I'm a picky eater.

And so, my weekend was super busy all over again because of work and the weather kinda sucked, but we need the rain right?

Anyways, my cousin and I were talking a whole lot about food this weekend because... everyone else but me, has pretty much been out and about with the rest of the fambam. So it's been pretty hectic in the kitchen with the moms constantly stirring up some good homemade food from scratch. Once in a while, I get pretty curious about how my mom learned to cook our filipino food. Turns out, my dad taught her and his mom, my lola (:, taught him. I've been pretty lazy with keeping up with how to cook what we eat, so I haven't mastered those recipes yet. XD

But yeah, I thought it was pretty cool to learn about how recipes get passed down to each generation and so forth. & even though they're all cooking up the same type of food, each dish tastes sorta different. For example, my dad's dishes are more oily than my mom's and her dishes tend to be more sour and flavorful 'cause my bro & sis prefer them that way. I guess everyone has a different way of cooking things whether it be their personal taste preference or by accident, but at least it isn't like frozen food.. yuck.

Back to the whole 'recipies getting passed down' stuff, it pretty much reminded me of what Athem was talking about that one class day about how stories within our culture are passed down to younger generations not thru books and readings, but by ear, practice and/or experience. I feel that this way of preserving culture is more traditional and engaging where instead of reading boring history books about your background, you get to hear it from people you know and who've experienced life as an asian american. What influences me the most is seeing how our families' culture affect the ways we live - especially with how we pick our foods.

So, going off topic a little bit, I realized that I really disliked eating filipino food outside of my home, that is I don't like eating at Jollibee, Kadok's Goldilocks, or anything like that. Don't get me wrong, I love filipino food and everything, but whenever it comes to eating out, I never go out craving those delicasies. I guess it's probably because I have enough at home or maybe because I prefer the way my family cooks the dishes. Don't you ever go out to eat something you can cook and think that you can make it wayyy better? Well, I think that's how it is for me and filipino food. But other than that, I'm pretty much comfortable with eating any type of food cause it's goood (:

- angel (:0

What home tastes like...

So here I am, Monday morning at work, sitting idly at my desk. I am pretty sure some of you are asking yourselves, "What the hell is Josh doing at work?” I have taken the liberty of making a picture (Pie Charts = Win) of what I have planned for today's agenda. As you can see, I am very busy and have very little time to blog.

Anyhow, coming up with a topic to write about can be objectively difficult, but luckily Kim sent out an email about the upcoming Iron Chef challenge. As a result, I thought I would make an overly dramatic statement about the food exercise that Irene had us write about in class.

It is another dewy winter weekend with cold winds entangling the atmosphere. Every inhalation and breathe is accentuated with a fine white cloud that pierces the immediate surroundings. As the sun begins to fade into the horizon, the lights within the household turn on instantaneously. Sensing it is nearly dinner time, my mother glides down the freshly lacquered oak floors to exquisitely question my siblings and I what they want for dinner. One by one she asks us,”What do you want to eat?” My siblings, exhausted from their drive from Vegas respond with a conventional, “I don’t know.” Abruptly, my mother’s temper begins to flare and she glares at me the when she asks the same question. Unprepared to answer, I respond with the same response as my siblings. In an act of desperation, my mother begins to blurt out dishes: Kare Kare, dinuguan, bangos, sinagang, adobo. In an attempt, to prevent her from going into a furor, I simply reply the last item she mentioned, chicken adobo.

One by one, she pulls out the ingredients for tonight’s dinner from the freshly installed cabinets and the hulking sub-zero freezer. Scattered throughout the counter are the vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, soy sauce, pepper corns, and other assorted seasonings. After, she proceeds to defrost the adamantine chicken in the microwave. She enters 10:00 onto the chrome input key and LED counter begins to drop. 10, 9, 8, …, 4, 3, 2, 1, beep. Within minutes, the chicken has been sliced, diced, and been thrown into a pot filled with a mixture of seasonings. As the dish nears completion, the pungent vapors of the vinegar become distinct, traveling to all corners of the kitchen and living room. To me and my siblings, it is obvious that it is nearly dinner time. We are in the living room, talking vigorously and boisterously while holding our whiskey glass generously filled with Seagrams and 7-up, while our father remains in his customary post-work slumber. Without any further warning, my mom inhales deeply and exclaims, “Chow time!!!”

*My siblings live go to school in Nevada and I live in the city so family meetings happen rarely.

**I chose adobo because it is what I had for lunch today =)

It tastes a lot better than it looks.

