Field Day 2: Ginger Field Day

It wasn't until I joined this field day last fall that I really got to understand many information about ginger. I learned that it is a good source of anti-oxidants and has many other tremendous benefits to health.  Yesterday, as I celebrated my birthday (alone "sob") in a Chinese eat-all-you can, I was looking for something that wasn't there. I was looking for ginger. There wasn't a piece of ginger or a trace of it in the food I ate. Or, there might have been - just very faint it was hardly noticeable.

 

 I went out with some staff from university for this ginger field day. They are teaching farmers to grow ginger  in spite of America's freezing temperatures. Marketing ginger was also discussed; and I think it is so much better to classify ginger in terms of size rather than put a big tuber in the vegetable section and let shoppers snap them to pieces.

 

 A dollar an ounce. I could grow ginger in the province in the Philippines and make a fortune out of it.

 Because they thrive in warmer climates, ginger is best grown in heated sheds for the cold months.

 Really love these farm structures here.

 I'm imagining a ginger plantation.

 Ginger as big as your hand.

Gotta write this down in my potential business venture list. :)

Field Day 1: Randolph Farm

I realize that a great deal of my life here looks like some repetition of my business school days many years ago. There are a lot of paper work to do, business conceptualization to think about, professional development plans to make and various academic-related deadlines to beat. I actually find it invigorating (if this is the perfect term) to go back to blogging again after many, many months of hibernation. At least, while resting from all these brain-drain work, I have another outlet for my thoughts.

I try to spend only 3 hours every day in front of the computer - everything I needed to type are already pre-written long hand and the maximum minutes spent on school-work is an hour. Letters to loved ones average to 30 minutes... hence, not much time for staring on Facebook except when I want to see pictures of my daughter from my sister's album.

So, quick! This blog post must be finished in 15 minutes. 

I decided to feature here my visit to VSU's Randolph Farm. Since I am majoring in Organizational Leadership, much of my work here is related to business leadership as well. Say, for example, as a project manager of my company's food service program back home, I was inclined to design yet another support program that would further enhance and sustain it in the future. I tagged along with some key staff of the university's agriculture department and they guided me to the farm. 

 I love farms. As a former culinary professional, I'm used to visiting farms before and I admit that they do fascinate me. But Randolph Farm is really impressive.

Wouldn't it be inspiring if our food service department grow its own produce? If it uses hundreds of kilos of vegetables a week, doesn't it make perfect sense that they'd save money on their raw materials by growing everything in their backyard? I recall that the available resources we have back home are: land, labor, capital. It only needs some detailed planning and collaborative work with all those involved. 

Peppers! As far as the eyes could see... 

More peppers for the school children's pasta primavera, pizza, salads... 

Some vegetable varieties in heated greenhouses. This is to bring the "temperature" of the tropics ideal for growing certain vegetable species. 

 Grapes! When are we gonna make some wine? :)

 Raspberries. I actually felt like a kid when I saw these raspberries. I stared and stared. :)

Don't you just love farms? I even saw a papaya growing in one of those sheds. Back in the Philippines, papaya trees grow in everyone's backyard. You have to watch out, though, because sometimes, you wouldn't know that your friendly neighbor has taken a fruit and cooked it. The next thing that would surprise you is that your neighbor is handing you a bowl of cooked papaya (which you'd think was given to you out of your neighbor's goodness), which in fact, came from your own tree.

Total time of writing this post: 20 minutes

All The Things We Do For Love

I've never dreamed in my life that I would ever be a scholar someday. I thought that these affairs were too intimidating and were reserved for the Stephen Hawkings and Sergey Brins of the world. I was very much content with my little square inch of life, floating around like a butterfly, such that things like these are beyond my comfort zone. But the heart's capacity is infinite, right?

So when my professor asked me if I could present my work at the research symposium, I said...uhm, yes, sure, I'll give it a try. I think that there's always room for improvement- and that I can't be too complacent no matter what I could achieve- I just had to give it my best shot.

I presented last night this professional development plan for my company back home. It was intended for the improvement and motivation of our employees so they'd have more reason to love their work and be happy with it, no matter what. Adapting Ernest Boyer's taxonomy of scholarship, I designed the plan to help our employees find joy in their career, not just for monetary reasons, but for the passion of it. 

