...the Singaporean food experience

Singaporean writes book on Filipino food

By Tonette Orejas
Inquirer Central Luzon

 April 1st, 2014

 

PHILIPPINE CUISINE AUTHOR. Singaporean Bryan Koh , 30, has written a three-volume book, “Milk Pig and Violet Gold (Philippine Cookery),” that is arranged according to the three main island groups Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. His inspiration in compiling recipes from Aparri town to Zamboanga City were his Filipino nannies who cooked “pinakbet,” “adobo,” “sinigang” and other Philippine dishes for his family when he was a young boy. PHOTOS BY E.I. REYMOND T. OREJAS/INQUIRER CENTRAL LUZON

ANGELES CITY, Philippines—On Saturday night when Singaporean Bryan Koh launched his book, “Milk Pigs and Violet Gold (Philippine Cookery),” Filipinos, including heritage-food chef Lilian Borromeo, were profuse with thanks.

Their gratitude to the 30-year-old Singaporean was well placed.

Koh must have been the first foreigner to produce a wide compilation of recipes painstakingly gathered from local cooks through meals in public markets, restaurants, carinderia (eateries), cafés and private kitchens from Aparri town in the northern tip of Luzon mainland to Zamboanga City in Mindanao.

Accompanying the recipes were good photographs, light accounts and a helpful glossary and index.

“It’s an authentic snapshot of Filipino cuisine,” Koh told the Inquirer, speaking of his three-volume book that is arranged according to the three main islands of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

It was copublished by Holy Angel University’s Center for Kapampangan Studies (CKS).

Koh remains humble even as his output of four years helps the world’s culinary community understand Filipino food.

“I did not want to come across as an authority. I’m on a journey. I’m just a scribe,” said Koh, a mathematics major from National University of Singapore, the same university where the idea for a Southeast Asian cookbook cropped up before he took up Master of Management in Hospitality at Cornell-Nanyang Institute.

The book’s title comes from what he calls two icons: the lechon de leche (roasted suckling pig) and ube (purple yam).

Inspired by nannies

Koh’s curiosity, later passion, for Filipino food was ignited by his Filipino nannies, Lydia Baltazar of La Union province and Evelyn Mendoza of Laguna province.

“This goes way back, from my yayas (nannies),” he said.

He was 2 years old when Baltazar worked for the Koh household beginning in 1986. She made adobo, sinigang and pinakbet weekly fares, he remembered.

Koh said Baltazar left in 1997 when she reached her 50s and moved to her relatives in Canada.

Mendoza cooked the same meals and introduced more fish dishes as she worked from 1997 until she left for Russia in 2009.

“They were two of the best cooks in the household. It’s a different experience when the cooking comes with care and love. I was fortunate to be exposed to such food,” Koh said.

He said he was grateful to his nannies because they allowed him to cook with them. “They gave me the foundations,” he said.

He honored them by relating how they cooked the family’s favorite meals.

It was when he took an assignment, as a freelance journalist, that he encountered The Farm, a place for wellness in San Benito in Lipa City in Batangas province, in 2008.



“After eating their raw food, I was completely riveted,” Koh said.

That was when he decided that he would write a Southeast Asian cookbook by starting with the Philippines “by learning more, going into the unexplored [cuisine] that few cookbooks pursued and understanding why Philippine food is misunderstood.”

Koh is a patient researcher, said retired advertising creative director Alex Castro.
‘Dinuguan’

“Two years ago, I got an e-mail signed ‘K. Bryan’ who asked for my mom’s recipe for tidtad (dinuguan or blood stew), which had two kinds of blood. He found this out from Ajinomoto’s book, ‘Pinoy Umami on Mekeni’s Meals,’” Castro said.

This, he said, began their friendship.

“[Koh] got around from the kindness of total strangers,” Castro said, pointing out that many Filipinos helped Koh complete his adventure.

 

Robby Tantingco, CKS executive director, said Koh documented the way the late Doreen Fernandez, Ana Besa and Claude Tayag did.

“Thanks for celebrating our cuisine,” Tantingco told Koh.

“He’s no more a stranger to the culinary delights of our country,” Castro said.


 

...the ex-househelp millionaire

How Pinay ex-house helper became a millionaire

 

by Jon Carlos Rodriguez,

ABS-CBNnews.com

10/19/2013

 

 

MANILA, Philippines – A former house helper in London who used to get a monthly salary of P7,000 is now earning millions from her cosmetics and soap laboratory in San Pablo, Laguna.

On ABS-CBN’s “My Puhunan”, Dina Dela Paz-Stalder said she started out with almost no capital at all, only relying on her doctor friends to supply her with beauty and cosmetic products to produce and sell.

