Product Knowledge

It never ceases to amaze me when the work force of an entity is so clueless about the institution they work for. This afternoon, we were in Manila Pen for the afternoon buffet. A few days ago, I asked what would be served. I was told: pasta, kebabs, sandwiches, pastries, etc. So this afternoon, we went to Manila Pen. My son was raring for the pasta, I was longing to eat the kebabs. My husband is less difficult to please, he eats anything with nary a complaint.

What did the afternoon buffet have? Pancit bihon, sausage in a bun, shrimp and vegetable cake (okoy), chocolate pudding, scones, sapin-sapin, fruit pies (kiwi, peaches, strawberry), cherry cheesecake, coffee, tea, ice cream, bread, cheeses, etc. No kebabs, no pasta. It's a good thing most of the entrees were good to eat, otherwise, what a let-down the buffet would have been. Also, when I asked a few days ago how much a buffet cost, I was told P850. Guess what, it cost P550 ++. We got two of the buffets free so paid for only one. Otherwise we wouldn't have bothered going.

But I liked the tea set they used. Their design so reminded me of the toy tea sets we had as children. Attached are some of the pictures we took. The layout of the buffet was enticing and neat. Ice cream containers were ensconced in two huge blocks of ice. Cool. But they didn't stay frozen for long. The weather, besides, did not cooperate. It was just so hot.

To be fair, the waiters and waitress of the Manila Pen as well as the valets were very good natured. It was the Pen Club personnel who were misinformed or didn't have enough product knowledge. They were pleasant, true, but not professional enough to give accurate info. When I asked one waitress if they served the same food each afternoon, she mentioned they had 8-day cycles. They had never served kebabs, she said, Pasta yes.

Online Retreat

From: "Francis D. Alvarez, S.J."
To:
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 1:05 AM
Subject: [Blueboard] JESUITS.PH Online Retreat


> We are inviting you to do something different this Holy Week. Aside from
> the
> usual services, how about joining a 3-day online retreat? Visit
> http://www.jesuits.ph and encounter the Lord in "MEETING PLACES," a
> retreat made
> up of three modules, one for each day starting Holy Thursday and ending
on
> Black
> Saturday. You can go through the modules anytime on those days at your
> convenience and at your own pace. It would be best if you can set aside
> about 30
> minutes for each module.
>
> There are three Lenten places, where the mysteries of Holy Week unfold:
>
> The Garden (Holy Thursday)
>
> The Hill (Good Friday)
>
> The Tomb (Black Saturday)
>
> We will hold our online retreat in those virtual meeting places, where we

> hope
> to meet the Lord in a special way.
>
> If you're interested, we have already uploaded a prayer exercise to help
> you
> prepare for this retreat. Visit:
> http://www.jesuits.ph/articles/retreatprep
>
> If you know people who may be interested to go on this online retreat,
> please do
> forward this e-mail to them.
>
> See you in MEETING PLACES!
>
> -jesuits.ph

Holy Week Then and Now

This morning, I read an article in yesterday's newspaper written by Betty Jacinto Lopez or something. She compared how Holy week was spent in the fifties and sixties and how it is spent now.

I remember the many processions I joined with my mother in Iloilo. I recall the many services we attended in Carmel church if Holy week saw us in Bacolod. I also remember how we'd get flowers and bring the encargado of the farm Goding to lead the rest of the men who pulled the caro after it was attached to Honda generators so the lights would light up. Occasionally there were glitches but somehow, Goding managed to solve them. He was a big, burly man, dark. he would have passed muster as a goon in Philippine movies but he perpetually smiled, So maybe he wouldn't have. He was killed allegedly by NPAs many years ago in his house in the farm.

Holy Week then also meant having limited viewing fare on TV if at all. How many years did we watch The 10 Commandments, the Song of Bernadette, Marcelino pan y vino, etc. I was surprised one Holy Week when a movie house was showing Goodbye Mr. Chips, allowing Mama and me to watch a movie on Holy week. It starred Petula Clark and Peter Sellers, I think.

Good Friday was always an ordeal for me because I didn't like fish too much as somehow, a tiny but sharp fish bone would always lodge itself on my throat/esophagus or whatever part of my anatomy it is along the digestive tract.

