Guiding for Mercy Relief

In all my years of guiding 'm fortunate to come across some people (or groups of people) who make my work a whole lot of fun. Just this week, Mabuhay Guides Jeff Velasco, Ronnie Gador and myself had a fun tour with MERCY RELIEF. 

In the midst of the hearings on the pork barrel scandal involving government officials and NGOs and with the recent death and destruction brought about by tropical storms in Subic, Zambales, it is refreshing to have guests who have come to Manila not just to act as pampered guests (although, we welcome that too,) but to VOLUNTEER their time, talent and services to depressed communities in Baseco Compound in Tondo Manila.

For those of you who've had enough of the pork barrel scandal, you will be pleased to note that this agency that brought these young professionals to Manila is as legitimate as it gets. Mercy Relief is the NGO's name. Mercifully (pardon the pun), the organization is based in Singapore and is run by yuppies who have optimized the use of their time in helping under-privileged depressed areas in the ASEAN region.

There were 34 volunteers who have come to Manila for the first time to live in the Baseco Compound and have a first hand experience on the plight of the urban poor here. The average age of the volunteers range from 20 - 25 years. Apparently, their stay will last for around 2 weeks and within that short span of time they would have rendered healthcare and devised a urban plan to make the area self- sufficient and income generating.

It didn't help that by the time they arrived in Manila, the weather had turned sour. Typhoon Odette had lingered on the east side and when it finally moved diagonally to the west, it still sucked up most of the rain brought the the southwesterly winds (habagat).

I was in constant touch with the Philippine coordinator of the project, Ms. Laarni Salanga until the morning of the tour. We were favored with milder weather and some sunshine for most of the day last Tuesday, 24 September, 2013. I didn't know if they had planned to push through or cancel at the last minute. Fortune smiled on everyone of us that day. 

All the ASEAN member nations were ably represented: Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand. After three days of being holed up in the evacuation center at BASECO  due to the storm, the volunteers were glad to be out in the sunshine and have a glimpse of Manila's glorious past. They were toured around Intramuros at the usual sites of Fort Santiago, San Agustin Church and Museum and Casa Manila. and by the time the three groups finished the tour in Casa Manila, they were headed back for another series of lectures at BASECO. They asked the most intelligent questions on the Muslim situation in Zamboanga (a large part of the group is Muslim) and the influence of the Catholic religion on the citizens. WE didn't have enough time to entertain all the questions so we promised to keep in tour through Facebook. They had fun, and us... we gained young friends and a lot of inspiration from them!

Penafrancia at Market! Market!

Every third Saturday and Sunday of September a grand celebration honoring the Nstra. Sra. Virgen de Penafrancia takes place in Naga City in the Bicol region. Arguably the most attended Marian event in the country, it is attended by approximately 5 million devotees a year.

The Virgin of Penafrancia traces its history to San Martin Castanar, Spain where Simon Vela was directed by the Lady to go to Pena de Francia. Simon traveled far and wide and found the place after a journey of many long years. His search finally led him to the spot where the Lady appeared to him and was instructed to dig in the very same spot and there he will find treasure more important than the inherited wealth which he donated to the church as a young orphan boy.

In the Philippines, the veneration started when Miguel Robles de Covarrubias, a seminarian and son of a a Spanish official from Penafrancia, Spain fell ill and was miraculously cured after the family sought the intercession of Our Lady of Penafrancia whose picture he clutched in his heart. As a gesture of praise and thanks, he vowed that he will build a church by the Pasig river as her sanctuary. He was ordained priest in Nueva Caceres ( now Naga) and built a church there. This devotion grew and many years later the traslacion (transfer) of the holy image is celebrated yearly with a fluvial parade.

Matrket!Market! at the Bonifacio Global City had their own event to bring the revelry to Manila. 21 and 22 September was a red-letter day to celebrate the Penafrancia. No matter the rains, people came to witness the event and enjoyed the various activities that was peppered with entertainment numbers, a cooking demo of Bicol's famous LAING (taro leaves in a spicy coconut cream sauce), a culinary contest of Bicolano dishes (or the chef's own take on it), Filipino parlor games, a singing contest, and Filipino dances and a drum and bugle corps complete with flag twirlers.

The fun started at two in the afternoon and went on till dusk. Needless to say, the religious fervor of the Filipino was fully highlighted when people from all walks of life would intermittently come up to the image of the Virgin and touch her mantle with a fervent prayer in their hearts.

Thanks to C-squared (events oirganizer) led by Agnes Calumpong for inviting me to judge in the cooking contest of tasty dishes. Third Prize went to a spicy coconut cream based dish of Laing by a pretty young cook.

The Second Prize went to a male chef who made a relleno of the traditional Laing by stuffing the tarro leaves with minced meat and chorizo.

The Grand Prize went to a sweet home maker who concocted a dish of prawns in spicy coconut cream sauce. Yumm-o!

LOVELACE: A Review

Image from filmoriaco.uk

If you're a child of the seventies, chances are you may have heard of Linda Lovelace... Those of us who were growing up in that decade and who were deeply cocconed in a Catholic school upbringing have varied notions of who she is... the boys naturally, are not as pristine... Chances are, some of the "inquisitive boys" of the day were able to secure copies of her immortal film - DEEPTHROAT.

image from collider.com

Yes, forever immortalized for being able to accommodate the male genitalia orally, her one and only movie belies the pain and horror she faced as a battered wife and sex object for sale. That aspect of her persona was deftly hidden from a viewing public that was at once mystified by her talents and at the same time morally critical of her rise to notoriety. LOVELACE is a film that de-mystifies and de-glamorizes the Linda that viewers thought they knew.

