The Case of the Live Maggots — this would be the title of the book if super teenage amateur detective, Nancy Drew, were the one solving the mystery that happened at a Northern California Goldilocks branch.

I wonder how the bakeshop/restaurant chain is faring after their customers reported them to the Department of Health and appeared on TV warning people about the food they’re serving . That could be a big bad blow to their business.

A month ago Balitang America on TFC oh-so-gingerly reported(Goldilocks is a major advertiser) that a Filipino family and  their foreign guest had an upsetting experience when they had lunch at a Goldilocks branch in Northern Callifornia.  After having finished  their chicken adobo, they discovered, to their horror, that there were live maggots wriggling in the remaining sauce of the dish.  Using a cameraphone, they took a video of it as evidence and brought the matter to the attention of health authorities.  Thankfully, they only had mild nausea and vomitting. None of them was hospitalized for food poisoning.

I don’t like the food chain, for reasons that deserve to be discussed in a whole new post, but I do agree with their representative when he said, “I can’t understand how there can be live maggots in our food.”

Maggots are fly larvae that grow in rotten meat.  What puzzles me is — why are the maggots alive?  If, for the sake of argument, Goldilocks used rotten and maggot-infested chicken for their adobo, wouldn’t the critters die in the heat of the cooking process?  I don’t  think they have the ability to withstand high temperatures. If there were maggots in the meat, then what the customers would see are dead ones.  They shouldn’t be slithering and having a good time all over the platter.  If the meat is so spoiled that there’d be worms growing in it, I’m sure there’d also be all kinds of sickness-causing bacteria in it, bacteria that could cause food poisoning. What baffles me is that how come the people  who ate it didn’t get sick at all?

Something doesn’t seem right here.  This case calls for the sleuthing skills of perpetual-eighteen-year-old, Nancy Drew. 

“Role model? Definitely. Genius? Oh, yeah.

Goddess?Probably.”

Just a humble suggestion to the administrators of Goldilocks: they should try reading the book above. Nancy Drew’s Guide to Life  is written by Jennifer Worick, published by Running Press. The book is very tiny, about 2 3/4 by 3 1/2 inches, but it is packed with useful info taken from the first 56  mysteries that have been published.  In addition to sleuthing tips, they can  also consult it if they  need advice on being a lady, the delicate art of etiquette, survival strategies, and dating. Who knows… they just might pick up a trick or two that might help them get to the bottom of this hullabaloo.

Nayna Katigbak. Just an ordinary girl.

Or is she? HHHmmm….

Historical revelations are not an everyday occurrence, so much so that when one does occur, you do what any historian would  naturally do. You document it. This is what I’m doing here (not because I’m a historian, but because I’m a bored housewife who can’t watch TV after doing the dishes, thanks to my two-year-old who is hogging the screen, watching her fave cartoons).

It all started when I said, “Katigbak…  I seem to have come across that name in Philippine History books. Are you, in any way, related to some historical figure?”  Nayna, who was a visitor at my mother’s place,  cocked her head slightly to one side and  looked at the ceiling thoughtfully.  Then she began, ” All I know, from an auntie who made our family tree, is that we are descendants of Segunda Katigbak.  On my mother’s side, we are related to Leonor Rivera.”

Do these names ring a bell? If they don’t, what grade did you get in your PI 100 class? In UP, PI 100 is the required course on Dr. Jose Rizal. I don’t know what they call it in other colleges, but I’m sure that most teachers of the course would never skip juicy class discussions and speculations about the love life of the Philippine National Hero.   That’s right.  Leonor Rivera and Segunda Katigbak are among the many love interests of Rizal.  

And this Nayna Katigbak– this pretty, slim, chinita lady in my mother’s living room could very well have been smooching with the Julio Iglesias of Philippine History  if she had been born 140 years ago.  

Sparks would have flown between them had Rizal laid eyes on her. She is, afterall,  a living relic of Segunda Katigbak and Leonor Rivera.  She carries the genes of these two women, who were not just our hero’s cup of tea, but have held hands with him and probably even done some hanky panky with him.  (gasp!)  WHOOAAAA! What an awesome realization! I have touched the demi god of our country through Nayna Katigbak. 

Look what I found when I cleaned out my medicine cabinet! Along with other expired medicines was my bottle of Goldenseal capsules.  It served me well five years ago, so before it goes down the recycling bin, I would like to give it a little tribute.