From there, Stalder saw potential in the venture, highlighting that she immediately found passion in selling make up, soaps, and other beauty products.

“Siguro ito ‘yung trabaho na minahal ko at isina-puso ko. This is the kind of business or job that I really want,” she said.

Working overseas

Stalder, who was born and raised in Laguna, recalled how she struggled to finish school because of financial issues.

Dina Dela Paz-Stalder on ABS-CBN's "My Puhunan"

“Walang baon, minsan walang shoes. Pero maganda din ang kinalabasan kasi out of that, doon ako naging inspirado na magtapos,” she said.

She earned a degree on medical technology, but will not practice it until years later.

While employed as a domestic helper in London, she also studied facial skin care procedures.

She decided to return to the Philippines in 1986, but did not have any money to put up her own business.

But what she lacked in finance, she made up for in passion.

“’Yun ang dapat gawing inspirasyon ng mga kasambahay na kagaya ko before kasi hindi habang panahon kasambahay ka,” she said.

Stalder Laboratories

From mixing a small pot to make beauty products, Stalder is now running Stalder Laboratories in her hometown of San Pedro.

The name came from her husband, Christopher Stalder, a Swiss foreigner she met through her brother. Unlike other overseas Filipina workers, however, Stalder said she did not meet her partner abroad.

“Ang kaibahan lang, dito siya ipinanganak, dito siya nag-aral. Nag-meet lang kami because of my brother, hindi siya ‘yung talagang ‘rich, Swiss guy,’” she said.

The lab, which opened in 1999, is currently earning P20 million to P30 million a month and is one of the biggest skin care manufacturing companies in the country.

Aside from producing 25,000 papaya soaps daily, the lab also manufactures shampoo, hand sanitizer, lotion and other beauty products.

Stalder shared that a 30-milliliter bottle of hand sanitizer that cost P15 to make can sell for P40 to P45.

She attributed her success to the passion she put in the work, saying she herself gives importance to beauty and health.

“Dati kasi overweight ako ng 25 pounds, with my height parang nakaka-insecure when you see people around na healthy and sexy,” she said.

“Dapat magkaroon ng kaunting kaalaman sa gusto nilang buksan na negosyo, hindi ‘yung basta basta ka magbubukas,” she added.

Stalder also opened the facial and skincare clinic Diana Stalder, with branches in Metro Manila, Luzon provinces and Visayas.

Paying it forward

For all her successes, Stalder has remained grounded and always eager to share her blessings.
Stalder helped a headband vendor, Cristeta Sarenio, increase her daily income by supplying her with hand sanitizers and soaps to sell.

She also taught Sarenio how to manufacture hand sanitizers using ingredients that can be purchased from a drugstore.

 

...the preferred BPO site

'PH still among preferred sites for BPOs'

 

By Ted P. Torres,

The Philippine Star

06/21/2013

 

 

MANILA -- The Philippines remains among the preferred sites for business process outsourcing (BPO), according to a leading US-based BPO and information technology (IT) company.

 

Shore Solutions Inc., one of the bigger players in the BPO business, said revenues from the BPO industry in the Philippines is expected to hit $16 billion this year, or almost 20 percent higher than the $13.4 billion last year.

It noted that with increasing demand from prospective investors and subscribers, the industry would need at least 1.3 million direct hires by 2016 from 720,000 last year.

“That should require 516,000 additional seats, and some 2.5 million square meters of additional office space,” Darcey Lalonde, Asia chief executive officer of Shore Solutions said in a forum yesterday.

The industry employed over 720,000 in 2012, with another 1.6 million indirectly.

Expansion has already been noted in the key urban centers outside Metro Manila such as Cebu and Davao.

In Metro Manila, the major BPO centers are in Makati, Quezon City, Manila, Taguig and Mandaluyong.

Lalonde said that the next or third wave of BPOs is targeting key cities in Laguna, Batangas and Bacolod.

However, he said government should consider anew opening up to a limited extent or to select sectors, ownership of land to foreign entities.

...the Green Apple awardee

Filipino food brand gets Green Apple award

By MST Lifestyle
Feb. 24, 2013

Binalot Fiesta Foods Inc. took home a Green Apple Environment Award in the recently concluded search organized by The Green Organisation, an independent, non-profit environment group dedicated to find Britain’s greenest companies, councils and communities.

Binalot, the lone winner from the Philippines, competed with 500 other nominations and was presented with the Green Apple Award in the House of Commons late last year. The recognition named Binalot as one of the International Winners in the Far East Islands. Along with a gold status, Binalot received a plaque and certificate.

