In Cavite without a Compass

Posted on 8 December 2011 by sheg4184

Tagatay City, in the Luzon province of Cavite, is famous for its breath-taking ridge views of Lake Taal and the volcano in its centre. It is one of the country’s favorite destinations for locals and expatriates alike.  In November, members of the British Women’s Association were invited on a full day tour along the lesser known roads of Cavite: a magical mystery tour that took us far from the madding crowd, in a four-car convoy.

The Cornerstone Pottery Farm in Silang

We took a rather circuitous route to the Pottery farm that eventually came to an end at the top of a muddy farm track, where thick jungle seemed in danger of closing in on us. Here we met EJ, who happily gave us a tour of his rustic factory.

Adorned in large, ungainly heaps of unglazed pots and mugs, bowls and teapots, the factory itself is a simple, spacious, open wicker shed. Three large modern kilns stand squarely in the centre, and can apparently reach temperatures of over 1000’C. Someone suggested they could also be used for roasting pork – but only if you like your lechon incinerated!

Two smaller sheds display the finished products, which include many beautiful one-off pieces as well as an array of more practical products, such as chunky coffee mugs, candle holders and wind chimes.

EJ set up the business when he returned from the States in 1996. Pottery is his passion, but he also wanted to do something for the community. Until recently he employed four people part-time to cater to the tourist trade, but recently, thanks to Fair Trade and a deal with a European retail company, he has been able to train four new staff and provide full-time employment for them all.

Before we left, EJ mounted the old-fashioned manual potter’s wheel in the garden in order to demonstrate how to throw a pot. His description of balancing the clay after he had thrown it, to stop it “dancing” on the wheel, was positively poetic. We all admired his skills at  turning the wheel with his foot while creating a lovely fluted bowl with his hands. It was quite hypnotic to watch, and EJ told us that it can also be a very therapeutic activity for the potter!

The Ilog Maria Bee Farm

Our next destination involved another narrow farm track, on which we were at constant risk of losing our wing mirrors to the encroaching hedgerow.  The Bee Farm is apparently renowned as the best apiary in Luzon and even has a cult following.  A number of small white hives announced our arrival, lining up along the middle of the field like a guard of honour.

The Bee Farm grows imported Italian bees from which the bee keepers harvest honey, beeswax, pollen, royal jelly and bee venom.  Honey is not only very nutritious, they told us, it also has medicinal and healing properties, it is good for stress relief and it builds up resistance to disease. Applied immediately, it is even good for burns. You name it, it seems honey can cure it… even acne! Thus, in a small shop at the front of the farm, there is a wide selection of honey-based soaps, honey cider vinegar and honey for sale, as well as a honey throat spray, honey hand sanitizer, and a honey ointment for beestings. Beeswax had been used to make candles in all shapes and sizes – there was even a beeswax Nativity. Behind the show room we found a CR (Comfort Room or toilet) in the shape of a beehive. Built in the round, this novelty ‘throne room’ was decorated with hanging baskets, the ‘throne’ mounted on a low dais in the centre. A truly unique experience!

Bawai’s Vietnamese Kitchen

By now every stomach was grumbling. So it was with hungry enthusiasm that we headed off to find lunch.  Bawai’s Vietnamese Kitchen is actually situated in the home of the cook, Yong Tatlonghari.  Bawai is Vietnamese for granny, as Yong was born in Vietnam, but settled in the Philippines after marrying her Filipino husband, Virgilio. This small, home-grown restaurant is tucked away down yet another country lane: Hernandez Street, Purok 5, Bucal, Silang.  It is truly a hidden treasure. BVK is cash payment only and is normally open only on Fridays and weekends (it may be safer to make a reservation well in advance), but we made a special mid-week group booking and were warmly welcomed.

On a tight schedule, our efficient guide had wisely taken our orders earlier in the week, and it wasn’t long before we were grazing happily on a banquet of fresh and fried spring rolls, a delicious watercress and seared beef salad (goi rau muong), noodle soups, grilled pork rib with Vietnamese omelet (com suon cha), and spicy tamarind prawns (tom rang me). Yong says she only uses fresh and authentic ingredients imported from Vietnam. Seated on the top floor of their country house, overlooking a coconut grove, it was like coming home for dinner, and the meal was exceptional.

The Flower Farm

From Tagaytay City, the Flower Farm can be found in Barangay Guinhawa, a short 10-minute drive from the Aguinaldo Highway.

Begun as a hobby twenty five years ago, the Flower Farm now covers seven hectares of hillside, where black netting ‘green-houses’ cover quarter acre blocks full of chrysanthemums and gerbera, anthuriums, lavender, chillis and herbs. Several of us commented on the joys of wandering through this park-like farm – the trees, the grass, the fresh air – and decided it was the perfect spot for a Devonshire cream tea and a picnic rug. Many of us took a little piece of this Eden home with us in the shape of pots of lavender, basil, mint or red chillis.

Yoki Farm

Our final stop was a hydroponic lettuce farm. Here the lettuces are grown in nutrient-filled water that is transported to the plants in lengths of PVC piping. Hydroponic gardening is far less labour intensive than traditional soil-based gardening and it also allows for multiple harvests each year as it relies less on the weather. They grow several varieties of lettuce there and some herbs as well, providing this produce for a number of local restaurants.

The owner is also an obsessive collector of – well – anything! A giant laughing Buddha greeted us as we wandered down the drive: shiny, gold and ENORMOUS. Apparently it is good luck to be photographed with this vast personage, but I personally found him daunting and kept my distance. He was waited on by at least a dozen miniature versions of himself in yoga poses at his feet. Behind these Holy relics is a vast warehouse overflowed with bronze statues, Singer sewing machines and billiard tables (we counted more than twenty) on which is displayed, amongst other things, 3 large jade galleons floating on a sea of deodorant balls. I am not kidding. Broken gym equipment, vases, chandeliers, exotic birds… the list goes on and on. I was sure that somewhere there I would find the mountain of odd socks and biros that disappear down worm holes in everyone’s house. It provided an eccentric and amusing finale to our brief escape from the confines of Metro Manila.

