Vamos a Comer

One of my favorite rooms at Cebu Avenue is the dining room. When all twelve of us were around, this was one of the rooms where we would be able to gather all the members of the family together.

As expected, there would always be several conversations going on around the table. And even after we'd eaten, we would spend lots of time chatting away.

Stories were exchanged, birthday candles were blown, meetings were held, boyfriends were introduced, and more, all within the four walls of the dining room.

When eating time was announced, someone would always shout, "VAMOS A COMERRRRRR!"

We have always had a round table, big enough to accommodate all twelve of us, with a lazy susan in the middle. We each had our places, of course. The seating arrangement was such that family members from the 'upper half' were seated beside their assigned 'lower half' sibling with the exception of Slash-M who was somehow exempted from 'kuya' duty.

Eldest Sis was in charge of J and Z who were the youngest. London Eye was assigned to Sunshine, Sister Deer took care of Mindy, while Jersey Girl was under my watch. We were their 'mothers' and they were our 'babies.'

Think of a clock. Sunshine was at one o'clock. Moving clockwise, we had J, Eldest Sis, Z, Mother, Father, Jersey Girl, Angels4Kids, Mindy, Sister Deer, Slash-M, then finally London Eye at 12 o'clock.

These are just random thought about family members. (By age ...)

Father -- at the breakfast table, he'd always have a cup of freshly brewed coffee on hand while reading the morning papers. At night, there would be some nuts before dinner. On special occasions we'd have sparkling wine and other goodies.

Mother -- her favorite past time at table was to consolidate. I can actually imagine her consolidating food of contrasting tastes, if they happened to be of the same color. She likes to arrange the food in a particular order which I can never seem to remember. (Was it drinks, rice, viand, vegetables, then fruits?)

Eldest Sis - we used to cook two chickens for the twelve of us for one meal. Eldest Sis always got the thighs. And when rambutan season came along, Father would be sure to bring some home for her.

London Eye -- always loved eating; definitely loves food. Often requested our cook to make 'boneless chicken with bones.' She once made chocolate icing as part of her school requirement. All I remember is that it had condensed milk and it was YUMMY!

Sister Deer -- liked to prepare scrambled eggs with a particular pan. Brought home cook books from Minocqua and introduced us to that casserole with chicken, asparagus, cream of mushroom soup, cheese and buttered bread.

Angels4Kids -- I liked to prepare my food so that I could enjoy eating afterwards. I'd peel fruits (like mangoes or watermelon), take out the seeds, slice them up and stick them in the ref. I was also the designated crab peeler. Mastered the art of eating with a fork and knife.

Slash M -- gave up chocolates for Lent more than once. One of the more likely suspects when the lazy susan swirled without anyone's hand moving it. (He'd use his foot to move the lazy susan from under the table.)

Sunshine - perpetually watching her figure even if she was stick-thin. Eating time didn't seem to excite her as much as it did the rest of the family. Whenever Father wanted to buy something she liked, he'd go for sapin-sapin.

Jersey Girl -- she chewed ice like no other. (I don't know if that qualifies as a hidden talent.) Though not a very picky eater, she absolutely hates okra! And I remember, she loves haw flakes.

Mindy -- my partner in crime when it came to lanzones. Between the two of us, we could finish a whole kilo. When the food was fish, she ate everything, including the eyes. (Yikes!)

J - whenever J was in charge of preparing the menu, we were sure to have fried chicken. Much to Mother's dismay, he dunked the crispy squid flakes in water. He had the semi-permanent job of getting tissue paper by virtue of his location.

Z - 'slow but sure' describes her when she eats. She had ordered half a chicken at Baguio Country Club once and was at it from lunch till dinnertime. It may have taken her a couple of hours, but she finished what she ordered.

Other things that come to mind ...

There was the giant chocolate KISS and the huge L-O-V-E in the freezer from hopeful suitors. (Wish I was into baking back then. We could have made lots of chocolate goodies using those tokens of affection.)

I remember one boyfriend who joined us for a birthday celebration. He was shocked at the slice (actually, more like 'sliver') he received and the disappearing birthday cake. (Yes, before the days of counting calories, pies and cakes in the house were divided into twelve and served. Then within minutes... "poof" ... all gone.)

When there were three of us with boyfriends, the placemats were arranged in portrait rather than landscape to make room for the extra heads.

We used to have brain soup when Lola N was still alive.

