Meeting prehistoric ancestors in Jakarta

Couldn't help remembering my history classes here in Jakarta. It offered living proof that we Filipinos are truly descendants of Indo-Malay people (who walked on landbridges long before we could recall the name of our oldest forefathers)!

Skimming the surface. Apart from a closer semblance to Indonesians compared to other Southeast Asian cousins (from Thailand, Vietnam, etc. who seem to have stronger Chinese influence), we are very much prehistorically related to Indonesians in terms of our positive disposition (friendly, extremely hospitable), food (greasy) and language. In fact, one of the highlights of this trip was figuring out some of the Bahasa words I encountered. Dig this:
BAHASA / FILIPINO (DIALECT ) / ENGLISH
dua / duwa, dalawa / two
pitu / pito / seven
walu / walo / eight
libu / libo / thousand
pintu / pinto / door
gunting / gunting / scissors
balut / balot / wrap
anak-anak / anak / child
mura / mura / cheap
mahal / mahal / expensive
makan / mangan (kapampangan) / food
babi / baboy / pig
kambing / kambing / goat
krupuk / kropek / some crunchy fishy-smelling snack

I even found this dish that closely resembled our bulalo (bone marrow soup) except it tasted more like beef sinigang and they had a different way of taking out the marrow. They suck it out with a straw! Eeeeyyyummmm...

Trang and Rahul marvelling at this thing called the krupuk, found in almost every market stall --- in different shapes and colours, too!
And just when I thought that the kulintang was originally ours, I find that they have it too! Either they invented the musical instrument or we did! Does it matter?!? :) This isn't exactly the kulintang but I saw a lot of it in the souvenir shop as well as the sungka!
Under our skin. Both our nation's histories share a similar pattern. Our culture has some Chinese influence the same way that theirs has traces of Indian culture. Our countries were both colonised by European nations for several centuries and somehow been bruised by that experience. In spite of this we both seem to carry on a deep sense of religiousity. Indonesia is about 80% Moslem, 20% Christian while the Philippines is about 80% Christian, 20% Moslem.

This one's for Marla...

Fondue.

Good cheese (priced reasonably) is not the easiest to find here. Just when I had thought of giving up my search, I was encouraged to find a place that actually serves fondue. Thanks to Judah Ruiz who has lived here long enough to know where these secret places are!

Address: "Fondooz" in Central World Mall on Ratchadamri Road (short twenty-minute walk from where I live).

Admittedly, "Fondooz" is nowhere in the vicinity of our own "Old Swiss Inn" (Manila) but nonetheless satisfies the craving for this gustatory experience.

Chocolate fondue, strawberries and butter cake with Jolina and Judah.

Continental Dessert.

Likewise with cheese, my search for fine continental dessert (cakes, pies, pastries) has been wrought with a fair amount of frustration. Don't get me wrong, this country abounds with some of the best-tasting local desserts I've ever had but every now and then (for me, more often than most non-locals) one's sweet tooth craves for what's familiar: chocolate cake, cheese cake, rhum butter cake, brownies, cinnamon roll, ensaimada, churros, cookies, crepes, etc. Or...maybe...what I considered nondescript back home suddenly took on a special turn and became novel here where I live. There you have it. The paradox of the human heart: We desire what we cannot have!

Anyhow, my Thai officemate brought me and my boss to the "Secret Garden" two weeks ago. It's a Thai restaurant that has a portion devoted solely to serving dessert (cakes) with coffee. Not as wide an array as I would have hoped but it's feel and spread is the closest sweet haven I can find for now.

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Speaking of ensaimada, I was fortunate enough to receive several "Mary Grace" cheese rolls straight from the daughter (Chiara Dimacali) of the Mary Grace. Chiara was here last week to celebrate her boyfriend's birthday, Vic Hugo.

Half a Day at a Cooking School

Last Sunday, I attended a half-day session at the Baipai Thai Cooking School to learn how to cook a sampling of some of the most popular Thai dishes. Suffice it to say, it was fun!

As a format, the teacher first demonstrates how to prepare a particular dish after which each of us get to create the same dish from scratch! It all seems very complicated at the start but part of the fun really comes from the amazement of being able to replicate what our teacher had taught us. Following are photos of what I cooked myself:

Tab Tim Grobb (Water chestnut in coconut milk)

Tom Kah Gai (Chicken and galangal in coconut milk soup)...surprisingly delectable, a worthy rival to the more famous Tom Yum Goong!

Pad Thai (Stir fried rice noodle, Thai style)...star of this course menu.

Tod Man Pla (Fish cake) and Baipai Cooking School's recipe:

Ingredients: Makes 5 pieces
80 grams Fish fillet, boned
2 teaspoons Red curry paste
30 grams Winged beans, shredded (aka sigarillas)
2 Kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded (the closest I would suggest is dayap leaves)
1 tablespoon salted water
2 cups Oil for deep frying

How to cook:
1. Mix and mash fish fillet whilst adding a little salted water for about 5 minutes.
2. Add in the curry paste and mix to combine well.
3. Add winged beans, kaffir lime leaves and mix to combine well.
4. Scoop some fish cake mixture into your hand and roll to form a ball about 1 inch in diameter.
5. Then flattern the ball to form a fish cake patty.
6. Bring the cakes to deep fry over medium heat, turning regularly until the ckaes are cooked and golden brown.