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Aussie Cheese Please!

Posted on 5 December 2011 by sheg4184

Here’s good news:  Aussie cows are happy cows!

Unlike their disadvantaged European cousins, our cows are not shut up in crowded barns and fed silage, but are left to graze freely on green grass and fresh air. Thanks to such a decadent lifestyle, Australian cows are not only happier, but healthier. Thus they are able to provide richer, creamier milk for cheese making. As a result, Australia is gaining world recognition for the quality of its specialist cheeses.

So says Australian Master Cheese maker and Cheese Grader, Neil Willman. Willman is an eminent cheese educator and consultant with over 40 years of experience in the Australian Dairy Industry. He also judges at many national and international dairy competitions.

“Australian Cheese Please” was organized by Australia Unlimited and the Australian Government to promote Australian cheeses abroad. Sponsored by Dairy Australia and hosted by Enderun Colleges at McKinley Hill, the event was held in Enderun’s light and spacious atrium.

The evening began with a casual wander past several tables exhibiting a wide selection of Australian cheeses available for tasting. There were products from popular supermarket brands such as Bega, Coon and MilLel, as well as a number of boutique cheeses, such as the best cheddar EVER (in my humble opinion)  from Warnambool, NSW and a glorious range of soft cheeses from Woodside, in the Adelaide Hills.

Styles included: hard cheeses (parmesan and pecorino); fresh cheeses (ricotta, feta, haloumi, paneer); goat’s milk cheeses, and mould and surface rind cheeses (blue vein, camembert and brie).Eventually we settled down to a talk from Mr. Willman. While Willman discoursed on the joys of cheese, we were handed a glass of cold, crisp Sauvignon Blanc to accompany a selection of cheddars. As we sipped and nibbled, Neil talked about the different styles of cheeses, from processed through blue vein to washed rind cheeses. We discussed their shelf life and got tips on preparing a classy cheese platter:

  • Excepting soft cheeses, remove cheese from refrigerator at least an hour before serving so they can be eaten at room temperature. In the meantime, cover it with a clean, damp tea towel to prevent them drying out.
  •  Offer your guests an artistic array of textures, tastes, shapes and colours.
  • Don’t let accompaniments out-flavour the cheese!
  • Use an unusual presentation platter: think wood, marble, or even a mirror.
  • Use different NON-SERRATED knives for each cheese to avoid mixing flavours.

Willman also enjoyed dispelling a few urban myths about cheese. Apparently, Cheddar cheese after meals does NOT harm teeth, but actually PREVENTS tooth decay. Research also suggests that eating Cheddar and semi-hard cheeses WON’T increase cholesterol. And wonder of wonders, cheese has high calcium levels that are really good for bones and burning off fats. Finally, for  the lactose intolerant, hard cheeses have little or NO LACTOSE. So feel free to enjoy them.

And of course we were given some ideas about wine and cheese matching. The main question is ‘does it contrast, complement or clash?’ The answer is to provide a complementary balance of flavour and texture. A good cheddar is strong enough to work well with a Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay or port.  If you like sparkling wine, Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling think fresh, unripened cheese.  Experiment with your own preferences and create your perfect partnership between wine and cheese.

*with thanks to Dairy Australia for the photographs

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Corks & Forks Forever!

Posted on 29 November 2011 by sheg4184

Corks & Forks: a catchy name for the inaugural international food and wine fair organized to celebrate ANZCHAM’s 30th birthday.

ANZCHAM –the Australia & New Zealand Chamber of Commerce – is an organization that cooperates with the Philippine Government to promote investment opportunities and business relationships between Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. It also works actively ‘to create a community’ by hosting social events such as the Corks & Forks Bubbly Brunch, Oztangi Day, a number of sporting events,  and the Jazzfest, another new event this year. Both the Australian and New Zealand embassies are close allies, and AMZCHAM also cozies up with ANZA to help organize and sponsor the ANZA Ball.

As the global food and beverage industry continues to grow exponentially, Corks & Forks was designed as a way to promote Australian and New Zealand food and wine products in the Philippines.  This country is not traditionally a nation of wine drinkers, but as interest grows, it makes sense to introduce them to the fine wines of their antipodean neighbours.

The event was not confined to Australian and New Zealand exhibitors, however, but included local, Australian-owned businesses such as Chocolate Fire and The Wine Depot. The event also showcased local Food and Beverage magazines such as Yummy and Appetite, and Manila culinary schools Enderun Colleges and Treston Colleges, plus partner hotels such as The Marriott, where the event was held.

Entering the Ballroom at the Marriott Hotel, we chose a glass of wine before stepping into the crowd to sample the specialist products at the exhibitors’ stands. Taste-testing was encouraged, so we ambled happily amongst the various cheese stalls – some very tasty cheeses from New Zealand’s Fonterra – topped up our glasses at the numerous wine outlets, such as  Tanglewood Wines and Craggy Range.  We also  sampled hot chocolate from Max Brenner’s and truffles from Chocolate Fire.

Apparently there were cooking demonstrations and guest lecturers that I will have to visit next year, but by then I was entrenched in the dining area set up at the rear of the ballroom, enjoying the Bubbly Brunch where the bubbles were all too freely flowing. If I had been organized, I would have booked in advance and made up a table with friends, but instead my husband and I elbowed our way in at the last minute, tempted into upgrading our ticket by the wonderful smells and laughter coming through the wrought iron screens. Thus a table in the far back corner was probably our just desserts – except that it turned out exceptionally well, as we found ourselves sitting with a really interesting group of strangers who rapidly became friends.