She used to make mango candies and other goodies.

We called our beef steak 'dark meat with toyo.'

We often had breaded liver for dinner. (To get our dose of iron, perhaps.)

We would have baked fish with mayonnaise for Sunday dinner. After we flaked our fish and mixed it with rice, we would mold our food into various shapes like little fortresses and eat away along the perimeter until all the food was consumed.

We used to eat paksiw na isda with raw eggs.

We used to eat raw eggs with rice for breakfast. (I added sinigang broth to mine.)

London Eye once threw cold water over my head as she passed by my spot.

Before the gallery got set up, we had puzzles hanging on the wall. The Last Supper is still hanging on another.

My memory fails me and I can't really remember all the stories and the details, but when it comes to the dining room (and all these things related to food), there is that warm fuzzy feeling and swirls of happy thoughts.

Let's eat!

Moving Furniture and Shuffling Papers

I woke up early this morning to find Mother moving the Lazy Boy from the study room to the living room.

"Mother," I said, "you're moving furniture again."

"I have to," she replied, "or I'll get sick."

(Yes, we have come to accept the fact that nothing is permanent in this world and ever more so in this house.)

I helped her get one of the Lazy Boys through. She refused to allow me to help her with the other one possibly because she would have felt bad asking me to move them back to the study room should things turn out in that direction.

She literally shooed me away.

"Off with you!"

So off I went.

I went to the room where Mother kept the cookbooks. I was looking for the book which was a compilation of recipes from Mother's Alma Mater. Mother was the one who had the book published so I was sure we had copies of that book somewhere.

I saw Mother walk by.

"Mom, where is the St. Scholastica's cookbook?"

"Oh, I just brought them down twenty minutes ago."

(I should have known. Murphy always knows when to strike.)

"But it is really worth going through papers," Mother announced as she entered the room, "look what I found."

She seemed quite excited over her discovery. She pulled out a sheet of bond paper from a brown envelope.

I took one look at it and my heart skipped a beat.

She found it!

She found a copy of the poem I had written for them more than eight years ago. I thought it was lost forever since my i-manila mailbox has crashed many times over. I had searched for copies of the poem or even drafts on paper over the years, but found none... until today, that is.

27 September 2000

From: angels4kids

To: Family Friend in the US

Subject : For Father and Mother From angels4kids

It Seems ...

It seems these days my pants don't fit

You think I've had too much to eat?

Well I've packed them up and put them away

To be worn again on some future day.

It seems these days I'm gaining weight

Could be all the food I've put on my plate

But nobody minds and neither do I

As long as I eat more fruits than pie.

It seems these days I feel as though

I've swallowed some butterflies, a hundred or so

There's often a flutter, a wave or a movement

I feel in my tummy for more than a moment.

It seems these days we're all getting older

But as months pass us by, another gets closer

Just think of the month when your two boys came out

Well that is the month I am talking about

It seems these days we all want good news

And this gives me my chance, my perfect excuse

To say aside from the fact that all is well

In a few months we'll all have little Gabriel/le.

Father and Mother were in the States that year. Father was undergoing some medical treatment and Mother had accompanied him. They stayed at the house of family friends, who lived near the hospital. I had written the poem to announce the arrival of MyGirl. It was easy to hide the fact that I was pregnant when they couldn't see me, but as they were scheduled to return soon, I wanted to prepare them with this message.

Needless to say, they were happily surprised.

(I had almost forgotten that MyGirl was due to arrive in February. She was born on the last week of January. Thank you, Mother, for shuffling papers today. May you find more treasures along the way.)

Ohana

We passed the time yesterday at the Tagaytay rest house of a friend of MacGyver's sister. The place had been christened 'Ohana.' We were invited in by Tootsie, the owner of Tootsie's Tagaytay, where we had eaten lunch earlier that day. Tootsie is the sister of the owner of Ohana.

Ohana, according to Lilo and Stitch means 'family where nobody gets left behind.'

Well, it was certainly a nice place to be with family.

It was along the side of the Tagaytay ridge so it had a wonderful view of the lake and the volcano.

Plus, they set up one of the hammocks which was nice and comfy.


Cool!

Amidst Saints

We went to Tagaytay today. We dropped by the St. Scholastica's Center of Spirituality (SSCS) . MacGyver is familiar with the place because this is where they had their retreat several years back. The last time I was here was in April of 2005.

