Braised Pork Leg

I was never satisfied with my own braised pork leg recipe. It was never brown enough even though how much soy sauce or brown sugar I added to the concoction. It would just get sweeter or saltier but never my desired colored. But with the help of Conchita Co 2 days ago, I was able to perfect my recipe. She instructed me on how to brown my sugar preparation, and wallah, it was successful! Last night I invited her to come over for supper and we finished our braised pork leg up to the last bit of morsel. Now I have a new recipe to add to my notebook. Hehehe.

Sketches

I have done only two sketches so far and they were pretty good. Although both time, I copied the faces from the photographs, l was surprised that I could get a good semblance of the pictures.
The sketch of Julia was done long time ago when she was a little girl. I was trying to show my husband that could do better than his sketch and I think I did. That of Dylan was done yesterday when I was feeling pretty bored inside the office. I saw this nice picture from my husband's desk and out from the protective cover of Time Magazine, I doodled on it. Lucas was surprised at the outcome, I was too!

Group Hysteria

When I was in high school (long time ago), I knew of a group of boys who belonged to the higher batch. They were quite good looking but extremely rowdy. Whenever they grouped together which they usually did, they would loudly cheer and jeer. You would think they were the spirit of the school. I was so afraid of them. Whenever I passed by and heard them laughing, I used to think they were laughing at me. They made absurd remarks about people appearances and made fun of them. Yet surprisingly if you met anyone of them alone, one on one, specially the heckler and noisiest of them all alone at school, his head would be bowed, his eyes down cast and he appeared to be as timid as a carabao.

The above personal experience of how a person reacts differently when in group is a simple example of a psychological factor called mass hysteria. It gives a person a feeling of overpowering strength when he belongs to a raucous group of people and he tends to be abusive because he thinks and feels euphorically strong and un-reproachable. Remember Jesus Christ, he was crucified by mass hysteria through the instigation of the pharisees. Hitler also maniacally made use of mass hysteria to get support for greatness. Now this recent riot in London is also a result of group hysteria. They are caused by a bunch of weak, bored, undisciplined motley group of people who become thieves, looters and robbers at night, covering through a lawless hooded form. I am dismayed that the media even gave them some social and/or political colors and excuses. What is wrong, is wrong. A thief is a thief. No matter what!

Introspective to my own life. I hate big crowds. I am paranoid. I tend to anticipate troubles in crowded area. I stay away from sales in malls and department stores. I never join any rallies even during the heydays of my youth. I associate crowds with pick pockets, sudden commotion, stampede and riots. I am embarrassed to say that I even intentionally stay away from organized groups. The only organization that I am semi involved with is my parish ladies circle. Some people think I am haughty, others anti-social. But I guess I am just being cautious. I simply don't like to get involved or get dragged into group hysteria. I'll rather stay safe than be sorry.

A Sunday in the Life of Lucas and Heddy

Last Saturday evening, I fearfully learned that a certain 'friend' would not be attending the Sunday mass because she had information that there would be bombing at churches in the city. Infact she had not been attending masses for a long time already. Rumor has it that she has reliable information. Here in Cotabato, to go to Church is always some kind of a safety risk. But my husband and I decided to go anyway. That evening I prayed an additional rosary for all our safety.

Sunday morning - My husband and I had eggs over-easy for breakfast at 7 AM. We went to church at the usual time. I wore a white dress as I was going to take my oath as a member of our parish Lecom community. Most members wore a uniformed white robe garb though. ( Hehe I am always some kind of a rebel in my own right.) The mass and the induction went well and uneventful. After the mass, my husband and I and a couple of friends took our mid morning snacks at ChowKing. Lucas had congee while I had chicken noodle soup and we shared a dish of tofu. Our snack with friends was always lively. After the snacks, together with our friends James and Siolan, we decided to visit a newly constructed mall near the old airport called Alnor. The mall is owned by an upcoming muslim businessman. Here in Cotabato, it is always a welcome addition to have new infrastructure in the city. Alnor's mall houses a Bo Coffee shop, a Chinese fine dinning restaurant (that doesn't serve pork) and other stores and establishments as well. It also has a hotel and a convention center. Pretty impressive. We did not actually get down to walk though, we just drove and park around. In addition to the mall establishment, there is also a new Jollibee on construction nearby. The franchise is owed by the South Sea's family complex.
Coming home, I was thankful for the peaceful outcome of the day. Lucas proceeded to the store to do some work in preparation for Monday, while I checked my email, surfed the internet and then practiced my piano pieces. For lunch we had lomie and fried chicken and string beans, and then off we went for a long Sunday afternoon siesta. At 4PM, Lucas and I snacked on toasted bread with cheese whiz. Lucas drank hot chocolate and I had tea for beverage. At 5 PM, we did taichi together. We did one round of warm-up and I did three rounds of taichi. ( Lucas did two.) When I finished my exercise, it was almost 6 o'clock. Since Sunday afternoon was also Sunday day-off for our housemaids, I took it to myself to prepare a fish dish. I cooked steamed lapu-lapu with ginger, black fungus, dried prune, red chinese herbs seeds and leeks soaked in rice wine. I have been inspired to cook since I had been watching and following up Master Chef Australia on tv. Just so timely, it was the final competition last night. Lucas and I watched the interesting finale episode. All in all, it was a restful, peaceful and interesting Sunday after all. It could not have been any better

Ramadan Bombing

Today August 2, 2011 is supposed to be the 2nd day of a month long purification and fasting called the Ramadan. But here in Cotabato City, defying whatever religious practices, a bomb exploded at around two plus in the afternoon. I was at the time on my way going to the Philippine Air Lines office, Almonte Street (near the corner of Parang Road). I was inside the car keenly listening to the radio broadcasting the bad weather in Manila. As my car approached to park at my destination, I saw people in commotion. They were running from Parang Road towards the market area. But people near and around my vicinity came out curiously looking towards a site were smoke was still smoldering. I did not hear the bomb explode maybe because of the radio broadcast inside the car, but everybody else said it was so loud and vibration so strong.
Apparently a bomb was placed on a parked motorcycle infront of a building owned by Atty. Eugenio Soyao along Parang Road. According to reports, several people were injured. Seriously injured were children inside a public van passing through the place. As of late this afternoon, a child was confirmed dead.
I am so angry at these terrorists! May God punish them severely for their wickedness done supposedly during this observation of their holy month. They seem to be provoking God. Last year they started their string of kidnapping activities during the holy month of Ramadan too. I am positively sure God knows what to do with them.
Lord, I pray, please keep us safe from these evil doers.