It’s a wrap!

For someone who can not wrap a decent spring roll, I sure had the audacity to take on fresh lumpia. Yep — including making wrapper from scratch. Can you tell that that did not go well at all?

Shell game?

Presenting, live, my all-time favorite mollusk: anínikád (plicate conch). Witness how that particularly restless specimen at center slip-slides into the fateful path of the tumbler-cum-scoop. Whoops! Game over.

Live show

Cephalopod lovers had a field day at the market yesterday. Octopus, cuttlefish (above), and squid of every size and color — and incredibly fresh, too. At one stall, the tile counter was covered with dark-spotted nukos laid hither and yon, and the display shimmered, I kid you not. The squid were changing colors in a desperate bid to camouflage themselves, survive that alien environment. It was both fascinating and poignant to behold. I took a video, telling myself those creatures had no feelings, only instinct.*

Queso loco

Fresh out of college, a friend went to work for a production outfit. One of his first projects was a Cheez Whiz TV ad, memorable because the talent — a little boy — was on his tenth-or-so take “savoring” his sandwich when he finally broke down. “Again?!?” he’d cried. “I really, really don’t like Cheez Whiz!”

You’ve come a long way, baby

We had been on the road nearly five hours, slowing down in the vicinity of every school we came across, searching for a smoking grill. Still: nothing. “Lord,” I cried, “why do I see ginanggang everywhere except when I have to have one?”

It doesn’t have to be that way

Hungry and irritable, I made my way to the ship’s canteen. I berated myself for being too lazy to make tuna sandwich earlier that morning, fully aware that boat trips always made me peckish. Now I was confronted with a choice between inún-unán (fish poached in vinegar) and breaded fried pork chop, both of which did not really appeal to me.

#MustTry

I hate to admit it, but I used to think that YouTube didn’t have a future. This was back when I could not get picture files to load on a crappy dial-up connection. Moving pictures? Forget it (and I’m not talking animated GIFs). Besides, who needed streaming video when there’s always Pirate Bay (not so, as it turned out) and cable?

Hi-ho

The concept of traveling light is alien to my Tita T. I used to kid that she packed for a six-hour boat trip to Cebu as if she were crossing the Pacific — with two maids in tow, her entire medicine chest (including the indispensable White Flower for nausea/seasickness, Efficascent for muscle ache, and aceite de manzanilla for bloat), and enough food to put the ship’s canteen (with its usual fare of boiled egg and SkyFlakes) to shame.

Egg separation made easy

Whoa! Amazing how cleanly the egg yolk parts from the white. Who says cooking ain’t fun? (via kottke)

It’s over, right?

I like love it when a brother speaks his mind this eloquently. Even better when it comes with a beat you can bounce to. Enjoy. (via kottke)