Down the Rabbit Hole

Soups. Some of the best comfort foods in the world. And one of the most delicious soups I've tasted is found in Kim N' Chi (Glorietta 4, Makati). The food displays were attractive, but what caught my attention was the funny cartoon character by the sign board and on the soup bowls (which can be seen in the picture below). There were lots of choices in the Asian-themed menu. For my first meal there, I ordered the dumpling soup after being reassured that it does not contain seafood. Instead of being given my soup right away though, I was handed a restaurant pager. It's meant I could roam around for a seat and some beverage while waiting for my soup. It wasn't a long wait though. In a few minutes, I was enjoying my dumpling soup while watching the view of the Christmas-themed Glorietta 4 Park below. Kim n' Chi's dumpling soup The dumpling soup was delicious! The vegetables were crunchy and the beef strips were tender. The dumplings were also ...

As the year becomes part of history, here are a few news items that made 2011 a unique year (for me): Final mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis marks the end of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. Prince William weds commoner Kate Middleton. Calamba City celebrates Jose P. Rizal's 150th birth anniversary . My supervisor accepts a professorial post at the University of Queensland ; our department prepares for leadership transition.  People in the Middle East fight back against the ruling dictatorships. Harry Potter finally defeats Voldemort (and now it can be said... the movie has been shown in cinemas). It's been ten years since the terrorist attack in the USA on 9/11. Typhoons wreak havoc in Manila (flooding and storm surges with Typhoon Nesat) and northern Luzon (the garbage landslide in Baguio with Typhoon Nanmadol). Worldwide, the stock market is shaky. Financial institutions are put to the test. Economies gear for recession. Steve Jobs passes . The UPLB is outrage...

One of the things I learned this year is the importance of saying "No". This two-lettered word used to be one of the most difficult things for me to say. Saying "No" to easily offended people used to feel like being on the edge of a cliff: a strong gust of wind, a wrong step, some loose rocks, and I'd be falling to the ground below.  Me on a ledge at Grand Canyon West's Guano Point, about 4000 feet above the Colorado River.  Photo by Biboy. Opportunities this year have helped me get over the fear of conflict: expressing my unavailability or disagreement has become a lot easier. Thanks to attempting to be more straightforward, I may have successfully earned the ire of some people or have come across as mataray to others, particularly to those who are used to the always-agreeable-me. From what I am learning all throughout the year, there's a way of saying "No" without hurting other people's feelings. Until I've mastered this l...

My paternal side of the family has shrunk! Until last year, I was preparing more than 50 Christmas gifts for both sides of the family and my list didn't include relatives residing overseas. This year, however, a huge chunk of the family has been stricken off the list because they've migrated; also, I decided to give gifts only to those who were present during the family Christmas Eve reunion. The family reunion then became more about a family spending time together, sharing a meal, and exchanging gifts. The absence of others was mentioned in passing but was downplayed. The focus was more on those present. Thus, I felt that we were more solid as a group than before; to be fair, though, it is admittedly more difficult to form a cohesive group when there are a lot more people with a variety of interests. To our relatives who didn't attend the reunion, we missed you all. But don't worry, we ate your share of dinner. Photos:  Cuevas Christmas 2011 party

Engineers. Chefs. Teachers. Doctors. Nurses. These are just some of the professions that 35 high school students were aspiring to be when they grow up. These students were participants of the career orientation program sponsored by volunteers from the General Electric Money Servicing Philippines, Inc. and from the Food for the Hungry International, in partnership with the International Rice Research Institute. Listening to these students' career aspirations, I realized that the concerns raised last year, during an armchair discussion with high-level scientists ,were more urgent than I thought. In a world where agriculture is becoming increasingly science-driven, it appears that the next generation of professionals still think that agriculture is only about " magtanim ay 'di biro ". And yet, none of these students consider agriculture as a viable career option. Web specialist. Agronomist. Molecular Biologist. Grain quality specialist. These are the peo...

Still on finding ways to help others ... I got a message from Dr Sharon Madrinan, a pediatrics resident at the Philippine General Hospital:  Donations for victims of Tropical Storm Washi (Sendong) are being accepted at the University of the Philippines Pahinungod Office (located inside the Philippine General Hospital in Manila). Clothes, blankets, food, and medicine will be distributed during the UP Pahingungod's medical mission in Iligan City after Christmas.

There are times when people just feel the need to give back. In my case, the opportunity came this month: I was tasked to evaluate high school students' science project proposals. The project proposals of the students were quite practical. Some of these project proposals stemmed from the students' concern for the high costs of fossil fuel; some students were inspired by the presence of disease-causing bacteria in lakes. There were students who were interested in making computer-based teaching materials while others wanted to use a similar technology for quality assurance of fruit for export. Then there were those who want to try out antimicrobials from various sources.  Familiar names popped up when I looked at the manuscripts: some of the students' consultants were my teachers in university! It was so nice to see that the people who made a mark in my life as a college student are also piquing these high school students' interests in the sciences. And while...