Although brunch always strikes me as one of those meals that can’t quite decide what it is supposed to be, this one was a splendid affair. Muesli & yoghurt layered in a cocktail glass like a breakfast version of halo halo; platters of fresh fruit; hors d’oeuvres of salmon on blinis; New Zealand roast lamb and Australian beef with asparagus and chargrilled vegetables; and the pièce de resistance: a silver tureen filled with crushed ice and bejewellled with shellfish: crab claws, oysters, prawns and a pearly tiara of calamari. And the individual dessert platters were suitably self-indulgent.

We had planned to pop in for an hour or so. But I have vague memories of fond farewells and a luggage trolley as we poured ourselves into the car four, or was it five hours later? I forget. But I do remember that we not only got to meet some great wines, but we also made a lot of lovely new friends and tasted some really delicious food. Thanks ANZCHAM. Please do it again next year!

*with thanks to Caroline Edgington at ANZCHAM for the photographs.

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Prestige Wines at the Peninsula

Posted on 27 November 2011 by sheg4184

Craggy Range Winery is ‘a sometimes contradictory combination of tradition and innovation…art and technology’

‘My God! I’ve bought a desert!’

David Peabody laughs as he remembers his father’s initial response to the blind purchase of 110 hectares of old riverbed at Hawkes Bay. These days Gimblett Gravels is one of their key vineyards and is regarded as one of the best vineyards for Bordeaux Reds and Syrah in New Zealand. Craggy Range was established in New Zealand in 1997, a joint venture between Brisbane-based entrepreneurial businessman Terry Peabody and New Zealand’s first Master of Wine, Steve Smith.

Terry’s younger son David has been based in Manila for almost twenty years. As a Director of Craggy Range Vineyards Ltd., he oversees the Philippines market. Earlier this year his parents Terry and Mary and his sister Mary-Jeanne dropped in for a visit. David took the opportunity to organize a memorable dinner at the Peninsula Hotel, in order to introduce local wine lovers to Craggy Range Wines.

We were greeted at the door with glasses of 2008 Marlborough Riesling from the south island, to accompany some tasty canapés provided by the Peninsula kitchens. Each course had been carefully chosen to match specific wines from the Craggy Range selection, and the dinner was interspersed with short, informative, sorbet-like speeches from chairman and owner Terry Peabody and his daughter, Mary-Jeanne.

By the time Terry Peabody purchased Gimblett Gravels he had already established an eclectic portfolio of businesses, which included thirty years’ experience in restaurant management in Canada and Queensland. The idea of a winery had first been mooted by his wife Mary and his daughter Mary-Jeanne several years previously, with the aim of creating a family legacy. The women eventually persuaded Terry Senior to take their idea seriously. Terry and Mary then spent ten years travelling through France and Spain, Australia and the US to find the perfect place to develop top-end, single-vineyard wines to compete with the best in the world. According to David, they eventually ‘fell in love with the idea of New Zealand,’ and Terry says they have never looked back. Gimblett Gravels was their first vineyard, and is where the Chardonnay, Syrah, and Bordeaux style wines are produced. Their second primary vineyard, Te Muna Road, is a 130 hectare vineyard located in Martinbrough where the majority of their Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Pinot Noir wines are produced. Today, there is also a number of smaller vineyards scattered across the north and south islands.

Our first taste of a Gimblett Gravels wine was the 2008 Chardonnay, which is aged in French oak. It shared the limelight with a delicate 2010 Sauvignon Blanc from Te Muna Road Vineyard in Martinborough, a classic cool climate vineyard, and accompanied our entrée, an artistic and tasty arrangement of Arctic sea scallops, smoked black cod and duck foie gras served with a deep red, berry compote.

With vineyards acquired and vines planted, the team set to work designing the buildings with the professional help of architect John Blair and designer Pamela Brown. David says the whole family joined in at every stage of development. Winemaking headquarters were built on Highway 50 and named, aptly, State Highway 50 winery or SH50. Another site was bought at the base of Te Mata Peak (The Sleeping Giant) at Hawkes Bay, and here the foundations were laid for Giants Winery, to include the Cellar Door, the Terroir restaurant, three cellars,  two self-catering guest cottages, offices and three private houses. These take their inspiration from the farm buildings of New Zealand and Bordeaux, and have been encircled by lakes, grapes and green lawns. As David reminds me, if you can ‘bring someone once to your winery, you have them for life.’ Of course it is not only the beauty of the winery that attracts visitors. The Craggy Range Wines play their part too!

In between courses, a melon sherbet cleansed the palate to prepare us for a rich main course of luscious Angus beef tenderloin and slow-cooked duck breast. These were served with red cabbage, sautéed mushrooms and truffled potato mousseline, and were accompanied by a complex 2009 Pinot Noir, again from the Te Muna Road Vineyard, and one of their Prestige range of wines, a succulent 2008 ‘Le Sol’ Syrah from Gimblett Gravels.

A fellow founder and shareholder of Craggy Range, Steve Smith is the company’s Director of Wine and Viticulture Specialist. In 1996 he achieved the prestigious Master of Wine qualification, considered to be one of the highest standards of professional knowledge in the wine industry. He has created two distinct Craggy Range collections: the Vineyard Designated Collection and the limited Prestige Collection. For both ranges, the priority is matching grape varieties with individual terroir. In his wine-making, Smith combines a deep respect for heritage and tradition with an eager interest in innovative technology.

To chaperone a sophisticated cheese platter comes ‘Sophia.’ Also from the Prestige Collection, ‘Sophia’ is the company’s flagship wine: a provocative Bourdeaux-style merlot blend that gave its name to David’s exhuberant two year old daughter. The cheese platter consists of a rich, caramelized goat cheese on fruit bread; a piquant gorgonzola on brioche and a drippingly creamy brie served on compressed watermelon.

