Beautiful Images of the Philippines..

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="542" caption="Pahiyas images from http://my_sarisari_store.typepad.com/"][/caption]

 Here's food art, before there is such a thing. This event in the Philippines is inspired by a Catholic (note Catholic) saint during the Spanish regime. The website noted that it is by way of Mexico, no wonder there is a similarity in the culture.

Click on the image to get to the photographer's website.  The pictures are awesome, I am inspired.

Enjoy. Note: I did send the photographer an email asking for permission to link to his pix, but it bounced.

Saging na Saba (plantain to you)

It is rare that I find this type of banana in the local markets, I looked up the English translation and it says plantain.  But plantain looks different, this variety has corners sweet with a bit of a tang when ripe. It can be prepared in different ways, it is edible uncooked but we hardly eat it that way. It can be grilled skin off, baked, sweetened and eaten with crushed ice and milk, fried with batter, deep fried in sugar, wrapped in lumpia wrapper with jack fruit and fried, or boiled in this case.  Oh, there are also a hundred and one options for the green- not ripe ones. The easiest of which is to let it ripen to a soft state and put it in a pot of water let it boil to maybe 15 minutes and voila breakfast is ready.  I put a little butter and sugar for the kill, otherwise it can be eaten as is.

[caption id="attachment_662" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Yummy bananas prepared Filipino Style"][/caption]

Banana Factoids:

Here are some images from Google.  Did you know that banana is a member of the palm family, once it has bore fruit, at least this variety, then it has reached it's full lifecycle and it will dry and die. But before that happens it would have multiplied and created havoc on the area.  The leaves can be harvested to a degree even before it has reached it's full cycle and can be used for wrapped rice, another Asian delicacy, or fish, it enhances the flavor and allows tiny ingredients to be cooked together without crushing it. Oh, as the tree or the palm matures, the blossom where the fruits develop has the shape of a heart, literally called, heart of banana, duh, this is harvested once the fruits have developed.  It is said that if it is not removed, the banans will not grow fully. That heart is also edible and is cooked with either coconut milk or vinegar. The whole bunch of fruits is harvested green, letting it ripen on the tree will invite insects, birds, and other critters.  The stalk of the leaves can be used to as a base for cooking if you want to simmer fish and don't want it to stick on the pot. In some cultures it is also cooked in coconut milk. Nope, it's not over, once the fruit has been harvested, the trunk of the palm has a core that is soft and is also edible, as a salad, sauteed or cooked in coconut milk.  Wow, I just realized that having a banana tree must be good for this economy, it is not just decorative as I see around the neighborhood.

Other traditional uses of banana leaves, let it pass through heat on a stove cut it into circles and you have liners for your serving dishes or picnic plate holders, that's really being green. Before the advent of teflon on flat irons, they used the banana leaves a stand for flat irons that way it wouldn't stick.

This plant is good for those with a sore green thumb, as it does not need caring for, it is a survivor :), it does not even need watering. Dried leaves need to be removed periodically and the buds replanted for aesthetic reasons.

Have a banana, it will drive the zits away.

September 21, 1972

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marcos

September 21, culled memories of my youth. The Philippines was confused, there was total silence, no media, nothing. I was in high school then. My parents, who were apolitical didn't know what was going on. 

This happened for two weeks, then we were awaken with the news that Martial Law was declared.  Commoners that we are, we were not directly affected, but to a young mind, that made me realize that someone can actually dictate what one can do and think on a larger scale.  But then again this was not much different  from the control that le parents has implemented and the persuasive way the church was leading us.

Indifference can go a long way indeed.

SanMig in TJs

Woohoo.. San Miguel beer is sold at Trader Joe's.  Not that I care for beer, but this is a product of the Philippines and has the greatest market share in the Philippines and perhaps greater part of Asia. 

Yeah, I never acquired the taste for beer, it is bitter, can't understand the refreshing taste that some folks associate this drink with. I remember hanging out in my younger days in the Philippines and the gang would go for the happy hour where the price of beer would be discounted to so much such that they would buy it to about 3 or so per person and I would stick to margarita. That is one glass to their 3 :).

I had my first sip at  a young age, my dad's style in better days, is let us figure out if we like it, now, what child would like the taste of beer? Even our dog didn't.

Seriously though, try it, they say it it's good. There was a beer bar in the Philippines that sells all kinds of beers from all over the world and I still went for Coke.  Boring...