Nayong Pilipino in Clark to showcase Philippines pre-colonial, colonial past

The Nayong Pilipino at the former Clark Expo Zone, which had its soft-opening in May this year, will focus on the pre-colonial and colonial aspects of Philippine history, according to its executive director Charito Planas.

This refers to the period before Spanish and American colonization in the 15th century, when indigenous Philippine homes and other cultural artifacts were barely influenced by foreign elements.

Thus, she said, there will be a fully-equipped mosque, which is to be supported by the Saudi Arabian embassy, with a Zamboanga-style vinta cruising an artificially-made rivulet to boot, to represent the country’s Islamic or Arabic heritage.

To represent China’s over-reaching influence, a replica of a Chinese junk, complete with porcelains and vases, will also be seen at the Nayon-Clark.

Planas also said that real Aetas will form part of Nayon, who will demonstrate survival techniques that are a metaphor of the Filipinos’ survival instincts.

Pre-colonial Philippines will be seen in the structure of Ifugao homes, built with materials and designed in such a way that rats and other pests cannot go up the house, and in artifacts such as the rice terraces. Read the rest of this entry »

Goya Dark Mint Chocolate : Pinoy Chocolate at its best!

When I was a kid, I really love local chocolates like Goya Egg Chocolates, Sergs and the orange flavored cholocates from Mayfair. When you get older you’ll discover new chocolate brands that will make you addicted to it. Discovering imported chocolates makes us think that locally made chocolates are sub-standard in compare with a delicous Belgian Sweets.

The Plurk Effect!

I’ve been plurking for a week now and I always see a lot of plurkers wanting if not craving for Goya Dark Mint. Whats is it? Well Goya is a local chocolate brand here in the Philippines and they have a new Dark Chocolate product with a hint of mint. Part of Goya’s effort to reintroduce the brand they produced new variety to the chocolate in order to please the local market. When I first read about this product from AJ’s Blog, I immediately went to Mini Stop and lucky enough to get the last box available. The mix of mint and dark chocolate is a really good combination and really addictive too. No wonder, a lot of bloggers are craving for it.

Goya Dark Mint is one of my favorite locally made chocolate. It is available in Mini Stop for only 34 pesos but you can get it for as low as 25.00 pesos in local supermarkets like in SM Hypermart.

Photos courtesy of Aj of http://food.baklaako.com/

Putting the Filipino calamansi into the limelight

Foreigners describe it as the small green citrus native to the Philippines. The fruit looks like a small lime and is relative of the mandarin orange and the pomelo, others say.

Yes, the lowly versatile tart fruit has gained culinary popularity in the other countries and is being used in many recipes ranging from cocktails to salsas.

Many Filipinos call it calamansi, others call it calamondin, others call it suter. This is citrofortunella microcarpa, a round greenish to yellow in color, 2 cm to 4.5 cm fruit which is normally found in the kitchen of Filipino homes since it does wonders of wonders as a sour flavoring to a variety of dishes from the sautéed rice noodles called bihon to pancit palabok; from the arroz caldo to beefsteak Filipino style.

Calamansi is the secret ingredient to many mouthwatering Filipino delicacies. This writer remembers that the juice of the calamansi leaves are extracted and added to the leche plan to give it an exotic taste. How would the famous Leyte kinilaw taste without the secret ingredient called calamansi? What would dieters do without the calamansi to make the grapelike seeweeds called lato? And what is more refreshing than a glass of calamansi juice or iced tea laced with calamansi on a weather unusually unbearable because of global warming? Read the rest of this entry »

Filipino inventor claims finding right alkaline formula vs cancer,other diseases

A Filipino inventor has claimed to have made a breakthrough in formulating the right amount of alkaline level in water as the natural way of treating all kinds of diseases,including cancer.

Pablo Planas who invented earlier the “Chaos Turbo Gas Saver” device that is now being exported to 17 countries, said his latest discovery is the formula of extracting alkaline from a special type of mineral from the earth’s surface, which he said has been proven to the antidote against cancer cells.

“Alkaline is very important to our body to fight toxic, the root cause of all diseases,” Planas said.

He said after years of research here and abroad, he discovered that “alkaline is the best natural way of curing diseases.”

Planas said that practically all water, including seawater contains alkaline, but the alkaline content is below the level of what is called “hydrogen potential” (pH) that measures the degree of acidity or alkalinity in water or any solution.

He said that the higher the pH reading, the more alkaline and oxygen rich the fluid is, and the lower the pH reading, the more acidic and oxygen deprived the fluid is, he said. Read the rest of this entry »