The winning entry focused on to the company’s corporate social responsibility campaign, the DAHON (Dangal At Hanapbuhay para sa Nayon) Program. Initiated at the start of 2007, DAHON helps farmers from Barangay Buhanginan and Barangay Liliw in Nagcarlan, Laguna earn more from growing and harvesting banana leaves which are directly purchased directly by Binalot Fiesta Foods to be used in all Binalot restaurants.

DAHON is Binalot’s long-term program to provide a sustainable source of income for Filipino farmers and ensure a steady supply of quality banana leaves at a low price. Binalot is heavily dependent on banana leaves because the meals are served wrapped in banana leaves, which locks in the food’s flavor (Binalot is a Filipino word which means wrapped). The practice helps preserve the environment by promoting the use of organic banana leaves rather than non-biodegradable styrofoam for food packaging.

The DAHON program has also been recognized by several award-giving bodies and has bagged the special prize in 2007’s Global UPS “Out of the Box” Small Business Contest. Binalot received US $10,000 for exemplifying “end-to-end customer service,” besting entries from China, Singapore and other countries in the Asia Pacific. Binalot is the first Filipino company to win the prestigious prize, shattering the myth that CSRs are only for the big multinational companies. The program also received the Intel-Asian Institute of Management Corporate Responsibility Award in Malaysia in 2010 and a Special Citation for Corporate Social Responsibility from Entrepreneur Magazine in 2011.

The Green Apple Awards began in 1994 and have become established as the Britain’s major recognition for environmental endeavor among companies, councils, communities and countries. Judges for the Green Apple Awards are drawn from the Environment Agency, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Chartered Institution for Wastes Management and other independent bodies.

 

...the Investment "Sweet Spot"

Editorial

Philippines 'Sweet Spot' for Investment

Manila Bulletin

February 18, 2013

 

 

The Philippines edged its Asian neighbors in providing an environment that attracts big foreign companies. Besides traditional investment sources such as United States of America, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, potential investors from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa now look at the country as investment site.

The Board of Investments (BOI) reported that R75 billion worth of investments poured in the first month of 2013 the biggest of which was the R40-billion Subic power project. BOI-registered investments come with tax holiday packages and incentives to attract more big companies. The growing investor confidence is fueled by the robust 6.6% growth in the economy in 2012, a competitive labor force, and a stable government.

The International Finance Corp. (IFC), the private sector financing arm of the World Bank, plans to invest up to $400 million in the Philippines in 2013 in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects, transport, tollroads, water, and power, particularly renewable.

The United Kingdom (UK) has increased trade and investment in the Philippines, particularly in information and communications technology, PPP, retail, education, energy, and health care.

Investments from Taiwan rose over 30 percent to $400 million in 2012 from $300 million in 2011, according to the Taipei-based Manila Economic and Cultural Office. Some $400 million in investments were infused by 16 companies in various Philippine industries, of which about $100 million went to Clark and the rest to economic zones in Batangas, Laguna, and Cavite. Some 800,000 Filipinos are employed today by foreign investors in 275 special economic zones nationwide.

We congratulate the Department of Trade and Industry, headed by Secretary Gregory L. Domingo, and other Officers, in their collective efforts to push for long-term and sustainable investments to ensure a strong economy in the Republic of the Philippines. CONGRATULATIONS AND MABUHAY!

...the Pinoy acoustic wave goes Asian

Sabrina gains following in other Asian countries The Philippine Star November 28, 2011 By Nathalie Tomada

Sabrina releases I Love Acoustic 4 album under MCA Music (Universal Music Philippines)| Zoom

MANILA, Philippines - Count Sabrina in among the Pinoy artists gaining fans in other Southeast Asian countries.

The acoustic singer’s I Love Acoustic album series under the recording label MCA Music, Inc., was released not just in the country, but also in other parts of Asia.

The first of the series, which came out in 2007 when she was only 18, was certified Gold in Thailand and Double Platinum in Indonesia. This spawned a follow-up record, I Love Acoustic Too, which again became certified Gold in Thailand, Double Platinum in Indonesia and did very well in Singapore. The third acoustic album turned Platinum in Indonesia and charted well in other Asian territories.

And she’s in good company: The Pinoy music artists who have enjoyed popularity if not released albums in other Asian countries include Christian Bautista, Rico Blanco, Jed Madela, Aiza Seguerra and of course, Charice.

“It’s very humbling to experience the appreciation of people from other countries,” says the now 21-year-old Sabrina.

