JOURNAL #10: QUERENCIA ESSAY (DRAFT)

When I think of parks I think of the hot glaring sun, never-ending hills of green grass, the aroma of pine tree, melodious bird chirping & droplets of lake water lightly touching your face. That's pretty much what the shorline park feels & looks like. I'll admit, it does sound like a kid's fairytale or something, but to me it's so much more than that. The "shoreline", as our neighborhood calls it, is a really tiny park a few blocks down from my house. Whenever I feel upset about something or just need some time to think, this is the place I go to cool off & have fun with Mother Nature.

The walk to the shoreline is quite the work-out. Before entering the park, there's a long winding road that goes in all different directions. It goes left, right, uphill, downhill, add in some twists & turns & you're at the shoreline before you know it. But the trip to the park is already so peaceful because of the tall towering trees situated right next to the sidewalks. There are lanes of gray & beige houses behind the green trees that seem like they could go on forever. Neighbors & other people you've never seen in your life pass by you walking their dogs or taking a quick jog while listening to their iPod. Just like life, the trip to the park is a long journey before reaching to the "promise land".

Shoreline park's big brown shrubs, filthy lake filled with plastic bags & soda cups, big gray gazebos covered in graffiti markings & Sharpie writing, & stray mongoose racing around make the shoreline stand out from any other park. It is filled with beautiful trees & blossoming flowers, but it isn't a perfect world, so there is no perfect park. When I hang around the shoreline, I sit along the edge of the gazebo that faces the lake & I dangle my feet back and forth. I get a whif of ocean mist with a hint of wet moss. This is when I feel most comfortable & safe.

After a few more thoughts & dangling, I have to head on home & face the issue. When I step foot out of shoreline park, its as if a HUGE weight has been lifted off my shoulders & I can easily take on the world.

I find it really important to feel confident when I have problems I'm dealing with. Shoreline helps me do just that. It may not sound as appealing as I say it is, but I wouldn't have it any other way. The park just has a way of making me feel "at home" & "protected from harm". Life really isn't all that easy, & the shoreline park makes it slightly easier.

JOURNAL #9: WHEN MY NAME WAS KEOKO

The book that I'm reading, When My Name Was Keoko, relates to cultural roots & identity because it speaks about having to give up your culture completely & learn to adapt to a whole new culture. 

EXAMPLES:

-"A long time ago, when Abuji was a little boy & Uncle just a baby, the Japanese took over Korea...Korea wasn't its own country anymore."

-"All our lessons were in Japanese. We studied Japanese language, culture, and history. Schools weren't allowed to teach were published in Korean."

-"Kaneyama Nobuo . . . Kaneyama Nobuo. No matter how many times I say it, I can't get used to it. it feel all wrong, like shoes that don't fit." 

JOURNAL #8: FAVORITE PLACE

-Life isn't all that easy. There are the ups and the downs, which is just the way life goes. But when I feel most uneasy & insecure, I just want to be alone in a peaceful place where I can relax for a little while. That place is the shoreline park near my house. I like to go there because it's a very short 5-minute walk from my house & it just soothes my discomfort. The park's beautiful green trees & hills, colorful flowers & plants, & the big gazebos overlooking the lake are so serene & mellow. Everytime I have a hard time about something & I just want a break, I take a walk through the park & hang around the gazebos. All I do is try to calm myself down & loosen up a little bit. I couldn't think of any better place to let go of all my frustrations & enjoy all that nature has to offer. (:

WHAT MAKES A MENEMAC STUDENT?

A MeneMAC student is a student like no other. We are entitled to higher responsibilities & with that comes higher exprectations. Being a MeneMAC student is definately not a right, it is a BIG privilege & if you take advantage of this oppurtunity, you will lose that respect & honor that you were given when you became a MeneMACer. We have the ability to take things to the next level & make it even better. 

We learn about the advanced technology & programs that are used on computers & video cameras. We learn how to shoot footage correctly, how to set up tripods, how to edit that footage on MACs & make our own movies. On computers, there are applications we use to enhance footage or images & we learn how to use each tool & what it's used for. MeneMAC students have knowledge in technology that no other student has, which makes us stand out from the rest.

Being a MeneMAC student is not just about learning where to set up a camera or learning to edit text on a computer, but it's more about finding your innerself & getting comfortable with coming up with great ideas. When we have a topic for a video project, your imagination goes haywire & THAT'S GOOD. You want your brain to go nuts & think of an idea that nobody else would think of. This MeneMAC program just brings out your inner creativity & imagination. Who knows, on your way, you might find something about you that you never knew you had. MeneMAC does all that, as long as you're willing to try, give your best effort, & persevere. 

FIRST DRAFT: ROOTS & RECIPES ESSAY

Imagine this, it's your birthday & you're darting & running with your goofy cousins playing hide-n-seek, while your older relatives prepare for your party later that day. You're super exhausted and you just took a break from the game, so you go to quickly grab a juice pack from the fridge inside. All of a sudden, you get a huge whiff of steaming oxtail & tripe, with the aroma of peanut butter that just tingles your nose & makes your stomach growl like an angry grizzly bear. You take a quick look in the kitchen to see what your mom is whipping up & wonder what could smell so heavenly & pleasant. There's open peanut butter jars that are half empty & pretty much oozing out of the jar, the lid on the pot is covered in steam & overflowing with piping hot water, & mom is cutting, dicing, & chopping to veggies as she prepares to add them into the already-filled pot. You automatically know that this dish is going to be something that nobody has ever tasted before, & you just can't wait to be the first one to take a bite of it. This whole affair happens to be my 7th birthday.

