An environmental crime

wip

Certificate on demand

It is customary that in most training seminars or workshops, a certificate is given to participants at the end of the course. Some people may find certificates important but others like myself do not really have much use for them.

Given the need to conserve resources nowadays, I believe that certificates should not be automatically given to everyone at the end of every training. What can be done is to issue certificates on demand for those who might want to ask for them. For me, it is enough that I go home well satisfied and truly edified by the training.

If it is not possible to do away with certificates, at least those who give them should take care to use correct grammar because not doing so reflects badly on the institution that gives them out.

Science and Religion

Believing in science or in a  religion are both acts of faith.

Science however is faith in process while religion is faith in miracles and magic.

Good Friday what ifs....

The Catholic religion was a colonial imposition and legacy of the Spaniards. Today the great majority of Filipinos profess to be Catholics and are proud and happy to be so.

What I wonder however is if we were not forced by the Spaniards to embrace Catholicism as a religion, would our ancestors have willingly accepted it or would they have gone for something else? If we have not been waylaid in our journey into nationhood by the Spaniards, what would be the majority religion in our country now?

Religious holidays are occasions for people to demonstrate their faith. But how deeply do the people know their religion beyond participating in its rituals? With our freedom to worship now,  in matters of faith where do we draw the line between religiosity and superstition or spirituality and stupidity?

Edible landscape

For practical reasons, I have a preference for income or at least savings generating hobbies. I take pride in being able to consume or earn from a plant that I grow myself. Although I would like to raise fish or birds such as catfish or quail, it would be to either eat or sell them eventually.


I am glad I am not alone with this kind of thinking. When I was in UP Los Banos one time, I learned about the Edible Landscape Project being piloted there. Unfortunately when I visited the place, it was closed and I was only able to take a picture from outside the fence.

I hope the idea of edible landscaping spread beyond this pilot stage. This is the kind of hobby I go for and would like to share with others as well.

Kusina Chem: The Science behind Filipino Foods

In my search for a livelihood opportunity related to food, I attended a vegetable processing seminar at the UP Los Banos where we were taught the basics of the various ways of handling and processing vegetables such as drying, pickling, freezing and bottling.

Hands on training to make bottled ampalaya.

Learning the right way to pasteurize vegetables from Mr. Emong

my fellow participants

The course was informative and the hands on was very interesting but what I realized was that although most people are familiar with the many techniques that were taught us, they do not have an idea of the "why"  or the science behind a certain procedure taken in food preparation or why is it necessary. I thought that maybe this would be an interesting topic for a book.

So apart from going home with knowledge on how to process vegetables, I also came home with a potential book idea.

our finished products

Hope I can get the cooperation of local food scientists to make this idea a reality.

Frankly though I was hoping that we could have been taught more interesting stuff. But since the course was really for beginners I can not complain. What I am really grateful about however is that on the side, our hands on instructor taught me how to make home made yoghurt when he found out my liking for it. It was liking getting two courses for the price of one.

April fool's plant

The real ashitaba with many health claims

The Ashitaba is supposed to be  the wonderplant du jour. This plant which is of Japanese origin is claimed to have many medicinal powers such lowering blood sugar and cholesterol with many people vouching for the plant based on their personal experience.

For this reason, the ashitaba is a much in demand plant.

The problem is that what many people take for ashitaba may not be the real thing. Unscrupulous plant sellers have (mis)labeled a different plant as ashitaba and this is what has mostly gone around. The most that can be said of this plant is that its leaves are edible. Still some people attest to its healing effects.

For this reason, this plant can make a good April Fool's Day plant.

The fake ashitaba. No known medicinal value but edible nonetheless