Luggage?.... or Box?

I already had my extra hour of sleep on Sunday, when the DST ended and we had to set our clocks an hour back. Three days later, mornings are still lazy... but hey... sleepyhead me has gotta get going!

Opening the blinds of the kitchen window to let the autumn light in, my eyes found the large dial thermometer outside... 40 deg. F... not bad, this means no frost to scrape off my car windows today, but that fog tells me that I may not be able to get to work on time if I dilly-dally. Sigh... very soon it will be winter... Brrr....

On my way to work, I can't help but think of our trip back home to the Philippines come December. Ooh la la... goodbye cold... hello sun, even for just a few weeks. Bong and I are so looking forward to seeing Thaad after a year of him being away from home while he works for his diploma in Film Making at the IAFT. I will miss Jas and Gem... this would be the first Christmas that we will not be spending together... maybe next year, we can all be together.

Packing for the trip is another story... two luggage each, or is it one luggage and one box each? Ha ha, everyone in the Detroit airport can spot a Filipino traveler from the boxes they bring with them. What about this set of orange luggage that have been popping in and out of my head since I saw them? They are the perfect orange that I love. Thanks to my friend blogger Chic In The Tropics for introducing me to the site, now I can't stop thinking about it. To buy... or not to buy... that, remains the question.

Meanwhile, gotta plan which things to pack... including pasalubongs, of course!

FB Trasher

Who does not have a Facebook account in this day and age? FB is fun & entertaining... reconnecting with old friends and family, re-establishing ties however remotely... back and forth comments as if in a conversation, albeit dawdled responses... a venue to share photographs with friends and family... oh, what fun!... until...

Trashing a culture in FB is not at all fun. I chanced upon this posting on Kwing's page. Kwing, my sister, is a nurse working in London. For her and all the other Filipino nurses working abroad, this blog is for them.

One of the greatest icons of modern medicine, Sir William Osler, said, "The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest.... ". Beside... on a par with, not in a higher place than... the doctor. Surely, a nurse can offer her/his solution for consideration, with utmost respect for the doctors and not referring to them as morons, as this FBer, who calls herself Dana Groulx, does. Filipino nurses, whom she targets, are naturally caring and respectful. I am sorry that she despises these attributes, but these make them what they are... would've made Florence Nightingale very proud.

Filipinos have an accent when they speak English, as do other peoples who do not have English as their first language... duh! They speak with frequent pauses, always to refresh the thought and prevent the tounge to outrace the brain, hence be not a fool. Pronunciation?... not perfect!... but who has anyway? If a nurse has difficulty pronouncing the name of a medication, it does not mean that she/he cannot pass this medication to the patient properly. The only things that the Filipino nurse can dispense without prescription are comfort, compassion and caring. I am proud of my Kabayan nurses!

To Dana Groulx... the mouth does not have a backspace key. The words you choose to say are just as important as your decision to speak. You have upset a whole culture... demeaned a noble profession by your irresponsible remarks... bite your tongue because one day you might need a Filipino nurse to be your caregiver and friend.

Stainless... Harmless.... Spotless....

My name is Dang Sabolboro and I sell pots (kaldero, for us Pinoys)... It is a career I have chosen for fun. I team up with my friend, Chit, and we cook for a living... and if we sell some, then it becomes really fun! I should write my nameplate: Engr. Dang Sabolboro, Kalderologist.

I have been a Saladmaster owner and user for over a couple of years now. Due to Chit's insistence, I became a consultant myself. Because I am a chemical engineer by training, it became my mission to explain the composition and construction of our pots and pans at every cooking show.

Stainless steel is a steel alloy with at least 13% Chromium (Cr) content. Cr is the element that is responsible for the steel being rust or corrosion resistant. Sometimes, Nickel (Ni) is added to make it more shiny for the rest of its life. But while Ni makes the luster last, it also destroys the steel's magnetic property. With this base knowledge, you can decide which flatware to buy. Flatware, if not rated, is 13-18/0. This means that Cr is 13% to 18% and none of Ni. If you see 18/10 on the box, then it is 18% Cr/10% Ni. If you test both with a piece of magnet, you will find out that the magnet loves the 18/0 but not the 18/10. Your choice... easy to find with a magnet or bling-bling shine forever?

Stainless steel type 316 is susceptible to sensitization - the formation of grain boundary of chromium carbides at temperatures between 900º F and 1500º F - which can result in rapid corrosion. With the addition of Titanium (Ti) in type 316Ti to stabilize the structure against chromium carbide precipitation, resistance to sensitization is achieved. Simply stated, the addition of Ti makes it more resistant to general corrosion and pitting/crevice corrosion.

This is why I love my Saladmaster cookware....
Inside, where it touches the food, is made with 316Ti... I am sure that there is no leaching of the metal into the food, making it taste what it should taste like.
Outside wall is made with a stainless steel grade with some Ni... thus, every time you wash, it will always look like new.
Bottom is made with a stainless steel grade with no Ni content... thus, making the cookware induction ready. Induction is cooking different from our usual, i.e., applying heat. An induction cook top is a strong electromagnetic field that when a magnetic material comes in contact with it, heat is generated. The advantage of induction over heat is less power usage, therefore, cheaper... and earth friendly.

