What if there is no God nor heaven nor hell?

Someone threw a question, “What if at the end of this life, we find out that there is no God, no heaven or hell?”

In a normal day, I would have simply answered him, “And what if there is?”

But I changed my mind. I was not up to a lengthy belief debate. I knew that it won’t end good.

And perhaps, I may probably have that question lurking somewhere in my subconscious.

“What if there is no God? What if there is nothing after this life? What if everything is just a hoax? And religions were just built so that people can make some sense in their otherwise boring life or perhaps to make money for some?”

How will this belief change me?

Will I not go to church anymore? Will I not pray anymore? Will I discard all the religious articles that I have? My car will have a little less clutter. I will have an extra corner in the house for my books or plants in place of my altar.

Who will be greater than me? My boss? My very successful friend? Or perhaps the wealthiest one? Those politicians? Who will I follow? My mom? Or my older friend? Or why even ask, I can be the greatest and I can only choose to take orders from me.

What will I do? Jump from job to job whenever I encounter difficult people in the office? Cheat, so that I can have all the money that I want? Jump from relationship to relationship? Have a pleasure-filled life, even at the expense of other people, even at the expense of myself? Live to the full – travel all I want, gym and massage all I want, food trip all I want, shop all I want, or sleep all I want? Even if the people around me don’t have a decent thing to eat, wear or sleep on?

Will I become that self-centered, egoistic b*t*h just because I do not have to be answerable for the way I live my life now? After all, I do not have anyone to answer to.

Will I do that? Perhaps, if it will make me happy.

But will it make me happy?

I cannot prove scientifically that there is a god or anything of that sort. But there are so many moments and circumstances in my life that I do strongly feel (to the point of making me believe) that there is a greater Force, a more beautiful, gentler and very mysterious Force present in me and around me. I feel happy when I see a plant, especially when it has a flower. I feel sad when something or someone dies. I feel warm when my mom wakes up early in the morning to prepare my breakfast. I feel cold when I hear of a man leaving his family for another woman. I feel rich when I am generous. I feel poor when I am stingy. I am amazed and I feel special when at a very low day, someone I do not expect to remember will remember to say hi. I am overwhelmed when an opportunity that I know I do not deserve is given to me. I feel bad when after giving my best, I still do not seem to measure up to one’s standard. But I start feeling good again when someone encourages me and reminds me to hope for better things to come. I am afraid of dying but I am more afraid of dying even before my death. I feel great when I am brave, to try even if I fail. I feel bad when I am bad to other people.

And I can go on and on… 

I do not know where those emotions came from. How do I decide what will make me feel this way or that way? What moves me? What affects my choices in life? My upbringing? The people around me? Societal conditioning? What part of my system decides whatever it is that makes me feel good or bad? My conscience? Where does it come from? From a higher Being?

That is my belief.

If that higher Being cares enough to give me a conscience, will He or She or It just abandon me as if I am just a puppet in this show called life? I believe He won’t. I cannot be 100% sure that my belief is true. But, that is why you call it faith.

And so, I throw back the question to you. What will change if you find out that there is no God nor heaven nor hell?

Can you live without meat? Eating Green at Pipino Restaurant

I cannot live without rice. Even if I eat lots of pasta or bread, I would still crave for this Filipino staple. Nothing beats the stomach-filling effect of rice. It's just beyond compare to other carbs. It's definite - me and rice, we are MFEO (meant for each other :).

But there is one food question that I am bound to find out. Can I live without meat?

Some can. And they are called vegans or vegetarians.

We visited this plant-based restaurant in Jupiter Street in Makati called Pipino Restaurant and sampled a 12-course meal especially designed for our group. The restaurant caters to vegetarians but does not call itself a vegetarian restaurant.  

This creative blackboard poster only claims that Pipino is plant-based.



Pipino Restaurant shares place with its sister Pino Resto & Bar.

Pino Resto & Bar has two branches - the first is in 39 Malingap Street, Teachers Village

Quezon City and the other is in #38 Jupiter Street, Makati City.

