Down the Rabbit Hole

The last time I was in San Francisco, I was still pregnant and I had dinner at The Pawn Shop, a hidden gem of a tapas bar in the SOMA neighbourhood with Joycelyn, Anna, and Kuya Allan. More than a year later, I drove into the city, this time with my son as one of my passengers! Mommy, Daddy, and Anna were with me on this trip (we all fit in the Mercedes Benz C230 thanks to the narrow base of the Diono Radian 3QXT ). Our journey brought us into the Inner Richmond district, whose spaciousness is a far cry from the downtown's hectic and crowded vibe (thanks to the downtown area's skyscrapers and narrow roads). Geary Boulevard, San Francisco We opted to eat lunch somewhere in Clement Street, a popular enclave of Asian immigrants peppered with really good restaurants. I proposed that we eat at Burma Superstar  but it wasn't open for outdoor dining (the Bay Area is now allowing restaurants to serve diners outdoors because the number of COVID-19 cases is consistently dropping). M

Last week, the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health (ANH) Academy  hosted a webinar on the implications of changing values and food choice to demand creation in low- to middle-income countries. It is an interesting topic because policies to improve the nutrition status of populations most vulnerable to malnutrition will see limited success if these policies are based on the assumption that consumers will just follow their recommendations blindly. Policy-makers must understand that consumers' food choices are affected by various factors, which include consumers' values. I watched the webinar recording—albeit a few days after the event—because I was involved in the early stages of IRRI's  Drivers of Food Choice project . Three country-specific projects were presented, covering Malawi, India (I was involved in this one), and Kenya. "Value" is all about a person's sense of goodness and rightness. In the food choice context, these values are the hows and whys of cons

Finally, we have hope that the COVID-19 pandemic is ending! Three months ago, I was teary-eyed while watching the first trucks containing Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine roll out of the company's Michigan factory. I knew then that the road to eradicating COVID-19 is still long and rough ahead, with this being one of the biggest mass vaccination programs in world history. With such a big project and a limited amount of vaccines at any given time, I knew that I'd end up at the tail-end of the vaccination program in California. Nevertheless, I already can breathe easy because the rest of my family is now protected. Anna, Biboy, and Daddy—all working in the health care sector—are the first in the family to get vaccinated. Mommy got vaccinated soon after because the government prioritises senior citizens. Then Barbara too, because she's an essential worker.  2020 was a long and difficult year for everyone I know; we had to find our "new normal" as we lost our lifestyles

"Good-bye, baby! Hello, toddler!" -- my son's pediatrician  As my son approaches toddlerhood, I have started taking a closer look at different early childhood education philosophies. Early childhood education starts at birth and goes on until the child is in the first half of grade school. Parents are seen as children's first teachers and I take that responsibility and honour quite seriously. I say "quite" because I want my child to make discoveries through play. I am not comfortable seeing children barely out of their diapers struggling to write on workbooks or going through lesson notes on their computer monitors. I just find this approach too restrictive; too structured. Basically, it's like children are forced out of childhood rather than allowed to glow in wonderment at discovering the world through their perspectives. My son discovering the acoustic qualities of the box of his books (when I took this photo, he wasn't remotely interested in the

Just a few short weeks after introducing my son to purees, I started upping his diet diversity by introducing more textures and flavours. In the traditional way of introducing solids to babies, this is Stage 3 food (which to me means table food, sans added salt and sugar).  This is actually the stage I'm most concerned about because my child may start gagging anytime. His pediatrician assured me that I can start small; let my son eat morsels the size of peas and then gradually increase the size until we get to normal-sized pieces. The thing is, I'm not sure how big his portions should be, particularly since he's been chugging 32 oz of formula milk every day. This is where instinct came in: I decided that I'll let my son let me know if he's full or if he wants more.  This is also the stage that I am most excited about because I can start using what I've learned in culinary school for one of my most important audiences. I still follow the recipe book, "Make

This is my third visit to the Lafayette Reservoir , a water supply standing by for customers of the East Bay Municipal Utility District. Also, this is one of the rare occasions that my son and I were out of the house because of COVID-19 restrictions still being enforced in the Bay Area. Outdoor recreation is allowed as long as we stay away from others and people over the age of two years old wear masks. It's almost surreal to me that we're outdoors just as winter is giving way to spring. The last time we were out, the temperature outside hovered just below 60 ºF/ 15.5 ºC which felt even colder because of the strong winter wind. We were all bundled up, with me wearing my son in a baby carrier covered with a polar fleece winter coat. But just a few weeks later, we were already walking in the forest surrounding the reservoir wearing activewear sans  winter outerwear.  Anyway, I'm glad that we were able to go outdoors because I needed the exercise (to help my knees and hips rec