There were only 7 of us students so we really received a lot of instruction from our 2 teachers. All my classmates though were either tourists or on business capping off their visit with learning how to cook Thai cuisine. For those of you planning to come here and are interested to go beyond shopping or sight-seeing, you can visit http://www.baipai.com/ for a different taste of Thailand. For more recipes, let me know...

The Limbacos

My adoptive family in Bangkok (clockwise left to right): Kevin, Elaine, Nick and Gabby.

National Children's Day

A month ago (16th January), Thailand celebrated National Children's Day. Our church (Every Nation, aka Victory in the Philippines) marked this day by orgnising an outreach to more than 300 children at a community in Central Ladprao, Bangkok. The community is a Day Care for less fortunate children who, to my mind, are not used to being well-attended to, much less receving gifts like toys or school supplies. It took a good 2km walk going to and from the community coming from Big C Ladprao Mall. Cliche as it may sound but it was worth enduring the noonday heat just to bring smiles to these children. To borrow from the newsletter of Malen Talusan, a Filipino missionary at our chuch:

"On this day, we distributed bags filled with groceries, snacks, colouring books, crayons and pencils to to children of drug addicts and parents who work in the provinces. We played games and shared God in a natural way. Please continue to pray that one day they will grow up in a secure environment...full of God's love."
Children at the community we visited playing "The Boat is sinking." That's Pastor Jonas (Bernales), in black, looking on.

Elephants...one blue, others straying like cats

The Blue Elephant. Recently had the pleasure of dining at this famous Thai cooking school and restaurant specialising on Royal Thai Cuisine with Elaine Limbaco and Roel Hernandez (aka "Coach" by Unilever Pinoys...in Bangkok for a workshop). We found the food to be aroi (delicious) but my opinion must have been influenced by its delicate and meticulous presentation - fit for kings, as Coach wisely pointed out. Photo below is just appetiser.

I was so delighted to explore this "100 year old mansion." It's rare to see an old colonial-style structure in Thailand. At the top floor of the building is the cooking school. One room is for "theory class" where the students get to watch the kruu (teacher) do a live demonstration of how to cook the dishes to be learned that day. The other room is a big kitchen with individual stoves for each student. For me, The Blue Elephant was reminiscent of Casa Manila and Chef Gene Gonzalez' Cafe Ysabel. Suddenly missed evaluating the occasional full-course meals prepared by his graduating students! I hope we have more of this kind of novelty back home.

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Stray Elephants.At the start of the year when everyone else had gone back from the holidays, I was so stunned to see not just one but four elephants on a vacant lot outside my office window! I remember my Dad remarking, when I texted him, if the elephants I saw were "ceramic or live ones!" Well, they were live enough to loiter near our parking lot for more than half a day. Learned later on the elephants were part of a parade that evening for the 100th year celebration of the resident bank in our building complex (Siam Commercial Bank) where apparently some royalty had graced the affair. Of course, how could anyone have missed that!

My parents' Birthdays and a Thai Wedding

Parents' Birthdays. Was home in Manila last weekend to celebrate my father's 60th birthday last 5th February. Without much fanfare he chose to quietly spend it with his siblings. A week before his birthday was my Mom's (31st January). I'm just grateful for the time spent with family last week.

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Thai Wedding. I attended my first Thai wedding last 7th January. My officemate Yoong (bride) got married to Santi (groom).
Similar to Chinese-Filipino weddings, Yoong and Santi (who are Chinese-Thais) had their wedding ceremony earlier in the day attended only by family followed by a cocktail reception at the Intercon in the evening. There must have been about 1,000 guests during the reception with the Thais all dressed to the nines! The Thai women were all professionally styled and fashionably dressed (they wore modern clothes, not traditional Thai costumes as I had presumed). Astonishingly, the men all seemed to be wearing D&G or Armanis! The programme was fairly straightforward with speeches from Yoong's and Santi's respective big bosses followed by an interview of the couple, a song number from one of our officemates and a champagne-pouring ceremony (for abundance).
One thing I realised that night is that Pinoys, compared to Thais, give equal, if not more, weight to food over looking fabulous.

Tick off the box

I started off with the "Bangkok Chronicles" thinking I'd write volumes to update people from home (Philippines) of life here in Amazing Thailand. Eventually inertia set in (or is it the fear of rejection?...not sure the update was completely welcome) and so the Chronicles had been reduced to a single volume and a prequel to a second! Nevertheless, I remained desperate to stay connected with family and friends in some form or another.

Hence, this blog.

I had first heard of this bit of technology a few years back and said to myself, being the ultimate non-techie that I am, it was public scrutiny I would never subject myself to. Yet the thought of blogging stewed in my head for weeks as the day I left Manila (for Bangkok) approached. More so now. Oddly enough, it was Pastor Joey's blog entry "Intimidated by blogsphere" that convinced me to set out on this new adventure (visit http://joeybonifacio.blogspot.com/). I was reminded of something I read somewhere that the secret to youth is constantly experiencing the joy and surprise of learning something new.

And so here I am bungee-jumping into the unknown. Another proverbial tick off the box. I certainly don't intend to run out of boxes to tick and would gladly have you stay close as I navigate my way through. Enjoy the ride!