The Convivial Gist

                          Asparagus Cherry Tomato Salad                              Balsamic Roast Beef  Fruit Platter                                                                       Mais con Gulaman  Parmesan Fennel Gratin  Turkey  Fruit Platter           White Bean Salad with Spinach   

  I had a love hate relationship with my commuting to work. You see, I do not drive.  My husband worries so much about me being a menace to the motoring public and maximally living up to being an Asian stereotype driver.  So I take the public transportation - the St. Louis Metro Link.  I take the Blue Line, there were only 2 lines and I am in luck since that's the better riding experience. The city being a bit segregated, the red line I suppose passes the Red Lined communities of the county.  I do not know what  to expect on a given day, it might be boring as any boring person that you know or will it be so full of drama that your favorite telenovela  pales in comparison.  Here are some worth mentioning:  1. The Orange Guy  - He was  carrying an  orange, went to the center aisle, got every body's attention and started crushing the orange with his hand. He went on walking from back and forth with the juice of the  mashed or...

T ravelling... leaving home for an exotic and unfamiliar locale surely  evokes excitement.  When I was growing up in the sleepy barrio in the Southern Philippines, I am always wondering what lies beyond the mountains and the seas that enclosed my little world. But this notion was in between my preoccupation of  trying to get ahead with  the childhood game of tumbang preso http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumbang_preso so that I won't  end up being labeled as bagoong (salted paste made from shrimps and small fish).  Later on in life, I developed an  insatiable itch for discovering what lies further the confines of my abode. I considered those travels as one most important chapter of my adult life. These are experiences and memories that like education, are always portable  and it goes with you all the time.  I was wondering why to...

Having lived the first 44 years of my life in a homogeneous society like the Philippines, racism was kind of a vague issue to me. But when  I moved to United States and married an American , I was slowly introduced to this kind of order in America.  I became an honorary black woman.  I said that because I embraced not only him but also his "people" but still maintain my Filipino values and culture . Color blind as I am in my relationship with my husband and his family, I am was also aware of  the ugly presence of discrimination and racism  that lurks from time to time being a mixed couple - a black man and an Asian woman. My husband told me he was used to it and he understands why I was perplexed by it in considering the society where I came from.   We suffered the curious looks, the disappointed looks, why I married a black man look, why did he marry an Asian look ,why did you take away our man look , maybe she just needs a green card  look,  y...

Rem, Adel, Cecil and Au circa 2004 Cecile at our high school reunion giving a speech on being a cancer survivor 2009     Finding out that Cecile , one of my  best friends succumbed to cancer  while perusing the news feeds on my Facebook account last Black Saturday, seems surreal to me.  I am more of a visual person, hardly taking note of the written postings, more interested on photos and inane you tube cat  videos.  When I came across the condolences at her  siste r's page ,  I was reading  but not really comprehending what those words meant. Realization hit me and I started mourning her death with copious tears . We went to the same school in elementary and high school but  only became very close when we attended a community college, hooked up with 2 other girls Au and Rem.  I never imagined that it will be the start of fun friendship that anyone would wish they could have on their transition to adulthood....

Fifty Three and Counting    Birthdays are always fun no matter what age and status in life you are in.  I celebrated mine with an early chat  with Gina, a mammography technologist , We had a discourse on  the weird weather in St. Louis, the Hobbit movie which should be watched in 3D to fathom  the slyness of Gollum and what I should do the rest of the day.  Yes, I had my annual date with  my own version of Terminator , the GE Senograph Machine and Gina was my Arnold Schwarzenegger (before the infidelity scandal) . Having born with a small but very dense breast, more often  my breasts would be  scrunched  by the unforgiving paddle more than twice for better image. I will dread the day when some Facebook people would start posting their mammography x-ray film on their timeline just to com pens ate for pain . Now I have to wait for the result from the beast, oops D r. Biest. Yes, I have a male gynecologist and his name is...

Our cat Pinay was traumatized the  last time she was out "unsupervised" on our deck. She slipped out of the kitchen door and was out for 2 hours; it was late at night and raining. Only when we were about to go to sleep  when we realized she was not on her usual spot in our bed.   Well, she learned her lesson well and would not even put a single paw on the transition strip of our kitchen storm door.  But the call of her predatory instinct finally made Pinay  venture again on our deck. I guess she was just plain tired of watching the avian and rodent community having all the fun on our backyard that she wants some piece of the action.   The thing is, she had been confined and modified to be a domesticated animal for the last 5 years that she does not know that she is supposed to chase the sparrows and grackles and  anything that moves on that deck.  I think its the greatest indignity that a pet owner like me can inflict on Pinay. P...