People predicting  the end of the world have marked several specific dates. This year alone, it should have ended three times: May 21 ( Harold Camping ), October 16 (various people, Comet Elenin ), and October 21 (Harold Camping, again ). Why do people predict the last day of the world? Are any of these predictors in a rush to end the world? I just don't believe that the world will end on any of the dates predictors have mentioned. What I do believe, though, is that the world as we know it is ending. In my opinion, "the world as we know it" is synonymous to "business as usual" in organizational parlance. And based on the contents of newspapers and broadcasts, we no longer live in the world that we used to know; we no longer work with business as usual.  The world is now, more than ever, noticeably in flux. I marked three, of numerous ways, that the world (as we know it) is ending: 1. Social unrest has taken over the political and economic world. ...

Social unrest has taken over the political and economic world.   First, there is the Arab Spring. Triggered by youth dissatisfaction, decades-long heads of state in Western Asia and Northern Africa have been toppled and replaced with untested leaders. Once the dust and the sand have settled, we'll see the repercussions of such social upheavals: will these new leaders install changes that will improve the lives of people on the streets or has the movement only succeeded in replacing old tyrants with new ones?  Then, there is the Occupy Movement mainly in the developed countries. These places are the pillars of democracy, of freedom of speech, of equality. Using these liberties, participants have set up camp across the United States and in other key cities around the world, protesting what they perceive as unfair treatment to them by their governments and by the business world, if I understood their case correctly. Like the Arab Spring, some of the protests have resulted ...

Environmental phenomena have wreaked havoc to human habitation and industry.   The Philippines has had it's share of weather disturbances this year, with the latest one submerging the southern cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in flood waters. The Philippine National Red Cross has reported that Tropical Storm Washi has claimed over 1000 lives in an area that is not in the typical typhoon route in the Philippines. This storm is the 27th weather disturbance in the western Pacific and the 19th to have entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility in 2011. Other cities have been hit by flood waters as well:  Brisbane  and  Rio de Janeiro  were underwater in January,  Bangkok  has been flooded since July, and  Darfur  was flooded in September. Many of these floods have been described as the worst in the century. With more extreme weather and lots more precipitation than "normal" will boats be the vehicles of the future? Aside from excessi...

Increased environment-friendliness affects the way we do business. One response to all these environmental changes that made a huge impact to so many people is the ban on plastic shopping bags , particularly in Laguna and Quezon. Personally, it took a while before I got used to bringing a shopping bag with me all the time (just in case I make a pit stop at the mall or the grocery). Then a few days ago, I found out that there's a move in San Pablo City that prohibits restaurants from issuing drinking straws. That's even less plastic use! In the event that plastic shopping bags are no longer the norm in the rest of the country, would its manufacturing become obsolete eventually? With an increased use of paper bags, are we killing off more trees than before? * * * I just got thinking about all these things when I noticed the date: December 22, 2011. We are less than a year away from the much-hyped interpretations of the Mayan calendar. We've got 364 days 'til...

I'm still in reminiscing mode  after my other blog post today, since my supervisor for (almost) eight years is moving on to the next stage of her career... I became involved with a musical show called The Sounds of Christmas two days before the event. I became in charge of doing what I enjoy best in these events: preparing the playbook (in this case, the program leaflets), taking over some of the visual aspects of the show, coordinating with the tech crew... things that happen on the back-end, invisible to the audience, but important in making a show as flawless and as seamless as possible. While folding the leaflets at the front row of the auditorium, I remembered one of my first creative assignments with Dr Melissa Fitzgerald , my supervisor: in 2004, I had to prepare the lay-out of invitation cards for the opening of what was then known as the Grain Quality and Nutrition Research Center (the lab underwent two name changes since then). Afterwards, I'd bee...

My supervisor, Dr Melissa Fitzgerald, is leaving in a few days to take on a professorial assignment at the University of Queensland. As her stay at the International Rice Research Institute draws to a close, I remember Raymond Lauchengco singing Odette Quesada's lyrics (Bagets OST, 1984)... Now that the end is already here We reminisce 'bout old yells and cheers Even if our last hurrahs were never clear. Yesterday's a treasure, today is here Tomorrow's on its way, the sky is clear Thank you for the mem'ries of all the laughters and tears And not to mention our doubts and fears The hypertension we gave to our peers It's really funny to look back after all of these years. I agree with the lyrics 100%. Melissa has been a big game changer in my career as a food scientist, beginning with my entry as a Researcher at what was then the Grain Quality and Nutrition Research Center (2004). Through her research collaborations, I wa...