*Nom nom nom nom* ( "'\( ^_^)/"' )

Ooohhhh.....there's a Bay leaf at the top =D

rainy days !

So I'm suppose to be blogging for the past few weeks but haven't had the chance. Since it's raining outside and I'm stuck in the house, I decided that I would blog. Lets just recap on the beginning of my Spring Semester, it started off rough because I was not able to get some of the classes I need for my major so I'm stuck taking two classes that I don't need and to top it off, it doesn't count for GE. Well, I must say that this class is my favorite class I've taken throughout my college years. Sad huh? I actually don't want to miss class because I feel like I might miss out on something excited. We formed groups of 8 and I must say I L0VE my group and must say we got along just great. I love how our class is nice to everyone and get along with one another because most of my classes, I don't even know or talk to 75% of the class.

I went to Vegas in the beginning of February, it was FUN! kicking it w. the girls and the fellas. I think it went by kinda fast. And I haven't been on an airplane since I was 12 yrs old. I was scared in the beginning because the plane kept shaking and when it went up. I felt like that was the longest hour ride ever. Pictures are on myspace if anyone wants to see. :) && best believe I am going back in MAY!!!

To all the February birthdays: Wishing everyone a Happy Birthday. There birthdays every week of February and it's already a short month and all these birthdays are driving me crazy. hahah. To birthday dinners to birthday parties. A girl need to rest yanoe? *** NOTE: Never drink and party in the rain. LoL. I got so sick after doing that and I've been sick for over a week now and it is not a good feeling because I'm stuck at home while others are out partying without me :( Well, I'm getting a little better and need to get better by this weekend. It's gonna be one busy week for me but excited at the same time.

So I'm heading to Reno and Tahoe in the beginning of March. Excited because this will be my second time back this year. Can't wait for my road trip to so cal in spring break and Hawaii at the end of summer!!! Yes, I love traveling and plan to do more of it every year. Gotta live it to the fullest.

My boyfriend and I watched Friday the 13th and it wasn't all that great. I thought it was stupid actually. Everyone got me excited because they said it was hella good. Blah Blah Blah. That shit was whack.

The new Hello Kitty mac make up is out!!!! yay, that means to the mall. Yayers !!! I love shopping, I mean what girl doesn't right? And I love hello kitty!!! When I get my new car, I am definitely decorating it with hello kitty. Hahahahah.

Okay, gonna go eat now. Hungry ! ! !

P.S. Dave and Busters this Thursday- Happy Hour. Come thru everyone !!!

xoxo
Ms. Julie Joi

Driving Along...

Have any of you been pulled over by the police, and you swear you've done nothing wrong? Yeah, maybe you were speeding a little in your fixed up Honda Civic, but you were really just following the flow of traffic! So why did you get pulled over and not that tiny little Volkswagon buggy that was quickly speeding past you in the lane on your right? Could it be because of the type of car you're driving?

*lightbulb turns on over head* Ah hah. A possible explanation as to why you got pulled over.

I haven't personally experienced this [thank goodness - knock on wood], but I have heard stories and have seen this happen to friends and family. The police pull you over simply because you're driving what is dubbed by many as a "rice rocket", and they'll do anything to be able to give you a ticket of some sort, whether it's a fix-it ticket or a speeding ticket. Some cops will also try to find any reason to look under your hood, or peer into your car to see if you have anything illegal in your car. For example, a friend of mine was driving in the evening, so his headlights were on. The cop that pulled him over told him he pulled him over because his headlights were "too bright" and that he would have to fix them. The cop then reached into the car through the window and started pushing buttons and checking things in my friend's car. Then, the cop has the nerve to tell my friend to open his hood to see if his engine had been swapped. I mean, SERIOUSLY?! That can't be legal, right? I mean, it never ceases to amaze me what the "law" can do and get away with it just because they're cops.

So, I drive an Acura RSX with pretty dark tinted windows, but other than that, my car looks pretty much stock, meaning it's not dropped low or anything like that. One day, I was driving in the parking lot in the mall back home in Stockton and I see these two cops that were standing near their patrol cars, talking to one another. As soon as I get closer and these cops see my car, I can see that they're staring my car, and they're LITERALLY inspecting every aspect of it. Then, they see that there's a girl driving in the car, and although they continue to glare at me, it isn't nearly as harsh. I noticed that these cops also did this to another "rice rocket" that had driven by, but as soon as they noticed that the driver of that "rice rocket" was a Caucasian female, they looked away and continued their conversations.