I asked David about wine awards, but he says firmly that they generally stay away from wine shows.  Craggy Range is ‘less about competitions and more about becoming an icon,’ he tells me, ‘to be enjoyed with meals.’

The penultimate course was an Interpretative dessert of tangy citrus fruits that were beautifully matched to the superb Fletcher Family Vineyard’s 2008 Noble Riesling. An assortment of bite-sized desserts, temptingly labeled ‘mignardises’ (a lovely new word I shall use often), was served with coffee, which brought the evening’s delectable feast to an end.

David Peabody says  ‘it’s the hardest business we’ve ever been involved in, and the nicest business we’ve ever been involved in.’

I, for one, will happily raise a glass to their continuing involvement in the wine industry. Cheers!

http://www.craggyrange.com

In Manila, Wurtenburg’s are the sole distributor of Craggy Range through their retail outlet Santis. Located at Alabang, Forbes Park, Ortigas,Quezon City, Rockwell, San Antonio Village and San Juan.

 

 

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Off the Beaten Track and into a Pothole

Posted on 21 November 2011 by sheg4184

A large sign at Manila airport offers massages to relieve the stress. It was a timely suggestion after almost an hour in a queue going nowhere at a snail’s pace, followed by a long trek through a barrage of security checks. Seriously, Manila has the most secure airport in the world!  I wasn’t feeling so much stressed as defeated. We rashly succumbed to the temptation of coffee and a chocolate croissant on the final lap to the departure lounge. Of course they heated the croissant in the microwave.  I  hate that. Microwaves make the pastry soggy, and then, lo! the melted chocolate squirted all down my new blouse. The flight left almost on time, however, and we were on it. So, no real disaster, just resigned grubbiness…

The Radisson Blu, Cebu. The ubiquitous Filipino incongruity: luxurious, spacious five star hotel posing elegantly, hand on hip, between SM shopping mall, an expanse of tarmacked car park and acres of shipping containers. The view beyond the hotel was aesthetically appalling. Yet at night it was transformed into a showground, the main road suddenly looked like a fast flowing roller coaster through the city, while a storm breaking on the horizon provided a breath-taking fireworks display. The city is at your finger tips, and within the confines of our gilded cage, we were in heaven.

The hotel boasts 400 well-appointed guestrooms with all the mod cons.  A relaxing retreat on the edge of the port, it offers a shady landscaped garden, an attractive lagoon-style swimming pool and vast spaces of quiet, soothing marble interiors.  The entrance foyer alone is large enough to host a ball or a football match! A beautifully designed dining room serves an exquisite buffet breakfast and lunch. I have never really been a fan of the buffet. In its heyday in Australia in the 1980s, it so often forsook quality for quantity. The Radisson dining room was a completely different experience. Various stations exhibited attractive displays of Chinese, Filipino, Japanese and Mediterranean cuisine,  seafood, and desserts. The chefs were wisely promoting the theory ‘less is more’: dainty tasting dishes, freshly arranged, rather than congealing unappealingly in huge luke-warm chafing dishes. My boys went through the buffet like the efficient eating machines they are, with barely a pause for breath. For them, the highlight was the chocolate orange ice cream, for me, it was the prawn and pomelo salad.

Our room – sorry rooms as we had been generously upgraded to an executive suite – was the epitome of elegance. Two bedrooms joined by a comfortable sitting room, a selection of bathrooms, a clutch of TVs and a view over the pool and gardens. The boys were thrilled with complementary access to the internet and I was equally thrilled with my state-of-the-art coffee machine. An added bonus was the executive lounge down the hall where there was always a drink and a snack on offer – or a quiet retreat from noisy computer games. All was right with the world, and a far cry from my childhood holidays. I grew up in a tent, camping across Europe or in the Australian outback. I loved it, but my idea of luxury was a B&B with a bath. I never thought of myself as a five star princess. But hell, a girl could get used to this!

After two days relaxing in air-conditioned splendor, the heat hit us like a heavy, wet blanket as we emerged from the hotel. The traffic was seething: bumper to bumper trucks and taxis. Horns. Heat. Help! But I was on a mission to get the boys outside and see something of our surroundings.

We found a taxi and pointed it in the direction of Mactan Island. We wanted a day at the beach, but apparently the only decent beaches were privately owned by the hotels. However, we had been told that some of them would allow us to use the facilities for a small fee.

‘Small fee’ be damned. Gob-smacked by the fees they were charging for a ‘day package’ we looked about for a taxi to escape. ‘No taxi ma’am, but we have hotel car.’ Sure – for three times the price of the taxi that had delivered us to their door. So we walked to the front gate (no mean feat), determined to find our own way home.

And here Alan found us. His pedicab had just pulled up and he was more than happy to take us into town for a taxi. Or if we preferred, he had a car, a boat, a beach, a brother with a jet-ski…

We greeted Alan with enthusiasm and wedged ourselves into his Polly-Pocket-sized-side-car, then found ourselves bouncing over potholes, through potholes and into potholes. Eventually we turned down a dusty lane to a public beach and the promise of a jet-ski. The public beach was nothing special: a short walk through shop houses and bamboo huts onto a tiny, sandless cove. But the water was crystal clear, there was shade, and eventually Alan’s sister’s husband’s uncle’s third cousin turned up with a jet-ski. I am sure we could almost have bought one for the price, but it kept the boys out of the hotel and happy for an hour or so, and I sat amongst the villagers, warding off the old women who wanted money for nothing, or to rent me a tyre, or to sell me an ice cream. Ducks and dogs mingled in the lane, the village kids were leaping from the jetty, and an elderly gentleman named Alfred bobbed about on his inflated inner tube, chatting with the boys as they waited in the shallows for their turn on the jet-ski. It was only a little adventure, but fun nonetheless, and we have Alan’s number so he can take us out in his boat next time…

After one successful sortie beyond the confines of the Radisson, we attempted another. Remember those old movies in which deep sea divers dressed in space suits and wore brass goldfish bowls on their heads and then got attacked by giant octopi or the air tube snapped? Sea-walking was a bit like that – without the octopus or the snapping.

