Urbanista Manila Living in Style

Archive for October, 2009

After months of dreading on the airing of Anthony Bourdain’s gastronomic adventure in the Philippines, I have finally got the chance to catch it on the Travel and Living channel
I thank Wendy’s light iced tea kicking in so hard that it made me up all night scramming for any show on tv that would make me doze off.
His take on this journey was a bit different and I must admit that it has made me think hard about the Filipino’s identity. The Philippines is nowhere to be found on the map of top Southeast Asian destinations among Westerners or foreigners. Especially those who cover lifestyle or travel shows. Our country is on the bottom of their lists. I always say that we only land the international news if there are catastrophic events happened or political standoff happening.
Fortunately, Bourdain was finally convinced to visit the country after so many questions thrown at him asking why he kept on skipping our country.
The idea started when Fil-American Augusto joined the video invite contest by the said program. Bourdain was thrilled by the enthusiasm Augusto has displayed on the video and he ended up talking with the person face to face. But his interest has died or has been killed by other contestants’ persuasion skills leaving our country unnoticed. I cannot blame Bourdain for turning his back on us because of his disappointment with Augusto.
After the clamor for Bourdain to switch gear and head for the tropical island or for lacking anymore place to go, he finally hopped in.
While Augusto was in his hometown in Cebu prepping for the welcome party, Bourdain did his tour of Luzon.
His first stop, Manila where he had a taste of the fishballs, taho, pancit malabon and the Dampa style dining. Dampa is a place where a person shops for his own ingredients and bring them to an in house kitchen/store, instruct the cook how you want your food to be cooked. The tour guide dcided to have pinakbet to represent the North and the guinataang alimango (crab) and adobong hipon (shrimp).
Next stop was Pampanga. Bourdain explicitly expressed his enthusiasm in visiting the province having been informed that it has been a bread basket and culinary capital next to being occupied by the Americans in the World War II and is now being home to US military officers.
He dug in different servings of Kambing (goat). He found them better that it was described by his tour guide. This is where he tried the “must” …. sisig. Sautéed finely chopped pig’s cheeks served on sizzling plate.
He had a hard time finding the answer to his question who are the Filipinos. Which was also the pulsating question of Augusto who was born and raised in the us. He became enthusiastic about his country having been here once and only for a month in his entire life. His second home coming to the Philippines seemed to be a quest for his true identity.
The true sense of Filipino is hard to classify like the adobo that has so many versions. The country is composed of over 7000 islands and each region, tribe or minority wants to be a representative of the nation. It is hard to identify what represents a true Pinoy when confronted with such a question because there are so many underlying regional considerations and no one seems to be called a minority here.
In Bourdain’s trip to Pampanga, he could not help but comment that it’s always your province first, next the Philippines. This was after hearing one of the hosts said in a bragging manner that whatever dish one region or province could put on the table, they, Pampangenos can do a whole lot better.
Finally, Bourdain met with Augusto. They stopped at an eatery join and welcomed each other in the Philippines. By Broudain’s description, Augusto did not seem to be what he has hoped for – the window to the Philippines. They done went to Augusto’s house and it was a bzzzzzzz……………
The most interesting part has happened, showing Bourdain how the best lechon in the world is cooked. A whole pig on a bamboo stick is slowly roasted the traditional way. No machine intervention.
Funny thing on this part, Bourdain served as the host to the welcoming party and August was just a guest. Even in the lechon tasting . Bourdain seems to have felt the awkwardness Augusto was feeling in fron of hi s relatives and the cameras. So he went on with his quest for the true Filipino and luckily the tour guide who happened to be the same person who toured Bobby Chinn around the Manila was knowledgeable enough in feeding Bourdain about the adaptability and diversification of the Filipinos. From which Bourdain concluded that problem with us being the melting pot of every culture is that we are too damn nice.
In the end, Bourdain enjoyed what he had in the Philippines. The best pig ever! His left his question about Filipino identity to Augusto afterall, it is all about food.

I am not into riding someone else’s popularity that is why it annoys me to how someone becomes instantly associated with a person a just got famous.
I love to watch Chelsea Lately. They make serious things funny by mocking people concerned and it does not sound offensive or politically incorrect. It is a gathering of stand up comedians after all and if you have been to any stand up comedy bar whether here or abroad, the pack’s blow is a bit subtler.
One of the regular round table guests on Chelsea is Jo Koy, and his name does not have any Filipino sound to it but he is darn proud that he is actually is. Even Chelsea and the lot keep on mocking Asians in general.
I just find Jo Koy amusing.

At past lunch today, we received an HR advisory informing us that we may seek approval from our immediate superior to leave work at 3:00 pm. This is due to the inclement weather that is expected to be brought by Pepeng which is considered as super typhoon.
With the concern of avoiding its employees to get stranded somewhere, the management has decided to send us home early.
My shift started at 1:00 pm but I came in early to render overtime. After a few haggling, my boss allowed me to hit the road by 5:00 pm but I decided to finish my work so I was able to get out at 5:30 pm.
I rushed to Parco Supermarket to do my usual grocery and I was really surprised to see flocks of people in there. It is like family reunion in there. Push carts that usually lined up at the entrance where all gone. I had to wait for the attendant to bring one on its stand.
Since I do not eat red meat, tuna and chicken are always on my list and I was really disappointed seeing that all tuna brands on the shelf was washed out. Not a single can has survived the panic buying stint that afternoon. This upper portion of the rack is usually filled with canned tuna.

I pushed my way through the chicken station and I passed by Monterey meat stations and see that even the red ones were not spared.

When I finally stopped at the chicken station, there was no single dressed bird sitting there.

Are people over reacting to the news about the super typhoon that is about to hit the metro? Or the government has overrated Pepeng?
Either way, I do not find the panic buying or hoarding part funny. I ended up carrying frozen cream dory.