Foot and Fire

Half kilo native chicken Onions Bellpepper Ginger Coco water of 2 coconuts (about 2 L) 3 Potatoes, cubed Coco meat Salt and pepper to taste. Boil the chicken until tender with minimal water. Add ginger, onion, bellpepper and coco water. Simmer, then add poataoes and coco meat. Adjust taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot with rice on the side.

2 eggyolks 1/2 cup olive oil 1/2 cup canola oil 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar Salt and sugar to taste Turmeric or mustard (optional) In a blender, process the yolks. Add the oil a little at a time while processing. Add the vinegar and salt and sugar to taste. Add turmeric or mustard. Continue processing in the blender until consistency is thick (not runny). Keep refrigerated.

500g ground beef 6 pcs carrots, chopped 1 sayote, chopped 2 big potatoed, chopped Celery, chopped 6 cloves garlic, chopped 2 onions, chopped Salt, pepper, and soy sauce Oatmeal 2 big Cabbage heads Toothpick Dip: Soy sauce Calamansi Mix all chopped vegetables. Add salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste. Add oatmeal in small amount at a time, just enough to bind the mixture. Scoop the mixture and place in the cabbage leaf, fold and secure with toothpick. Repeat last procedure until the mixture is used up. Ready the steamer with boiling water. Place the cabbage parcel and steam for 2p minutes. Serve hot with the dipping sauce.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot,  Paperback, 313 pages 2010 Broadway Paperbacks When we hear the names of pills that cure, we usually do not ask how it came to be. We are simply not interested or have no time to research. We are simply hopeful with the promises of cure, and continue with our struggle to get cured. This may be perhaps because pills' names are not based on the name of a person who has contributed to its formulation. Science wanted to appear scientific which often translates to precision, disinterest and . In this book, the tissue sample taken from the cervix of Henrietta Lacks was named HeLa and she was identified as a woman who eventually died of cervical cancer in 1951 at the age of 31. This footnote in science textbooks and discussions is the springboard of author Rebecca Skloot to ask who is that woman. It eventually became a personal mission for her to know more. Hela was called "immortal" because the first tiss...

Olive oil Garlic cloves 200g ripe tomatoes, chopped 200g bellpepper, chopped 100g celery Salt and pepper Cheese (optional) Reserved water from boiled pasta Tuna in oil Boil angel hair pasta for 2.5 minutes. Set aside. Reserve water. Saute vegetables in olive oil.  Add reserved water and the oil from tuna. Simmer till vegetables are tender to your liking. Adjust taste with salt and pepper. Add tuna and olive oil. Remove from fire and serve hot over angel hair pasta.

Half of native chicken Ginger 2L Young Coconut water (buko juice) 2 large potatoes, cubed Young coconut meat (buko) Salt and pepper Boil native chicken till tender and water is reduced. Add the coco water and ginger and bring to boil. Add potatoes and pepper. Continue to boil until potatoes are tender. Add salt and pepper. Serve with rice.

To the Stealers of Rembrandts Gerlie Uy (c) 2017 Come on. Not that you admired the fine strokes of his brushes, the thickness of his lines and old paints, or the subtleness of his curves all under the control of his disciplined pulse. Come on. Not that you fathomed the different portraits that he journalled, the landscapes he captured, or the mundane events made extraordinary by him all many events and centuries ago. Come on. Not that you related well in the darkness casted with light, in the plainliness made special, or in the expression of a fearful or watchful eyes in every framed work of art. Come on. You should understand that stealing his work not simply a crime against property, but a heavy crime against all of us: stealing his work seals my chance to see it; You owe that too to your future grandkins.  Come on. You should know by now: a stolen Rembrandts has no ready clean buyers, and everyone wants it back, even...

Last 24 March 2017, I released a collection of poems called The Watch to mark the 1st death anniversary of my father. I thought it would be all. I was wrong. He visited me in my dream on the morning of his cremation a year ago. I have to compose something about it. Here it is: Freeing  (Good Morning Tay, 3/30/2017) Today, a year ago, your body left us. I remembered because you woke me up after your short visit in my sleep. I was reminded: You left as a free man, free from all kinds of pain and free from the burden of worrying all reserved for the living. Your body left to become dust in that chamber after your spirit just flew away with the air. And now that you are dust; you will just be around. Unimposing, but there. Thank you for reminding me today that you are a free man from this worldly affairs of existing, of living. Thank you for reminding me today That I am a free woman.