By Marjorie Gorospe
INQUIRER.net
SERVING ham especially during the holiday season will surely make your family smile. But after the celebration, you often have ham leftovers. Don’t fret. Chef Ricky Cordova of the American Hospitality Academy shows how you can transform that ham leftover into a soup with your favorite monggo.
YEARNING for a healthy diet this Christmas season?
First off, going on a diet doesn’t mean that you will deprive yourself of mouthwatering food during this festive season. The word “diet” has been often associated with losing weight but nutritionists argue that dieting is about selecting the right food every meal.
After all the parties that you have had this Christmas season, check what you’ve eaten. Did you have any vegetables in your diet? If you haven’t listed veggies, then why not break the meat meals and still have a festive delight. How? It’s a matter of combining the right food.
Chef Bong Ignacio, seasoned instructor of the American Hospitality Academy, prepared this Chicken Roulade and Chinese Broccoli with Raisins and Cashew nuts for health conscious individuals. Watch this latest episode of What’s Cookin’? with AHA?, and see Ignacio demonstrate two recipes.
By Marjorie Gorospe
INQUIRER.net
LAS Piñas City is known for the bamboo organ and for their bamboo craft. No wonder, even during the Christmas season, some people prefer to have their lanterns be made by the residents of Las Piñas.
I recently met this group called Samahang Magpaparol ng Brgy. E. Aldana Las Piñas Inc. Violeta Santos formed and led this group. It is one of many organizations in Las Piñas that help people find livelihood.
I visited the group’s stalls. Each had something unique to display including the famous Parol or lantern which we often displayed in streets or in Filipino homes. During my visit, I was shown how parols are made.
Depending on the design, building a lantern starts with building a framework. The framework is made of bamboo. They cut the bamboo into thin sticks according to specific measurements. Then a star-shaped pattern is formed by connecting the edges. They then cover of the star-shaped framework with colored plastic. They also create a tail that is later attached to the lantern. It’s that easy. Parol makers eventually sell them for a reasonable amount.
Through the year, Santos said their group also gets orders from the buyers like car companies who request for specific designs.
For the residents of Las Piñas, the lantern is no longer just a Christmas symbol. It has also become a source of livelihood for some.
By Marjorie Gorospe
INQUIRER.net
AFTER attending Misa de Gallo, it is often a tradition to partake of the Puto Bumbong, a Filipino lilac-colored delicacy made of steamed glutinous rice inserted in a small bamboo tubes.
Puto Bumbong is a delicacy that is usually seen during the yuletide season. But in Las Pinas, there is a family that sells Puto Bumbong even beyond Christmas. The Jackson family sell this delicacy everyday to customers who enjoy eating it.
Curios to know how Puto Bumbong is made, I asked the family one day to show me how this well-known Filipino delicacy is made.
The process and ingredients are simple.
Here are the ingredients:
1 kilogram of Malagkit mixed with 125 grams ordinary rice
Sugar
1 pc Shredded mature coconut
Food color (violet/lilac)
Butter or margarine
Banana leaves
Water
Pandan leaves
Here are the steps:
Mix the malagkit (glutinous rice), ordinary rice and the food coloring. Let it dry over night. The process of mixing can also be done using a grinder. If the mixture is ready (usually the following day), add Pandan leaves in water that will be used to steam the Puto Bumbong. Heat steamer. Put the rice mixture inside the bamboo tubes leaving enough space where steam can evaporate. After one minute, check the steamed glutinous rice and prepare banana leaves. Spread the steamed Puto Bumbong on the banana leaves. Apply margarine or butter then add sugar and shredded coconut.
So that’s the simple way of preparing Puto Bumbong. You don’t have to fall in line after mass to get one.
Later I learned that the Jackson family serves Puto Bumbong with tea because the tea compliments the sugar applied on this favorite Filipino delicacy.
(Photo: A wooden Belen made out of uprooted trees in UP Los Banos)
By Marjorie Gorospe
CHRISTMAS is often associated with lanterns, caroling and Christmas trees. But one of the more common symbols of Christmas is Jesus Christ’s nativity, which is portrayed through a Belen.
While people only get to see Belens during the Christmas season, residents and visitors in Marikina can actually find this symbol all year round through a Belen Museum, which is open everyday except on holidays.
The museum has a variety of Belens, which is owned by Carmen Carlos. Carlos started collecting Belens when she was still in high school in the 1950s. Since then, her collection has grown. She has paintings, dioramas and embroidery, which were given as gifts by close friends.
“It is a symbol of hope,” says Dolly Borlongan, the museum’s curator.
WHEN you think of typhoons, you often think of death and destruction. But amid these unwanted consequences, some people find good things from these sad events.
In September 2006, typhoon Milenyo hit Southern Luzon and brought down hundreds of trees at the University of the Philippines Los Baños campus.
Dr. Fernando Sanchez, assistant to the Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development, UPLB, said that the typhoon uprooted decades-old trees.
“Before the typhoon Milenyo happened, it was a dream to have a wooden Belen in the campus,” Sanchez added.
Our search for the giant lanterns of Pampanga led us to Tatang Erning (real name Ernesto Quiwa), one of the most respected lantern makers in the province.
We found him in his home in Barangay Sta. Lucia, a few minutes away from San Fernando city proper. His home also serves as the base for his lantern-making business.
Tatang Erning, however, is more famous for his giant lanterns. He has been making them in time for the city’s annual Giant Lantern festival since the 1960s.
He is a fourth-generation descendant of the Estanislaos, one of the pioneering families who have been making lanterns ever since the “Ligligan Parul” began taking place in the 1930s.
THE Filipinos’ festive celebration of Christmas begins as early as September. No wonder the Philippines has been known as the country with the longest celebration of Christmas. Filipinos would decorate their homes with garlands, Christmas lights, belen and the Parol or the lantern – which are symbols that represent the spirit of Christmas
The Parol, for instance, is a symbol of the guiding light which wise men followed during their journey to find Jesus Christ. But symbols go hand in hand with traditions that people practice. Christmas is not complete without the caroling, Simbang Gabi, Noche Buena, and the “Mano Po Ninong at Ninang.”
Truly, Filipinos celebrate Christmas like no other.
INQUIRER.net VDO presents these Christmas messages.
May the true spirit of Christmas be etched in your hearts.
THE Noche Buena table is not complete without a Christmas Ham. As early as November, you can already see these cured hams being sold in supermarkets. While these commercial hams are cured, you can make it extra special by glazing it with sweetness mixed with a tinge of sourness. How can you do that?
Watch chef Bong Ignacio as he cooks the Pineapple and Star Anise Glazed Ham.
DECORATING for Christmas is not complete without the twinkling Christmas lights that brighten up a night. But how safe are the Christmas lights that you are using?
According to Alex Malong, product manager of the Bureau of Product Standards-Department of Trade and Industry (BPS-DTI), all Christmas lights sold in the market should have the following in its packaging:
1. A visible Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) sticker
2. Safety instructions
3. Manufacturer’s name
4. Country of origin
5. Number of standard used- PNS 189:2000
6. Printed mark “For indoor use only”
7. Rated voltage and rated wattage of the set
8. Rated voltage and rated wattage of the lamp