Viva Las Vegas! , a set on Flickr. We took a weekend trip to Las Vegas to watch Cirque du Soleil's " KA " and as the starting point of our road trip to the Grand Canyon West. But who, in Vegas, would miss the Strip, right? We visited the different buildings that make this famous area feel like a giant theme park.

At the Mystery Spot , a set on Flickr. Hidden within the pine forests somewhere in Santa Cruz CA lies a spot of earth where the laws of physics are defied: water flows uphill, people lean at an absurd angle, and people easily gain 4in. in height only to lose it again ten minutes later. Have you stopped thinking yet? :)

After two weeks with my parents, brother, aunts and uncles, and cousins, it was time once again to fly out and go home. The past few days were like a dream. While approaching the queue for the security check at the San Francisco International Airport, I just had to look back at some of the highlights: I went into discount shopping boot camp. We mulled over the mysteries of defying gravity. We became Cirque du Soleil fans. We walked on the edge at the Grand Canyon west. Daddy's car went off-road for the first time, ever. I went around the world through food. Some fog, finally! In some ways, going home was like waking up... or driving through fog. When the fog cleared, I was back in tropical Manila, jetlagged but raring to go back to work, back to driving through heavy and chaotic traffic, and to heat and humidity.

I kept wondering why there were lots of displays of vegetables and fruit at the Bellagio's Conservatory at this time of year when we toured the Las Vegas Strip . The pieces of the puzzle fell only when Thanksgiving Day arrived: this holiday is the USA's version of a harvest festival!  This was my first Thanksgiving celebration. And I celebrated it with relatives (plus a whole lot of people who I've met for the first time -- they're mainly my cousin's girlfriend's family) in Sacramento. So basically, what I witnessed was the Fil-Am version of the holiday. As with any feast, there was an abundance of food and of beverages, just as I always see on tv shows. But instead of having a sit-down dinner, we celebrated it less formally: with the food presented buffet-style over lunch and with everyone eating where there's a spot to sit on... very much like the way parties with lots of people are done in my family back home. On tv, the turkey was the star of th...

The Lion King is one my favorite cartoons of all time. So when I saw that the musical version was being presented in Las Vegas by Disney Theatrical at Mandalay Bay, I just had to convince either (or both) of my parents and my brother to watch it with me... the other option, which was also good, was Cirque du Soleil's The Beatles LOVE at The Mirage. The Lion King eventually won because my mom opted to go shopping that afternoon and LOVE did not have a performance before my brother's flight back to San Francisco. One thing I noticed about The Lion King musical: it was a crowd-drawer. Families came in droves to watch it! No surprise there. The puppetry and the costumes were great; the stage decorations and the lighting did not draw attention away from the characters; and the actors -- particularly those behind Timon, Rafiki, Simba (the cub and the lion), Scar, and Zazu -- were superb. Then there were the songs; aside from Timon and Pumbaa's "Hakuna Matata" and ...

I love watching travel shows on tv, "The Lonely Planet". A few years ago, I was watching a feature on San Francisco (with Justine Shapiro, if I remember it correctly) and an ice cream shop was featured in that episode. I eventually forgot the name, of course, but what struck me was that this particular shop served ice cream where some of the flavors are of Philippine fruits. While planning my California vacation this year, my mom supplied the name: Mitchell's Ice Cream . Yes, that's the one! I was curious because it's also in the to-do list for San Francisco tourists and residents alike.  It must be so good. Luckily, on this third visit, I was able to drop by the quiet corner of 29th Street and San Jose Avenue on that cold evening after I ate at Asmara  with Biboy and his friends. Even at the late hour we arrived, people were still lined up and others still were on their way! I was becoming more convinced that the ice cream must really be yummy: people o...

I've tried African food at Le Kilimanjaro in Newtown, NSW as a student at the University of Sydney a few years back. But I could not remember if the items in the menu were identified based on the regional divisions of such a big continent. And so when Biboy told me that we were eating Ethiopian food, I did not know what I was in for. I just guessed that coconuts would somehow be involved. Diego and Lisa, Biboy's friends, went with us. The first restaurant was closed when we stopped by so we drove on to Asmara Restaurant in Oakland, CA. The first thing I noticed was its Central Asian feel (or at least what I think is a Central Asian feel): dim yellow lights, dark wood tables and chairs, and the strong smell of spices. The vivid colors of the paintings, however, reminded me that we're supposed to be in Africa... to be in Ethiopia and Eritrea, in fact. Ethiopian food The food was as colorful as the paintings. We got an appetizing platter of a number of items cov...

road trip to the Grand Canyon West , a set on Flickr. The Hualapai Indians have ring side seats to some of the breathtaking views of the Grand Canyon! I'm happy that they are sharing these to tourists. One of the highlights of my 2011 visit to the US... definitely.