ANNAlysis

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And this is what it will look like on your Nokia phone.

Many thanks to Kim Perez, who sent me the invite, and David Gonzales, who created my logo.

This weeks topic: Filipino food. I’m SURE this won’t be the last time we’ll be asking a question related to Filipino food. If there’s one thing we Filipinos love, it’s eating. And feeding people. My friend Bell, who’s Thai, observed that we have an entire row of disposable cups/plates/utensils in our supermarkets. She thinks it’s precisely because we love to eat and feed other people. That salo-salo culture.

Now I’m not exactly the ambassador for Filipino food. I don’t eat adobo, because my mom cooked it ALL THE TIME when we lived in America. I don’t like kare kare, crispy pata, durian… And I don’t eat rice. Unless it’s in arroz caldo or in sushi. Or with tocino and Cebu lechon.

However, I have gained a new appreciation for Filipino food because of my nomadic tendencies. When I am exploring another country, I find myself looking for the following Pinoy favorites. (FYI: All photos are linked back to the source.)

My junk food picks: Chippy in red. The blue one is ehhh.

Don’t you find it odd that this doesn’t really have a name? My friends and I call it Potato Chips Potato Chips. It’s like naming your dog Dog.

CHOCNUT. I love anything Chocnut. Chocnut ice cream, chocnut pie… It always makes me think of my cousin Carla, who’s now based in California.

When I was gone for almost 3 months, the first meal I wanted to eat in the PH was Jollibee’s C3. Spaghetti with Chicken Joy and pineapple juice. My staple order in Jollebs. NOTHING compares to Jollebs. Nope, not even McDo.

CALAMANSI. Squeezing lemon in your toyo just doesn’t quite cut it. Mofie taught me to mix calamansi with rock salt as a “dip” for fish and chicken. Instead of toyo and calamansi. ACK just thinking about calamansi is making me salivate.

And now we go to the pork series. We Filipinos… We LOVE pork. WE LOVE LOVE LOOOOVE PORK. We have created all sorts of dishes from ALL parts of a pig. TRUE STORY. Comedian Rex Navarrete said that if we could eat the ghost of a pig, we would.

I’m a lechon snob. Only Cebu lechon for my taste buds. Rizzy and I have mastered the way to attack lechon feasts: she gets the rice and Coke while I pile slabs of lechon on a plate.

Another Filipino invention: PRITCHON. Charlie’s Pritchon FTW. Once, my cousin Julian and I ate fourteen each. FOURTEEN. My chest began to hurt after the 10th.

But I went on and ate four more. They’re irresistible.

Tocino with fried rice and fried egg. We love our stuff fried. Best Filipino breakfast ever.

And my favorite Filipino food of ALL TIME: sisig. I was seriously upset when sisig queen Aling Lucing died :(

One of my dreams is to have a TV show with my brother Uli entitled The Search for the Philippines’ Top Sisig. Legend has it that this dish originated in Pampanga. The Americans at the Air Base would eat the good pork and give the leftovers to the Filipinos. The Pinoys, being the resourceful people that we are, chopped it, fried it, and drizzled it with calamansi and spices for a kick of flavor. Most favorable situation is when sisig is paired with ice cold beer. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Eh kayo? Blog about it. Tweet about it. Use the hashtag #PhilippineFridays!

Again, all photos link back to source.

My friends and I add the phrase “true story” when we want to emphasize a statement. The corollary being “fake fact,” an expression that began in December 2009, because we were exchanging fun facts and soon discovered that some of them were, well, fiction.

Below are some of the tweets and status messages I’ve posted recently. I like to think of them as my “true story” series, because I usually add “true story” after each one. Most, I wrote, others I borrowed. #truestory and #thingsweforget are common hashtags I use with these quotes (the latter inspired by Things We Forget). I also included some of my favorite quotes by my brother Uli (@ulipower on Twitter), and the funniest tweets from my best friend Donna (@donnatells). She and I have an ongoing “who can find the cheesiest/most baduy quotes on Twitter” competition. At the rate she’s going, Donns is definitely winning.

LEGGO:

Not all corporations are evil. Just the way not all NGOs are noble.

Happiness is the best anti-aging solution.

Our biggest achievements are the ones that aren’t in our resumes.

Distance, I have learned, is only a test of how far love can travel.

Choose battles that are big enough to matter but small enough to win.

When the universe closes the door, it’s because the whole roof will blow off.

Just because you write, doesn’t make you a Writer.

How come people always say, “He’s majoring in engineering/molecular biology/finance… Galing niya! Talino!” How come no one ever says, “You’re majoring in English/Lit/Creative Writing? WOW! You must be sooo smart!”

Every excuse is already a choice to fail.

