Philippines, the blacksheep of Asia?

Last Saturday, Fernando and I were invited by a Taiwanese family for dinner. It was my first time to eat homemade Taiwanese food. They were such a lovely and hospitable family. Their niece happens to be my former classmate in Spanish class. The food was vegetarian, but not vegan as they eat eggs and drink milk: ) We talked about many things and I learned a lot from their culture. I have not visited Taiwan but I have been to a number of places around Asia. I am from Asia but seeing these places and meeting different kinds of people, I can say Filipinos is quite different from the rest of Eastern and Southeast Asia.

So my husband and I were discussing about the previous night and he said that the Philippines is the black sheep of Eastern and Southeast Asia. Is Philippines really a black sheep? Well, you can make your conclusion after reading the rest of this but, all I can say is that we are quite different from the rest of them. However each country in Asia has its own ways, but there are factors and ways that are common among them that is not so evident in the Philippines.

I shall name a few things that make us the black sheep as my husband says:

The barako coffee beans which is grown in Batangas, Philippines

First of all, when people think of Asians, they assume that we drink tea, lots of tea. That is true; the rest of Asia does but not Philippines. No matter how hot our country is, we are really big coffee drinkers. No wonder why Starbucks is making so much money on us, but then again it is not only Starbucks, we have our local Figaro and other Coffee places!!! But these are the high end coffee, in the common household we have the dependable Nescafe, Great Taste and some other brands that I don’t know.  I am not saying that none of us drink tea because we do drink that as well, but most of us prefer coffee.

The Philippines was colonized by Spain for 300 years and we have acquired a lot of ways from them, from food, beliefs and behaviors. We were also under the Americans and the Japanese. So Filipino’s are a mix of Malay, Spanish, Chinese and American!!! Our ways indeed is a melting pot of different cultures. The Spanish and American are the most dominant of the foreign cultures.  One of the most important thing that the Spanish has left us, is the most practiced religion in our country, which is Roman Catholic. While the rest is into Buddhism, Taoism or Confucianism, Philippines on the other hand, has the largest followers for Roman Catholicism. There are other religions too in the country, but the major one is Catholic.

Due to our great faith in our religion we have a lot of festivals related to that. For every place, there will always be a fiesta in honor of the Saint that is the Patron for each place. WE LOVE OUR FIESTAS, AND WE LOVE TO EAT!!! This is the day where you don’t have a specific number of guests, such day is open to as many guests as you can accommodate. So a huge preparation is done the day before and on the day itself: ) You can indeed undergo a lot of stress if you don’t have enough food to serve your guests. In a place called Bohol. The whole month is a fiesta, since every town celebrates their patron one after another. If you find yourself in Bohol on the month of May, you can actually eat in their homes. They invite people even if they are strangers.

Bohol Philippines!! The land of the fiesta!!: )

So apart from eating, what happens during the fiesta? Certainly there would always be a beauty pageant on this day, as well as a parade, a big dance and parties everywhere , but the most common for the rest of the household would the karaoke session!!!You don’t know Filipinos if you haven’t took part in a Karaoke session. I swear they are masters in singing!!! A lot of them have great voices too and even if they don’t, they will sing like there is no tomorrow!!! They would fight over the microphone and know the lyrics by heart: ) I know a lot of lyrics too but I don’t fight over the microphone because at home we neither have a microphone or karaoke!!!

Jollibee and Ronald Mc Donald. I find Jollibee really cute, unfortunately clowns freak me out!!

Another thing that is greatly Filipino is the love for Spaghetti and Fried Chicken. I have been to Mc Donald’s, from Asia to Europe and now in Argentina, but they do not serve  Spaghetti nor Fried Chicken. Yes, there is Chicken Nuggets but not Fried Chicken. In almost all food establishments in the Philippines you must have Spaghetti or Fried Chicken on the menu. That is staple on your menu if want people to come. This also very important for the kids who are quite difficult to feed, but give them Spaghetti or Fried Chicken and you can eat in a restaurant in peace: )  So yes, our Mc Donald’s and Kentucky fried chicken serves Spaghetti, but not just any Spaghetti, we want the sweet Filipino way and even better if it has hotdogs!!! The one with the hotdogs is served in Jollibee, a major team player in the food industry and is the competitor of Mc Donald’s. God I’m craving for Spaghetti now!!!