A ko ay nagpasiya na ihahayag ko ang aking pagninilaynilay na ito sa aking katutubong wika.  Maalala ng ilan kong mambabasa na aking nabanggit sa isa sa mga nauna kong sulatin na noong bagong dating ako dito sa bansang Amerika, sumapit ang punto na ako ay nagsawa sa pasasalita ng wikang Inglis. Upang maibsan ang aking pananabik sa bagay na ito, aking kinakausap ang aso ng aking kabiyak.  Sumalangit nawa ang kayang asong kaluluwa at harinaway nasa langit na sya ng mga aso. Isang katanungan ang umiikilkil sa aking mapagusisang kaisipan, - Paano mo masusukat ang kulungkutan ng isang Pilipino na naninirahan sa banyagang  lupain? Sinasabi ng marami na tayo ay likas na madaling matutu  sa gawi at asal ng ating inampong bayan, at ayon na rin sa mga karanasan ng mga Pilipino na matagal ng naninirahan dito, sa loob nga limang taon, nga mga baguhan ay narahuyo na sa buhay Amerika; ang pagnanasa niya sa kanyang inang bayan ay pagbugso bugso na lang...

 Chocolate Eclair -  photo from Helfer's website  With the last extreme winter weather in St. Louis, my husband commented that  pollens were probably frozen, that he was not suffering the  symptoms of his nasty allergies on  the onset of spring. He spoke too soon.  His seasonal allergies came in with a vengeance that  he temporarily lost his sense of taste .  For a person who have a passionate relationship with his palate, its like being constantly punched on his stomach every time he eats. Ironically, with his gustation functionality in retirement , the more he wanted to eat different foods thinking that he can cajole the follicles of his tongue to come back pronto.  I reminded him, as long as he is in medication for his allergies, it will take a little bit of time .  Even if he is served dinner prepared by  5 star Michelin chef Alain Ducasse, it will probably reduced my husband to tears for I will be enjoying the s...

I am a sucker for old fashion cartoons that I can proudly admit that I saw Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs more than I can count my fingers and toes; unabashedly cried when the great King Mufasa died and Simba tried to wake him up, commiserate with  Miss Piggy in her unrequited love for Kermit and other emotional display of affection to these animated personalities that I won't mention for it will totally make me look beyond silly . I n May of 1990, the creator of the Muppets, Jim Henson died.  I saw a tribute from the Disney artist of a drawing of Kermit the Frog being consoled by Mickey Mouse on the death of Kermit's creator.  That drawing created an imprint on my mind the idea of  raw sadness associated with death. Ironic that non living cartoon characters could invoke such  cogent feeling in me, on issue of death.  Here is the photo I am talking about:  T here is a colored version of this but I was still digging up the Internet and up ...

     Mary Jane Boots by Marc Jacobs      Finally I am in my other home, the Philippines.  As I am slowly creeping in the ranks of the senior citizens, I don't find travelling as much fun as five years ago. Being airborne for 18 hours in a stale cramp space, how I wish that I can win a lottery so that I can buy a comfortable arrangement in my crossing of the Pacific Ocean.     Its understandable that majority of Filipinas going home to their tropical abode  when some parts North America were buried in 6 inches of snow, wearing knee length boots was de rigueur.  I wonder how they managed when their legs and feet swell after travelling almost 8250 miles up in the air.     It was in  my second leg of my trip in Narita airport in Tokyo (another 4 1/2 hours plane ride to reach Manila) when I was totally blown away what some Filipinas would do to be fashionable and to announce to the...

She was roused from her sleep by her husband.  Bird sighting alert! A hawk just landed on their backyard deck.  She immediately scrambled out of bed and tiptoed to the kitchen window. They did not exchanged word for fear of startling the magnificent bird, both of them impervious to the fact that their house was insulated from the din of the outside world. They stood there in awe, hoping this feathered creature would stay for a little much longer. And it did! He was  in for the hunt, looking for his prey amongst the various rodents that create a ruckus at this time of day in the small expanse of green.   The territorial cardinal When did this  morning ritual of  bird watching started, two, three or four months ago? They can not recall, what they remembered were the joys of watching the cadre of  sparrows feeding, the brilliant scarlet red of the matured cardinals pe...