We drove out again to the far reaches of Mactan Island, to a rather run down hotel where a small speed boat took us out to a raft about 200m off the beach.

Now the boys and I have never been too keen on the idea of scuba diving. I am even a bit hopeless with a snorkel and goggles – I always get the ones that leak – but we thought sea walking might be an interesting compromise. There was momentary panic as I watched the boys disappear beneath the water in their goldfish bowls, and another anxious moment when I felt the weight of my goldfish bowl push me down the steps and under the water, but except for a slight wobbliness of the neck – think jiggling dogs on the dashboard – breathing was easy. The beveled edges of the bowl made it tricky to work out where your feet where going, but hidden beneath the surface was a maze of railings to guide you round the sea floor. Our guide and wildlife photographer gave us each a cup to wear around our wrist. Like a bird feeder, with tiny holes seeping culinary delights for fish, it brought those little fellas skibbling straight for us. I am not usually too thrilled to get close and personal with fish or chickens, but with the protection of my pudding bowl helmet, it was really good fun.

While it felt a little stage managed, I was soon bedazzled by the array of little Nemos dancing round my head: fluorescent turquoise; orange and electric blue stripes; salmon pink racing stripes on grey; a Tiger’s football jersey of black and yellow; a sleek slim-lined silver speed boat of a fish the size of my little finger…

Their navigation skills were flawless, as they dipped and dived like swallows all around us. One or two accidentally swam into me, but they frightened themselves more than me,  apart from the one bully boy who spent two minutes dive bombing my elbow like a cranky mosquito.

In the meantime, we drifted along the railings, stopping every few feet to pose for our acrobatic photographer, who was leaping on and off rocks like a moonwalker. Just as I was finally getting the hang of balancing my goldfish bowl, it was over. We emerged gleefully onto the raft. And as they had promised, our hair was still dry!

The next stage of the journey involved a banca, some more fish, an island picnic and snorkels. We were offered a huge wooden bowl of appetizers for lunch:  a couple of crab; orange and black spotted lobsters that looked like giant Moreton Bay Bugs, scallops and two large and beautiful shells that it seemed sacrilegious to crack open for the sake of the poor quivering sea creatures within.

Anyway, the set menu was plenty: chicken satays, squid and prawns, tuna steaks and pork, all perfectly barbecued, and followed by a refreshing fruit platter. Two musicians wandered along the beach with a couple of honky-tonk guitars whose frayed strings badly needed tuning. So did the singers! Most Filipinos seem born to sing, but not these two. They cheerfully warbled their off-key way through the Beatles and Lionel Ritchie while I snoozed beneath the trees and the boys snorkeled in the shallows. We fed the fish off the jetty and admired a vast colony of hibiscus-coloured starfish on the reef, before sailing on to deeper water at the edge of a wildlife sanctuary. Here the water was all the shades of blue and green common to precious and semi-precious stones: sapphire and turquoise, jade, aquamarine and emerald. And here we anchored for the rest of the afternoon to dive into the clear blue water that glittered like a diva’s dress with tropical fish. The sunburn was ridiculous, considering all the precautions I took, but it was worth it to get salt in my hair and seawater up my nose. Yes, of course my goggles leaked!

 

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Saving Face

Posted on 19 November 2011 by sheg4184

I recently received an email that made me laugh out loud. Entitled 5 Tips to make your house appear cleaner than it is, it was based on the premise that your house is a complete rubbish tip  and you have just been warned of the impending arrival of unexpected visitors. How can you quickly tidy up so the visitors won’t guess how negligible your housekeeping skills are?

Suggestions included collecting everything in a basket or shoving it in a cupboard, hiding the washing up in the oven and lighting scented candle to disguise any bad smells. The best tip came from a reader: put the vacuum cleaner in the middle of the room just as your visitors arrive and say “Oh you caught me in the middle of cleaning up!” They will hopefully assume the chaos is part of the cleaning process and your face is saved.

In many cultures saving face is a more serious matter than this flippant tale would suggest, where it is about preserving one’s dignity, social status or honour. Many societies devise strategies to maintain smooth social functioning and prevent humiliation.

Here in the Philippines, for example, there is an ever-present respect for age and authority. Po, Sir or Ma’am are terms I hear in daily use in Manila, while children may also accompany this with a ‘mana po’ by taking your hand and touching it to their foreheads as a visual sign of respect to accompany the verbal. Professionals are referred to by their titles: Doctor; Professor, Engineer.

These days, in Australia, the theory of democracy and equality has overtaken the practice of social hierarchies and has led us to largely discard such small courtesies in recent years.  Australians may see Filipinos as unduly interested in social status, overly sensitive to insult, and overly cautious in the avoidance of even constructive criticism. For better or for worse, our priorities have changed and most Australians place directness, honesty and speaking one’s mind above saving face. To Filipinos this can show a rather selfish or hurtful disregard for the feelings of others, something that sociologists describe as ‘social bankruptcy’.

Unfortunately this means cross-cultural communication is rife with opportunities for misunderstanding.

In the Philippines, surprisingly, when dealing with cultural or language barriers, speaking louder does not actually improve communications. Here, harsh or even firm words spoken in public are not an option. One does not embarrass oneself or others with public displays of anger or irritation. Such public humiliation means loss of face for everyone involved. This is not always something the frustrated Australian expatriate understands.