After a big meal during lunch, some of us will rest and take our siesta. This is very Spanish. Siesta is the nap that you take in the afternoon. If not then they will probably watch those telenovelas. Not just any telenovela, but the Mexican ones. Why? We find them handsome and really beautiful!! No matter if the plot has been repeated several times, we don’t really care.

Last but not the least is the fact that we speak English quite well. Our tourism industry may not be as big as Thailand and the rest but, you certainly can’t get lost because someone who speaks in English can happily assist you: ) This is a really big advantage for us. That is why a lot of Filipinos work abroad, because apart from the language efficiency, Filipinos are really hard workers. In school we are taught in English. Most of the newspapers and magazines are in English. Even the television is in English. There are a lot of Tagalog too but the English programs have no Tagalog subtitles unlike the countries!!

So you can say we are quite different, but that is what makes us Filipino. I love being one even if a lot of people don’t really know who we really are and how our country is. We are not as backwards as you think, one must go visit there to see for yourself. Don’t ever judge us just because you met a few Filipinos in your country, go there and see it!!! It’s quite an experience, but it is always an advantage if you know someone there: )

Paella by NATS!!!

Learn to make PAELLA!!!!

Nats made this paella in London!

My good friend Nats finally sent the paella recipe that I have been asking for quite a while now: ) His version is the mixed paella. There are three kinds of paella, the valenciana, the seafood paella and the mixed one!!! So before trying the recipe, read on, I learned a lot about this tiny piece of history of the ever famous paella: )

For many of us we correlate Spain with paella a lot. WE THINK OF SPAIN, WE THNK OF PAELLA. It started on the eastern coast of Spain , the Valencian region. There are many adaptations to the original Paella Valenciana, which doesn’t even have seafood, In the other coastal regions, they replaced the beans and meat for seafood and that’s the mixed paella we have now. Although many restaurants claim the name paella Valenciana for their dish, for the people in Valencia, only the ones with the ingredients of the original recipe can bear such name. The ingredients are chicken ,rabbit, duck, snail,beans,rosemary, saffron, garlic, paprika and olive oil,

So here is Nats recipe  ( just do the math for the other ingredients because he didn’t write some of them). Olive oil is quite important. You use this oil to sauté.

Three Saturdays ago Pilar, the very nice neighbor of Ismael’s parents, invited us for paella lunch. It was not an ordinary paella lunch I may say. It was special because Pilar actually showed us how to cook paella and more! It was during Mae’s birthday party when Mae and I mentioned to Ismael’s mom that we wanted to learn to cook paella. Pilar happened to have heard our conversation. And so, we got our paella class. It was already 2 in the afternoon when we arrived at the house of Ismael’s parents. But Pilar didn’t seem to mind. Well, she only jested “Que verguenza!” (“What a shame!”) All the ingredients were already cut and sliced.

She had:

chicken ( sliced into big chunks )

1 onion

5 bulbs of garlic ( that’s a lot of garlic! The garlic is usually crushed)

green pepper ( sliced )

shrimps

squid

one tomato ( chopped)

clams

parsley

salt

lemon and of course, rice!!!!

Step by step, Pilar showed us what to do. First, fry the chicken. Then saute the onion, garlic and parsley. Then add green pepper and tomato. After which, the shrimps (without the shells) the small clams and the squids were added. Pour in the soup of the previously boiled shrimp with shells. Add rice. Add coloring.( This can be a food coloring or saffron) Put in salt and wait for 15 minutes. To add a little decoration, put red pepper and add a few shrimps (this time, with shells.) For the finishing touch, squeeze a lemon over the paella. And ya esta! Ready to be served.

