by Myrel Joeanne C. Agarano

Food could be a way of making sense of the world. If you watched people as they ate, you could find out who they were.

- Ruth Reichl

On my first weekend in Seoul I made a show of cooking noodles. To my mind, it was a chance to cook the talk. In our small circle of Seoul-based engineers, someone I used to work with blabbed about my cooking and raised the expectations and so X, a colleague and friend requested one thing: pasta with white sauce, akin to the one he ate and loved in a California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) branch in Seoul. I said, okay. I’ll give you my version of White Pasta. Something cheap, easy on the pocket and very reproducible. In my head, I was telling him, I’ll kill off your doubts. Because, truly, above a pursuit for beauty or love or money, Cooking is my single most compelling vanity. It is the one thing, along with writing, that helps me make sense of the world and get out and be one with the people in this planet. While I agree with Ruth Reich’s line above, in my food-obsessed world, what holds true all the more is this:

Last of two parts

Colors of Zanorte: The Hudyaka Festival, dubbed the “mother of all festivals,” is celebrated just as summer comes to a close. Photo courtesy of  Aleksi Gumela/Ambibo

Read part 1.

With the popularity of motorcycles in Dipolog, it’s not surprising that one of the biggest spectacles in this city is motocross, which attracts fans from 6 to 60 from all over Visayas and Mindanao. The annual motocross competition happens during the summer, usually a week or two prior to the Hudyaka Festival, a celebration of the province of Zanorte (Zamboanga del Norte). Well-known racers from neighboring regions come over to join.

Locals attribute the popularity of motocross to the fact that in all of Visayas and Mindanao, only Dipolog City offers a good venue for the race. Big motocross enthusiasts like Nards Amatong, who is past 60 and was one of the pioneering members of the local riding group Dipolog Cycles Unlimited, has been to many motocross venues in Visayas and Mindanao and he swears, not only does Dipolog have the biggest stadium  that’s perfect for motocross, but in this city, spectators can watch all day, rain or shine, and remain comfortable.

The sunset on the boulevard is something that should not be missed when visiting Dipolog. (Photo: Kulai)

First of two parts

There’s something familiar about Dipolog, I told myself on my first day in the city. Maybe because the city  reminded me so much of Butuan, where I spent my pre-college teenage years. Or maybe because I could understand the language, having learned it when I was 11. Whatever it was, I could feel this small provincial city growing on me. Manila seemed a universe away.

And indeed it seemed to be. I had left Manila with news of a storm brewing. The dark clouds outside the plane looked threatening, and I wondered if we could make it before the storm hit. But it was all sunshine in Dipolog when I arrived that Thursday morning in May, so even if I hadn’t slept the night before, having come from work, I was feeling energetic and ready to take on Dipolog.

See the centuries-old architecture of Taal, Batangas, and photograph it, when you join Filipinas Heritage Library’s  “Photographing Architecture” on July 25, 2009.

This fun shoot promises that you’ll get to photograph the old infrastructure of this quaint Batangas town. Professional …

The idea of volunteer vacations is nothing new. Back in college, my best friend had volunteered to go to Ifugao province to teach English the entire summer and see the Banaue Rice Terraces. The idea struck me as very revolutionary and noble, not to mention impressive: making a difference was something every “iskolar ng bayan” had in mind, and here she was, my friend, shaping young minds at 17.

Such volunteer programs aren’t limited to universities anymore, and these days, people like many us who weren’t advanced in mind and heart at 17 can still make a difference at 30, albeit only for a few days.

By Oliver Oliveros

Is Chabacano no longer being taught or spoken by the Zamboangeños? This question in my mind brought me to Asia’s Latin City or Zamboanga a few days ago as I wrapped up my research on Hispanic influences on Filipino music.

But too much work and not enough play, they say, is not ideal at all. So, in between my field research and interviews, I opted not to retire to my hotel room until I got to visit the city’s most popular tourist attractions.