Hayop na Degustation at Pepita's

Alain in the foreground in blue with a bunch of happy gourmands

Since Alain was in town, Gai herded the troop to indulged in a lechon degustation at Pepetia's Kitchen.

Note that this is my second lechon degustation in a week's time. The first was last Saturday at Aleth's with Greek Chef Anthony (with Kat and Jemgie). Yes, I know gluttony is a sin but it's hard to resist an invite to a lechon degustation.

Anyway, Hayop na Degustation is Dedet's new 12-course -  10 new dishes and two lechon de leches. We were the second batch to try her creative and yummy concoctions.

The meal started with a welcome drink called Pepita's Magic Potion which is cotton candy served in a cocktail glass with a shot of lambanog infused with dayop juice.

Bettina enjoying her Magic Potion

The second dish was pork rind tendon chips with her special sinigang na gabi dip.

Tendon chips with dip

The third was my favorite which Dedet dubbed as  "hiplog," short for hipon (shrimp) and itlog (egg). The egg is actually salted red egg sauce.

Hiplog

The fourth was another favorite, a bone marrow with oxtail marmalade and a special salt which is mixed with chicharon.

Bone marrow 

The fifth course was called salad surprise. She served micro greens with flowers and on the side, homemade cashew butter, yogurt cheese and a watermelon salt. The salt was the surprise because it pops in your mouth. She used pop rock candy which  I used to love when I was a kid.

Salad Surprise

The sixth was called Sipit sarap  a crab's claw cooked in deadly taba ng talanga, the orange-colored crab roe.

Sipit sarap

The seventh she called Lucky You, the noodles with garlic and basil oil. (No photo taken). Dedet said that this dish has no 'Hu Wow'  moment but it will prepare the guests to the next dish which is another favorite. The eight dish was called Lambada, spicy lamb  cooked in tomato sauce.

Lambada

The night was her Cheers Palate cleanser tamarind sorbet.

cheers palate cleanser

And finally, what I was waiting for - her Lechon de leches! She has several stuffings to choose from - the Pinoy has four stuffing choics - sisig rice, salted red eggs with garlic and anchovy, binagoongan rice, laing rice and bicol express rice   For the french, it's stuffed with truffle rice.  We chose the Lechon na Maalat (salty Lechon) which is stuffed with rice, salted egg, garlic and anchovies.

Lechon na Maalat

And for the second lechon, we ordered the Mailena de Leche, stuffed with spanish chorizo and taba ng talangka rice.

Mailena de Leche

Her cholesterol sweeper is oatmeal in white chocolate.

cholesterol sweeper

And the last item was the pinoy dessert, cassava brulee.

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  Pinoy dessert

  
  

Chato finally got hitched!

the bride and groom

Have you every seen a "Keep Calm and Carry On" poser? Well, that's my sister in action.

Last Monday, I got a text message from her asking if I was free for lunch on Wednesday. Of course I can't say 'no' to lunch. However, when I found it out it was all the way in Palms Country Club in Alabang, I had to ask what the compelling reason was. To get there from work, I have to travel about 20-km from Pasig and brave the Wednesday Baclaran traffic.

Note that in Manila, Wednesday is usually referred to as 'Baclaran day' where devotees [like me] pay homage to the National Shrine of the Mother of Perpetual Help in Pasay and thus, cause traffic along EDSA, the major thoroughfare.

There was a long pause before she replied and finally answered "I'm getting married."

her rose covered wedding case

I couldn't dare miss her wedding so I made it on that special day braving the Baclaran traffic and all.

It was a small gathering of immediate family and close friends. We were in full force and my sister's 'chestnut' riding friends were all there. Jon, the groom, who belongs to a large family was not complete. I asked his sister why they were only a handful and she said that it was such a short notice that they couldn't rearrange their schedule.

Oh well, at least my sister looked happy! Cool as she is, she managed to bake her own wedding cake for the occasion. Congrats sis and may the two of you be blessed with another 17 years of togetherness. 

The One Million People March in Luneta

Juana Change 

To celebrate National Heroes Day last August 26, we (Madonna, Ninfa, Jiggy and I) together with 80,000 or so of my countrymen marched to the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta to protest against the misuse of over P10-billion (about US$220-million) pork barrel in a period of ten years.