We went inside the chapel. It is a nice peaceful place. It is very, very quiet that one can literally hear a pin drop.

I shared the story of St. Scholastica and St. Benedict with my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law who were with us. They didn't realize that the two were related, much less that the two were twins.

Here is St. Scholastica with my Scholastican.

And here are her brothers with St. Scholastica's brother St. Benedict.

Rule of 72

Double your money in 5 years.  

Is that possible?  

Of course it is possible.  

A couple of years back there were banks offering such a product.   

If you are wondering what rate the bank is giving you so that you can double your money in five years, the Rule of 72 is the only thing you have to remember.  

The Rule of 72 states that to determine the number of years it will take for your investment (or for your debt) to double in value, simply divide the number 72 by the percentage rate you are earning on your investment (or paying on your debt).

For example,  you have a time deposit which gives you 4% per annum.  How long will it take for your P10,000 to become P20,000?  Based on the Rule of 72, it would take 72/4 or 18 years for that P10,000 to become P20,000.

If you think that's long, think about the P10,000 in your savings account earning less than 1%. Even MyGirl can tell you that 72 divided by 1 is 72.  Yes, that's 72 long years before your P10,000 becomes P20,000 if you leave it sleeping in your savings account.

Naturally, you'd want to put your money some place better.  If you found a higher yielding instrument, say something at 8%, you'd want to put your money there.  See 72 divided by 8 is 9. This means that in nine years, your P10,000 becomes P20,000; and in 18 years, your P20,000 becomes P40,000.  Not bad if you can find that 8% yield.

(Even better of course is something at 12%.  At 12%, 72 divided by 12 is 6.  In six years, that P10,000 could be P20,000; in 12 years it would be P40,000; and in 18 years it would be P80,000.  WOW!!!!)

The number 72 is a convenient rough estimate for this calculation because 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 12 are all factors of 72.   It makes the calculations a little bit easier.

 

As mentioned, the Rule of 72 works for your assets, as well as for your liabilities.   

Think of your credit card bills.  Any unpaid balance is usually charged 3% per month. Take note, PER MONTH.  3% per month is 36% per annum.  (Certainly a far cry from the 4% per annum TD rate and the less than 1% savings rates!)

So before you consider NOT paying your P10,000 credit card bill, think about the Rule of 72.  According to this rule, divide the number 72 by the percentage rate to determine the number of years it would take for the investment, in this case, the debt, to double.  

72 divided by 36 is 2.  This means, that in two (that's right, 2) years time, your debt of P10,000 will become P20,000.  And if you insist on NOT paying your bill, in 4 years time, that once upon a time P10,000 credit card bill will become P40,000.  

Remember that it would have taken you 18 years to make that P10,000 time deposit at 4% to double?  Well, if you wait 18 years to pay that P10,000 credit card bill, at 3 % per month, you would be P5,120,000 in debt in 18 years.   

(That is definitely not a joke.  It is important to pay your credit card bills in full if you want to stay out of debt because those credit card companies thrive on interest payments.)

Here is a table showing that Rule of 72 over time given different rates.  Remember that the rate can be a rate you are receiving or a rate you are paying.  Either way, the Rule of 72 applies.

Rule of 72	36%	12%	8%	1%
--> YEARS	2	6	9	18
1	10,000	10,000	10,000	10,000
2	20,000
4	40,000
6	80,000	20,000
8	160,000
9			20,000
10	320,000
12	640,000	40,000
14	1,280,000
16	2,560,000
18	5,120,000	80,000	40,000	20,000

Hope that puts things into perspective for everyone.

As a final note, for those who are too tired to pick up a calculator, the rate to double your money in five years is 14.4%, which is 72 divided by 5.

The Rule of 72 is brought to you by ...

Not Good in Math

We were having breakfast together when RD asked what 'mammals' were called. I couldn't recall if mammals were classified as the kingdom, the phylum, or what.

MacGyver confidently replied, "Class."

"Oh, impressive." I teased him. "He's good in Science!"

MyGirl quickly remarked, "But not good in Math."

"Why, MyGirl? Why would you say that Dad is not good in Math?"

"Because, Mom," she started, "whenever I ask him questions on my Math assignment, he always says, 'Ask your Mom.' "

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One thing we learned in High School, which for some odd reason we can't seem to forget is that the Drosophila melanogaster is the common fruit fly. Now what sort of purpose this bit of knowledge will serve in real life, I have absolutely NO idea. In fact, I have not seen a drosophila melanogaster in years!