People shouldn’t be afraid of their birthdays. growing up doesn’t necessarily mean growing old.

Now comes the Uli Oposa Tells It Like It Is series. LEGGO:

You can’t please everybody but you can offend everybody.

Religion is only ridiculous if it’s a religion that’s not yours.

Humans should stop pretending to be spokespeople of “God”. We don’t know what he’s saying. None of us know. Zeus told me to tell you that.

I hate it when people use the word “Literal” too much. Anna Oposa, one of my friends said “The house is literally yellow!”. TANGINA MAY YELLOW BA NA FIGURATIVE?

We are the story of potential. We have yet to maximize it. The Filipino needs to learn TO LEARN.

And we end with the @Donnatells “I carry your heart” Shaw series. LEGGO forth in love:

You can kiss the fool, you can let the fool kiss you, but don’t let the kiss fool you.

They say ‘follow your heart’ but if your heart is in a million pieces… which piece do you follow?

The most important sex organ is the brain, so spread your medulla oblongata, bitch!

Let’s be nothing. I heard it lasts forever.

#PhilippineFridays is a project which aims to help Philippine Tourism by putting the Philippines as an online Twitter trending topic once a week. A topic will be given every week for netizens to tweet or blog about. Let’s work together to promote the Philippines in a positive light.

This project is a collaboration among creative minds, which came out of the #ManilaMinds, a group committed to Heal Manila.

1ST TOPIC: What’s your favorite Philippine destination? Why?

Tweet. Blog. Spread the word. #PhilippineFridays is already trending on Twitter. Let’s keep the fire burning!

As for my answer? Well, asking me this question is like asking a mom who her favorite kid is. But if I HAD to decide, I’d say Palawan. It’s enchanting. It’s magical. It’s subliminal. I don’t know of any place or experience that has moved me so much, for so many different reasons. Just thinking about it is making me warm and fuzzy inside.

Stories from my most recent Palawan trip:
Dear Future Fiance
Let me show you what you’re missing: Paradise!

That song from Avenue Q. We English majors know the opening lines all too well because people keep singing them to us, thinking they’re being clever and cute… NAT. All together now: “What do you do with a BA in English/what is my life going to be/four years of college and plenty of knowledge/have earned me this useless degree.”

When people ask me what I do now, I don’t quite know what to say. Labels never looked good on me. This “useless” degree has led me to several jobs. All jobs, I love. LOVE LOVE (LOVE LOVE LOVE!). I want to tell you about each one of them, because each one makes me want to embrace the world whenever I wake up and before I sleep. I have been told to find a “real” and “stable” job (note: singular noun.. shet), which I suppose I’ll do eventually, but I am making up every excuse not to. Or at least, not yet. I’m not ready to give up my nowherian-ness just yet. If other people know the beginning of “What Do You Do With a BA in English?” well, I know the following lines better: “But somehow I can’t shake/The feeling I might make/A difference/To the human race.”

Occupation #1: Planeteer
Employer: Mother Earth
Attire: Dresses and bikinis. Footwear optional.
Office: School of the SEA (Sea and Earth Advocates), Bantayan Island, Cebu

Responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

1) Teaching environmental awareness through musical theatre. Because “Earth” spelled without “ART” is just “EH.”

We learn so much from teaching these kids.

One day involved being covered in glitter, another in paint, and a night cutting and folding paper stars.

2) Surveying marine protected areas. Most are healing from years and years of illegal (read: destructive) fishing methods.

Which leads us to 3) Restoring these corals. Planting corals is way, waaaaaaayyy cooler than planting trees.

4) Learning about the different species that lie beneath. For example, collecting planktons and looking at them through a microscope. My favorite right now are these brittlestars. They’re scared of light, so when we put them on our hands, they made their way under.

5) Listening to the stories of coastal communities, so that we can move forward WITH THEM.

6) Discussing environmental issues. Cosmopolitan, May issue. Venus Raj on the cover. Anna Oposa on the cover… Next time nalang daw CHOS.

7) Attending environment-related events, like the opening of the Unwetter exhibit at the Ayala Museum. Runs until the end of the month.

8) Working with my heroes. Most of whom are my age.

Rizzy “Tiger Teacher” Alejandro

Kester “Bitch” Yu, Viv “Vianny/Ma’am Veyvs/Vivi/Vivi La Vida Loca” Zerrudo, Desiree “Brazo” Llanos Dee

And Mariel “Cool Story Bro” Alfonso.

9) Watching sunset,

after sunset,

after sunset,

after sunset. No one is ever too busy to watch the sun sink and disappear into the horizon.

10) Serving the nation and the people.

This, friends, is just one of the many things you can do with a BA in English.

Photos from Mariel Alfonso, Desiree Llanos Dee, David Gonzales, Russ, and my own camera