Month: July 2012

No. I don’t think I love cooking. Just because I’m cooking more, but most of the time pin(terest)ing recipes, means I love it.

I think I’m more curious about cooking. I wonder how mixing and mashing this and that ingredients would end up.

I wonder what’s with the different herbs. I wonder what’s with different oils. I wonder what each ingredient in bread does to the bread.

I wonder what tickles my taste buds, my kids. I wonder what it does to us.

I wonder what’s the fuss in it. I wonder what’s the root / original traditional recipes of us.

No. I don’t think I love cooking. Just because I’m cooking more, but most of the time pin(terest)ing recipes, means I love it.

I think I’m more curious about cooking. I wonder how mixing and mashing this and that ingredients would end up.

I wonder what’s with the different herbs. I wonder what’s with different oils. I wonder what each ingredient in bread does to the bread.

I wonder what tickles my taste buds, my kids. I wonder what it does to us.

I wonder what’s the fuss in it. I wonder what’s the root / original traditional recipes of us.

I mean we are all hardworking. We cannot be in this state if people did not work hard for it. We always work hard so that things / future and present can be easier for us.

But I’m thinking more about the interconnectedness of every thing in this earth. Looking more into / about “food,” it makes every thing is connected — that thing called circle of life.

I go out run into the ‘mini’ mountain areas of Consolacion, then as I go nearer to the main road, I’ll see pipes from villages / subdivisions (including ours) and SM flushed to the river. This waste goes to the sea or sipped by the soil. Fish eats trash, plants drink the water. Then, humans eat them all.

We have this “systematic” garbage collection system in the thought that our own backyard is clean in the most efficient way. But this garbage is kept in some landfill which unknowingly just leaked into some farm. Then, it all goes back to us.

I probably have read too much hippie books about food and such that I felt such a very self-righteous nuts!

After reading a few a lot of books about food and health, it seems that just eating healthy is not a long-term solution. We only have control of what we buy, but before buying those, we have no control of what happen to those plants.

So the long term solution would be to get loose and be a caveman — free from all unnaturalities. You go out, eat what you can find along the way, then rest, and repeat the cycle. We cannot hoard food as there’s no point as they get spoiled since we don’t have any refrigerators.

But we do not like that, it seems to be a lot of hardwork for ‘pity’ stuff. We’re meant to do greater things like invent mobile phones or computers.

I mean humans natural instinct is to be efficient. Efficient way of gathering food, then once we have an efficient way of doing things, we then look forward to make it more efficient like spraying pesticides which we then also consume, then more efficient, until it’s too efficient, that we are left with nothing much to do but complain that it’s still not efficient enough, or almost with nothing to do we got bored.

And, how about taking into consideration the “side effects” of having too efficient system and tools? Really, I don’t know where do we get all those stuff to turn into electronic gadgets, and where to throw them after they get broken or outdated less than a year? All these to spare us from doing “hardwork.”

Wouldn’t life would mean much when we can just go wander to eat, rest, f*ck organically like cavemen! Then wander more, eat a different variety, f*ck more. It’s what we really work hard for.

Worry about future? Why bother — it’s not ours in the 1st place. Somehow we’re trained to think that the future is the big thing. What happen to living in the moment.

Well, this was supposed to be about food. Owkei, so I learned to make bread, edible enough to not poison me. So anyway, our bread is the basic bread — no fillers to make it delicious. Ate Mona was complaining why are we not adding those ingredients to make it more delicious. And, it’s hard to explain that we really do not need to eat a lot of it.

And then there’s the tendency for me to be buying and wishing to buy this and that gadget to make cooking faster and easier. Thing is do I really need to do it fast and easy so I can save more time — more time for eating? (Owkei. I’m being OA here as I know how hard it is for housewife and mom.)

Anyhoo, I guess the reason why cavemen were meant to work hard for their food is because Lord (or whoever made / programmed us) knows that eating more or being immobile is just not us.

And, now I’m hungry after this lengthy discourse!

I mean we are all hardworking. We cannot be in this state if people did not work hard for it. We always work hard so that things / future and present can be easier for us.

But I’m thinking more about the interconnectedness of every thing in this earth. Looking more into / about “food,” it makes every thing is connected — that thing called circle of life.

