothers who breastfeed should not be in a hurry to feed their babies solid food because what they get from breast milk is more than enough to keep them growing healthy. Some of the articles even suggested that breastfed babies could be given their first solid food much later, like when they’re 12 months old. There were also others on the other side of the spectrum that said babies in general are ready for their solids anytime between four to six months old. So my question at that time was: should I start feeding Attika her first solid food on her fourth month?

When she turned four months old, she could hold her head upright in a steady position, was always chewing and was making noises with her mouth, and could sit well on my lap. All of these were signs that she was ready to go a notch higher on her diet.

She said, she said
Besides the information that I got online and from mommy books, I also give my mother and my younger sister credit for their contribution to my confusion. My sister said I should feed Attika at four months just like what she did with my niece and my mother thought it was best for me to give her solids at five months old. I became one of the millions of mothers who was drowning in an overload of information, so I let my instinct as a mother lead the way for me.

I was breastfeeding Attika full time up until about she was four months old, and my instinct was telling me that our mother-baby tandem was on the right track as we were taking things in a graceful stride. The fact that Attika was getting the healthy amount of proteins, fats, vitamins, and carbohydrates from my breast milk made me a very happy mommy, not to mention proud. (I failed to breastfeed our first born because I was a misinformed 25-year old. This is totally a different story which I know I will talk about anytime soon).

Bringing out the bowl, finally
Attika turned six months old in January and it was around that time when I felt that I already needed to introduce solid food to her. My first choice of baby food was avocado which is known as the super food. It has Iron, Folate, Potassium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Calcium, Sodium, vitamins A, C, B group vitamins, and small amounts of other important nutrients that every baby needs. It is loaded with the good stuff so you don’t need anything else if you want to give your baby the healthiest food there is. Unfortunately, I could not find avocados last month so I turned to a family favorite; a staple in our cupboard — Cerelac. Yes, everybody in the house eats Cerelac so it’s a plus one now that Attika seems to love the cereal too.

Our very first feeding turned out to be a major success. She swallowed most of her food and was always excited to get her next “bite”. I can’t say she has completely lost her extrusion reflex (the reflex that make babies push food out of their mouth) but it certainly did not get in the way.

Here's a look at our first feeding experience.

Our mornings will never be the same...

they'll have their toast...


Mommy will make sure my meal's something to boast

It'll be yummy...

I'll be giddy...

and that's how it's going to be...


from today, and all the mornings after

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, by Frances Beldia

Calculus

Of Shakespeare and Calculus

Why interest oneself with the complexities of sentence structure and works of authors if one is expected to perform the more daunting tasks in life?

The experience I had teaching Literature, Basic English, and Humanities to nursing students in a university opened a whole new perspective in my understanding of the word ‘learning’. Faced with students who, at the beginning of the semester, took no interest in anything that touched the boundaries of literature, and claimed that Basic English was just another subject, I embraced the possibility of having to do more than just to teach those three subjects. It was a huge group of 250 young people who were non-committal to the passion of Paz Marquez Benitez, the ideals of Nick Joaquin, and the inspiration that Lualhati Bautista offered in a myriad of words.

Nursing, many of them said, is a medical course, and if one is set on becoming successful in this field, one should concentrate on Science and Math. Why interest oneself with the complexities of sentence structure and works of authors if one is expected to perform more daunting tasks like injecting IVs, handling medical devices, or assisting in a surgery? From the other end of the room, I stood with my own query. Does not one speak while performing patient care? Is the inevitable relationship between a nurse and a patient not bound by language or culture?

In an article entitled “Cross Cultural Influences of Math” written by Tina Birdsill and associates, it states that English is important in the study of Math especially in the comprehension of word problems and questions, and also essential to be able to verbalize these because the subject is not taught nor learned in reticence. Math on the other hand curves learning in critical thinking, problem solving and thought organization. Charles Lutwidge Dodson’s “Alice in Wonderland” and Shakespeare’s Macbeth are only some of the literary proof of this.

Literature, however complex, comical and oftentimes intimidating, is a mottle in the spectrum of learning. We start learning about it as soon as we begin to understand the meaning of words. We continue learning about stories, authors, and theories in primary and secondary school, and this learning is advanced in college when doors to the diversity of literature are opened to a learner. In the academe, we read literature and are asked questions about our readings; explain the theories that come within the covers of books; understand plots and characters, their importance, and such things. This should not be interpreted as a divide between what is more important and what is not in the field of education, but a conceptual learning exercise that improves one’s general comprehension.