You think the cookware is interesting? Wait till you see the cooking! Book a show now and see the difference!

Oh My Lefty!

I may belong to a family of artists but I do not have the hand of a painter like my Lolo and some uncles & cousins did/do, instead, I show my artistic talent in my cake decorating, among other things. It is a hobby that would sometimes generate some income.... not a lot but the satisfaction, pricless!

Back in the day, when Iligan was home, I teamed up with my friend, Lally, and we had fun making wedding cakes for friends. We agreed on everything.... well, except for one.... I cannot finish icing a layer if she starts it. Oh, my lefty! I cannot go counter clockwise like she does!

On May 25th, Bong and I will have been married for 25 years... yes, silver it is! We are celebrating on a weekend so very good friends from Canada can be with us... and this time, I will be making my own wedding (or is it anniversary?) cake.... watch out for future postings to see how well I have done!

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

YenYen and Anika were playing in one corner of the almost empty waiting lounge at the doctor's office. Roselle had gone in with Uncle Naldo and Auntie Nita to see the doctor and I was left to mind the kids. As I was going through the pages of some old magazine, the two girls came and found their places on each side of me. They got tired of the game they were playing and decided they want to do just as I was.

Silence.... but not for long. Anika started asking me... too many questions I can hardly keep up with her. YenYen, sitting next to my right, was swinging her legs while flipping the pages of an old magazine, as if to some kind of rhythm. Every now and then I would shush Anika to keep her quiet, even just for a little while. And then YenYen was done with her magazine... but her eyes were transfixed on the back glossy cover page. As I leaned towards her to take a look at the image, she said with excitement, "Mommy Dang, when I grow up, I want to be like this"... Seeing the very pretty face on the page, I replied, "You mean you want to be a model?". "No, no, no... I want to be able to put make up on, like her, and be pretty!".

Advertising success! ... or at least, it was for a 9-year old girl. Vanity has taken over little girls... their young minds swindled into substituting powder and lipstick for the fresh and natural, mascara for naive composition, contents supplied in those jars and bottles for the mystery within.

To be or not to be... only she can determine. My part was assuring her that she is pretty as she is... just as her mom tells her everyday. Good nature will always supply beauty but beauty will never supply good nature... que sera, sera!

e-Starved

December 20th was a big day in the Sabolboro household. It was Bong's birthday and Jas's graduation. Now, I am a proud momma of a U of M graduate... yay! A party was planned for these milestones, including a despidida for Thaad who's going back to the Philippines to study film making at the IAFT. Long-time friends and their families who now reside in Canada came to Michigan to celebrate this joyous event with us. The Sabolboro home was transformed into the Sabolboro Hotel. As I always say, my house is small but everyone is welcome. Unlimited internet access is one of the ammenities that this little hotel brags about. Brice had with him his own Macbook and so with Dennis. Ervin brought his own PC notebook. All these equipment, in addition to what was already available... the front room desktop, my notebook, Bong's notebook, Thaad's Macbook. Everyone was ready to read and answer e-mails, harvest e-crops from their e-farms, surf and have fun. Uh-oh... we got disconnected!... of all the time to get internet trouble! Even the phone was not working!... and my ever-reliable and beloved techie guy was not able to do anything about it. Well, oh, well.... If there's one thing we learned about this whole experience is that we have proven that nobody ever dies without the internet or the phone because here we are... alive and still internet-ing.

My apologies to those who lost a lot from wilted e-crops and to those who missed watching their pinoy drama on-line... better luck next time.

P.S. After hours of troubleshooting, Bong finally figured it out. Thank God for husbands.

Ding-Dong

My parents named me Casilda, pretty name, according to them. I grew up getting used to be called by name's shortcut like, Casil, Cas, or Sil.... so then, my nicknames.

As a little girl, my older... and bigger cousins would tease me, they would call me "Indang"... may I say, they murdered my pretty name. I would get mad and cry over it but soon I got used to answering to that monicker. Now, without hesitation, I can say that my name is Indang, call me Dang for short. Except for my parents, everyone calls me Dang.

This is my story. This is how I got my nickname, but every Filipino has one. The joke is "Filipinos have doorbell nicknames." My husband's name is Renato and his nickname is Bong. I would say it is an appropriate handle because he's a big guy and Bong sounds like a big bell. Kwing is one of my sisters and yes, her name sounds like a small bell... and yes she is small... small but terrible, that's what she is. Her size does not prevent her from fighting with anyone who gets in her way. Mirzi is my godaughter. Her nickname is Ting-Ting. Why? Only her mom has the answer. There are a lot of other doorbell nicknames.... Bingbong, Ding-ding, Kong-kong, Yang (my other sister), Bibang (my grandma), Peping (my grandpa), Neneng, Miming, Soling (my other grandma), Leoning (my other grandpa), and so on and so forth... Filipino strangeness!

I know a girl whose nickname is Klang-Klang. I guess it depends on how you say it... then you can see the semblance to the actual person. Can you guess?... big girl?... small girl?