During my years overseas, I have assiduously tried to rise above my own cultural ignorance. Sadly, I am hampered by a personality flaw or genetic dysfunction common to red heads. I have a very short fuse. While I am equally quick to recover my humour, the damage is done. Confronted by my all too visible frustration, Filipinos respond with either a laugh or a wall of silence. What I see as passive resistance or rudeness, they are using as a means to diffuse an awkward situation.

I had one recent encounter with a stall holder who had sold me a faulty mobile phone several weeks earlier. We had endless problems with the battery, which would go flat after only 6 hours. I had tried to replace the battery and had even taken it to Australia when it was suggested that the battery had been affected by humidity. But I had no joy there either. So we re-visited the stallholder who finally offered to exchange it. However, it seems that in the meantime my phone had dropped about 40% in value and replacing now meant upgrading and paying the difference. I later realized that the girl’s bowed head and seeming distraction, the nervous giggling, her sudden refusal to speak to me in English but only in Tagalog to our driver was her way of attempting to diffuse the steam now pouring from my nostrils.

I am ashamed to admit that I lost my cool. I felt totally ripped off. To to me, the girl’s behaviour seemed rude and dismissive. My anger got me nowhere. I hissed and spluttered and left the store with the same damaged goods with which I had entered. Half way back to the car I was already regretting my embarrassing outburst. In the heat of the moment, despite my best intentions to control my temper and respect the local culture, I forgot everything I had learned about managing these situations effectively.

Later I ‘fessed up to my husband who just laughed and said ‘well, you did the best you could’.

No! I cried. I didn’t! I behaved really badly, & I’ll never be able to go back there again!’

‘Yes,’ he reassured me, ‘but that was your best.’

Well that is Aussie honesty for you, and doubtless exactly what I deserved. But sometimes I wish we Aussies were less honest and more in touch with the notion of saving face!

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A Tropical Christmas

Posted on 15 November 2011 by sheg4184

Is it a little early for Christmas tales? Not in Manila, where the scent of Christmas has been in the air since late September. My guidebook says Filipinos pride themselves on having the longest Christmas in the world, and so it would seem. The official Christmas season starting date is Advent, four weeks before Christmas. Yet in Rockwell, the palm trees are gift-wrapped in glorious orange lights in late October; enormous cone-shaped Christmas trees are erected inside and out of every mall as soon as Hallowe’en is over; the supermarkets have been filling the aisles with food baskets (gifts for staff) for weeks, and the pianist at St Luke’s Hospital was playing carols in September.

A legacy of Spanish colonization, Christianity encompasses the vast majority of the population, and most of the Catholic churches date from that era. But American influence predominates in the malls. Despite the tropical heat, images of a northern hemisphere Christmas still abound in the Philippines, as snow is sprayed onto Christmas displays, and poor old Santa is clad in his traditional heavy red coat and huge black boots, melting away in his sleigh on Makati rooftops like Frosty the Snowman. Last year our mall had a display of life-sized Polar Bears, Snow Leopards and Siberian Tigers. This year it is white antlered deer and a small white bear nodding on a sleigh. As is perfectly acceptable in the Philippines, Santa sits cheerfully beside a solemn tableau of Christ’s birth in the main foyer.

In Europe, Christ’s birthday was arranged to coincide with the mid-winter solstice, bringing a heart-warming message of hope and new life during the bleakest days of the year. In the Philippines, Christmas coincides with the rice harvest so it is hardly surprising that pre-Christmas Festivals that begin in November and reach a crescendo on Christmas Eve, all  involve a frenzy of feasting. Celebrations finally culminate on January 6: Epiphany or Three King’s Day. And then it’s probably time to diet.

In Australia, Christmas coincides with summer holidays. In his poem A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas wrote ‘one Christmas was so much like another’ and so I remember my childhood Christmases in Australia. An amalgam of Victorian conventions crossed with hot Australian summers, Christmas always contained the same basic cast of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins and the incongruity of a 40’C day served up with a steaming roast turkey and platefuls of baked vegetables – heavy meals that left you bloated and sank like a stone to the pit of your stomach. Eventually the aunts rebelled at spending hours in a sauna-like kitchen, and Uncle Jack stepped in with cold seafood hors d’oeuvres and a barbecue.

The Christmas pudding, however, was the one tradition that could never be forestalled by adult rationale. Prepared months before and hung in its calico hammock in the cellar to age like a good wine, on Christmas day it was resurrected and set to steam in the vast marmalade pot. At the last minute, it was doused in brandy and set alight. Blue flames licked greedily up the sides of that mountain of raisins and orange peel, finally setting on fire the holly that was perched on the peak. A sacrifice to the gods or a Christmas martyr?  This ritual was rapidly followed by another: the children’s frantic search for the silver favours. Mum still finds a way to deliver a home-made plum pudding into whichever corner of the world we may have strayed.

My husband has similar memories, although the food culture was southern European. Food and plenty of it, seems to have been the underlying philosophy. It is one we have adopted with our own family, which makes us a perfect fit for the Philippines!

Here, the food culture is an extravagant mix of Filipino, Chinese, Spanish and American and the locals simply like to eat. As with religion, the Spanish have left a lasting impression on the lexicon of Filipino cooking: caldereta, adobo, lechon de leche, tamales and empinadas. Also, several Spanish cooking methods, such as sautéing onions and tomatoes, stewing meat in wine, and frying were adopted by the Filipinos.  Many Chinese and Filipino names were  translated into Spanish for the Spanish clientele, glamourizing the dishes in the same way we have used French to add a soupçon of sophistication. These included arroz caldo (rice and chicken soup) and morisqueta tostada (fried rice). Comida China (Chinese food) was cooked in a carajay or wok and served at panciterias (noodle cafés).