According to Alessa (one of the owner who is the actual vegetarian), since Pino serves meat and Pipino customers are served in the same area, they cannot actually claim that it is a vegetarian restaurant. Although, she said that the preparation area and the china and utensils being used for Pipino are segregated from Pino. (Hmmm, sounds Halal-ish to me.) 

Pipino, in the right, is separated by the white divider from Pino but customers who order meat-based food are free to share table with their vegetarian companions and vice versa.

But before the gustatory tour to the world of no-meat, here's a short recap of Vegetarianism/Veganism 101 by Ms. Alessa Lanot:

Alessa Lanot is a renowned blogger and crafts teacher. Check her at www.lifeafterbreakfast.com.

Vegetarian vs Vegan : Vegans are the ultimate no-meat eater. They do not eat meat of any kind nor their by-products which include egg, dairy products, honey which were produced from bees and fish sauce which are fermented fish. Vegetarians, on the other hand, do not eat meat but can eat animal by-products. Some eat eggs (ovo vegetarian) and dairy (lacto vegetarians). There are some who eat only white meat and call themselves semi-vegetarians.

Why go vegetarian or vegan? : Three reasons - health, animal rights, environment. Alessa went vegetarian since high school for the health and environmental reasons.

Why vegetarian is healthy? : Our body needs a balance of alkalinity and acidity. But over the two, it prefers alkaline. Vegetables and fruits are alkaline while meats and a host of other stuffs deemed unhealthy such as alcohol and sugars (and coffee) are acidic. Acids also feed the unhealthy cancer cells. Acidic foods expand when we ingest them while alkaline foods constrict.  This is manifested in how we feel bloated after eating that steak while we just feel full after grazing on that vegetable salad.

Why vegetarian is good for the environment? : Livestock production is a major contributor to greenhouse gases emission (particularly methane). For the same carbon footprint, feeding one meat-eater is equivalent to feeding 14 vegetarians. The government now has a Luntiang Lunes program that encourages Filipinos to eat no meat on Mondays. Alessa said that if Filipinos will follow this, one day of no meat for Filipinos has an equal effect of planting 150,00 trees for the environment. Whoa!!!

So much for that lecture. Let's go to the meat of this blog, este, to the core of this blog - the FFFOOODDDD!!!

This 12-course vegetarian meal is prepared by the very light-spirited and comic Chef Edward Bugia. 

Chef Edward preparing the Quinoa Berry Salad

We started off with these cutesy appetizers:

Amuse Bouche. Lychee Ginger Tea with Microarugula and Watermelon with Balsamic Reduction. 

The lychee is intensely gingery in taste but the nutty, bitterish note of arugula gave it an interesting twist. The brown, caramelized note of the reduced (boiled at low heat) balsamic vinegar balanced the sweetness of the watermelon. This gave me an idea on how to give a new twist to familiar fruits. 

Truffled Popcorn with agave, truffle oil and candied walnuts

There is so much hype over this very rare and expensive mushroom called truffle. It gives off a mild mushroom taste that has a bit of earthy and smoky/roasted notes that makes the popcorn a little more of a snob :P. For the walnuts, they used agave instead of refined sugar.

Sunny Side Up. Coconut Cream Curry served with Carrot Bacon.

Chef Edward is very inventive on this one. For the egg white, he used coconut cream with gelatin and for the yolk, he used curry sauce as substitute. Don't be fooled by the bacon. Those are just thinly sliced carrots that were overfried to simulate the bacon curl. Very clever.

Maki Plate. Japanese-style Rolled Rice with Pickled Eggplants, Seasoned Asparagus and Sundried Tomatoes.

Rice is quite sticky. I barely tasted the tomato. This one is not spectacular. 

Quinoa Berry Salad

This one is hard to replicate in your own kitchen. It is a smorgasbord of eetsy-teeny-weeny veggies and fruits - quinoa, micro arugula, strawberries, blueberries, alfalfa served with beet sauce and raspberry coulis. Quinoa is an interesting food. It has this boiled young corn taste but the texture is more intriguing. They say that quinoa is a complete protein and so, is a good replacer of meat proteins for vegetarians. The mix of flavors - bland, nutty, sweet, sour, bitterish with a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper makes this last of the appetizers definitely not the least, but the berry best. :p

Graniya. Calamansi and Lemon Sorbet.

