Sira-sira store: Iconic ‘sinigang’
FILIPINO cuisine has parallels in Latin countries in that it is a special blend of influences. Although they have the strong Spanish imprint, they have developed their own cooking methods and used local ingredients for their distinctive culinary pot.
There are two-dimensional examples of...
Sira-sira store: Deeper than ‘mutabal’
FIVE of us were invited to an intimate dinner in the house of our good friends, Danna and Pit, who celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary on Jan. 6.
I was the first guest to arrive. While chatting with the couple, I caught their youngest child, Jonats, beckoning me to the kitchen. He...
Sira-sira store: Laborer’s plate
MY NEPHEW Pannon once asked me why I was dressed for work.
“Why do you ask, Pannon?”
Sira-sira store: OK’s useful diet guide
HOW many diary-planners do you need in a year?
The way I received planners this year from my business clients, you would conclude a guy needs seven. Among the seven I received, I chose to use the one that had the following (the six others I’m sharing with my friends):
Sira-sira store: Risky acts
SINGING is a risky act.
You’ve heard about the subcategory crime known as the “My Way Killings.” As the story goes, the end is near and the singer has to face the final curtain. In some karaoke bars in the Philippines, fisticuffs and crimes of passion have erupted because of Frank Sinatra...
Sira-sira store: Love of money
MONEY is not the root of all evil; it is the love of money, making it your idol.
With this strong point made, I want to talk about money, a medium of exchange that has been around for as long as man learned to do business. Barter, according to wikipedia.com, was a transaction between...
Sira-sira store: Feast without yeast
WHEN I waded into the waters of my latest adventure, little did I know that I would learn a lesson in culture and astronomy on my way to the Passover, a festival without yeast.
I was trying to define sunset in the setting of the Sabbath, when a quick check in the Wikipedia adjusted my...
Sira-sira store: Slaughterhouse detour
RAIN or shine, Cebu remains warm. You wish someone would invent a shirt that comes with controls for cool, cold and freezing.
That being impossible, you settle for a call from friends living in the Summer Capital of the Philippines, inviting you to visit them at no cost! Turn Kermit...
Sira-sira store: Making your ‘apple’
MANY of us may seem like Steve Jobs, charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution, who spent his early youth looking for an apple to focus on.
From dropping out of college, to attending creative classes, to landing in Atari as a video game designer in 1974, he was like...
Sira-sira store: Spiced out
ARE you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Remember me to the one who lives there, she once was a true love of mine (song Scarborough Fair, by Simon and Garfunkel).
That spices and herbs can trigger creative juices is no surprise. They have a fragrance that...
Sira-sira store: Thank you for the coffee
IF you close your eyes, and unless you are a coffee connoisseur, a cup of the brewed bean may taste like any other.
You may not have the foggiest idea about coffee dynamics, except that it gives you a kick, or perhaps your untrained tongue will go as far as to detect the degree of...
Sira-sira store: Next food fad, please
I WAS swimming around the sea of information—the Internet where people surf and skim around for wisdom—when I found this green new thing they call the next superfood.
There was once the cabbage soup diet, which ran on the principle that if you ate nothing but low-calorie cabbage soup over...
Sira-sira store: Asian patty
A SELF-PROCLAMED foodie-cum-journalist does not rest his culinary search of fries and burgers on local shores.
He looks across the fence of the culinary Joneses, longing to know what these rich Asian neighbors have on their plates, what definitive burgers they have to offer tourists so...
Sira-sira store: ‘Pork’ it over
INTERNATIONALLY, pork has been declared as the other white meat. So fork it over; pork is good.
Boil cubed pork in a pot of water in which you add quartered onion, one diced carrot and sliced celery; reserve stock for use later.
Sira-sira store: Diet pooh
THIS is the lighter side of a popular diet. Read this with a grain of salt (iodized is good), and a lot of humor.
If you have not yet mastered the spelling of “Mediteranyan,” now is the time to perfect it with me.
Sira-sira store: Lighten up
THIS is the Year of the Stand-up Comic, a breed of entertainer who makes money faster than you can say Uncle Ober. In fact, I have always wanted to have a career in showbiz, specializing in comedy. Come on, lighten up.
Many careers have been launched through the art of making other people...
Sira-sira store: Eating well
HOW did you greet New Year?
Did you serve the ubiquitous 12 types of round fruits to ensure a full money bag year-round?
Sira-sira store: Wish it
MAYBE next year I will call this column “Take-out Counter,” a place where my old clients can order anything they want, including the curious little meals I sold in my old store.
I will be found in a mall, a quaint little food stand with a magical stove that can whip up anything your heart...
Sira-sira store: Festive worldwide
BRING out the chintz curtains, the lacy table covers, the candy-color throw pillow covers. It’s time to polish the wooden floors, dust the windows—oh give the house a thorough bath once and for all.
Sira-sira store: Christmas list
MAKE your list, check it twice, look for names that to you have been nice. However, don’t cross out those whose behaviors haven’t been wise. Give them a chance to enhance their good side. After all, Christmastide is about forgiveness and rebirth on earth.
With that, it should be easy to...
Sira-sira store: Funny biz of food
“WHAT is the favorite food of a Kristo?”
This was the question of the day posed by radio personality Marlon Bellita a couple of weeks ago on his dyAB show Rated R.
Sira-sira store: Chippy factor
IT IS not difficult to say yes to an invitation to dine out, especially when the prospect of eating well comes with the assurance that the treat is on the other guy.
Food always tastes doubly delicious when it comes for free.
I call it the Chippy Factor (a brand of flavored corn...
Sira-sira store: That Mona Lisa expression
FIVE-HUNDRED ninety-seven years have passed and Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci still joins us in our discussions about the Mona Lisa.
He started painting the Mona Lisa, a portrait of a seated woman named Lisa del Giocondo, between 1503 and 1504 in Florence, Italy, but completed the work...
Sira-sira store: ‘Asinso ka’
I HAVE yet to bump into a man who has said he didn’t want to prosper in life to a level that he didn’t need to ask the waiter in a mom-and-pop-diner about the price of the Pinoy steak.
To prosper (asinso) ranks No. 1 in the list of many people. I know that 10 percent of the populace...
Sira-sira store: Sweet seduction
“TO LOSE weight or not to lose weight; to lose weight or not to lose weight.”
I was playing the old, old game of “she loves me, she loves me not.” Very old fashioned way of finding out whether the girl you are wooing loves you.