Still a long way to go before it'll be implemented- maybe when I get back to the country. More work waiting. 

The presentation was successful -  I didn't come out dead in a question-and-answer bloodshed. In fact, no one even bothered to ask a question. This remains a scholastic mystery: either the listeners understood it completely or they didn't understand at all. I received some thumbs up from the audience and I was just glad to get out alive.

More Reasons I Love My Job

Another thing I love about my current job is that I always get invited to be a panelist in business presentations for college students. Some of my previous activities included an outdoor cooking contest during the business week. To help me sample about twelve competing groups, I dragged four more people from my team and we had a great hell of a time. Two weeks ago, I attended another business presentation of feasibility studies. It was tough, poring over a number of business plans, head-breaking even. But... there was coffee and food- how can I say no? And unexpectedly, I was handed an envelope full of professional fees. That, plus, a box of meatpie. :)  Can I... can I do this again? I wasn't finished eating my snack and another envelope was handed over to me. Happy, happy. 

(All that bonus money went to my daughter's bank account. I have enough clothes already. :)

Yesterday I was dragged again as a panelist to another presentation. Ah, the fulfilling rewards of it. Fulfilling, because I got rice cakes and one whole coconut for drinks. Slurrp! 

Will Work For Croissants and Coffee*

 During the first months of my daughter's life until about she reached about one year of age, I've stayed at home 80% of the time. That was enough time to organize a household and finish a book. But I realized that I wanted to go back to work, especially when Julienne started walking around. Besides, research says that working moms tend to be more efficient. I have no idea how other moms juggle work and motherhood and being a wife, but as far as I am concerned, I always have three notebooks in my bag. That's a different angle here altogether. So after being a stay-home mom/ wife for more than a year (I left my full-time executive chef job work in 2009), I actually felt refreshed and more energized in this new career. I am new in this company owned by a New-York based bajillionaire, but I have already been enjoying more perks and travels than I expected.

 

 

Ordinary it may sound, but I just enjoyed being sent to those many business gatherings away from town. I love listening to new ideas by people who have been in the industry longer than myself. I prefer to listen, write down important notes, and think of things that I could do to my company when I get back.

  

And, of course. Here is the best part. The food.  Croissants, coffee. What makes business snacks so delicious anyway?

*Yes, I know I've said in an earlier post that I would no longer drink coffee... but... but that is just impossible.

 

 Business trip, all right. It is said that when there is a gathering of business people, we might as well do business. So, I backpacked with me a few copies of my book. For selling, what else? I marched away that day utterly happy. All books sold out.

Back to the Kitchen

After almost two years of being away from the kitchen (since 2009 when I resigned from my last post as EC), it seems that I am thrilled to be back again. I withdrew from the kitchen temporarily, trying to see if it would elude me, but then some passions just don't die. It was fun to go back and start all over again. 

I just signed contract with the culinary school again where they gave me more advanced subjects to teach. Pretty challenging, specially if I had been used to doing all the easier ones.

Hand-rolled pasta. In beef and tomato sauce.

Museum Clues

I've been visiting more museums these times than the past years of my life. I am amused that just when I started becoming a full-time mommy, I had more time and opportunities doing the things I've only dreamed of when I was single and had all the time and liberty to do things myself. Ah- the paradox of doing nothing!

Among those "things" is visiting museums, have coffee conversations with interesting people, shopping for my leisure, keeping house, writing, painting. And I do these things I have Julienne strapped to me on a carrier. I have company! Only that she just coos and stares at people and luckily, doesn't cry in public.

At the museum last April- I- we came across this glass table with a lady's paraphernalia back in the days. Fans, combs, bonnets, fountain pens, a child's shoes. Exactly my fancied things.

 Who owned them many years ago? Was she a beautiful, long-haired woman, probably a landlord's wife? What about the pens- did she love to write? And they had a child who got baptized on an Easter Sunday and that same day the landlord was shot by an unknown gunman.... and the gun man happened to be his wife's former lover?

 Stop me before I incubate a whole new fiction.

