Foot and Fire

 My Nanay is enjoying her grand vacation in the wonderful place  filled with nature's beauty called El Nido, Palawan! Top things I learned from my MOTHER*  (that her grandsons should know) She raised five loud children, put up with a moody husband and handled different familial and spousal problems in the society as a dedicated government social worker. Here are my cheers to a happy positive woman I dearly call Nanay. Labor is honor. That's it. Never say no to learning skills. Learn skills such as haircutting, crocheting and sewing; they can give quick money somewhere out there! Be industrious. If you are industrious, you will thrive as everyone loves to welcome in their homes a busy bee over a lazy babe. Make friends. Talk to your neighbors, roommates and friends. They are your support group. How will they know that your stomach aches when you are not telling them. Of course, she meant more than stomach aches. Never borrow personal things

*** I wish your young love sweet joy* For Ma. Christine Antonette and Mark Partrick 1.25.2014 I wish your young love will grow like a raton planted in a potent soil, Or will thrive like cut canes inches above the ground. I wish your growing love will mature like newly cut cane turned into molasses; Or will be purified like the crystal white sugar. I wish your maturing love will survive like a cane standing despite the slashing, Or will triumph like a cane shooting despite the burning. Above all, I wish your surviving love will nourish each other like sugar bits compacted into cube, And will flourish like sugar giving sweet joy to a home in every way. *copyright 2014 by Gerlie M. Uy

As a continuation to the entry on Jose Villa posted earlier in PART ONE, here is his two more poems. Jose Villa's two other poems "Inviting a Tiger for the weekend" and "I was speaking of oranges to a lady" are entertaining and light read despite the fact that I still have to point out that they do not reflect anything about or specifically Filipino. I still liked the  Jose Rizal entry  which I blogged about earlier. Inviting a Tiger for a Weekend Jose Garcia Villa Inviting a tiger for a weekend. The gesture is not heroics but discipline. The memories will be splendid. Proceed to dazzlement, Augustine. Banish little birds, graduate to tiger. Proceed to dazzlement, Augustine. Any tiger of whatever colour the same as jewels any stone Flames always assential morn. The guest is luminous, peer of Blake. The ghost is gallant, eye of Death. If you will do this you will break. The little religious for my sake. Invite a tiger for a weeken

 For this one, i used the store-bought spaghetti fortified with malunggay a.k.a moringa and carrots and made partly with durum semolina flour (El Real). I always use the other brand (ideal) which is made with durum wheat alone. I must say that the former has silky texture while the latter is al dente and rotund. I can choose both because they are not merely made with wheat flour, the ordinary flour used for our common white bread. This means, we can access now more nutritious and fiber rich pastas... i believe, this attempt from El Real is a success. I will patronize it from now on. This is what a grocery girl can do, compare products and eliminate the more evil in the basket. The chiliness of this pasta wards off the chilliness of the windy weekend. Here's how to: 500gms spaghetti pasta  Olive oil Garlic, minced Onion, chopped 4 pcs long chile, seeded and halved 500gms italian style tomato sauce  1 can meat and mushroom or 200gm ground beef Half cup evap milk Cheddar Cheese Choppe

Another Jose is included in the anthology. Jose Garcia Villa... His poems reflect that he is an immigrant, he used strawberries, girafffes, larks, tiger, oranges as his literary device when we have mangoes, calamansi, tamaraw, carabao, maya in the Philippines... My quick thought is that this only means that being a Filipino and being somewhere is already a definition of a Filipino... So sad he is ironically the only one listed under the title: Filipinos writing in English when I noted that there are at least three Indonesian poets under Indonesian. He is under the 20th century entry. The editors should dig more Filipino poets and add ones that write of Filipino culture or traditions.  *** But this does not mean that the poem posted did not mean anything to me. Actually, poems should also have universal voice, so I must give it to Villa that in his poem, Now I Prize Yellow Strawberrie s, where he effectively trumpeted the belief in one's intellectual capacity, wheth

This 1338-page book is a gift from the court interpreter who will be retiring soon. He loves novels and will be donating his fictions to my local school. I already spotted this heavyweight last time and I mentioned to him that he gift it to me because I personally "eye" it. Fellow bookworms bond... *** Quickly, I skimmed the book and the quick index. Of course, I am interested what were the entries for the Filipinos... So far, I found Jose Rizal under the tagline Filipino-Spanish and Jose Garcia Villa under Filipino writing in English. What were my instant thoughts? Why was Jose Rizal not placed as Filipino when the others were under Chinese, Malay etc. I shall write of my thoughts on Villa separately. *** *** *** WATER AND FIRE Jose Rizal...... Water are we, you say, and yourselves fire;  so let us be what we are and co-exist without ire, and may no conflagration ever find us at war.  But, rather, fused together by cunning scienc

3 cups cornstarch flour 2 cup milk 2 coconut milk or water 1 can corn kenels or preferrably cream of corn 1/2 cup cheese 3 cups sugar In a casserole, mix all ingredients and stir until no lump is left. Place on top of fire, and stir mixture constantly until it thickens. Transfer in a mold and let cool and form before slicing. Serve chilled with cheese or corn kernels on top.  

*** I just can't help but immortalize this amusing article on commonly mispronounced food words  from Hellawella.com by reposting it in my blog. I am pleading guilty for most entries with a very few salvation reserved for me. Here are the top three favorites of mine... *** *** ***