To rinse the palate, this calamansi and lemon sorbet did its work. Good blend except that sugar can still be toned down a little.


Now here comes the main dishes....

Gnocchi. Sweet potato gnocchi with arugula, mushroom and sundried tomatoes.

This is quite a serving and heavy in the stomach. Chef used sweet potato which is healthier than potato. The taste blends well with the sundried tomato, basil and cherry tomato.

Vegan Tantan Ramen. Buckwheat noodle ramen with enoki mushroom, coconut cream curry egg and bokchoy.

Pipino can give the proliferating ramen houses a run for their money. The normal tantan (nutty, spicy) ramen is made more delectable and rich with coconut cream. Where is it coming from? No other than the white egg which is made from .... tadaaa... coconut cream, which melts with the soup after some time. Really inventive Chef! (slow clap with slow moving of head sideways, can even have a slow motion standing up :p)

Mini Watermelon Steak. Grilled watermelon with vegan aioli, string beans, pickled mushroom.

Who would have thought that watermelon can replace a steak? No one! Precisely because nothing can match a steak except for another steak (spell: beef, pork). But this dish is very ingenious. The fruit mimics the  color of the meat and it actually has a desirable grilled note owing to the sugar that caramelized in the process of cooking. Chef said that its discovery (watermelon can be grilled) is accidental. The side dishes are good complements.

Pinakbet Risotto Balls. Deconstructed pakbet with squash risotto balls and vegan bagoong.

I was doubtful of the bagoong at first. How can you make bagoong without shrimp? Well, Chef has black beans and the ever reliable coconut cream, which made a very yummy tandem. Of course, it doesn't taste like bagoong, but it certainly did its job - makes me do the slow clap again. :p


And lastly, the desserts...

Taho Ice Cream. Soybean curd ice cream with  tapioca syrup. 

At this point, I am so full that I do not remember tasting this. Joke. At least, not as vivid as the other dishes. It probably tasted like taho but probably good too because now I remember that I ate all of my serving. 

Choco Sphere. Dark chocolate sphere filled with vegan chocolate mousse.

This dessert caps off our exploration to the world of vegetarian food. Pretty firmly though. Hehe. Because the dark cocoa sphere is very hard, we cannot break it. We have to turn it upside down so we can taste the chocolate mousse made of silken tofu inside. The mousse tastes good but the texture is quite tough for a mousse. Well, there is always a price to pay for going healthy. Luckily for this one, it's only the texture. The use of flowers made this a feast for the eye. Not bad to end our vegetarian feast. 

This is how we all looked like after.

WE TURNED GREEN!!! Hahaha :P

We were all full but did not feel bloated. Hmm, seems like Alessa was right after all... :)

So, after all had been said, shall I now answer the question - can I live without meat?



The answer is NO!!! For now, at least. Or probably, not yet. (Mahirap magsalita ng tapos. hehehe.) 



But I would gladly adopt the aspirations of vegetarians. To remain healthy, I will go for the balance thing (alkaline + acidic) - mixed diet of more veggies & fruits and less meat. And to help the environment, I will continue raising my own vegetables and reduce/recycle/reuse my waste and infecting people to do the same. I hope I did a little of that through this blog. 

Note:

All the dish presented are not available at Pipino Restaurant. This is not the usual I-went-to-Pipino-and-I-think-I-need-to-blog-about-it blog but more of a blog to create vegetarianism awareness and showcase efforts (like Pipino's, Chef Ed's and Alessa's) to make this lifestyle more attractive and engaging to more people.

Only in Penglai

If you wanna get drunk the whole day, do it legally and have someone pay for it, go to Penglai on a business trip.

Penglai or Penglai City is a port or a town in Shandong, a coastal province in the East Region of China. Known as the "Fairy Tale City", it is considered as one of the main tourist spots by the Chinese government attracting two million tourists annually.