Then, one Holy Week while we were in college, some of my college friends came over to the house and turned on the music. Boy, did I get it from my older sister.

The past years, we have been attending talks in a school in Makati in the mornings, and services near our house if we had the energy considering how hot the Holy week tends to be. Twice we did our visita Iglesia and found ourselves very hungry with no place to go. We ended up in two different hotels both times. is that sacrifice? Another time we bought tuna croissants in Dunkin' Donuts. (An article I read said her father ate meat as sacrifice on Good Friday because he was a fish lover so eating meat was the ultimate sacrifice for him. One abstinence day (maybe Ash wednesday), I ordered tempura to meet the no-meat requirement and realized how inane the practice could be. Eating tempura wasn't at all a sacrifice for me. But there wasn't anything else I could eat.)

]
I guess we're going by tradition in the country, but that tradition is fast disappearing. Only last Ash wednesday, a friend and I were having lunch at Reyes Barbecue where we ordered squid and bangus. The tables near us had college students in uniform. They were eating barbecue like it was not unusual for them to do so on an Ash wednesday.

Should traditions like fasting and abstinence be pushed really? I have ambivalent thoughts on the matter. Didn't Jesus say something to the effect that you shouldn't broadcast to the world that you're suffering/sacrificing by wearing the cloak or coarse article of clothing signifying that you are? Instead of something negative (don't do this or that?), shouldn't the Church push for acts of mercy and love instead?

Pink Sony Vaio and then some

yesterday, at shangrila mall, we saw the SONY outlet. I told my husband, "Let's not go in." He asked, "Why?" I said, "I might regret getting the MacBook" because I would also have liked a pink Vaio. But naughty he, he promptly turned the wheelchair to the store and I could only sighhhhh. But lucky me, there was no Pink Sony Vaio in sight, just a pink envelope which looked strawberry sweet. It was pearlized pink and edged with a darker pink shimmering material. I rationalized it would get dirty easily. Initially I thought of getting the pink case so at least I'd have a pink techie-related thingy. But the thingy cost P3650. SO of course, I bade it goodbye after touching and opening it. . The sales clerk, an amiable young man asked, "May Vaio ka?" I said, "Apple." He then consoled me, "Apple yan, maganda naman yan." But the specs of the Sony Vaio were a wow. Couldn't remember what they were exactly but they were really impressive, with numbers higher than my MacBook.


**********

We were at a college classmate's condo two weeks ago, at another's just last week. Both had LCD TVs, Samsung I think, at least one of them had. 32-inch. Swoon, I thought. A goal I set for myself until another classmate dampened my resolve by saying LCD TVs have a short "shelf life". CRTs have longer lives, he said. Oh well, I'll just have to be content with my CRT TV. I can't afford to spend so much on something which may not last for a long time. Sour grapes no?

Brian Gorrell and blogging

In the Inquirer the past week, Brian Gorrell was a constant. Go to this link to find out why. Last night, I was uber sleepy so I read only portions of it but they are repetitive and I eventually dozed off. I'll go to the site again and check out what the ruckus is all about

Silence

I have to be quiet. My son's studying for two long tests tomorrow: economics and calculus. It's a good thing that I am no longer too avid a tv viewer. You know when that transition took place? When my son's best friend died. I guess I was depressed then. The TV, my usual source of entertainment provided no solace so I learned to turn it on only for specific shows. It no longer became my source of peripheral noise even. I cannot explain why.

So now as I type this I hear the drone of the aircon. My son has earphones on, listening to music from his ITouch. So why am I not doing the same? Maybe in a while.

yesterday, went to Shangrila Mall to watch The Easter Journey concert of Hangad for the second time in two days. It was a shorter version of Saturday's show in church. But it was moving nonetheless. I met up with a relative, okay she's my niece though she's only 3 days younger than I am, who moved her trip to Manila so she could watch the show. I think she even moved the schedule of taking her chemo pill for the same reason. And somehow, I'd like to think, the show touched her. When she heard the song Love Untold, she said "it's beautiful, but disturbing." She also commented, "If I listen to this all the time I'll be crying the whole day."

Personally, more than the lyrics, more often than not, what moves me, what haunts me is the music, the melody. I am not a lyrics person, maybe because I don't listen well enough. But there are two songs whose lyrics I know by heart because they constantly touch me, sometimes even moving me to tears. They are the songs Prayer for Generosity and Anima Christi. I'd like to share them with you, hence the links.