Location: Sorsogon Museum and Heritage Center, Sorsogon City, Philippines

 

     

Busy Selling! And A Few Details About The Characters

Been busy these days getting my book to move. The first consignment account I tied with is the Sorsogon Museum and Heritage Center. The Chairman was simply enticed by the fact that the imaginary place that was featured in the book was inspired by the scenic province of Sorsogon.  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The museum gets 25% share of the sales.

Meanwhile, as I was doing a few friendly interviews from buyers, some people ask me if I got acquainted, in real life, with some Frenchman. It's about a character in the book. I said, I don't. Because while the book's birth was gaining momentum, I looked over the table across me at the woman reading a newspaper. And the front page was mostly about the IMF executive Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the creepy scandals attached to his name. Suddenly, the hairs at the back of my nape stood on their ends. For some reasons. Don't get alone at a hotel room with a Frenchman. The chambermaid was lucky to get out sane and alive. Eeeww. Scary.

Book- Hot Off The Press!

 This is the book that I have been talking about on my previous posts.

"A BANQUET FOR UNCLE JACQUES" is a 300-page culinary fiction in full English.

It is the story of a young chef named Dominique and her desires to follow a lover to New York. To go to the Big City, Dominique's passport is the promise of her wealthy uncle, who told her that if she gives a great feast on his wedding day, Uncle Jacques will grant her a plane ticket, accommodations, plus a huge sum of money to any city in the world (though particularly, Paris or New York).

Many challenges surface along the way. First, Uncle Jacques's wedding will be held in a very remote province in the Philippines, in a big house owned by a former ship captain. In the middle of all that nowhere, Dominique must find the right resources for the feast for globetrotters and Parisian socialites. Second, Uncle Jacques is an eccentric, perfectionist man who outwardly rejects Dominique's many menu proposals and imposes his own rules in menu making. Third, as the banquet nears and Dominique's New York Dream begins to materialize, she discovers some truth about her lover and ultimately, who her true love really is.

If you like (or seem to like) the plot, send a message to: enrisamarie8@gmail.com or call 0906 467 4424.
P199.00 selling price in the Philippines.
USD $20.00 selling price overseas. (Yes, I ship overseas.)
314 pages 4.5" X 6"

Busy Week for Baby No. 2

The press  called yesterday night. My book just got finished printing. Whew! What a very uneasy birth. So much delay. Lots of running to do these coming weeks.

On Assignment

 Deadlines, deadlines yet again. Tomorrow I have to submit some very important files for my other job, but... hmm... what the heck - it doesn't hurt to stray awhile and update your blog for a few minutes, does it? I surely miss blogging. At least, if I get too busy and forget my pledged 500 words a day  for my new book, then tinkering a while on my blog is writing- just the same!

I just learned that the romance novelist Barbara Cartland used to read at least 30 books while she worked on a new novel. Her books are quite simple paperbacks, but honestly, they fed my romantic fantasy dreams when I was in high school. I've read just too many Barbara Cartland novels that's why, I guess, I resemble an oozing caramel with my love affairs. Whatever that means.

 My book assignment is too little compared to Barbara Cartland's. Just a small stack. These books above are the books that I have to read for my other work. A combination of the arts, living in a big house, the incessant longing of some lovers like Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Lovers... lovers. Again, the caramel thing.

Also in the pile are old catalogs of painting auctions from Sothesby's or Christies. I've just finished the first coating of the canvass at home as I intend to paint (seriously...yay!) this month. Again, related with my new book.

But what worries me is that Julienne is already crawling on fours. If , I shower with the door open to see her crawl under the table and mess with the wires of our computer, then I have to think again (read: think hard) how to deal with her with all that paint in the house.

Rabbits, Sheep and Cappuccino

I had the greatest dessert in the world a few nights ago. Not the food per se but the conversations that transpired over it.

Before I went back to Manila, my sister and I went to this fantastic pizzeria and coffee shop just a walk away from our village. I had flourless chocolate cake and cappuccino. She had brewed coffee and blueberry cheesecake. That was some of the best the evenings I look forward to in my life because it is one of the few moments that make life so delicious. Coffee, conversation, desserts and even more conversations. Since my sister is a published author herself, I knew that I was with the right company when I talked about the book trade. Unlike me though, she had a publisher who had issued her checks and other stuff that most mainstream writers enjoy.

