Lectures, Coke, Cooking
Posted by: Fats in: Pagtatanghal > What and Why > Takaw at Sursur!Our lecture at UP last Saturday turned out very well. It was very difficult getting up in the morning to be there before 9AM - in fact, Trevor and I practiced starting Monday by setting the alarm at 12, then 11, 10, 9, 8, and finally 7 AM. 
Of course, Edward has written about the lecture and posted it on his blog already (with a photo of himself too!) Since I advertised his website at the end of my lecture, he was hoping that the students would be visiting his website and chatting him up about computer programming.
Which reminds me of my crochet. I am not quite sure whether or not my frilly skirt is finished. It’s already wearable but something still seems to be missing - in particular I am still deciding whether or not I should push on with the bead works. I have decided to make a lining for the skirt which makes putting beads and sequins over the openwork unnecessary … but for decorative purposes … Hmmm.
Anyway, at the mall last night we bumped into Coke and his handler again but this time at The Block. I learned that Coke is only 4 years old (but he looked so much older, poor old dog!) and used to work at a five-star hotel. I also learned that Coke had a horrible experience with his previous handler, apparently someone who resembled Trevor. Thus Coke often barks when he sees Trevor, but settles down quickly afterwards (so maybe someday Coke will get used to Trevor).
Lately, I’ve been doing a bit more cooking experiments. I succeeded in making puto using rice flour and muscovado sugar (instead of normal baking flour and white sugar). I wasn’t 100% satisfied with it but didn’t know what the problem really was. So I gave Noemi one and asked her opinion. She said that I need to put a bit more water in and steam it for only about 15 minutes. Ah, true, since the first batch I made was too fluffy (steamed too long) and the second batch was too tough (not enough water).
I have also been making some desserts/merienda with saba. Quite nice really. First was turon where I placed some muscovado sugar inside the turon with the banana, and the second was banana cooked in syrup where I also added some tiny sago. I like saba a great deal, a very versatile fruit. I also slice it and fry it as a side dish with rice fried with the beef-tomato sauce stew that Trevor makes (so it was a bit like that Arroz ala Cubana).
Last night I made some corn-peanut maja (a variation of the maja blanca) and some pinipig kalamay. Not bad but not perfect either, so I should do better next time and give my mom some. I also intend to make something called Squash Puto, a recipe I saw in a book called “Standardized Recipes using indigenous foods for School Nutrition Program.” It’s a book published by the Health and Nutrition Center of the Department of Education. The book came from my auntie who apparently has a friend serve as one of the consultants for the book. Quite a funny book though because it was just a compilation of recipes developed by the Center, accompanied by nutrition information and a photo of the dish. The photos were horribly unappetizing! And I can imagine how difficult it is to do food photography, and how much more difficult it is to photograph something called “Sopas de Buko con Dilis“!
Unfortunately, the book didn’t have any introduction at all as to why the research was conducted, what was meant by “indigenous foods” or what the relevant findings of the research were.
Anyway, back to the lecture, I’m so glad it all went well, particularly sharing the work with Trevor. Quite exhausting though - yes, how easily we get exhausted, perhaps because of very poor management of internal energy, getting too excited all the time … I personally still can’t work full-time, and easily have problems when traveling in Metro Manila (perhaps more like a psychic debilitation because of the traffic, pollution, noise and the general disorder)…
I intend to write to the cardiologist I consulted last year about my chest and left arm pains. I may have solved the problems. Since I stopped putting milk in my coffee I have not been experiencing the horrible pains. I have also stopped eating cheese and butter, and this has almost completely stopped the mild pains that I experience right in the middle of my chest. It is most probably that the pains were all due to lactose intolerance and/or allergy to dairy products.
So I don’t put milk in any of my cooking either. I use coconut milk instead.
Most Asians are lactose intolerant, and Trevor, who is British, has been drinking milk all his life. Funny, because in fact, lactose intolerance is normal (i.e. it is normal that mammals stop the ability to digest lactose after weaning since they don’t need milk anymore).
I remember in fifth grade a company producing liquid and powder soya milk came to the school to promote soya milk drinking. They gave everybody free soya milk drinks in tetra pak. I really loved it. So I felt rather sad when I saw the trash bins full of soya milk drinks. Most kids hated it … But plenty of kids like taho, which has caramelized sugar syrup. Now soya milk is so bloody expensive compared to cow’s milk which is really insane because soya beans are much more high-yielding than cows. Quite a pity we didn’t become more a soya milk drinking country … I gather the cow milk is from the American colonial period diet, and the US grows the most soya is the world but not for human consumption but rather as fodder for cows!