I used to suffer from severe heartburns.  I had this burning sensation at the upper portion of my abdomen, just right below my breastbone. Before meals I would feel like I was very, very hungry. I would eat a lot to satisfy that hunger sensation. An hour after eating I would feel the same thing. After a while the burning sensation was not limited to before and after meals.  It stayed with me all through my  waking hours. I was always thinking about it.  It got so bad that I couldn’t ignore the pain any longer.  I couldn’t convince myself anymore  that it was just going to go away on its own.  I had to do something.  I checked my symptoms at WebMD. There I learned that I probably had Acid Reflux or GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease). My stomach contents were backing up and acid was burning my esophagus.

Since I’m the type of person who doesn’t like medicines, I thought I’d look around for herbal supplements that I could use.  I found several.  I settled for Goldenseal (for the simple reason that I liked the name) and prayed to God it would work.  My regimen was two  535 mg capsules daily. I  avoided all irritating food: chocolate, peppermint, pizza, milk, ice cream, coffee, tea, soda, citrus, sinigang, salads with vinaigrette dressing, tomatoes, and all other spicy/oily/sour food (basically all the fun foodstuff). My diet was bland. I ate small and frequent meals, making sure not to lie down after eating.   Carried crackers all the time.   All these things I did religiously for  two months.  Would you believe that all the bothersome pain just disappeared and never came back? Couldn’t believe it myself.

I swear. This one really works!

After winning four awards at the 2008 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, “BRUTUS, ang Paglalakbay”  will try its luck at the 44th Chicago International Film Festival.  

BRUTUS is a film about two Mangyan kids who decided to haul illegal logs, using a bamboo raft,  from the mountains to the lowlands, in order to help their families earn a living. As they go on their journey they meet friends and foes, deal with mother nature,death,and failure. Inspite of all these they manage to hang on to the innocence of their culture. 

I’d like to invite you to watch the screening if you live in Chicago.  Here are the two play dates below:

Date: October 24, 2008

Time: 8:15 PM

Place: AMC River East 21

Date: October 26, 2008

Time: 2:30 PM

Place: AMC River East 21

 Is this a TURAKSOY?

Ever heard of  Linagpang nga Turaksoy?  Or is it Turagsoy ? (Ka bantot nga ngalan! It sounds like something that comes out of your nose when you have a cold.)  When I was a little girl in Dumangas, Iloilo  I would listen to the AM radio everytime Manang Pelay would come to our  house to wash our clothes. I would always hear this song.

Ang siling sang nakatilaw

Sampat gid ang timplada mo

Linagpang nga turaksoy

Manamit higpon.

These days when I buy fish at Seafood City, this tune would pop up in my head and go on and on like a broken record. I’ve often wondered — what is a turaksoy?  I know it’s a fish but, how does it look?  What on earth is a linagpang? I know it’s a dish, but how do you make it? I sure would like to cook one.

I can understand the popularity of Marvel action figures, but a Jesus action figure…..  Are there really kids who play with that?  Isn’t it sacrilegious to reduce your god into a toy?  Then there are the William Shakespeare, Albert Einstein, and Harry Houdini action figures.  My son would not exactly leap for joy if I were to give him one of those.

It amuses me to imagine the kind of person who  would make these toys. He must be mad or something. And crazier still is the person who would play with them.   Can it  be possible that these toys are tools for educating kids about social studies or literature? (Visions of lesson plans and learning objectives dance in my head. Uggh!) I hope not. I’d rather think of them as products of people with a weird sense of humor.  Why else would they be found in a store called WACKO/ Soap Plant?

Located at 4633 Hollywood Blvd., the store is just a few steps away from the Vermont/Hollywood intersection.  Its colorful shop windows and murals make it quite hard to miss. That’s what got my attention a couple of years ago.  WACKO/Soap Plant sells novelty items and more.  Inside it you’ll also find an art gallery callled “La Luz De Jesus”. Every inch of its large store space is crammed with goods ranging from the cute (Hello Kitty), the cool (Marvel), the naughty ( refrigerator magnets that exhort “Bitch, Jane, Bitch”), to the obscene (plastic toy cops in blue uniform that masturbate when you wind them up).  If this store were a movie, it would have a PG rating. It’s not advisable to let children loose in this place without parental supervision.  Though it has innocent toys for children, it also has items that are meant only for adults.  WACKO is more geared towards  people who have not fully grown up, adults who still want to play. 

It also carries books about art, folk tales, photography, gay/lesbian issues, dating, and  sex.   I love its reproductions of collectible 1950’s wind-up tin toys.  My sister would surely go crazy over their Ugly Doll merchandise of every color, shapes, and sizes.  BASTA. I love this place.  It has stuff that you’ll never find in regular stores.  All of them are unique, colorful, funny, artsy, and  sometimes dirty — all guaranteed  put a smile on you face.  This is my happy place. After every visit,  I always go home  with a lighter spirit.  