When my book was about to be completed in March, I discussed with my husband whether we'd offer the manuscript to publishers or go underground and explore the dangers, risks and rewards of self- publishing. Through conversations with colleagues who had already enjoyed book launching and signing and royalties, I learned that publishing and writing is a complex business that one must read the fine lines thoroughly. First, there is the ratio shares between the writer and the publisher. Next, the marketing. Then the intellectual property rights. And so on. Having these information, I have decided to swim in my own blue ocean- away from the probable deals with bigger publishing sharks. Not to mention that I always have difficulties reading the fine lines on contracts and agreements. (Can life be easier?) It will not be easy, I know, but I rather see it so much fun promoting and campaigning for a product that is my very own baby. And if I have to share the profits with anyone, there are only the taxes and a few charities that I have pledged myself on. No headaches. No agreements with other parties. No competition. I hate competitions in the very first place.

"It means, you will be your own publisher," my sister said.
"That's ok," I replied, thinking, "I didn't get an MBA for nothing."
"Then let's conceive the name of your publishing house."
'That's so much fun!"
"Ok. Golden Fleece Publishing," she said. "You're born year of the sheep..."
"How about... Silver Rabbit? Golden Rabbit? Green Rabbit? Because it's the year of the rabbit this year..."
The baby naming again. Fun! Fun!

Where Have We Been?

Our high school's 15th homecoming took off successfully last Saturday. (I'll write about this on a separate post)  Thank God. It was a big relief to see the circus pack up and go and leave happy memories. But what I really looked forward to, which I think would truly test our education  is the commitment of our batch to give back to the community who raised us. Class of 1996- what's next? More dinner parties in the city? There are two doctors in our class and many other medical-related professions that's why medical missions were conceived. Donations on improving infrastructure were also mentioned.

I did not join much the conversations when more charity work were discussed. Charity work is a little personal for me. Ora et labora. For years now I have been doing charity work, a personal commitment I do with heart. I link it  with my professional work.  I prefer to do such task with a small but sincere group, over a large one where sometimes, the true essence of giving and getting involved evaporates, making the charity work resemble another circus.

But while the community/ charity work of our batch wasn't finalized yet, I had made a pledge to our batch that some 5% of the sales of my books will go to an educational cause. Thank you all, dear batch-mates, for your support.

I am not waiting until I get rich. I am not waiting for the government to act. I might as well get a knife and cut just a little sliver off the pie. Ten percent goes to taxes, and the little five percent I intend to collate and give it in the form of books or school chairs or school supplies so children can have a better reason to go to school. Into school. I attended public school as a child and I am no stranger to the educational conditions here. And I can say, that children can dream and do better when they see that generations ahead of them have proven to be true inspiring examples.

Buy my book!

Afternoon Work

 

     Three weeks after Julienne's birth, I reported to work. Kitchen work. I can no longer remember now how it felt. After a Caesarian operation and the stitches were fresh as trussed meat, I had to put on my kitchen clogs and tie apron round my waist. Sure it all sounds history now. But as I went about those kitchen tables with bandages under my black slacks, I could still see how the room swayed and blurred from my tired eyes. I slept mostly from the three- week recovery period and yet there seemed not enough sleep. Good thing kitchen work was only about three days a week. The remaining four days I spent rolling around with the baby and sleeping. I had to stop writing my book for a month because I got headaches from the glare of the laptop monitor.

    A few months later, a little recovered and feeling so much better, I began working on my book again. In the afternoons I would push a small table beside our bed as the baby struggled to turn on her stomach to start crawling. I could never leave the bed, unless I wished to find the poor thing on the carpeted floor. I only got up to get some snacks, make some milk and stretch those strained limbs from being hunched over the computer for hours, or making sketches for the book. (Although the drawings I reserved for the next run. The first edition did not have illustrations, save for the cover.)  Then I play and talk with the baby. Sometimes we read Le Petit Prince. Julienne liked the part with the boabab trees.

"Oh, darling, behave. Mommy's at work."

