31 Aug, 2008
The Kid, Mrs MM and I are totally amused by this American television program called “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” Besides the fact that some of the questions are completely American biased, like the first names of American Presidents, we seem to do reasonably well as couch contestants. So it…
31 Aug, 2008
Lechon Sisig a la Marketman, finished off on a large sizzling cast iron “plate” on a charcoal fire. Yum. I did a post on sisig a few years ago, here, but was not impressed. Then a few months ago, I decided to try and make sisig from an already roasted, leftover…
30 Aug, 2008
The purveyor at the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne said they were “semi-dried tomatoes.” “Softer and plumper than sun-dried, with a rich deep tomato-ey flavor, accented with dried oregano and soaked in good olive oil.” I took one taste and have loved them ever since. I once worked on a project…
29 Aug, 2008
Grilled liempo or pork belly has to be one of life’s simplest and finest food pleasures. We have this at home at least once a month. And last weekend at the beach, the “non-food focused weekend,” this was lunch one day, served with an eggplant salad. I have done posts on…
28 Aug, 2008
I rarely have buyer’s remorse. That sinking feeling that comes after you have purchased something, usually something a bit unusual and relatively pricey, and you suddenly wish you hadn’t… Sometimes, the regret turns into mild irritation, the kind that you hit yourself on the forehead with a fairly strong whack every single…
27 Aug, 2008
Now I know that I would survive on a South Pacific island abundant with breadfruit if my crew set me adrift a la Captain Bligh, though I would have to deal with the motion sickness bobbing about on the open seas first! Take a mature/ripe breadfruit, earlier post on it here, and throw…
27 Aug, 2008
This is my grandfather’s passport from the 1950’s. With a matte, almost linen-like, khaki-colored cover and numbered by hand as “No. 3155.” It provides a fascinating glimpse into a bygone era of civilized travel. Forget computerized bar-coding, filament infused security paper, or even GPS tracking chips in the most modern, highly laminated and…
26 Aug, 2008
Visiting the Topkapi Palace, literally a stone’s throw from our hotel balcony in Istanbul, started off on a rather hesitant note. At the gates of the Palace, huge throngs of tourists from all over Turkey and around the world waited as tickets were purchased, guides and interpreters contracted, and lost children frantically sought….