The pork barrel is slang referring to [wiki] 'the funding for government programs whose economic or service benefits are concentrated in a particular area but whose costs are spread among all taxpayers."

In the Philippines, it is referred to as the discretionary funds allotted to politicians for spending on priority development projects at the local level. We're talking about funds amounting to as much as P200-million (or US$4.4-million) to each senator and P70-million (or US$1.54-million) to each congressman.

The fund was scrapped during the Marcos regime and reintroduced during President Corazon Aquino's term in 1986 and was then called the Countryside Development Fund. It was later changed to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Signed petition to end pork barrel 

The petition (right photo) was filed by Peachy Bretaña in change.org. It calls for (1) the abolition of the pork barrel system; (2) account for all spent pork; and, (3) investigation and punishment for all guilty parties.

The pork barrel scam is actually not new. PCIJ in a report filed in 2005 "Billions in farm funds used for Arroyo campaign" bared that the P3B released by the Department of Agriculture to fund farmers' fertilizer needs and bankroll community irrigation projects, was allegedly divested to the presidential campaign of President Arroyo in 2004. As of this day, the controversy has not yet been resolved.

This new pork barrel scam involves businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles working together with senators and congressmen to divert their pork barrel to fund ghost projects' specifically, to non-existent foundations and non-government organizations (NGOs).

It was Benhur Lim Luy who exposed the fraudulent activities of her second cousin and employer. Click here to view the timeline starting from the six-part series expose of Philippine Daily Inquirer on July 12 to her surrender on August 28. To date, more whistleblowers are coming out and hopefully, aside from naming names, help build evidence to start the prosecution.

Photos taken during the One Million People March:

Thumbs down and say "Oink Oink Oink" to protest

Akbayan placard

Some protestors were in costume

Madonna with a protestor

Jograd dela Torre's version of Price Tag called 'Kawatan'

There's hope for Autism!

I remember way back in the mid-1990s when my sister Chato was worried about her daughter. Mrs. Ladron of the toddler school where my niece was enrolled in, found her behavior way too rowdy and too independent for a three year old and recommended that she goes to Cupertino Center instead. At that time, there was only one school for special children and most of the students were autistic.

My niece was enrolled for 3 months or so. until my sister pulled her out when she started copying her classmates and was banging her head against the wall, desk or floor.  Autistic children would display certain behaviors and head banging is the most common. Chato took her  to Berkeley where she, after several tests, was diagnosed with ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It was fairly novel then and since the symptoms were quite similar with autism, the two conditions more often than not, caused confusion and even misdiagnosis.

J.A.  next to his stamp
(photo from facebook.com/artofjatan)

Mayo Clinic defines autism as a "spectrum disorder that affects a child's ability to communicate and interact with others."  According to CDC, autism is now more prevalent than childhood cancer. The rate is rather alarming in the United States, with stats indicating one in 88 children diagnosed with autism versus 16 in 100,000 children with cancer.  In the Philippines, the incidence is still low.  Autismpinoy said that at least one in 150 children is autistic.

That's why I was happy to hear that Jose Antonio "J.A." Tan is back in Manila to open his second one-man exhibit called "On and On... Step by Step" on August 21. He's the inspiration to those with autism and/or other development disabilities.

Like my niece, J.A. was 3 years old when he was diagnosed with autism. His was high functioning autism which literally means he is higher functioning than others with the same affliction.

At 5 years old, he started painting and from then on, has managed to overcome his challenges through his art.  He said "I have come to the realization that I have always used art as a way of  helping myself bring out my thoughts, feelings and ideas. I consider it an integral part of my existence as each work is a personal journey of myself with myself, and myself with the world, bringing a feeling of peace and happiness since things become clearer to me through the images and visual pictures before me."

"Victory" (Photo from straight.com)

Now 25-years old, he has already accomplished quite a lot - -  He graduated from Emily Carr University of Art in 2010, followed by a one-man show in Manila (his first), then participated in group shows in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Last year, his  painting "Victory" (left) was chosen from over 200 submissions to be part of the eight stamp collection of the United Nations Postal Administration's Autism Awareness Campaign. His artwork was issued as a stamp on April 22, 2012. Note that the print is part of the exhibition in Manila.

To those who want to meet the artist who braved all odds, the opening reception  is on August 21 from 6:30 to 9:30pm.  The exhibit will run until September 3, 2013 at the Artist Space, ground floor of the Ayala Museum.