thank you.


this prayer we offer
in thanks

to selfless devotion of family and friends
to lifelong bonds tested
by time
by distance
by adversity
yet you heard our cry for help
this prayer we offer
in thanks

to the quiet strength that smiles knowingly
though no trumpets declare
to prayers sent in the solitude of the heart
despite time
despite distance
despite adversity
you prayed with us in our moment of suffering
and so we pray for Blessings and Providence
for you, our family, friends. loved ones.

this prayer we offer
in thanks
to our mighty God
to our Redeemer and Savior
for rending the chains of suffering and pain
for whom
no time
no distance
no adversity
is too great to overcome!

this prayer we offer in thanks
though small may we be in Your Eyes
Your Love has enveloped us
my family, friends, my loved one.
to You i offer this prayer
for my wife's life renewed in You.







penumbra:

gracias con todo kaninyo!
demiyo nana y demiyo mama-in-law,
si auntie mila y uncle jack
si auntie cely y uncle domy,
todos anak di auntie mila -- demiyo mga prima, primo
na di amun amiga -- si tinay y si martie.
gracias con janice, arnulfo y marry-anne,
demiyo todos hermano y hermana, todos y prima y primo di joyce ann
gracias kaninyo todo!

grilled pork belly, arroz caldo and fringe

05.48PM, 02.28.2011. what i thought was just a sniffle last tuesday turned into a bout of sneezing, dripping and runny nose and colds wednesday dawn, with sudden joint pains and fever later that day. after emailing my boss, i slept from thursday through saturday morning, with a brief lucid moment to accompany my wife for her doctor's appointment (and side trip to outpatient for myself).

at the hospital, the little girl two seats left of me in the waiting room said i snored like her dad. i wasn't so sure if she meant he snored loudly, or that he slept in a waiting room with feet splayed and without a care in the world, or both. the appointment, though, boded good news, but more on that later.

i didn't even mind when a thoughtful intern asked if i would like it if he and his two classmates would accompany me to the outpatient clinic as i was burning up a fever and the chills were quite apparent. a few minutes later, the diagnosis -- caught the damned flu, so said she, and sent me home with a prescription of medicine and complete bed rest. nothing serious was prescribed, simply OTC. (i will say one thing: neozep forte really knocks people out and i now understand why the pharma company came out with the no-drowse version; and regular self-medicated doses of 1000 mg of ascorbic acid works.)

i have missed a total of three days of work and an equivalent of five whole days. i missed multiple deadlines (and informing the people i work with about my condition), going online, and watching UFC 127 yesterday. but i did get to see the reruns: bj penn, you're my hero, but what happens now? and michael -- oh sweet, arrogant, caught-in-the-moment michael: for shame.

(penumbra: update on this issue here. the fight lawyer gives his take on the whole affair, as well -- a must-read.)

most especially, i missed my wife. oh, she was here physically, taking care of me and making sure that our family dogs didn't use me as furniture to sleep on. she woke me every 6 hours for my meds, and woke me as maki, our 1-part chihuahua and 199-parts aspin, made use of my right foot as a pillow and when dash, our mad labrador used my dangling left leg as a back scratcher. but i still missed her.

when she woke me early dawn today for my meds, my wife discovered that my fever had broke. i could finally take a chills-free shower for the first time in five days. foodah, the aspin princess of our canine tribe, looked at me with a critical eye as i exited the shower and huffed. i took that as approval for my improved condition.

joyce wanted to celebrate my freedom from a flu-ridden and medicated state of stupor and thought that grilled pork belly would do to mark my recovery. my sister-in-law chipped in with her arroz caldo (and seeing as i may have given her and her hubby the flu, i felt truly lucky). that, and a marathon of fringe sums up my day. i'm still burning a little hot but so was lunch -- and good thing my appetitie was returning. fringe, on the other hand was most interesting. what heroes lacked in exposition and coherence, fringe perfects. kudos to the writing team!

the great thing about marrying into a cooking family is how the simplest ingredients can turn into an amazing meal, and a balm for a healing body. for the grilled pork belly, buy the freshest portions you can find ("it's best if it's less than a day dead," -- dr. walter bishop, fringe tv series), and just salt and pepper for your seasoning. if you have a little olive oil, that will be great, so as long you use only as little as as possible. and make sure the grill is hot. for the arroz caldo, wash the rice in clean running water twice. then, use the broth you boiled the chicken in for cooking the porridge. one kilo of high-grade ivory yields 4-5 cups of goodness. muy sabroso!