I think this process is so unfair and biased, as well as a bit racist and unjust. I hate the fact that cops try to make these judgements about people just because of the car that people drive. Just because an Asian guy is driving a fixed up Honda, he's automatically a person who races and drives dangerously. Have cops ever considered that maybe some people just like having their cars fixed up that way because they like the way it looks? It's so ridiculous that the cops specifically go out in search of "rice rockets" just so they could "get the off the streets". It's so unfair! I mean, i get this treatment as a GIRL driving this type of car, I can imagine the further harrassment that guys must experience when cops pull them over.

Sorry - I went off on a little tangent there. I swear it would've made more sense if I wasn't sleepy.

--Kim [=

Jupacalypse Now

"JUPAC" that was my call-sign over the radio when I was in the Marine Corps for two deployments, because of my fondness to listening to Tupac songs right before a mission to kind of "Get me in the zone"and due to the fact my last name is Ju it was kind of nickname that a few marines in the platoon gave me that stuck through the my entire 5 years of service. But what i loved about Tupac was not his harsh lyrics and his thuggish exterior, it was quite the opposite in fact many of Tupac's songs and poems{he was an avid poet and wrote many composing a few books} were nothing that a conventional rapper or hip hop artist would ever touch in their songs and lyrics. I first heard of Tupac when i was in High School and was not terribly impressed and not really into rap music, and kind of held the same opinion in until i joined the Marines. I started listening to his music after i saw an interview that he did after he got out of jail, and was just blown away by the intelligence, charisma, and brutal honesty that Tupac obviously had and personified in the very literal sense. I didnt agree with all of Tupac's comments but I loved that he always said exactly what he was feeling that exact moment no matter how ridiculous it may sound and didnt care what people thought of him, he was just being himself. To me the TRUE definition of an artist is someone that can take their artform and personify in a way that could make you relate to it internally. I never liked rap or hip hop until i discovered Tupac and after him i was hooked, after he died i never really cared for music as much because i always felt that the artists were just tools of corporations that catered to certain images that they thought would sell. Tupac was in every sense of the word an artist. and i could hear the pain in his voice and the struggle of his lyrics; absolutely stunning individual amazing and intelligent rapper and a very insightful poet. The reason i wrote this blog is because I saw the movie "Notorious" and i am in shock that some people think Biggie was a better rapper then Tupac, how can you be the best rapper of all time and have only 3 albums? Tupac had about 15 not to mention countless mixtapes and unreleased tracks! Come on people!
Jeff Ju

Trying to get through the day...

As I gaze aimlessly into the blank canvas of white plastered on my computer display, I fade in and out of consciousnesses. I futilely try to recollect the days that past, the lessons learned, and the life lived, but all is to no avail. Slowly, I lull myself to a surreal place, with little on my mind, with little left to say. For a second, existence was buoyant, but alas, it was a brief, fleeting moment falling out of my grasps. Now here I sit, pondering what next to say.

Ok, cool. Now I got that out of the way I thought I would talk a bit about the existential dichotomy that exists in the realm of reality. Good and evil, black and white, 1 and 0 (for you binary nerds), all are part of a whole. It is unfathomable to think of one without the other, since opposition gives rise to contrast. Imagine jubilance without adversity. Depict happiness without sadness. In all truthiness (perhaps this isn't the strongest of words but I am utterly bored so give me a break), the magnitude of our consequences in a single dimension would pale in comparison to one filled with multiple levels of emotion. We can simulate an expression such as happiness, but would it truly convey the reason behind it?

*Taking a break cause its lunch time.
**Ok I am back.

Not surpringly, dualism exists on an infinite scale. In the physical, microscopic realm, bacteria within our body attain a natural level of co-existence in order to to attain equilibrium. At the first sign of trouble, the body mobilizes itself to manage the ailment. Some bacteria will die while many will live and reproduce through binary fission (mitosis for gamete cells and meiosis for any other cell in the human body). If the body succumbs to the foreign invader, the entire being dies and becomes non-existent.

***Damn windows pulled a BSOD on me....luckily I didn't lose anything.

Similarly, the concept of balance can be applied to a much more complex system such as culture. Culture itself is loosely defined as a set of ideologies, beliefs, and etc. that are shared between two or more individuals within a limited geographical area. Luckily (or unluckily) for us, geographical limitations no longer play such an important impact. The birth of stable nations have given rise to common grounds were multifaceted cultures are able to convene. Consequently, the assimilation of different cultures to follow a single, unified whole are often met with resistance. This has given rise to a power struggle that often pits two contrasting views. The incumbents want to overthrow the officials, but they want radical change. Likewise, the officials resist change because of the fear of instability.