On the other hand, this particular bit of info may be useful to RD or MyGirl one day. For that day when they would need to remember the hierarchy of the scientific classifications ...

Just think ........ King Philip Came Over For Good Soup

KINGDOM ----- Animalia
PHYLUM ----- Chordata
CLASS ----- Mammalia
ORDER ----- Carnivora
FAMILY ----- Felidae
GENUS ----- Panthera
SPECIES ----- P. Leo

Can you guess what mammal we have just classified?

The Artist in the Family

These are some of J's works that have been framed and are on display at Cebu Avenue.

French Bread

We stayed home most of Saturday. I'm still trying to get some cleaning and clearing done. (This cleaning and clearing thing is like a recurring nightmare I tell you. It's a Groundhog Day gone bad.) Anyway, in between sorting papers and going through toys, GI asked, "Are you going to bake bread or something?"

"Sure!" I said. "I'll bake bread." (That was fast. Talk about shirking the cleaning and clearing duty.)

Off I went to the kitchen to bake some bread.

The recipe I use for French Bread comes from Better Homes and Garden. It is simple and straightforward.

5 1/2 to 6 cups all purpose flour
2 packages dry yeast (approximately 4 1/2 t)
1 1/2 t salt
2 cups warm water (120 to 130 deg)
1 slightly beaten egg (just the eggwhite)
1 T water

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 c flour + 4 1/2 t yeast + 1 1/2 t salt
Add warm water.
Beat on low speed for 30 seconds.
Beat on high for 3 minutes, scraping bowl constantly.
Using a spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.
Knead in remaining flour to make a stiff dough that is smooth and elastic. (about 8 - 10 mins)
Shape dough into ball. Place in greased bowl and cover.
Let rise until double (approx 1 hour)
Punch down. Turn out onto lightly floured surface.
Divide in half. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
Roll each into a 15" x 10" rectangle.
Roll up from long sides. Seal well.
Pinch and pull ends to taper.
Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
Combine eggwhite and water. Brush over loaves.
Cover. Let rise until double (35 - 45 minutes)
With a sharp knife, make 3 or 4 diagonal cuts about 1/4" deep across top of each loaf.
Bake in a 375 oven for 20 minutes.
Brush again with eggwhites and water mixture.
Continue baking for 15 (or 20) more minutes or until bread tests done.
Remove from baking sheet. Cool.

Till Death Do Us Part

What do the grey wolves and doves have in common?

They mate for life.

Traditionally, doves are part of wedding ceremonies. Doves mate for life and show a willingness to work hard together. The couple work together to build their nest. When the mother lays the eggs, both the father and mother keep the eggs warm. When the young chicks are born, both doves actively care for and tend to the new family members.

What other animals are known for their monogamy? Most of the bird species pair, mate and raise chicks together -- swans, Canadian geese, American bald eagle, barn owls, pigeons, cranes and penguins, to name a few. Seahorses, the giant otter of South America, the northern beaver, a handful of seal species and a couple of small African antelopes are other monogamous animals.

I read somewhere that if a goose was sitting on her eggs, her gander would go out foraging for food. If he found something, his first instinct would be to rush back to give it to his mate. (If only all males were so thoughtful.)

On the other side of the spectrum, only a small percent of mammals mate for life.

Perhaps monogamy would not be such a difficult thing if the females were... (careful, careful!).

Yes, there are days that I worry MacGyver would like to hand me a 'RETURN TO SENDER' note and march me right back to my mother. However MacGyver does realize I came with a NO RETURN, NO EXCHANGE policy. Thankfully, those kinds of days are few and far between.

I have reminded him time and again that I need my daily supply of hugs and kisses, and that as we grow older, I would like him to remember to keep holding my hand.

All Quiet on the Home Front

Yours and Mine

In my last post, I wrote, "What's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine."

I can't resist but to say that I believe this thought is what goes through the head of many a wife when thinking about money in one's bank account. It only works for assets, mind you. When it comes to debt and other liabilities, it works the other way around -- what's yours is yours and what's mine is still yours.

What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine would work for food, too. You know, I'll pretend to be lady-like and order a salad but when your steak arrives ... make sure give me some gravy to go with the portion you're sharing with me. (Oops, now you know why I need to exercise.)