For more information:

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

http://www.xmission.com/~dderhak/recipe/paella.htm#PAELLA

ABOUT NATS:

having fun with snow!!!

Nats Villaluna lives in Barcelona, Spain now. We met in Madrid before and he is definitely the perfect tour guide!!!! He also teaches English on the side .However, I think the best thing about Nats, is that hes such a wonderful friend and certainly not boring!!!!He is just so great and heaps of fun: )  Now thats really super, two things in one: ) That is Nats, the Star: )

Please mind your manners Part II

Mind your manners Part II

Posting the article on table setting and etiquette, made me realized that people really do read blogs these days. Most of the comment I got are from other countries, which is very interesting to me.

After writing those posts, I confess that I found myself noticing other people more. This is very bad, but sometimes I really can’t help it, especially if they start to speak in Spanish and I don’t understand anything anymore. Instead it made me think of that article , and relating it to how people behaved.  This is the second part of that post. Again, forgive me if I might be mocking sometimes, I don’t mean to really. I apologize if I am hurting anyone who reads this. It just makes me think that we are supposed to be very civilized with all the progress that the world is doing, and yet it is not working for others even with all the available information on the internet. I am not an expert on these things, that’s why I do research too. While I write these I am learning as well, and reminding myself of the rules and guidelines that I already know.  So now I shall begin with the continuation of my first article.

Further etiquette on dining:

Cleaning your teeth

-  One evening in a restaurant, I observed this couple on another table. The man seems to court the girl.  Usually at this stage, both parties try to impress each other. Then suddenly I saw the girl cleaning her   teeth with her fingernails!! Sometimes others can do this without being too obvious but this was another case. It was really obvious. I must say I felt sorry for both of them.

So what should one do if this happens? In this situation, excuse yourself and go to the bathroom and clean your teeth there. Also applying make up should be done in washroom as well and not on the table.

Removing the bone

-  Accidentally eating a bone from fish, chicken or simply something unpleasant, is common for most of us. So to take it out and move the bone with your tongue and place it on the fork, and place it on the side of your plate. As this is not accepted in some countries, you can also use your napkin in place of the fork. Try to do it as discreetly as possible.  To be safe, if I am in a restaurant, I order something that is easier to eat. Like a boneless chicken, or some pasta so I don’t have to worry about eating bones.

The bread

-  I was twelve when I first visited Spain. During the meal, I saw that they placed the bread on the table. No bread baskets, no plates, nothing. That was the first time I have seen something like that. Another culture and another manner of eating. Now that I am here in Argentina, it is the same thing. The bread is placed on the table again. I honestly, don’t mind that much since that is their tradition but there is one thing that annoys me, “the crumbs”. It’s really annoying to have all those crumbs all over the table and especially if you are the one who is cleaning up.

In formal dining, bread is served on a plate or in a basket. Break the bread into smaller pieces, just enough for a bite or two.  You use your fingers to do the breaking. You butter the piece you just pulled and then eat it. DO NOT butter the whole piece of  bread all at once and much more eating it directly as a whole. Don’t think of it as a burger!!!

The Seasoning

-  My husband always mentioned that a lot of the people here in Argentina put salt on their food without even tasting it first. I guess that must have been a habit for them to do so. However it is quite absurd to add salt without even knowing if it really lacks salt. Perhaps the food is already salty!!! So, it is just right to try your food first before adding anything.

Mobile Phones

-  It is very impolite to call, text or play with your phone on the table. It’s better to put in on silent mode. If the call is really important excuse yourself and step outside to take your call.

Talking and the elbows

-  This will be last and my favorite among all. I am sure that your very own mother or your teacher said this at some point.  “Do not talk when your mouth is full”!!! The other one is “Keep elbows off the table”!!!

Acknowledgement:

Thank you to google and the people who took these pictures. Please allow me to post them :  )