About Asia, by Asians
The Value of the Most Common of Grasses and Weeds [02/24/2009@12:41 pm]
The lobby for legalization of cannabis sativa for medicinal uses is a tempting topic because too much superstitious stigma is attached to the poor weed when it is labeled as a “dangerous drug” while there is no solid scientific evidence that this weed is more dangerous than the tar/nicotine in your average cigarette or the preservatives [...]
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Christmas Shopping; New Year’s Swapping (Part 2) [02/19/2009@12:48 am]
Let’s see… where were we na nga?
Luma’t Bago is at the bungad or beginning/opening of the road to White Plains just after the stoplight of Santolan. It has two floors in one building filled with antiques and a café in an annex where you can chat over lunch or merienda in a Vigan ambience.
Ciudad Fernandina de Vigan and Nueva Segovia marked [...]
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Christmas Shopping; New Year’s Swapping (Part 1) [02/18/2009@11:46 am]
Let me tell you another one you might like…while I’m still on mother-daughter issues therapeutic mode… but I can’t promise to finish this in one go.
My mom was aching to replace her dining set for the whole, entire, everyday of last year. In Tagalog, it is called “pag-aasam” or “longing for something; anticipating something pleasant; [...]
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Pueblo por la Playa de Pagbilao, Quezon [02/13/2009@12:16 am]
My Tita Norma and Tito Frank from Manhattan were here for vacation in the Philippines in January. They migrated to New York in the 60s, met and got married there. She was an accountant and he was a chef in the U.S. Navy when they met. Eventually she formed an accounting firm and he, chef [...]
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Montserrat [02/12/2009@8:09 am]
Monte Mountain; Ser To be; Sierra Land… These are what her name suggests — my Filipina friend from Madrid who cooks seafood Paella with a Passion.
She is worried about whale sharks who lost their way (“Migrated to more hospitable waters.” I thought) due to global warming’s effect on Ocean Currents. She hails from Sorsogon [...]
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Madeira Dura en las Islas Filipinas [02/06/2009@10:53 am]
Prologue: Children need something to have faith in. Young Adults need to act on their well-formed beliefs. And the Old need to guide all of them across Tribulations and take joy in their Triumphs.
ONLY IN FAMILY IS THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD SHAPED & HELD SECURE.
There was a piece of wood washed ashore on [...]
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Taál - (adj.) native; endemic (syn.) katutubo [01/15/2009@3:47 pm]
Leo James English, C.Ss.R. in his Tagalog-English Dictionary (Kalayaan Press, 1986) defines the tagalog word “Taál” as “adj. (1) native born;.. Syn. katutubo”. It may also be used in describing such things as flora and fauna as being endemic to a place.
Pansipit is where the delicious Maliputo (aka trevall, jack) swim upstream from saltwater [...]
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MY EXTRA VIRGIN COCO TESTIMONIAL [01/14/2009@11:30 pm]
Imagine an oil you can process in your own kitchen that contains the properties of mother’s milk and works as a cure-all. Studies show that the long-chain fatty acids in virgin coconut oil are the closest thing to colostrum (the bluish milk produced during the first couple of weeks of breast-feeding that ensures infant [...]
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WOWOWEEE, Daily Filipino Children’s Party [01/10/2009@2:55 pm]
As I’m writing this, I’ve done lunch and in my desk watching WOWOWEE, the daily children’s party that Filipinologists make sure they watch live whenever they’re in town. I’m told that there are such people; who are in love with everything Filipino, including the said lunchtime show.
Speaking from a purely boobtube viewer standpoint, the [...]
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Dragon in Your Teacup [12/19/2008@2:05 pm]
It was another cool December morning and feeling Eurasian-like, I checked whether the help had cleaned thoroughly for tonight’s party via the teasets at the open shelves in the mahjong room.
True enough, they were covered with a sticky film of black soot. (Guess the yayas were wary of touching it from all the times I [...]
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