No, this isn’t the kind of gulaman that we have at home in Iloilo.  All I know is that it is a large seaweed shredded into very thin strips so that, from a distance, it looks almost like our very own gulaman. I had this for dinner with some fried fish. That would be “Sampat”, perfect combination.

Reminds me of Jaro market days. We always had ensalada nga gulaman for lunch every Thursday way back when I was in High School.

How do you recreate this dish when you’re across the pacific, miles away from home, in Los Angeles? Go to any asian store and look for dried seaweeds. You’ll usually find it near the Japanese Nori. Get the thinnest shredded dried seaweed. That’s the Roxy brand. Priced at around a dollar, it’s really quite cheap. One thin pack would be good for four people. Next, you reconstitute it by immersing it in boiling water until it becomes plump and tender.  Drain. Mix with chopped tomatoes, onions, and a little ginger.  Put some shredded green  Mexican Mango (almost as good as the Indian Mango). Make sure it’s bagnas (not ripe). Sprinkle some pepper and sugar to taste. Pour some vinegar, maybe 3-5 tablespoons. The best vinegar for ensalada is rice  vinegar. It’s a little on the sweet side. I’ve always used Marukan. And voila… ensala nga gulaman. It’s a Thursday again for me and I’m having lunch  at my Lola’s house in Jaro.

Nice, huh? What you think? It’s a bit too photographic-looking and not stylized enough like the Byzantine mosaics I admire, but I like it nevertheless.

This one was done by an Ilonggo artist, RJ Juarez.  He lives in Barotac Nuevo and  finished a business course at UP Visayas. He does this type of work for a living and promotes it out of a  small store space at the upperground floor of SM City Iloilo. (I wonder how he’s coping after Typhoon Frank flooded the shopping center?)  

The huge mosaic above is the image of St. Anthony de Padua, patron saint of the Barotac Nuevo parish church.  It was  donated by the artist to his hometown. Pretty generous of him! What makes this and all his other works noteworthy is that he sources his materials from trash and construction scraps. That must be very time-consuming and difficult. Smelly. Dirty. If you’re just rummaging through garbage bags for the materials you need, how can you be sure you’ll have enough for your work? My hat goes off to him! He is living the green ideal.  I hope he keeps it up.

Actually I’m not going to Brussels, but my sister is. I just feel like I’m going, too. I’m just a cheerleader at the sidelines. My sister’s independent film, BRUTUS,  won four awards last July at the 2008 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival.( I feel like it’s my film too because I had wheedled my husband into becoming one of its executive producers. ) Her film has been chosen to participate at the Brussels International Film Festival. I think it’s a great honor.  Below is a copy of an article about it from PEP:

    

Tara Illenberger’s Brutus is competing in the 35th Brussels IFF along with Maryo J. Delos Reyes’ Torotot. Carlito (played by Yul Servo, partially hidden) accompanies Mangyan kids Adag (Tim Mabalot) and Payang (Rhea Medina) as they travel the Lisap River in Oriental Mindoro.

Cinemalaya 2008’s winner of the Special Jury prize in the Full Length Feature category,Brutus: Ang Paglalakbay by Tara Illenberger has been selected to compete at the 35th Brussels International Independent Film Festival this November 4-10, 2008.  

Brutus tells the tale of two Mangyan children hired by illegal loggers to smuggle wood from the mountains to the lowlands. In the process, they discover a world run by the greed of men, a world governed by ideologies that bring about the armed conflict in the Mindoro highlands. InBrutus, Adag (Tim Mabalot) and Payang (Rhea Medina) travel the Lisap River in Oriental Mindoro with their newfound friend Carlito (played by Yul Servo). 

Robert Malengreau, general director of the Festival, personally met up with the director and Brutus producer Fiona Borres to invite their film into the competition. A strong supporter of Filipino films, Mr. Malengreau has been bringing Filipino movies to his native country, Belgium, since 1987—from alternative films by Nick Deocampo, Raya Martin and Raymond Red to more mainstream fare from Joel Lamangan and Chito Roño. 

For this year’s competition, Mr. Malengreau chose only two films from the Philippines, the other being Torotot, directed by Maryo J. Delos Reyes, and starring Baron Geisler, Yul Servo, Maui Taylor, and Precious Adona. 

Produced by Bonfire Productions and Cinemalaya Foundation, with the support of the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation (PTFCF), Brutus garnered three other awards—Best Music for Mr. Joey Ayala, Best Supporting Actor for Yul Servo and Best Cinematography for Emilio “Jay” Abello. 

Brutus director Tara Illenberger will be presenting her film with lead actors Mr. Ronnie Lazaro and Manila District Councilor Yul Servo at the festival.