Foot and Fire

After I tasted this in Myanmar years ago, I couldn't forget how the Burmese incorporated cashew nuts in their dishes like stirfried vegetables and noodles just as much I couldn't forget how the Chinese in Beijing/Tianjin added boiled peanuts as side dish and deftly used chopsticks to pick the nuts one by one. There is surely a connectedness in the evocation of places we visited and the evolution of our palates. Today, got a chance to replicate the cashew addition to dishes. 2 bunch Bokchoy 2 bunches Pechay 2 mefium Carrots A handful of French beans Clean vegetables. Slice into serving sizes. Bring water to boil. Set the steaming pan and steam per vegetables for 4 minutes for uniform cooking. Set aside. Stirfried sauce 2T vegetarian stirfy sauce or Hoisin sauce 1T Soy sauce 1T sesame oil 1T mirin 1T rice wine 1T toasted garlic Dash of himalayan salt Mix all sauce ingredients in a bowl. Heat pan and add the mixture then bring into a simmer. Add vegetables and stir for...

 After the Tinagong Dagat trek, 2009 This is how I looked after traversing the Bacolod to Talisay route using the trail via Tinagong Dagat.  No hiking experience, fresh from 8-5 desk job, no gears (not even a raincoat), I ended up like a Vietnamese finding refuge anywhere in the Mekong River paddies. If you can picture that, you know what I meant. Meanwhile, the expert hikers have raincoats, as pictured below. In short, my first travel tip is: Be prepared to look ridiculous!

Photos of people from my travels remind me of how different  and how similar we are at the same time.  We are separated by our differences in culture but bound by our similarities as human beings. --Gerlie M. Uy *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***