.

Valentine's Day On The Clock

When my wife and I were still dating, I would shamelessly cut classes to spend the whole of Valentine's day with her. It was chocolates, a DVD marathon at her place (usually with her mom and baby sister), then dinner and a movie night out. surprising how magical a few hundred pesos (or roughly USD 20.00) can turn an ordinary February day into something special.

But in this modern economy of hearts, the most romantic gesture is often lost amid the red -- not valentine hearts or 99 red balloons, if you know what i mean.

true, my wifey and I are celebrating Valentine's Day together, like we do every year for the last nine years. The whole day spent together at home -- working.

the stars aren't so aligned for this most romantic of days, either. Reading the Sunday news, I learned that Ed Westwick, the excellent actor behind Gossip Girl's anti-hero, Chuck Bass, will be working on Valentine's Day. The lovely Angel Locsin took a raincheck when Phil Younghusband asked if she was free -- begging off because of work.

I remember Valentine's Day in 2005 vividly: We had dinner a Mooon Cafe in Guadalupe, one of our favorite spots. The next day, my then-girlfriend was getting ready to go to work, my wife clutches her stomach in sudden and extreme pain. ten minutes later we find ourselves in the ER of Chong Hua hospital when one resident states my then-girlfriend is experiencing a ruptured appendix and recommends taking it out. an hour later, in deep sedation, they open her up and find a rupture indeed -- a 10-cm endometriotic cyst, and one other the size of a large chicken egg beside it about to burst (no to mention a legion of other cysts in and around her ovary). two hours into the operation, her ob-gyne sits us down to tell us the news.

I guess, as relationships grow, that that's how real love works. At the end of the day, it's not what you do together, whether it's running a DVD marathon and home-cooking, turning $20.00 into the most fantastic date of the year, or staying in the hospital for the next four days.

It's that you do it together, no matter what. And when you're both spending Valentine's Day running after deadlines, romance is in still the air, still in pajamas at 3.21PM.

satti on my mind

there's nothing better than slurping up that gooey orange-colored sauce laced with the flavors of garlic, curry and chili peppers. i venture into muslim culinary territory, which is so unlike larsian's bbq or AA's must-haves, and where the satti sauce is front and center, and the bbq (halal, of course), a humble accompanying instrumentalist.

i'm talking about satti. or satti de zamboanga (or, as some say, satti ala zamboanga). like zamboanga's (or basilan's) kare-kare, the chavacano's version of satay is not an identical food dish to indonesia's grilled skewers of meat dipped in a delectable peanut sauce. while it shares its origins with indonesia, malaysia, singapore, brunei and thailand, our satti has a character that's all its own, a spicy sweet taste that lingers in your taste memory, and a bright color that cautions diners of its chili intent (pun unintended).

for novices, seeing "puso" rice pieces drowning languidly in satti sauce seems outlandish, even downright blasphemous -- who dares soak puso in an orange soup? (wait till you see the beef skewers) and that first taste -- it may jolt your senses and stop you in your tracks. it may may even make you second-guess the true nature of how to enjoy skewered grilled meat eaten with palm leaf-wrapped rice. ("had i done it wrong all this time? i mean -- really?")

but for chavacanos, muslim filipinos and satti lovers, its rich and spicy goodness is what the experience is all about. once you've acquired the taste, you won't long for anything else -- except two more skewers of beef or ten, and another bowlful of satti.

i first tasted satti a little more than seven years ago on my first visit to zamboanga city and isabela de basilan. satti is not for the faint-hearted who shy away from the eastern promises of spices and chilis. it is rich and hearty fare, a cultural tradition every chavacano passes on to his sons and daughters, and one that was picked up by the suitor who meets the father for the first time across a long wooden communal dining table in dark, smokey satti place, at the corner of strong boulevard.

it's a dish you can't forget, won't forget, and would oblige any chavacano returning from home to bring some back. that bright orange color, rich aroma, and the rush of chilis in your mouth -- like an old friend come home with many wonderful stories worth telling.





.