Ever since I could chew, I've always loved to feast on my mother's oh-so famous, Kare Kare. It was just a dish that i grew up loving to eat, mostly with family. The dish is quite unusual & you think, well, out of all the foods you've eaten, why is this your favorite? First off, you don't have a kind of recipe like this that combines all these ingredients into one dish. It's not like any other recipe, & I like trying different & far-out things. Second, if you gave this dish a try, boy are you in for what I call a TASTE FRENZY. There are so many flavors that just pop in your mouth & stir up your taste buds, making you crave more & more each time. The tripe & oxtail feel like marshmallows on your mouth & pretty much melt on your tongue, no need to chew. The green beans & eggplant are so full of flavor because they've been sitting in delicious peanut butter flavored gravy. I know it sounds a bit unsatisfying & unappetizing, but trust me you'll love it just as much as I do within your first munch. And did I mention that it's also healthy for you too? That's right, because you get your serving of veggies, protein from the meat, & vitamins from the gravy. So when you eat this dish, there's no need to feel guilty.

My mom always used to tell me stories about her childhood in the Philippines & how different it was then than it is now. Boy, was she right, especially in the making of kare kare. She said that her grandmother used home made utensils & cooking tools to prepare this dish. Instead of the instant kare kare mix we have now, they would brown & pulverize rice on a pan for hours. The preparation for this recipe back then was time consuming & required hard work & toil. When my mom cooks it, she doesn't break a sweat! I don't know how people survived back then without our technology.

Man, do I have quite a few memories & moments with this particular dish! I clearly remember when it was my 5th birthday, I was standing in line impatiently waiting for my turn to scoop up kare kare onto my plate. My cousin took one look at it & said, "EWWW, that looks so GUH-ROSS!" I told her to give it one try, just a teeny-bit, & that she'd like it. She was skeptical about it at first, but trusted my taste buds & took one bite. With that first taste, I could already tell she was surprised & fell in love with it. She went running back for more servings & just chowed down on it like there was no tomorrow. I said to myself, "Well, looks like your work is done. Mission Accomplished!"

This particular dish makes me so PROUD to represent my culture. I am proud to say that I am a true filipino & part of the brown nation (; Kare Kare, Pancit, Adobo, Puto, & Ube Ice cream are all parts of the filipino tradition. Food is pretty much a way of passage in our culture. By exchanging recipes & sharing all-time favorite dishes brings family closer, whether they know it or not. 

In the Philippines, family is really all you have. They say if you turn your back on family, even if you're a millionaire or you're as famous as can be, you truly have nothing. Kare kare is not just a food that's good for your stomach, but it's also good for the soul & the heart. It strengthens the bond & relationship you have with your family members by creating lifelong memories that you'll take with you even after you die. 

Kare kare, like many family dishes, is a family legacy that you pass down from generation to generation. My great-grandmother passed down the recipe to my grandmother, then my grandmother passed it down to my mother, & I intend on passing down this recipe to my children. 

KARE-KARE INTERVIEW

Q&A's

Q: IS THIS YOUR FAVORITE DISH TO COOK? IF YES, WHY?

A: Yes it is because it is an exotic recipe & not many people like to eat ox tail or tripe together. It is a very healthy dish & it contains two different types of meat & a variety of vegetables.

Q: DID YOU ENJOY KARE KARE AS A CHILD?

A: Yes, i did. Kare Kare is a special food, it isn't an everyday type of food. It is only made for special occasions, such as birthdays or fiestas. My mother would cook kare kare & it was always served on my birthdays.

Q: IS THIS RECIPE ANY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOUR GRANDMOTHER MADE?

A: Yes, because in the olden days, my grandmother would have to roast the rice in a pan for hours until it turned brown then pulverized it. This was used to thicken the kare kare gravy. Today, you can buy instant kare kare mix in super markets.

Q: WHAT IS IT ABOUT KARE KARE THAT MAKES IT YOUR SPECIALTY?

A: It has been passed down to me from my mother, which was passed down to my mother by my granmother. Also, everytime I serve it in family parties/gatherings, I always recieve compliments like, "Ang sarap yong kare kare mo!" In english, this means "Your kare kare tastes so good!" 

Q: WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS TO YOUR KARE KARE?

A: -Oxtail

     -Tripe

     -Peanut butter

     -Rice powder

     -Kare kare mix

     -Achuete (anato)

     -String beans

     -Eggplant

     -Bakchoy

     -Bagoong

     -Onions

     -Salt/Black pepper

     -Water

Q: DO YOU HAVE A SECRET INGREDIENT? IF SO, WHAT IS IT?

A: Yes, I have a secret ingredient. I use bagoong (fermented shrimp). This enhances the plavor of the gravy. I also add in some achuete (type of food coloring from anato seeds) to give it a little color.