What motivates you?

The following quote is supposed to have been posted at the Dalai Lama's Facebook account. It is something I believe is true and something we all seem to forget as we go along in what seems to be a world becoming busier and busier everyday. Our being busy distracts us from the more important aspects of life including a genuine concern for the well-being of others. Marunong pa rin ba tayong makipag-kapwa tao? Or are we too engrossed in going about our way, not caring at all for others and only concerned with our own personal agenda?

"The quality of everything we do: our physical actions, our verbal actions, and even our mental actions, depends on our motivation. That's why it's important for us to examine our motivation in our day to day life. If we cultivate respect for others and our motivation is sincere, if we develop a genuine concern for others’ well-being, then all our actions will be positive."

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Lutong bahay 1: Fistek

Beef steak is often pronounced bistek in the Philippines. Of course, the dish is significantly different from the steak one will find in American or steak-themed restaurants in that the Filipino version often come marinated or mixed with soy sauce, garlic and onions. Some call this preparation Bistek Tagalog but variations of practically the same bistek may be found all around the Philippines some with sabaw (a thick soup or sauce) and some quite dry. In fact, versions of bistek can be mistaken for adobo; the only major ingredients missing being the suka (vinegar) and dahon ng laurel (dried Bay leaves). Restaurants and eateries have their own takes on bistek and variants include substitution of pork and chicken, which I'm sure included some adjustments in the other ingredients (timpla) to address the change in the main ingredient (i.e., beef, pork and chicken will have different tastes).

We had our first taste of the fish variant for bistek when the Clairvoyant's mother substituted the tuna we brought from GenSan to the beef in her bistek. The ingredients were pretty much the same except for the tuna. The result was one of the best home cooked meals we've had, and something we'd be replicating quite often later.  The tuna steak would eventually be replaced by the more select (and expensive) sashimi-grade tuna, which we found to be perfect for the dish. We christened this dish fistek, a play on fish steak, which probably has some variants somewhere. Surely, we were not the first to substitute fish (or tuna) to this favorite dish.

Sashimi-grade tuna is perfect for fish steak

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Flashback: The Coast at Santa, Ilocos Sur

Returning to Manila from our transport and traffic surveys in Vigan and Bantay, we happened upon the coastal town of Santa after crossing the Quirino Bridge. We were not able to see and appreciate the coastal attractions of the area en route to Vigan as it was already night time when we passed through the area. On our return trip, we did not hesitate to make stopovers in order to explore a bit especially when we saw that it was low tide and we could walk to some of the exposed rocks. We also had enough film to take souvenir photos - for posterity.

Shrine built atop a rock off the coast of Santa in Ilocos Sur

Posing among the rocks and at a safe distance from the waters

Posing with the rocks and the shrine in the background

I think I could have taken better photos if I had a digital camera at the time but I have no regrets with shots like this where one could only see the outcome after having the film developed

Posing along the sea wall

With Glenn Latonero and Roy Velasco

With Alorna Abao

Glenn took this shot from afar with me exploring the exposed rocks while Alorna was posing near some workers

Guess what we were doing?

It was quite windy along the coast and it shows with my hair swept up in the photos

On the rocks - the background is quite bright but it still works given the "souvenir" purpose of the shot

I remember the jacket I was wearing was a Pierre Cardin knock-off I bought at an ukay-ukay (thrift) shop in Vigan. It was a bit rainy at times during our surveys (it was August and well into the wet season) and it got a little cooler at night time. I also remember Roy and Alorna coming straight from the La Union surveys, and were already looking for additional clean clothes to change with. I was not able to bring a good jacket for the rains and so when the opportunity to check out a popular thrift shop in Vigan came, we all bought a few clothes. To be sure, we went straight to a laundry to have our finds and our soiled clothes washed/cleaned. We were joking among ourselves that we had to do this before wearing the ukay-ukay clothes as we didn't know who the former owners of the clothes were and how clean they were when sold in the shop. I gave away the jacket a few weeks after we returned to Manila as I had no use of it and I never became comfortable using it outside of the necessity during our surveys.

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