Yet on the whole, Spanish cuisine made little impact on the day-to-day culinary traditions of the indigenous Filipinos,, for whom it was too expensive to reproduce. Dishes that were common in Spain and Mexico, such as stews, paella and rellenos required expensive imported ingredients in the Philippines.  Thus they assumed a dignity they did not possess in Spain. Instead, they would gradually seep into Filipino kitchens to be adapted into ‘fiesta fare’ or food made only for festivals and special occasions. Spanish stews now combine everything from pork and beef, to chicken and chorizo, paella is filled with anything that can be caught in the sea, while Amy Besa, Filipina restaurateur and cookbook author, claims rellenos became ‘anything that can conceivably be stuffed’.

Brazo de Mercedes

Rich, elaborate desserts such as tortas imperiales (almond cake) and Brazo de Mercedes (a meringue roll filled with butter cream) are still popular today, and leche flan (crème caramel) remains forever number one on a list of top twenty desserts compiled by Filipino food blogger Market Man.

Unfortunately we won’t be celebrating in tropical Manila this year. A family vote decided that we were overdue for a white Christmas so we are heading to New York. But I will get my taste of the Philippines – I am planning to book a pre-Christmas feast at Purple Yam with Amy Besa!

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Body Language

Posted on 8 November 2011 by sheg4184

Today I had to give my fifth speech for Toastmasters International, a club for learning to become a better public speaker. I had it all planned and prepared, and then this morning, over a cup of coffee, I opened the guide book to check I had everything covered.

Speech Five was entitled “Your Body Speaks”. I was to use stance, body movements and gestures to convey my message, and movement should be smooth and natural. Well, I thought, I can’t do it. Why not? Because I have been crippled by my personal trainer and body language is beyond me. It’s all I can do to stand up straight.

So, you probably need to know a bit more about me. I am a pretender. As in: ‘pretending to be Australian.’ As you probably know, all Australians love sport. My family did. My parents still play tennis every week. My brothers kicked footies and swung cricket bats. My sister played everything and still travels everywhere by bicycle. They watched cricket all summer and Aussie Rules all winter, even if it meant taking it in turns to prop up the coat hanger that doubled as a TV aerial.

I didn’t. I hated cricket and rugby and badminton and horse racing and snooker and soccer and swimming… although I have to admit, I do enjoy watching my sons play basketball. I play really bad tennis as rarely as possible. I don’t like exercising. I loathe sweating. I am not even an armchair sportswoman. I read books. I like Scrabble.

Once I had removed myself from the school netball team (totally feeble, no stamina and I hate bashing frozen fingers on the ball) my only exercise was riding to school. Two whole blocks. And that was simply to disguise the fact that our puppy had eaten my school hat. Both of them, summer and winter. And they were too expensive to be replaced just for Milly to chew them up again.

I continued to ride my bike until I left Australia. Not for the exercise I hasten to add, but because they were the only wheels I had. For years, this minimalist approach to exercise was fine. I had a fantastic metabolism. I could eat anything and everything without gaining weight. Through three pregnancies my friends laughed at the basketball on a stick. Then it all went pear-shaped. Literally.

Three kids, thirty-(late)-something-ish, and we had moved to the UK where I discovered Sainsbury’s cheese counter. My o-so-brilliant metabolism went screaming off down the aisles. I gained more weight than I care to admit. Suffice to say that one basketball had multiplied into four. Curvacious? Nope. Circular. I had lost my waist and gained huge thighs. Moving to Sydney was no help. While the rest of Australia was jogging along Bondi Beach ten times a day, I was sitting behind my computer working on my Masters and drinking too much wine.

Anyway…

I surprised myself. I was lunging, lifting, leaping, and loving it. I had the sweetest trainer: enthusiastic, energetic and encouraging. I wouldn’t say the pounds were melting off, but I was slowly toning up and discovering muscles I never knew I had. By the time I followed the boys to Manila I was looking less rotund and feeling much better. And I wanted to keep it up. I had worked too hard to want to go backwards. Our apartment block had a great gym and I found a good trainer.

But…

A year on, and I was bored. Let’s face it, gyms are boring. I took the boys to Cebu for a week. Then my trainer had a week off. I lost momentum. So, on Monday, I decided to ‘act on yesterday’s good intentions’ (Toastmaster’s saying for the week) and I hit the gym again. Or rather, it hit me.

Lunging, lifting, leaping and definitely NOT loving it! At the end of the session I nearly fell down the stairs my legs were so wobbly. Today it’s worse. My legs are stiff and sore and cannot climb stairs.  My shoulders and stomach muscles ache. I can barely raise my arms.

And they want a speech with fluid body language? Sorry, that won’t be happening. Their bodies may be able to speak. Mine is just screaming… for a massage, a bath and bed.

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Manila: City of Contrasts

Posted on 5 November 2011 by sheg4184

An oxymoron is something that consists of incongruous, disparate or contradictory elements. For me, the word oxymoron describes Manila perfectly. And the first jarring disparity struck me almost the minute I stepped off the plane at Ninoy Aquino International Airport: namely the extreme juxtaposition between rich and poor.

Five star luxury

On the one hand, the luxury lifestyle of the upper class inhabitants of gated communities like Dasmarinas, Forbes Park or Rockwell: the huge houses; the staff; the top of the range imported SUVs; the State of the Art schools for their kids. On the other hand there is the stark contrast of the cut and pasted tin shacks in shanty towns like Tondo, where there is no running water, erratic electricity and transport that consists of one’s feet, a rickety Pedicab or the brightly painted but antiquated jeepneys. Schools? Well, let’s just say there is nothing State of the Art about the rough and ready orphanages for the homeless street kids.

As I have become more familiar with Manila, so I have become more and more aware of its oxymoronic nature. Consider the weather. In the rainy season, the heavens open and the deluge could knock you off your feet. You wonder if the torrential downpour will ever cease as the typhoons rampage through the city, and the skies seem to be permanently overcast. You find yourself on the lookout for sandbags or an ark – even on the 32nd floor! And then suddenly it’s over, and for months the sky is crystal clear. Not a drop of rain. Not a whisper of a cloud.