At least, perhaps, among Chinese people. If one goes to China, Beijing or Shanghai would definitely be the top picks as Penglai is a good one-day travel from Manila. We left Manila at 6am, bound for a two-hour flight to Hongkong. From Hongkong, we took Dragon Air's three-hour flight to Qin Dao. And just when I thought that we'll be arriving in China without any real meal in our stomachs, the carrier served a filling lunch capped off with this delectable dessert.

Yum, yum!!! (Surprises are really sweeter!!!)  It took us another 3.5 to 4 hours of drive (depending on the driver) to reach Penglai.

And here's where I got acquainted with the distinct culture of the place.

The welcome dinner was a starter. I am not sure if such generosity is due to a customer-supplier relationship or a genuine host etiquette. 

We were asked to take one seat apart so that each one of us will be served by the duly appointed host. A welcome drink is normal. But to be served three glasses of wine during the first dinner, that is what is normal in Penglai!

We have to order blueberry juice to camouflage as wine. (Penglai, by the way, is known number one in tourism and second, in wines. Their wines contain a good 12% alcohol in contrast to the 5-6% of the normal table wine.) But we were caught. During the last dinner, we girls, weren't able to get away with that strategy. 

As I was forewarned, that was just a preview. Because only in Penglai, will you be served soymilk and beer during lunch time. And yes, in the middle of a normal working day.

But good thing, I survived the alcohol. They gave us a botlle of a balsamic vinegar-tasting, anti-hangover liquid which had been effective after all.

Figuratively, one will not only get drunk with alcohol in Penglai. Also with fresh fruits which they serve during meetings.

And of course, with the "enchanting" scenic spots that the place has to offer. After all, it was the land of fairy tales as they say. (see next blog...)

Three Divine Mountains Scenic Spot

Eight Immortals Passing Across the Sea Touring Area

Ocean Aquarium of Penglai

Overall, except for the toilets and the weird smell of the hotel room, my Penglai experience is just weirdly awesome. In Penglai, I do feel that I belong. :)

R.I.P.

They say that good people go ahead of the not-so-good ones. This is the only reason I can think of why a noble leader in the person of the late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo met a very early demise.

I never really know anything about him save for the fact that he was appointed by PNoy as the DILG Secretary despite VP Jejomar Binay's intent to take the post. I was never interested in politics, so I did not even read or try to know why he was chosen. Why would I care?

I was never interested in politics. It had always been dirty in my perspective. Power corrupts. Even good people get blinded by everything that power has to offer. If someone wants to make a difference in the country, I would wholeheartedly applaud a simple individual doing his best in whichever field he is in. He doesn't need to have power. He just needs to have a heart. I never really expected anyone who holds a government position would have the Christian conscience and a human heart to lead as a servant of his people, to make the Filipino lives better the best way he can.

Until I heard all the news today, my prejudice against current politicians would not probably change.

Mr. Jesse Robredo lived the ideals of a true leader. As I heard from the people's testimonials about him, he led by example. He exercised his power to give and not to gain. He was on top but he remained humble. He sincerely embraced his obligation to serve the people and make their lives better. He became one with the people so he can be someone for the people. He propelled others to do their best. But he was not detached. He was not only attentive to people's needs, he was also attentive to how they feel. I was truly touched by the testimonial of one market vendor who asked for a scholarship for her child. Mr. Robredo did not only gave her that but also texted her about it, personally. How many politicians would do that? Normal politicians would have asses that needs to be kissed all the time. (Sorry, I know that I am prejudiced.) They need to be served and be made to feel special. Heck, they are being paid by hard-earned taxpayer's money. But this one was different. A leader who would collect the garbage of his constituents once a week and a leader who was never in need of tarpaulins to broadcast his projects or his presence is one leader that is worthy of my applause and standing ovation. He was worthy of that seat given to him. He was worthy of the Ramon Magsaysay Award given to him. He was worthy of the love and respect of his constituents and of every Filipino who hears of the servant leader that he was.

Perhaps, there are other leaders like him. They are just far outnumbered by people who only lead their way to gain wealth and power at the expense of the people they should have been serving. I hope the latter gets into extinction and the former thrives and multiplies. One of my professors used to say that a  bloody revolution is needed to annihilate the corrupt leaders. But that would be another blog.