Sometime mid of this year, she flew to Indonesia to meet her fans there for the first time. She also became a cover girl for the Indonesian glossy Eve and graced other mags like Cosmogirl. She recently went back to sing in a high-profile wedding. Indonesian fanpages have also been put up for her. “Lahat ng mga ka-tweet ko mga halos Indonesian. Ang laki ng support group ko dun,” she adds.

Sabrina also has a couple of Thai fanpages. “Sa Thailand kasi nag-No. 1 yung songs ko,” she explains.

Meanwhile, Sabrina will be returning to Singapore end of this year, as a follow-up to her successful promo tour late last year.

“I love it so much even if (a promo tour abroad) can be so toxic. I think the best thing about it is that I learn about other people’s cultures, including their fashion and food,” she says.

Sabrina has released the fourth installment of the series dubbed I Love Acoustic 4 and will be available in other countries. The album boasts of her interpretations of such international hits as Price Tag, Who Says, Edge of Glory, On The Floor, Moves Like Jagger, Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.), California King Bed, Hold It Against Me, Rolling In The Deep, The Lazy Song, Back To December, That Should Be Me, Marry Me and Rocketeer. On its first week of release last month, it went straight to No. 1 of Astroplus’ OPM and international album charts.

Sabrina says that among all the records in the I Love Acoustic series, the latest collection is which she can relate the most, it being a “clearer expression of who I am today, a girl slowly turning into a woman.”

The album also showcases a duet with Indonesian crooner Calvin Jeremy for a cover of Just The Way You Are and with Richard Poon for a version of the Jason Mraz/Colbie Caillat track Lucky.Sabrina, who was named Female Acoustic Artist of the Year in last month’s Star Awards for Music, doesn’t mind if there are impressions of her being more recognized in other places, rather than in her home country. In the same way, she is positive that even if there is a general perception that the acoustic scene is not as alive as before, the genre is here to stay because “soothing and mellow music” will always have its slice of the music-loving market.

“What I love about acoustic is the emotions it brings to its listeners. It’s soothing to the ears and very mellow,” says Sabrina.

Her albums are all covers and fresh arrangements of hit foreign songs, but she hopes she gets to sing original compositions someday.

Born Roli Alexandra Orial, Sabrina is a Communication Arts graduate, cum laude, from University of the Philippines Los Baños. She grew up in a very musical household. Her father used to be a folk singer and she once formed part of a performing trio with her older brother and sister. In one of her gigs with her siblings, she was discovered by MCA Philippines executives, who let her grow up a bit and signed her up two years later when she turned 18. Bossa Nova was her first genre, but MCA big bosses deemed it more age-appropriate for her to sing acoustic numbers.

Sabrina says, “My family is very supportive and happy that I pursued music because this is also their dream.”

...the center of center of biodiversity

PHL biodiversity in ‘The Great Expedition’ wows American TV viewers

10/29/2011
GMA News

A recently aired US television special on the world's richest and endangered biological hotspots – which was also posted online – has viewers saying “wow" to the Philippines’ rich biodiversity from rainforest up in the mountains to reefs underwater.

US-based ABC7 KGO-TV aired “Reefs to Rainforests: The Great Expedition," where Philippine and San Francisco Bay Area scientists discovered 300 new species.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=8404396


“The one-hour telecast highlighted the largest expedition of the California Academy of Sciences (CAS), a state-of-the-art natural history museum with an aquarium and planetarium. CAS chose the Philippines as the country was believed to be the 'center of the center' of global biodiversity," the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco reported.

Consul General Marciano Paynor Jr. said: “This video presentation left me with a greater appreciation of the richness of our country. I encourage our Kababayans to watch, promote and share this telecast with friends and family to discover the immense biodiversity of animal and plant life in the Philippines."

“The expedition made ground-breaking developments and discoveries, and recommended new protected areas for the preservation of the Philippines’ ecosystem," the Consulate General said.

The Consulate General also provided a link to the documentary available online, which also highlights how aquarium biologists maintain environmentally sustainable exhibits, including a living model of a Philippine coral reef at CAS.

Historic survey of PHL bio-diversity

Aside from being the largest expedition undertaken by CAS, the 2011 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition was promoted as the most historic and comprehensive study of terrestrial and marine biodiversity in the Philippines’ mega-diverse 7,100-island archipelago.

From April 26 to June 10 this year, the expedition team – whose members included 31 Americans with scores of Filipino botanists, entomologists, herpetologists, mammalogists and marine biologists – explored the shallow-water reefs, deep sea, and terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems of the country, looking for new life-forms never been recorded.

