The New Prospect

Dizziness in me always occur since watching Rakenrol. Seeing Ramon Bautista in person makes me smiling in the corners of nowhere. It’s always a good start. I always do it every morning (LOL) just to awaken myself. I kiss my son and tell him “Good morning baby! Ikaw ang susunod sa yapak ni Ramon Bautista.” Then he’s like “?” Enough of daydreaming kulasa.

As with new prospect, me and my brother talked about an event that night. As usual I’m excited about it. He’s gonna celebrate his birthday in an event in Baler, Aurora. It’s called Aloha Boardsports and Travel Factor Surf and Music Fest 2011. Yes! Travel Factor is holding up an event with surfing and beach scene pumping together with Wolfgang, Razorback and more!

Image Source: http://bit.ly/n4veVt

 

The event takes place on October 29-31, 2011. This is gonna be an epic weekend for sure.

Check the website for further info: http://bit.ly/rqeegn

Wolfgang never disappoints me. I do really love the band. Their music still lingers in me since 1992. Their musical influences were made by Metallica, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, The Doors, Black Sabbath and Sepultura plus their heroes Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Aerosmith as well.

I bought all of their albums in cassette, yeah, that was thirteen years ago. Sadly it was flushed away together with Milenyo’s angst five years ago. Thanks to the internet technology nowadays because I can still find their ultimate piece of works along with Razorback.

Oh well, there’s a month and a half to go before I meet them again, in flesh, so help me God.

Alternative Music Fanatic

I’ve been diggin’ alternative music since my adolescent stage. My brother and I used to slamdance whenever we hear one and I admit that I’ve influenced him a lot. During my teenage years, I used to watch concerts (even battle of the bands) with him. Although he was young, I noticed he was not really into it and I told him u will get used to it together with a vicious grin in my face. By then, I keep on relishing sounds done by Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, The Smiths, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine and Beastie Boys. Even if we almost had a fight, I don't care until I feel so sleepy then that's his hint to turn off the radio. It was so old school though I really like it!

The Smashing Pumpkins image source: http://bit.ly/od4ZBU

Beastie Boys image source: http://bit.ly/ra1xQ8

A week before 23^rd of July, this current year, my brother invited me to watch “Rakenrol” at the Cultural Center of the Philippines wherein it’s the second to the last day of “indie” film showing. We’re longing for this flick for about four years (if I’m not mistaken) and finally we’ve watched it. As Quark Henares (rakenrol’s director) took his speech, he mentioned that there’s an after party going on by the bay so me and my bro agreed to spend each time together to be with the event and bang our heads all night long.

It was a great feeling because we share the same interest although we have a huge difference regarding personalities but then we keep on slammin’ the floor as if like nobody else there. I was so happy. I really enjoyed Pedicab’s performance. At first, I really don’t know why they make such noise yet I don’t appreciate their style until I saw them live. It so funkly terrific dude! Kudos Pedicab! Together with Itchy Worms, Taken By Cars, Hapipaks and Pupil I felt the time ticks slowly and feel every second in my vein.

Pedicab image source:http://on.fb.me/mZBsjH

 Taken By Cars image source: http://bit.ly/ohoQOY

The sad part is we don’t have pictures while headbanging. Oh well, I’ll try my best to post one if there’s any. 

One Half Vegan

A lot of us have been conscious within the food that we are eating up right now. You may probably think that some are going to basics just for the sake of health. The fact that you’re eating the more nutritious one will benefit you and prolong your life. Eating vegetables contributes a lot in these aspects knowing that picky eaters are getting populated in our generation right now. Preparing one doesn’t mean you have the background in a culinary study. You just have to do research or ask questions about it to someone who eats vegetables better than you.

A vegetarian, from the word itself, eats only vegetables. Can you imagine how in the world can he prepare a diet each and every day for everyday living? I’m not a vegan but I do eat vegetables because I’m used to it. I remembered once Ms. Geneva Cruz become a vegan for several years, in local cooking show prepared mixed vegetables with coconut milk and I do really love that. Vegetables infused with coconut milk increases metabolism of the body and next to better digestion as well but you probably heard that some are intolerant about these dishes. I don’t know why yet I do respect their opinion so there’s no more further questions about it.

One of my favorite vegetarian recipe is the ginataang talong or eggplant with coconut milk. I believe that this is a visayan cuisine but they only use their own vinegar to add distinct flavor as well. Here in tagalong region, they use the commercial vinegar which is the only available in the market.

Here’s the simple steps how to make one:

4 pcs. Eggplants

½ old and shaved coconut meat for kakang gata

1 cup of vinegar

onions,tomatoes and ginger

½ teaspoon of salt (optional)

Prepare the kakang gata using vinegar not water. You can manually squeeze it in your palms (just make sure your hands are clean) or you can buy a squeezed one already in the wet market. Slice the onions, tomatoes and ginger finely. Combine it with the kakang gata with vinegar to blend and season with salt. Cook the eggplant by grilling not by boiling. Boiling intends to add more water to the vegetable which makes it spoiled in short span of time. After grilling, remove its skin gently then put it in the kakang gata with spices. 

 http://bit.ly/pkd2nk

Notice the sweetness of kakang gata while eating. The older the coconut you use the better. Adding more salt is optional but I prefer not due to some health related issues. You know what I mean!

Diningdeng In Real Life

My father is pure Ilocano. He’s a farmer before when we left Isabela. My mom told me that she adapted their culture as well as their language (which I didn’t had a chance of absorbing it) and their food in Ilocos Province. We lived in a kubo way back then with a lots of edible plants around it.

What I liked the most is their famous diningdeng. It is consists of both round eggplant and bittergourd, kidney beans, string beans, sweet potato and even squash (or just any kind of vegetables in general as long as it has bagoong) plus a kilo of fried liempo together with native garlic, onions and plenty of ripe tomatoes. Wait! I forgot bagoong isda!

First cut the vegetables accordingly to their sizes. Heat the pan and put vegetable oil. Fry the liempo until it is golden brown then after washing the main ingriedients, the vegetables, put it in the pan after the golden brown liempo then top it with garlic, onion and tomatoes. Put a bit of water to have its own broth then the famous bagoong isda. Please do strain the bagoong to avoid the fish bones getting along with the broth. Cook in low heat as you stir it occasionally so the vegetables can be cooked equally. Lastly add salt to taste only if it is needed because the bagoong isda itself is already salty.

The image stars the main ingriedient, bunga ng malunggay

I really liked eating diningdeng. I don’t know why. Sometimes they put grilled fish on top of it instead of liempo. I rather dig diningdeng than lechon! Once mommy told me that as early as 8 months old, she fed me with their freshly harvested rice from their fields and bagoong isda only and she told me that I really liked it but then afterwards I got an itch around my mouth yet still I kept on eating. It is already a que so they brought me to the doctor and probably discussed what happened. The Doctor said “Lintik ka, why did you feed her bagoong? Babies should eat the broth of a stewed beef together with its potatoes and carrots. Or a boiled cauliflower maybe. Are you out of your mind?” So on and so forth plus a  little prescriptions to cure to the itch and voila! That would be the main reason why I really liked to eat diningdeng. I do love it and I wanna keep on eating it until the day I die!