I go out run into the ‘mini’ mountain areas of Consolacion, then as I go nearer to the main road, I’ll see pipes from villages / subdivisions (including ours) and SM flushed to the river. This waste goes to the sea or sipped by the soil. Fish eats trash, plants drink the water. Then, humans eat them all.

We have this “systematic” garbage collection system in the thought that our own backyard is clean in the most efficient way. But this garbage is kept in some landfill which unknowingly just leaked into some farm. Then, it all goes back to us.

I probably have read too much hippie books about food and such that I felt such a very self-righteous nuts!

After reading a few a lot of books about food and health, it seems that just eating healthy is not a long-term solution. We only have control of what we buy, but before buying those, we have no control of what happen to those plants.

So the long term solution would be to get loose and be a caveman — free from all unnaturalities. You go out, eat what you can find along the way, then rest, and repeat the cycle. We cannot hoard food as there’s no point as they get spoiled since we don’t have any refrigerators.

But we do not like that, it seems to be a lot of hardwork for ‘pity’ stuff. We’re meant to do greater things like invent mobile phones or computers.

I mean humans natural instinct is to be efficient. Efficient way of gathering food, then once we have an efficient way of doing things, we then look forward to make it more efficient like spraying pesticides which we then also consume, then more efficient, until it’s too efficient, that we are left with nothing much to do but complain that it’s still not efficient enough, or almost with nothing to do we got bored.

And, how about taking into consideration the “side effects” of having too efficient system and tools? Really, I don’t know where do we get all those stuff to turn into electronic gadgets, and where to throw them after they get broken or outdated less than a year? All these to spare us from doing “hardwork.”

Wouldn’t life would mean much when we can just go wander to eat, rest, f*ck organically like cavemen! Then wander more, eat a different variety, f*ck more. It’s what we really work hard for.

Worry about future? Why bother — it’s not ours in the 1st place. Somehow we’re trained to think that the future is the big thing. What happen to living in the moment.

Well, this was supposed to be about food. Owkei, so I learned to make bread, edible enough to not poison me. So anyway, our bread is the basic bread — no fillers to make it delicious. Ate Mona was complaining why are we not adding those ingredients to make it more delicious. And, it’s hard to explain that we really do not need to eat a lot of it.

And then there’s the tendency for me to be buying and wishing to buy this and that gadget to make cooking faster and easier. Thing is do I really need to do it fast and easy so I can save more time — more time for eating? (Owkei. I’m being OA here as I know how hard it is for housewife and mom.)

Anyhoo, I guess the reason why cavemen were meant to work hard for their food is because Lord (or whoever made / programmed us) knows that eating more or being immobile is just not us.

And, now I’m hungry after this lengthy discourse!

There was a time last year when I got to visit different HR heads of different companies, and it happened that probably 30-40% of them were batchmates and schoolmates. I found it a bit weird when I see them all in chic-y formal get-up with all that professional-executive-look makeup, when the last time I saw them they were all in shirt and jeans, and making “tambay” at school with banana-q’s in one hand and notebooks and xeroxed copies on the other, with loud voices.

Then, suddenly, I saw them all dignified and who speak with authority in their offices. I found myself mute, and groping for ways on how to deal with their new image. You know that awkward moment — I was about to shout at them and talk like we’re just in the Gaisano / Batibot tambayan but instead just produced a “formal” smile to go with the ambiance.

In a way, they made/make me feel that I’m stuck when it comes to career growth. Especially when it got to the part where titles and such were discussed, and I had not much concrete thing to say about myself.

But anyway, I had enough of that drama.
—————————————-

Before, I always had a hard time saying I’m a housewife because I think I’m giving it injustice.

There was a time last year when I got to visit different HR heads of different companies, and it happened that probably 30-40% of them were batchmates and schoolmates. I found it a bit weird when I see them all in chic-y formal get-up with all that professional-executive-look makeup, when the last time I saw them they were all in shirt and jeans, and making “tambay” at school with banana-q’s in one hand and notebooks and xeroxed copies on the other, with loud voices.

Then, suddenly, I saw them all dignified and who speak with authority in their offices. I found myself mute, and groping for ways on how to deal with their new image. You know that awkward moment — I was about to shout at them and talk like we’re just in the Gaisano / Batibot tambayan but instead just produced a “formal” smile to go with the ambiance.

In a way, they made/make me feel that I’m stuck when it comes to career growth. Especially when it got to the part where titles and such were discussed, and I had not much concrete thing to say about myself.