Corollary to my previous blog on rehashing Christmas cards by converting them into tree ornaments , I tried and I am still trying to stick to my commitment of  spending  zero dollar on Xmas tinsels this year. Well, since my hands I are tied in relation to opening my wallet to Christmasize my crib, I opted to  let my imagination run wild with what I have currently on hand in  such a way that my decor would  look new and fresh.  1.  I have these red fabric with gold dragon prints in my storage box, ( purchased from one of my vintage shopping hunts from ages ago ( that means a month of so and it costs me 3 yards for $ 4 dollars). I do not know how to sew a throw pillow cover but I taught myself by getting the pattern from an existing cover that I have. Since I am zipper challenged, envelope type of pillow covers are such a breeze for me to create.  Changing the Thr...

 Photo from Getty Images.com  One lady in  my social networking page was griping about football taking precedence over  church attendance  on Sunday.  I can commiserate with her but on a different scale. Lucky for me, play time for my husband's favorite football team starts at 3 pm so it does  not run counter with our church schedule but if it does, there's always the DVR to do it. It's hard to compete with sports e.g. baseball and football specially when its in full season. I thought I was done and over with that. Growing up in a one television household with my older brother hooked on sports for the behemoths (basketball) in the land peopled by the vertically challenged (that is compared to a giant, no offense meant to my people, the Filipinos), he  would slyly  preempt any chance for me to switch channel  to my favorite TV show, I rue the fact that remote was not yet invented during that time ; as a consequ...

Travelling... leaving home for an exotic and unfamiliar locale surely evokes excitement. When I was growing up in the sleepy barrio in the Southern Luzon in the Philippines, I am always wondering what lies beyond the mountains and the seas that enclosed my little world. But this notion was in between my preoccupation of trying to get ahead with the childhood game of tumbang preso so that I won't end up being labeled as bagoong (salted paste made from shrimps and small fish). Later on in life, I developed an insatiable itch for discovering what lies further the confines of my abode. I considered those travels as one most important chapter of my adult life. These are experiences and memories that like education, are always portable and it goes with you all the time. I was wondering why to some people, travelling is such a daunting task, an interruption to their prosaic life. As if, they are about to leave their cocoon, that stepping outside their comfort zone is akin to doing ...

The time of  yuletide season is in our doorstep. The Christian world and other believers of Christmas will be in state of perpetual  tizzy.  Credit cards bloodletting will soon commence and the lists of gifts for loved and not so loved ones are like albatross hanging on every psyche of the gift givers. In this days of austerity, some people  are either mortgaged induced homeless or redundant/downsized casualties, be smart on gift giving.  I am not sure if I can practice what I am ranting in this blog  about gift giving but I am not buying any Christmas decor this year.  I would rehash, rework, recycle, reposition or any verb or word that has re as a prefix on it, all my existing yuletide ornaments. I will probably paint my much loved and much spoiled cat Pinay, Grinch green as part of my mobile noel decoration. I even contemplated deleting people from my fabled Xmas cards lists to save...

I am a tropical person, so much so that I dread the onset of cold weather here in the Midwest.  It makes  me lazy going out of my temperature controlled abode for it means putting on five to ten pounds of clothing. Shrink wrapping your body is no fun but getting pneumonia ain't no picnic either. When you used to live in a country which  is within the blistering range of the equatorial sun, any precipitations in the temperate zones sounds so nice and fuzzy. After living here for almost 6 years, I wish my sisters in the Philippines can send me barrels and barrels of sweltering sunshine to keep me warm on cold blustery winter time.  So its time to fandangle my winter caps. Last summer, I picked up a fleece cap and beanie cap. It was  the best time to buy these for the prices were outrageously cheap. The hats are kinda plain , a little bit of tweaking are needed so here's what I came up. Yellow fleece cap with felt flower pin....

Vertically challenged we the Filipinos are, yet we love the sport of basketball where height is definitely a might.  Growing up with my older brother in one television household,  my chances of watching my favorite shows were remote as me winning jueteng (local numbers game) when the pro basketball season was on. Boxing is another sport that Filipinos have affectation for.  I think we have better chances to succeed  in this sport, we have the physical built and mental toughness to survive in the pugilist arena.   Interestingly, a nephew of my husband, Manuel Mora recently published his book , Stanley Ketchel  A Life of Triumph and Prophecy , and it's out in the market.  It's an engaging story of an American boxer, I had read the rough draft of the book and I am pretty adamant that this will be a  good read. Check out the book especially if you are a boxing aficionado or just to learn the life of an unsung American Boxer -...