a note about food
There are two things that make life very difficult when it comes to eating in the Philippines. The first is being a vegetarian. The second is being a diabetic. Fortunately, I am neither of these things, but if I stayed here too much longer....let's just say I can understand why the diabetes rate in the Philippines is so high.
As I mentions before, there is a startling lack of vegetables in most dishes. Actually, that's not right. It would be more correct to say that a cooked dish is not complete if it doesn't have some kind of animal-based protein here. And you can't just order off the menu. I ordered vegetable chop suey from the vegetable section of a menu, and there was meat in it. If you don't want meat, you have to VERY SPECIFICALLY spell that out. I fell sorry for NB...he's been eating essentially the same thing for the last two months!
Hand-in-hand with the animal protein issue is the "oh my god, white rice at every meal and lots of sugary sweets!" issue. See, Philippinos LOVE to eat. They wake up and eat breakfast. around 10:30, it's time for snack. At noon, it's time for lunch. At 3 PM, it's again time for a merienda (snack!) Then dinner in the evening. Always eating. And the snacks....are so deliciously full of sugar, and mostly white rice and coconut-based as well.
Yesterday, we tried something called Buko Pandan. It's kind of like the marshmallow jello salads from the midwest or the deep south. It was green jello, coconut chunks, coconut juice, condensed milk, and all other manner of tastey sweet things mixed into one dish. And it was delicious :-)
Philippinos are also very hospitible, and won't allow guests to pay for anything. This means that I've been fed a startling amount of food. To complensate, I typically don't eat breakfast in the AM, because I know that I'll get at least 2 snacks and a huge lunch during the day. Given the lack of running that I've been able to do, I just want my clothes to still fit when I get home!
I'm sure this super sugary diet is also contributing to my level of tiredness. This isn't the way I prefer to eat. But until I'm home, it's how I'll operate. After all, it would be terribly rude to refuse to eat.....and the snacks are usually sooooooo good.....mmmm :-)
In other news, photos from the weekend in Bataan can be found HERE, and photos from the week in Bulacan can be found HERE. Enjoy!
As I mentions before, there is a startling lack of vegetables in most dishes. Actually, that's not right. It would be more correct to say that a cooked dish is not complete if it doesn't have some kind of animal-based protein here. And you can't just order off the menu. I ordered vegetable chop suey from the vegetable section of a menu, and there was meat in it. If you don't want meat, you have to VERY SPECIFICALLY spell that out. I fell sorry for NB...he's been eating essentially the same thing for the last two months!
Hand-in-hand with the animal protein issue is the "oh my god, white rice at every meal and lots of sugary sweets!" issue. See, Philippinos LOVE to eat. They wake up and eat breakfast. around 10:30, it's time for snack. At noon, it's time for lunch. At 3 PM, it's again time for a merienda (snack!) Then dinner in the evening. Always eating. And the snacks....are so deliciously full of sugar, and mostly white rice and coconut-based as well.
Yesterday, we tried something called Buko Pandan. It's kind of like the marshmallow jello salads from the midwest or the deep south. It was green jello, coconut chunks, coconut juice, condensed milk, and all other manner of tastey sweet things mixed into one dish. And it was delicious :-)
Philippinos are also very hospitible, and won't allow guests to pay for anything. This means that I've been fed a startling amount of food. To complensate, I typically don't eat breakfast in the AM, because I know that I'll get at least 2 snacks and a huge lunch during the day. Given the lack of running that I've been able to do, I just want my clothes to still fit when I get home!
I'm sure this super sugary diet is also contributing to my level of tiredness. This isn't the way I prefer to eat. But until I'm home, it's how I'll operate. After all, it would be terribly rude to refuse to eat.....and the snacks are usually sooooooo good.....mmmm :-)
In other news, photos from the weekend in Bataan can be found HERE, and photos from the week in Bulacan can be found HERE. Enjoy!