    Julienne would look at me with that sweet gaze, giggle, then suck two fingers, turn on her side, and before I knew it, she has fallen asleep. Do babies ever get bored? Among all things in the world, I don't like analyzing how children feel for their parents. By doing so, I hope I am saved from the guilt of being a total bore to my child. 
    Read this from Twitter the other day: "The only problem with working at home is that you work all the time." 101% True! 

Bookmarked

Bookmarked for summer. But with a tight schedule due to book release, I might postpone for the next half of the year (if they offer classes still).

Re: Contemporary Asian Art/ Murals

Contact: Ms. Nenette Gonzalez 0917 812 5602
              Bohemian Nation, Westgate, Alabang

Plotting Book No.2

 

I found it extremely fascinating that one of my favorite blogs  had this posted on a recent entry. Because this is the book that I am reading right now. I have actually read this book for the nth time, specially when I become a little too lovesick or a little too bored. Either.

Yes, the question is, what if you met someone when you're 50? I don't think every woman has that kind of dilemma specially if she is married off to someone she'd offer her own head to. I have no comment. I can't relate this to my personal relationships... although...  

But this is the more interesting part.  When I received the message that my first book is already being assembled, the cover being 'glazed' for that glossy effect, I was too excited that I had to divert my attention somewhere else. I started plotting my next book. 

Book number two doesn't have a Bridges-Of-Madison-County plot. Far from it. But I think the only resemblance there is that it's about a love that stays with you until you're 80.

Twenty Eight Days of April

"While one is doing one's best, one must be detached from it." .... Err... I don't know if I got it right.

 While the book is running at the press, the butterflies in my stomach wouldn't stop fluttering. I can't make myself open the manuscript again, unless, perhaps, I could face the fact that I have punctuations missing. I feel like an actor after a 7-month long shoot, that when she comes home, doesn't want to open her luggage again.

So went the uncertainties and unnecessary worries of being a first-time author. I'm putting my head on the block for chopping.

And while 'detaching' myself from my first work, I am conceiving the next. Yesterday I bought five books with somewhat similar themes to the one I intend to do next. Except the other one is by Iris Murdoch, and though not necessarily related, it gives me that different outlook to physical objects. I headed to the arts store too and got a few brushes. For the arts, says the French philosopher Merleau- Ponty, is lending the body to the world to give birth to an artwork.

Can't think straight.

Thoughts for April Fool's Day

Since the other night, I have been incubating the idea of making a prequel to my book (it is still in with the printing press yet- cross my fingers that everything will turn out fine). That prequel is about the artists who painted the murals at the chateau. An artist and his apprentice. Twenty eight rooms. Giant walls. Huge murals. One year. It would be in the Philippines, set in the late sixties or early seventies. No electricity. Plus, there would be a ship docked somewhere in the nearby shore, and in it would be a mysterious lady. Seen through the eyes of an artist. Probably a withdrawn male moping after a lost business and the murals were his escape, and a talkative apprentice, probably a daughter of some historian, trying to chart her destiny. Due 2014.

I have been making critique papers for someone's PhD on aesthetics. Maybe that could help. Or I can learn art classes again. Why, Jacques Pepin was an accomplished chef but he painted on the side!

Too many ideas and eccentric plans. But it's April Fool's day and anything goes.

That Thing Called Cheese

For the long hours that I've been editing my book, this music has played 100 times or so. But I didn't get that Last Song Syndrome. Now that's magic!

The Other Work

 

 I used to think in my 20's that my world will be very limited when I become a mom. It means, more time must be given to the family and less for work. It also meant back then that I might not even get a chance to work what I love to do but get stuck at the routine of what needs to be done. But what happened was quite the opposite. I have three "works" (I don't know if it I'm really working- seems that I'm just there doing something) since I became mommy. One is the book (this one is work) in the truest sense, another is writing for an expatriate, and another is at a cooking school. What I appreciate most about the second work is that it takes me everywhere. We would sit at a restaurant (I do more "serious" work choosing what food to eat) or a coffee shop where I'd sip liters of cappuccino in a day,  and in the process confusing Marcel with Sartre, and, attending my client's events. Yes, those events that I myself personally enjoy. Like visiting museums. Or libraries. Or the opening of art galleries.

I just go there. Look around. Then go to some corner and write something. Oh yes, the food. Ah...work? What work?