Image from bitchmagazine.com

Now her story is immortalized in film and those who were quick to point an accusing finger at her and called her immoral will be pretty surprised at her descent into a private hell that was gilded by the trappings of seventies pornography. To her credit, Linda Lovelace "set the standards" for upgrading the quality of smut during her time. Her oral technique by then had become legendary, no thanks to a husband who beats her up for every infraction she incurs. But deep inside, she was a tormented soul...

Image from collider.com

Peter Saarsgard as Chuck Traynor was quite successful as the abusive husband and manager of Linda Lovelace. He was charmingly proper in front of her parents, caressingly romantic at the start of their relationship and then he turns brutal and insecure with her new-found success. He can't live without her despite the fact that he beats her up. He is convincing when he sells her off for tricks but at the same time, a little part of him dies when he sees her objectified. And yet he doesn't seem to flinch when six men gang-rape her after a done-deal.

Image from nydailynews.com

Amanda Seyfried in the title role was quite daring, to say the least. It would have been unimaginable to have been a stand-in for her role. Originally, it was offered to Lindsay Lohan who was perfunctorily replaced owing to her drug-related troubles and "unreasonable" delays on the set. I admired Seyfried on Mama Mia and adored her singing voice in Les Miz. This time, she goes beyond her comfort zone what with multiple breast exposures. Mercifully, they knew when to stop! The focus was not on nudity but on her deplorable situation. This was especially evident when she runs back to Momma for help and she is callously turned away by a mother who was so detached, the audience could feel the ice forming on her clenched jaw.

Image from dcfilmgirl.com

The film isn't outstanding... but it isn't half as bad as some US critics think. The production design was consistent and the dialogue had some seventies buzzwords/cliches that made it sound authentic. You dig it? Even the soundtrack was relatably 70's what with Gladys Knight and the Pips and some BeeGees thrown in.  The support cast was garbed in lots of jersey with Pucci prints. The actors in the supporting roles contributed much to the story's unfolding. Debbie Mazar as Marilyn Chambers looked every inch the aging porn diva who has to relinquish her light to a budding porn queen. Despite the mixed reviews, Amanda Seyfried, is gaining the buzz at winning the Oscar's best actress plum. Her eventual awakening into women's lib activist and happy mother and wife and her  reconnecting with her family towards the end of the movie was thouroughly acted even her ice-queen of a mother allows as much as a hug for a move to reconciliation. 

It was a nice movie... now if only it will play for more than a week... =)

Kadayawan: Makati Version (Part 2)

The second day of the Kadayawan festival at Market! Market! was allotted for another series of cooking competitons. This time the main ingredient for the contest was TUNA. Unlike the previous day's challenge, this one has a milder flavor and a more substantial protein content.

As opposed to durian, tuna seems rather bland... its flavor profile depends on the herbs and spices that the chef  includes in the mix. For the tuna culinary competition, there were eight contestants who took on the task of giving tuna dishes their own unique twist.

There were promising dishes that were creatively presented. Apart from the usual grilling and frying techniques, the panel of judges was looking into an unorthodox way of giving tuna a "new" taste. There is a right way and a wrong way of cooking tuna. The longer you cook it, the tougher it gets. On the other hand, if it is under-cooked then it has a fishy and slimy after-taste that lingers in the mouth.

Seared tuna with radish and sweet potatoes

Most of the contestants fried their dishes. Ergo, we, the judges had our work cut out for us. It was all a matter of technique in frying. The pan has to be really hot and the oil has to reach its smoking point. You'll know when the tuna is cooked. It's easier to turn it over in the pan when that happens. So a cook doesn't flip a tuna steak until one side has turned golden brown.

Tuna with spicy mango salsa

Searing it on the other hand takes only a few minutes. It doesn't even require cooking oil if one is using a wrought iron skillet. The proper way to sear is to make sure that the outer layer is thoroughly cooked and the inner flesh retains its pink color. Like a steak, it onget an even sly takes only five to seven minutes to sear  on each side.

Sweet and sour Tuna

The puzzling thing for us judges was that, most contestants picked up some wrong information from cooking shows that proliferate the local airwaves. One contestant when informed that her tuna did not absorb the flavors of the sweet and sour sauce was defensive when given a tip by Chef Lorraine to infuse some of the flavors of the sauce while the tuna was being prepared prior to cooking. She averred that  what she learned from a cooking show she watched was to drench the tuna steak in the sauce after the cooking. Her sweet and sour tuna ended up tasting like two different dishes: a sweet and sour sauce and a bland tuna steak! Needless to say she didn't win the top prize.

Tuna steak with coconut milk

Another contestant made a tuna dish in coconut milk. Her idea would have been perfect. Except that she didn't cook the coconut milk well enough so that the curdled coconut milk ended up a soggy, sour sauce that didn't meld with the leeks she put into it. Hers could have been the "different" stand-out dish.

The winning dish: Tuna fingers with durian aioli

The winning chef came up with a breaded tuna with a durian aioli sauce. Initially, the judges thought breading the tuna would make it chewy. However, he fried the tuna fillets until they were the perfect golden brown and the meat retained its moisture and freshness.