creepy fish

i went to the market this afternoon as i wanted to eat something fresh. specifically, i was hungry for tilapia or squid. the squids were too small so i didn't bother. i tried looking for the vertical scallops that i cook with garlic and butter but sadly, there were none. so, it was the tilapia. despite the fish kill a couple of weeks ago, tilapia was still at 75 per kilo. so, i chose the live ones, four of them that cost me P90! i saw them scaled and gutted. i paid and walked away. i decided to buy some tiger shrimp at P85 per 1/4 kilo. perhaps the woman pitied me so she added a couple. i ended up with 10 pieces with one bigger than the rest. while i was waiting for my shrimps, something moved in my bag. i stopped. it moved again. and again! a fish was still alive! that freaked me out.

so, i went back to the tilapia vendor and he said that the fish will die in a few more seconds. wow! talk about being fresh.

i cooked the fish but i apologized first. yes, they were too fresh to be fried so i cooked them in a lot of boiled and softened tomatoes. yum.yum.yum.

as for the shrimps, sauteed in garlic and onions. one of these days, i will get 1/2 a kilo and feast on them. hahaha.

electrocuted by spam

i was frying spam this morning on my electric stove and poking the slices with a fork when i got buzzed by electricity. my first reaction was - spam is a conductor of electricity! then i realized that if kept using my fork poking that slice, i might get an electric shock and what will they say caused my death - death by spam frying.

weh.

kewpie is japanese mayo

shell cooked edamame. slice lettuce. chop kani. julienne takuan. put in bowl. add kewpie. mix until everything is coated. chill. serve.

i know i should save up for a better camera. lately, taking photos has been an after thought. however, eating is still top priority.

edamame, katuray and squash flowers

(note that photos are not mine. the sources are watermarked on each one.)

after realizing i've had too much meat sometime ago, i decided to shift to eating more vegetables. last week, i cooked my own version of pinakbet with squash flowers. i realized squash flowers are better off eated steamed and on its own. tomorrow, i shall troop to the wet market and buy them at 10 pesos a dozen. i shall steam them and eat them with boiled rice. yummy.

katuray flowers are colored white and are often dismissed by people who have no idea they are edible. unlike the squash flowers which have no taste at all, katuray flowers can have a bitter taste. the best way to prepare them is to removed the pistil and end up with a pile of the white petals. these should be washed and blanched. the best way i enjoy katuray flowers is making it into a salad with chopped onions and sweetened vinegar. in the wet market, bees are always on top of the katuray leaves.

as of the moment, my tummy is filled with a pound of edamame or boiled young soybeans. i know i read about this but dismissed it as trivial. i even saw a sale and disregarded it. but last night, things changed. i became passionate about it and spent the whole afternoon looking for it around my area. after going to cartimar yesterday, cash and carry, walter mart, landmark earlier, i finally found edamame at a japanese-korean store right across goldilocks along pasong tamo (street about a couple of kilometers away from my home).

i knew it was bound to be addicting. i finished half a kilo earlier. i boiled it for a few minutes and seasoned it with salt and cayenne pepper. i still have half the pack in the freezer and definitely, it's bound to be my junk food soon. the frozen pack costs P175. i know i can get it fresh sooner or later. the fun is in the eating - putting the whole pod in the mouth and pulling it through the upper and lower teeth so that the seeds will be left on the tongue. the seeds taste like boiled peanuts with a lesser sweetness. it's not fun eating and cooking merely the seeds on its own.

tomorrow, sunday, i will be off to the wet market to buy chicken feet for my tinola (chicken broth with lots of ginger and unripe green papaya). my mutts have a treat tomorrow as i have to make sure their dinners are something of interest. half the chicken feet will be cooked with a sweet and spicy sauce. okay, so i don't want full meals - just nibblers. but i did hear that chicken feet are good for collagen or something - for the joints.


mmmm... i think my eating habits will be healthier. i now have time to go to the market and eat what i want. incidentally, i discovered a soy bean store in cartimar and i might just frequent it.

and edamame, even if it's under the family of beans, has yet to cause my joints to be in pain!

my take on mara, madam ana, amaya and the twins

it is alarming to hear people behind the making of soap operas brag about them knowing what the viewers want so they give in to the demand. elevating the standard and taste of the filipino audience will not ever happen soon. besides, the way we watch tv is merely a measure of how loyal one is to either gma or abs-cbn.

i wrote that as my status in my fb page last night after watching a popular soap opera come to an end. mara clara is the second version of a soap opera that made the names of judy ann santos and gladys reyes household names.

there was a time i wrote teleplays for a youth-oriented show, that was in 1996-1997. i went through a couple of workshops for scriptwriting before that and i must and will still hold on to my belief that that is what i want to do. anyway, so at least, i know the business one way or another.

so, it is quite sad that the people behind these tv shows have that attitude. fine, making shows is a profit-oriented endeavor but there should be a conscious goal of teaching real life lessons. sadly, i think people and even little kids are hooked because, as the cliche gooes, they can relate with the evil more than ever before. i believe there is a correlation between the type of shows watched and the family set-up.

i'm curious as to how that little kid who cried her heart out when a character faked her death. her older sibling took a video and uploaded it and it had more than 100,000 hits (include 1 from me). i wonder if her parents or siblings spend time talking to her or is she hooked on tv, facebook, internet?

since i am ranting i will advocate a couple of tv shows from both channels. the first is 100 days to heaven. i got curious because i grew up watching coney reyes and i like the story of scrooge in a christmas carol. the kid is the minime of the character played by that actress. madam, played by coney, is a ruthless owner/ceo of the number one toy company in the country. the irony is that she's unloved by almost every one while her toys make children happy. so, her car explodes, she goes to the gates of heaven but is led to seeing the mouth of hell. but heaven gives her a chance to redeem herself so she is sent back as a child. from then on, she searches for those she had wronged and tried to make things correct.

i like it because there are no special effects, no guns, no violence, the evilness contained and the action is quick. i hope it doesn't succumb to the usual way its network does the ending. allow me, another status i posted in fb:

revealing of past events, gunshots, pole stabbing, falling off a building, almost drowning in a water tank but saved because of clairvoyance (talgang hahanapin sa water tank ha), crying to death, insanity, twin siblings, and as usual, late cops -- all because of unrequited love? tama na ang dalawang version ng mara clara sa isang lifetime! juday-gladys forever pa din

the other show that i know will not be watched as much is amaya. it's aired on the other channel and it's supposed to be a depiction of pre-spanish philippines. it's the story of a warrior princess. the story is nothing new as its issues are the same as that of the teleseryes. i watch it because of its production value. they employed historians as consultants for the show. also, the production is a treat - costumes, dialogue, scenery. i know money was well-spent.

now, the other channel shows a more popular show with the hottest male star (i wish he'd acknowledge the kid he fathered when he was starting out. the mother was more accomplished than him at that time but she had to put a stop to her career because she got pregnant with his child. now, she can't even stage a comeback) why am i dismayed with this? the premise is that twins were raised separately, one as a soldier, the other an underground rebel. they are now reunited but the ex-rebel twin is being portryaed as ill-mannered, disrespectful, angry, and vengeful. so, what is the show trying to say about ex-rebels reintegrating into society?

so what can we do? do now understand why this generation is hooked on korean telenovelas?

use the power of your remote!