rice cake confessional

Sorry for the MIA status lately. It’s raining work these days (not unlike the picture above).

In any case, the Blog turns 2 on March 20th and I’m trying to fill up all the days in between with lots of fooooood. Some from the back log but hopefully a few new eats too. I’ve readied 7 new blog posts all coming at you this week. Also, if you’ve commented in the last few weeks or two, I’m sorry for the super late responses! They’re on their way!

And now – for fun – true confessions time…

Eating:  instant noodles doctored up with miso paste, imitation crab, tofu, and bean sprouts

Listening: erm… Gee by Girls Generation I can’t help it, it’s super catchy. Plus I’m knee deep in kdrama mode right now.

Looking Forward To: new episodes of BBF and mani/pedi time next weekend

Last Thing I Bought: new pair of black patent leather heels from Charles and Keith (oh fine, I bought a new bag too)

Next Trip: Bali for Erika’s wedding

Can’t Wait to Try: ICE MONSTER! I found the Ice Monster shop in Singapore. Wheeeee! Who’s coming?

Peace out homies.

Today’s post is a little bit about food and a lot about being Filipino.

The picture above was breakfast in my godparents’ bahay kubo this past weekend. This time around it was tinapang galunggong (smoked mackeral scad) and talong (eggplant, in this case boiled) served with a dipping sauce of toyo (soy sauce) and kalamansi (Filipino lime). Delicious. 

If you’re Filipino, a morning in a creaky bamboo house on stilts with a light breeze and a full belly is as content as you’ll ever get. 

If you’re Filipino, sometimes it really does taste better when you eat with your hands. 

If you’re Filipino, you have a high forgiveness threshold so even though Philippine Airlines treats you like crap you’ll ride them again anyway. (This time around though they won’t disappoint you. In fact, they’ll be really pleasant and terrific.)

If you’re Filipino, “labs” does not conjure pictures of chemistry sets. It makes you think of cheesy romantic comedies and lots of pink hearts.

If you’re Filipino, when you’re uncle passes you’ll sit outside the house where his remains wait for their final place and greet and feed the guests that pay their final respects. You’ll do this for however long it takes with whatever you time you have – 2 day, 3 days, 7 days, 40 days. You’ll cry a little but watch your cousins’ many kids run around playing the games you used to play and understand that tradition and family goes on. 

If you’re Filipino, you’re celebrating a little bit at the passing of the Stimulus Bill. On a few little lines, a 63 year old effort has finally been realized. Although imperfect, those lines finally give some justice to the Filipino veterans who served the United States during World War II. These men are 80-90 years old now and their numbers have dwindled from the original 400,000+ Filipinos who fought alongside Americans. Regardless, it brought smiles (and ok, a few tears) to learn that the JFAV (Justice for Filipino American Veterans) provision finally made it. 

This post is dedicated to my Amang Ponso who also served with the Americans, my Uncle Lito who had a phatty bahay kubo, and my Uncle Romy who I paid my last respects to this past weekend in Baliuag.  

More food pics and lighter fare to come… Thanks for indulging me in non-food ramblings.

Yah it’s kind of lame of me to not update for a month and then update with a non-food post. I’ll try to pay the internet world back in spades with plenty of food pictures from the holidays after I get this rant off my chest and outta my head. For strictly food fans, you can skip. Here are the chronicles of my journey back to Singapore.

5:22am PDT: Leave Hanford by car with the fam and head to SFO to catch11:55am flight. We leave super early since my parents are those lets-get-to-the-airport-4-hrs-early types. It’s still pitch black and cold as all get out. I give two big hugs to Brother #1 who has work and can’t come.

6:13am PDT: Give in to the sleepies and take a nap in the car. On long haul flights I generally don’t sleep the night before. The car nap was the first shut eye of the day.

6:48am – 7:30am PDT: Wake up periodically to tell Dad that his speedy driving is freakin’ me out.

8:22am PDT: Arrive at SFO 1 hour earlier than expected. Whoops. We’re super early. I check in and we grab overpriced breakfast at the airport.

10:30am PDT: Notice that my monitors say my flight is leaving 10 minutes early. Decide to trek through security and say goodbye to the fam – hugs for everyone. Blink away goodbye tears. Give extra big hug to Mom bc she worries a lot when I’m faraway.  :(

11:45am PDT: Not boarding yet…. weird.

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It took me 1 absentee ballot request, 1 very late absentee ballot, 5 calls to the US Embassy in Singapore, 1 late night call to my home county Elections office, and 5 minutes with the fax machine. 

It’s probably a bit easier for you if you’re in the US, so please go out and vote today!

If you’re an expat registered in the lovely state of California, you can turn in your ballot by fax! A list of fax numbers for your home county can be found here.

Think your vote doesn’t count? A few stories that might inspire you and help remind you of the power of one vote.

Ok. Srsly. If you don’t vote in this election, you’re just being really irresponsible and/or lazy and def straight up annoying. 

More eats to come (after you vote, obvs).

I meant to write about this immediately following the major wrath I was feeling after my experience on Philippine Airlines during my last trip to Manila. Sigh. Where to begin…

1. Philippine Airlines takes off from the Centennial Terminal at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. The terminal was built just a few years ago and, from the outside, is much prettier looking than the regular terminals. Too bad it is terribly engineered. First of all, you get in line to check in. Get in another line to pay the ‘airport fee.’ Get in another line to go through immigration/customs. Get in another line to go through security. Now, this sounds like every airport on earth. EXCEPT at most airports finishing up at one line leads you past that counter into another section in the airport.

Oh no, not at Centennial. Every time you finish in one line, you have to fight the crowd and swim upstream (with all your luggage) to another corner of the airport. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Pull your hair out.

2. PAL charged us overage fees. They allowed only 20kilos per person on an international flight. This was shocking to me because usually they give you 70lbs per bag with a 2 bag limit. (When we fly from SFO to Manila this is usually the case no matter the airline.) They charged us. Exorbitantly. It cost more than one of our tickets. We were 15 kilos over total between the two of us. Fees are ok. Enough for 1 ticket? I might as well buy a ticket and use up the extra seat on the plane.

3. The flight was late. We chilled at the airport for 2.5 hours or so. We were also unlucky enough to be seated next to the smoking room. GREAT. Now I can have an asthma attack AND smell like smoke for the duration of my flight.

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