Chicken on My Mind

As we drove past Tandang Sora last Sunday, and past Marikina Tuesday night, I saw stalls upon stalls of lechon manok. I wanted to stop and get one but was almost sure it wouldn't taste as good as the lechon manok of my childhood.

In no particular order, I remember the Robina chicken displayed in skewers in Cubao. My mother would always get one for us when we'd be in Cubao. Then there was the lechon manok in Villa Iloilo. Then there was the one Vir would cook on a spit on top of charcoal near the labahan of Elang. Sometimes she'd stuff it with tanglad. Those were the days.

Re chicken sandwich: No one can still top that of Roli's in Bacolod. How I liked the way the chicken was sliced to fit into American loaf bread. Sometimes I would ask that the bread be not toasted. And of course, no vegetables (lettuce and tomatoes), please. Mayo, yes.

Cibo's chicken sandwich is ok, but it still isn't Roli's. So with Milky way's where the slices of chicken are so scant how I wish I could say, "i'll pay more, can you put in more chicken?"

At the Ateneo high school cafeteria, we once had a meeting and the chicken in the sandwich was generous in quantity. Quite good, but still, not quite Roli's.

Chicken pie/empanada: what stands out in my memory is that of el Ideal in Silay. I used to like it so much and told the daughter of the owner that she once brought a couple for me to school. Her thoughtfulness made it taste even better. But a few years ago, she no longer recognized me and her chicken pie didn't taste as good. Any connection there? Just kidding.

Red ribbon's chicken empanada: It's okay except that I'm not a big fan of raisins. But heated and if I'm very hungry, it tastes good.

Goldilocks chicken pie: I remember how our maid Rachel would always ask me to get her some when I'd go to Cubao without her. She liked it so much.

San Lorenzo empanada: it's ok, tastes a bit like chicken a la king in a crust: red pepper is very evident.

Chicken pastel: I've made some myself but I still long to eat Vir's version which had tomato sauce. The version I make doesn't have it but once I saw a recipe with tomato sauce among the ingredients. It tasted a little like Vir's but not quite.

Fried/Baked chicken: I remember in Bacolod, Mama would always bring us to the Magalona outlet of DelMar frozen chicken. They had fat drumsticks that Vir would cook in cheese. They were really yummy. Vir also had this chicken imperial which was chicken baked in cheese and milk. As usual, no one seems able to approximate it.

Chicken curry: I used to eat chicken curry (maybe because there was no other dish on the table) prepared by the maid in Manila, Cora. She served this with potato and it was good. I no longer eat curried dishes, not after we took Pakistan Air to the US in 1980 and every single dish, even the burger, had curry. I couldn't wait to get off the plane then.

Fried chicken:
In Bacolod, when Kentucky Fried Chicken was first put up near the bowling lanes in Bata Subdivision, it was always a treat for us when Papa would buy a bucket. That usually took place on All Saints' Day, I guess because the maid wouldn't be around to prepare our meal as she'd go visit her dead relatives. Whatever, all I know is that memory stands out. It may have happened only once, but I cannot forget that.

Today, I cannot eat KFC unless I'm very hungry. I find the preparation way too salty. Sometimes, I order their chicken burger or get just one chicken nugget from my son's order but enjoy it, no more. Did their formulation change or have my taste buds?

Max: I used to enjoy it saying that it was chicken at its purest: no bread crumbs or flour concealing the chicken flavor. But the chicken they serve now seems anorexic, emaciated. So it's no longer too enticing.

Barbecued/Roast Chicken
When Kenny Rogers was newly opened, we'd occasionally drop by but we've stopped doing so. The sidings look droopy and the chicken, I guess, is too Americanized.

The one of Aristocrat's, now Serye or Reyes, is okay except that the skin is usually almost entirely black -- and therefore carcinogenic?


Chicken Inasal: There's chicken Bacolod and Chix and Treats in our area and while they're the best I can get to address the nostalgia of my youth, they don't/can't compare the one we used to get from Prito across the house.

So which chicken is my current favorite? Cyma's chicken adobo which is served in olive oil with Feta cheese and roasted potatoes. Chicken is just so tender and flavorful. But I can't remember its Greek name...