Then there is the popular perception of the Filipinos as friendly and hospitable, the image of the ever-present smile, the warm ‘Mabuhay’.  All of these are valid, but all are in sharp contrast to the ever-present security guard, the personification of suspicion and mistrust.

High security batons

There he is at the entrance to every shopping mall, waving his magic baton over your bags in the expectation of finding a knife, a gun or perhaps a hand-grenade. Or alternatively the security guard that checks your shopping bags ten metres from the checkout, in case you have somehow managed to top up your shopping with pilfered goodies in those final five paces to the exit.

The most fascinating incongruity I have uncovered, however, is that of religion and capitalism.  In the sixteenth century the Spanish colonists arrived and quickly converted the Filipinos to Catholicism. Since then, Manila has become a devout and devoted City of Churches. On a recent exploration I discovered more than half a dozen churches only a stone’s throw from our apartment, from the garishly gilded to the starkly simple. I have watched penitents crawl on their knees to the altar, and children decked out for their first communion. I have seen hearses crawling through the streets of Angeles while relatives and friends trailed behind on foot. I have queued at the airport while a woman tried to gently arrange the family saint through the scanner on its way home to the provinces for the All Saints day holiday. Four hundred years later Christianity is still alive and well in the Philippines.

SM Mall of Asia

Yet, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Americans arrived to colonize and capitalize, and Manila also became a city of shopaholics and shopping malls.

But the Bible suggests that we can only serve one master, either God or Mammon; spirituality or greed and materialism. Jesus threw the shopkeepers out of the Temple. Still, in South Australia in the 1980s, the shops closed at noon on Saturday and didn’t re-open until nine o’clock on Monday morning. Sunday was a holy day; a day of rest quite separate from a weekday, and never the twain shall meet.

So imagine my surprise, during my first weekend in Manila, to discover a chapel on the top floor of the Power Plant Mall. The congregation had overflowed onto the concourse, where the faithful leaned on the railings listening to the service through loud-speakers while surreptitiously watching the shops and the shoppers out of the corner of their eyes.

Later I discovered Greenbelt mall. Arguably the most attractive shopping centre in Manila, Greenbelt consists of five buildings filled with fine restaurants, bars and designers shops, clustered around a lush green linear park. A chain of ponds run through the centre, bejewelled with goldfish, ducks and turtles. And at the top end, like a hovering space ship or a giant water lily, is the Santa Niño del Paz Community church. On Sunday, this open air chapel fills and spills its congregation across the bridges into the park. Hymns waft through the air, and an unlikely peace descends on the park, the worshippers and the shoppers.

Yet, while I may find this contradictory – church and mall intertwined – the Filipinos seem to take it in their stride and seem to see no incongruity in serving both God and Mammon. As reflected in their eclectic food culture and their heterogeneous race, Filipinos are adept at blending black and white into all shades of the rainbow. It is a national trait.

So a local website describes the Greenbelt chapel as ‘a blessed pause with the Lord for the busy office workers, the tired shoppers and the nearby dwellers.’  It is truly a piece of heaven in the middle of a shoppers paradise; spirituality in the midst of materialism. An oxymoron? Not in the Philippines!

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Jamming at the Fruit Garden

Posted on 4 November 2011 by sheg4184

“The rule is: jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today”

So says the White Queen to Alice in Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass’

For those of us who like jam every day, I would like to introduce you to Pierre Marmonier and his wife Andrea. Foodies of long-standing, the couple recognized a niche market in luxury, locally made jams that used neither additives nor  preservatives. After some experimentation, they tested twenty flavours on a bunch of their friends. The Fruit Garden’s first products appeared in October 2009.

After years of working in the tobacco industry in Europe, Africa and Asia, Pierre finally settled down in Manila two years ago with Andrea and their two daughters. At this point Pierre decided he needed a sea-change. “I always wanted to do something on my own,” he shared.

The inspiration for jam-making came from his childhood. “My mother always made her own jams” he explained. Years later, living in Paris with his own family, he would take them out to the country every Summer to go strawberry picking. And they always collected extra to make jam.

The Fruit Garden jams are sold in pretty jars that come all the way from Italy. Pierre is determined to recycle, so every Sunday morning at the Legazpi market you can return your empty jars. And the hotels that serve Fruit Garden jams are also trying to implement this policy.

Flavours? There are plenty. Currently, the range includes strawberry (forever a favourite with the kids), pineapple, mango and a dalandan marmalade (dalandan is a native orange). And it doesn’t end there. The pineapple jam comes solo or accompanied by mango or coconut rhum. Strawberry jam is blended with mango, or with mint or banana. And there is a glorious range of mango jams, where mango is combined with ginger, white chocolate, vanilla, papaya or spices. My personal favourite is an interesting mango and lavender.

The range also includes a delicious pure honey from Abra, fruit chutneys and a special collection of jams made with seasonal fruits. In a recent new development, the Marmoniers are hoping to produce soy based candles in chocolate and vanilla.
Thinking Christmas? There are also beautiful boxed gift sets.

So where can you find these mouth-watering jams? Try the Legazpi Sunday market or the American Women’s Bazaar. They are also available at the Bacchus Epicierie at Power Plant Mall; The Market Deli in Salcedo Village; the Dusit Thani lobby delicatessen, and Paris Délice . Further field, look in True Deli, Victoria Tower, QC, Deli Boys in San Juan, Manila Airport and even in Cebu, Baclod and Borocay. And I noticed that the honey even put in an appearance at the BWA Afternoon Tea recently. So here’s to the Marmoniers and their scrumdiddlyumptious jams!
http://www.thefruitgarden.net/

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