I grieve today, as a Filipino who sincerely desires to see her countrymen living in dignity and prosperity. I grieve for the death of one statesman who died fighting for democracy during that time that it was blatantly stolen. And I grieve for one leader who died doing his best in living the democracy that had been fought by brave men in the past.

The reason why good people go ahead of others is not just a whim of God. Perhaps, it is so because their lives lived in humility need to be exposed so that the not-so-good people that remain would be reminded and be inspired.

May the deaths of Ninoy Aquino and Jesse Robredo be not become futile. May their lives inspire us to unleash the nobility in each one of us for the good of our nation and its people. Perhaps, only then can they truly rest in peace.

YES or NO?

YES OR NO? 

As a Catholic, I believe in the preservation of life, the sanctity of marriage, the beauty of sex as a gift of love and procreation (over mere pleasure), the freedom to choose, proper governance and rightful provision of the government to make the lives of its populace as humane as it can be. After reading the complete text of the RH Bill, nothing seem so wrong about it. They uphold everything that I believe in (except for the sacred and gift nature of sex), but the question is, is the conscience behind the RH Bill as beautiful as how its words are?

I pray that God will side His people. Let His truth prevail and His will be done! :)

Freedom Walk 2012

In an effort to defunct the 3-year stint of freedom climb which is quite too much for local mountains due to a large number of people climbing at the same time, SRMP organized the Freedom Walk 2012 so that mountaineers can still channel their energies into something as worthwhile...

I woke up at 4:10 am and braved the rain as I joined my mountaineering group -Trailmaster Outdoor Group or TMOG meet with the other groups in Luneta...

Some are not even mountaineering group - like the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation.

Overall, there are more than 200 mountaineers who chose to join the walk to say NO TO MASSIVE CLIMB. The group commenced at 7:43 am, a few minutes before the flag raising led by Vice President Jejomar Binay.

But before we go, of course, we took a picture at kilometer 0. A few years back, I didn't know that this is the reference point for all the kilometer markers found around the country.

Good thing that as we start the walk, the heavy downpour subsided to light drizzle, making the weather a little cooler.

 I guess, reasons for joining the walk vary. Some joined for the lack of nothing else to do, some to see how far they can go, some just want to express their love for freedom through a seemingly pointless sacrifice as walking 25 kms under the blistering heat of the sun and scattered rainshowers. As I tread the last few kilometers to the Aguinaldo Shrine with limping legs and blistered toes, my personal reason for joining became clearer. It was a freedom walk from my self-defined boundaries and a statement that I can do anything that I put my heart and faith into. Doing it during the celebration of the nation's independence is an acknowledgement that a progressive Philippines need free citizens who know no boundaries in utilizing their full potential to serve the nation.

HAPPY 114TH FREEDOM DAY PHILIPPINES!

Arugula

I first met this leafy vegetable in Yellow Cab's Dear Darla Pizza...

It has a distinct nutty flavor that takes a short while to getting used to. After that, you'll fall in love with it. 

I attended a salad vegetable gardening seminar conducted by Harbest (check 'em out at www.harbest.com) and arugula seeds are one of their give-aways. I decided to plant this first as I thought it is less sensitive than lettuce. After 6 weeks, I am proud to show off my first ever harvest of arugula leaves.

Vegetable salad is not really my thing. But with my arugula leaves around, I decided to concoct a salad one night and call it a dinner. 

I mixed loose-leaf and iceberg lettuce, carrots, tomato, grapes and of course, the arugula leaves, topped with grated cheese and boiled egg plus corned tuna on the side. For the dressing, I just mixed olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a little honey. I sprinkled a little salt and pepper to taste. It was delectable and yummy, but I still go for a rice diet. I still miss my rice diet :)

Arugula leaf, like most salad vegetable is very low in calorie (1/2 cup of the leaves only amounts to 2 calories, how is that??/!!!) and rich in Vitamin A and C. For more info, you may check http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Produce-440/arugula.aspx.