Before anyone comes to judge this in terms of morality, keep in mind that there are always two sides to a story. We are as much a part of the opposition as they are of us. Instead of embracing the similarities amongst one another, we instinctively choose to view the antagonistic qualities. We say we want equality, but in reality we do not. Equality is boring and mundane. It is the balance between havoc and stability that make life what it is. Such is the natural dictation of nature.

Asian Stereotypes

"Oh, he MUST be smart because he's Asian."
"She must be good in math and science because she's Asian."
"He won't do that [insert crazy activity here] because he's Asian. Asian people are squares."
"I want an Asian girlfriend because she'll take care of me."

BLAH BLAH BLAH FREAKIN' BLAH.

These are just examples of some of the circulating Asian stereotypes that people say. We've all heard them, whether they're coming from people of our own race or people from different races. These stereotypes have been around for an extremely long period of time, and obviously, they're here to stay. Stereotypes don't seem to go AWAY, but rather, more just seem to be forming and adding to the already long list of Asian stereotypes. This simply means that, more incorrect judgements are being made about Asian people based off of one's appearance, what the media is portraying, and some claim that it's based on "knowledge", but I believe that it isn't really knowledge - it's more the lack thereof.

I understand that there are some people who really prove the stereotypes to be true and who can be categorized under one of the many Asian stereotypes, and yes, some people may know someone like this firsthand; however, I don't think that people should begin to form ideas and expectations of an entire race based on a few people that they know that fulfill the stereotypes. Just because the majority of R&B artists are black doesn't mean that I'm going to assume that all the black people in the world can sing or rap - that's a false judgement, not based on facts, but based on mere observations.

So if stereotypes are made by mere observations, why are they still around today? Stereotypes are still around and still being formed today because we, as a whole, don't fight against it. We just take it in stride and laugh it off. Even though it's difficult to break free of the common stereotypes made, it's not impossible. Another reason why the Asian stereotypes are still around is because we form stereotypes within our own race. Yes, some of the stereotypes can be good, but some are also bad.

"He must be able to sing because he's Filipino."
"She must be stuck-up because she's Filipino."
"She must eat chicken feet because she's Chinese."

So, we're all tired of these stereotypes, but why do we form stereotypes within our own race? We should stop making assumptions based on simple observations or based on one experience, and we should start looking at things as a whole. Everyone's different - just because one Chinese person may eat chicken feet doesn't mean another will. For all we know, they despise it. If we're really tired of stereotypes, we should stop forming our own and stop allowing people to make these assumptions - good or bad - about us simply because we're minorities.

--Kim [=

PS: Thanks Donna, for fixing the layout! [= Looks lovely.

The "Token" Asian on TV

I've noticed that networks and producers try to have each general race represented in TV shows and movies. I hate to generalize groups but the groups tend to be White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic. It bothers me that the "token Asian” is always Chinese, Korean, or some ethnicity that has more slanted or almond shaped eyes. Although China takes up a lot of Asia geographically, not all of us look just like that. I hate that TV producers generalize us as having one sort of image. It’s the same as hating the fact that the “token Hispanic” is represented by a Mexican when there are all sorts of other ethnicities of Latin descent. There are all kinds of other ethnicities of Asian descent. Even Indians are Asian. That just tells you that Asians themselves are very diverse with very different appearances.

If you notice, the Asian character is never the main character. They’re always the right hand man/woman or just someone there on the side. The supporting actor/actress. And sometimes not even that.

And I hate that just because there is one Asian character, all of a sudden the movie or TV show is diverse enough. Take the movie “Bring it On” for example. There is one Asian character, and not only is she one of the bitches of the movie, she’s the only Asian person in the entire movie. Thanks, great representation of the Asian culture. And then there’s the movie “The Perfect Score” which is like the breakfast club except they aren’t in detention and they plan on stealing the SAT’s. The “token Asian” in that movie is a stoner. On a show called “Degrassi”, the Asian character is an aspiring actress who went from being a shy little quiet Asian girl in middle school to the school slut in high school. Thanks, yet again. And as for the movie “Mean Girls”, you get the stereotype of smart ass Asians, then the “cool” Asians, then there’s the two Asian girls who fight over which one of them is dating the middle-aged gym teacher. And as enjoyable or funny these productions may be, it’s not accurate.

While male Asians defend their masculinity in movies and shows, female Asians defend their reputation and try to avoid being the bitch or the slut. I don’t know who has it worse. I guess either way, the Asian culture as represented in American TV is inaccurate.

-Donna