The local scientists in the expedition were from the University of the Philippines (UP), as well as from the De La Salle University, University of Batangas, the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of the Department of Agriculture, and the National Museum of the Philippines.

Among the places included in the expedition are Lake Taal, Anilao, the Verde Island Passage in Batangas, Mt. Makiling in Laguna, Mt. Banahaw in Quezon, Mt. Malarayat in Batangas, and Mt. Isarog in the Bicol region.

“Our country is remarkably rich in biodiversity, from coral reefs to forests, rivers and lakes. Conservation of these resources is most critical to species survival, stable ecosystems and economic development on the Philippines and the world as well," said UP Institute of Biology director Perry Ong, who co-chaired of the UP Steering Committee of the 2011 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition, on the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity website. — Marlon Anthony R. Tonson /LBG, GMA News

..the earth artist

Fil-Am showcases passion for pottery at New York exhibit

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

MANILA, Philippines—A native of Mount Makiling in Laguna, Hadrian Mendoza found his home in Virginia but he felt so homesick, his only connection back home is his passion for pottery. Following the echo of the god’s creative spirit, he mounted his second solo exhibit at the Philippine Consulate General at 556 Fifth Avenue in New York with 15 of his latest creations, bulol , the god of harvest in the Philippines’ Northern Luzon.

Bulol, means mute. The artist derives inspiration from bulol’s essence of quietude, and happily yields to its energy guiding him to create the basic forms, leaving the potter’s hands reaching out to his native Philippine origin.

“If you look at all the pictures of bulol, the gesture of its face is minimal, its marks are minimal. You can’t tell what’s going on, from its shape, from the proportion of its head and body. For me, studying the faces of bulol has given me a good feeling,” explains Mendoza. The god symbolizes a positive energy in all things.

Making bulol in its traditional form means using very simple technique and minimal approach in making its eyes and nose. There were very subtle changes, but nothing radical. The artist is careful not to disrespect it.

“The feeling and emotion that you get from the minimal gestures that created bulol is a strong one. Its basic forms and basic emotions represent dull, muted, and subtle hope, but, more importantly, they are about a belief or confidence that something will come out. It’s a strong sculptural inspiration,” he assesses.

Indeed, his meditation on bulol has tempered an expressionistic style. It has made him unusually satisfied in shaping the fundamental nature of a “subtle breakthrough” on clay. In order to make his work take on an organic look, he tweaked the recipe of his new found clay: 70 percent ball clay and kaolin, 20 percent feldspar, and 10 percent silica.

He wanted the coarsest and chunkiest red clay with lots of iron, he researched until he found the quality of clay he was looking for. “It looked gritty and unrefined, like the clay of Quezon province that I used in the Philippines,” the artist recalls.

His restless spirit moves on to enhance that quality that he was once comfortable with.

...the coco water purifier

Coconut shells used to purify water

By ROY C. MABASA

April 27, 2011

Manila Bulletin

 

 

MANILA, Philippines — A professor from the De La Salle University (DLSU), in partnership with the Manhattan College in New York City, has helped develop a sustainable water purification system which uses indigenous biodegradable materials such as coconut shells to be introduced in Nagcarlan, Laguna in June.

DLSU Professor Susan Gallardo, together with Manhattan College Professor and Filipino-American James Patrick Abulencia, presented the water purification system at the just concluded National Sustainable Design Expo at the National Mall between 4th and 7th Streets, Washington DC which was organized by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of its Earth Day event.

This endeavor by students from the Manhattan College, under the tutelage of Gallardo and Abulencia, was made possible by a $9,990 grant from the EPA under its P3 Program (People, Prosperity and the Planet).

Through this EPA program, college students can benefit people, promote prosperity and protect the planet by designing solutions that move people towards a sustainable future.

The EPA considers projects that address challenges from a wide range of categories: agriculture, built environment, materials and chemicals, energy, and water. These can be challenges found in the developed or developing world.

The P3 Award competition is a two-phase team contest. For the first phase, interdisciplinary student teams compete for $15,000 grants. Recipients use the money to research and develop their design projects during the academic year. The final projects include a Phase I project report and a Phase II proposal.

This year's Expo showcased 55 teams of more than 400 college students from across the United States who presented their innovative solutions to environmental challenges.

Gallardo teaches Chemical Engineering at the DLSU while Abulencia recently participated in the Balik Scientist Program of the Department of Science and Technology (DoST).

Their team designed and developed a cost-effective and bio-degradable water filter using materials that are locally available and cost-effective for the local population.

The water system will be launched in June when Professor Abulencia travels back to the Philippines.