But anyway, I had enough of that drama.
—————————————-

Before, I always had a hard time saying I’m a housewife because I think I’m giving it injustice.

I’m not sure if I should be happy / proud of myself that I skip the yummy stuff, and ordered a lonely veggie salad. I always look at “health conscious” eaters as boring as a dead grass. I mean what’s the fun of chewing on leaves. Counting hair strands appears to be more exciting.

Let me clarify that I’m NOT aiming to be a pure vegan. They would actually say meat is good, but strive to get the organic meat. The internal organs of animals are actually rich in nutrients that are good for us. It’s the feeds and injections and genetic mutations implemented on the animals that are not that good for us. That’s why some people would go for pure vegan to skip the toxic from the meat. (Fish is another story.)

One of the main things that health / food books / articles, I read, are against is SUGAR, refined sugar. It’s one of the things that causes inflammation (they would say that diseases like hypertension, diabetes, etc are inflammation). So my aim is to skip refined sugar. 

Anyhoo, last week, Mark and I went to Figaro. We’re not hungry but we just went there to have that quick “together” moment (yaah, corny). We do always see each other, but it’s different when it’s just the 2 of us, that thing you know, which comes far in between.

It took me a few minutes to say my order as the fraps and iced coffees and muffins are calling me. But I closed my eyes, and think of myself as a yeast. Yeast is an ingredient in bread, which made it grow. Sugar feeds yeast, which makes the bread “grow”. Salt kills yeast. So every time an urge for me to overindulge on sweets, I would imagine myself as a yeast, and no; I don’t want my insides to grow much bigger. Sometimes it helps.

Last week at figaro somehow meant big deal to me. As it’s the 1st time that my “yeast imagination” really worked. I felt a bit victorious over myself, that finally I was gaining some control over my sugar-whore self.

But then a part of me was also mourning. As they say food lovers are the best people to be around. Ownose, I no longer have any chance on being cool. Well, I’m still a food lover, almost-real food lover.

I’m not sure if I should be happy / proud of myself that I skip the yummy stuff, and ordered a lonely veggie salad. I always look at “health conscious” eaters as boring as a dead grass. I mean what’s the fun of chewing on leaves. Counting hair strands appears to be more exciting.

Let me clarify that I’m NOT aiming to be a pure vegan. They would actually say meat is good, but strive to get the organic meat. The internal organs of animals are actually rich in nutrients that are good for us. It’s the feeds and injections and genetic mutations implemented on the animals that are not that good for us. That’s why some people would go for pure vegan to skip the toxic from the meat. (Fish is another story.)

One of the main things that health / food books / articles, I read, are against is SUGAR, refined sugar. It’s one of the things that causes inflammation (they would say that diseases like hypertension, diabetes, etc are inflammation). So my aim is to skip refined sugar. 

Anyhoo, last week, Mark and I went to Figaro. We’re not hungry but we just went there to have that quick “together” moment (yaah, corny). We do always see each other, but it’s different when it’s just the 2 of us, that thing you know, which comes far in between.

It took me a few minutes to say my order as the fraps and iced coffees and muffins are calling me. But I closed my eyes, and think of myself as a yeast. Yeast is an ingredient in bread, which made it grow. Sugar feeds yeast, which makes the bread “grow”. Salt kills yeast. So every time an urge for me to overindulge on sweets, I would imagine myself as a yeast, and no; I don’t want my insides to grow much bigger. Sometimes it helps.

Last week at figaro somehow meant big deal to me. As it’s the 1st time that my “yeast imagination” really worked. I felt a bit victorious over myself, that finally I was gaining some control over my sugar-whore self.

But then a part of me was also mourning. As they say food lovers are the best people to be around. Ownose, I no longer have any chance on being cool. Well, I’m still a food lover, almost-real food lover.

lately, i’m on a border of being obsessed with bread. i want to make the best bread. well, not really, th best. but i want to make a bread that has life.

a step in breadmaking that i most love and hate is kneading. though, there are gadget to do this, or there are ways you can skip this. but i love this part.

kneading is time consuming, can be frustrating. sometimes, i wanted to just throw away all the dough as it can get all sticky and ugly and just hard to make something out of it. but just like any thing in life, i just have to suck it up and have faith that it’s going to work.

i guess that’s why it can be therapeutic!