Where is Willis

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

UP Los Banos - Makiling Botanical Gardens

Salsa & Tortillas

Lauren and I had the pleasure of teaching a session at the PC Batch 273 IST back at 11RR.

Lauren did a demonstration on how to make tortillas and I taught fresh blender salsa.

Salsa

Ingredients

½ Kilo Tomatoes

3 Red Onion

½ Head Garlic

2-5 Sili Peppers

10 Kalamansi

1 TBS Salt

1 TBS Cumin

Yields

0.5 Liters blended Salsa

Safe to eat

Up to 24 hours Unrefrigerated

Up to 10 days refrigerated

Wash

Wash all vegetables

Prep

Squeeze the kalamansi juice through the strainer into the bowl

Peel and half onions

De-shell the garlic

Chop the stems off the sili peppers

Slice off the imperfections on the tomatoes

Blend

Pour the kalamansi juice into the blender

Add half the tomatoes and blend

Slowly add in half the onions

Slowly add in the garlic

Add in the rest of the tomatoes

Add in the rest of the onion

One at a time, add in the peppers

Finish off with salt and cumin

Refrigerate

This taste best when it sat for at least and hour and served cold

Will keep for 10 days

Will only keep for 24 hours unrefrigerated

Alternate Method

Hand chop ingredient smaller than Cm cubes

Mix in a bowl

Tortillas

Ingredients

2c Unbleached Flour

1tsp Baking Powder

1tsp Salt

¼ c Vegetable Oil

½ c hot water

Yields
22 Tortillas

Preparation time
1 hour 30 min

Prep

Mix flour, baking powder and salt together.
Add in oil and mix with a fork until mixture is crumply.
Add water slowly while stirring, as the mixture may need less or more water.

Set Aside
Knead the dough for several minutes.
Divide into 16 balls. Keep covered and let sit for at least 1 hour.

Roll
Roll out on a flat surf covered in thin dusting of flour, making flat circles 4-5" in diameter.

Heat
Heat the dough on a very hot flat surface like a skill or the bottom of a large pot without any oil until it starts to brown, turning at least every 60 seconds.

Monday, February 23, 2015

Iloilo CWG Forum - Chinese New Year 2015

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Valentine's Day in Sitio Puros

We are right in the middle of Fiesta season which runs from December until May.

Each barangay (village) and each sitio (a more remote corner of a barangay) has their

own day of celebration. One of Alan's sitios had their fiesta this past Saturday.

We started out the morning by visiting the home of a Nalyn, who just had her baby baptized. We are now Pare (Par-ee) and Mare (Mar-ee) or two of the many God-parents.

Then the eating began. We sampled numerous delicious Filipino dishes and visited with the family and friend who were visiting for the fiesta. It's custom to walk around to multiple families houses to eat and we had the pleasure of visiting a second family for a second delicious meal and another visit at the home. The families make food like we make food for Thanksgiving, so everything is delicious and in heaping portions.

Once we consumed all that we could we moved onto the afternoon activity, games with the kids. The teams were full of energy and had a great time for a couple of hours running around and eating a variety of foods as fast as they could.

It was a great way to spend Valentine's Day, among a loving community with our friends.

Monday, January 26, 2015

The American Ambassador Visit & Dinagyang Festival

Dinagyang is the Iloilo City cultural festival of street dancing and food. While we were unable to attend the festival parade, we did had the pleasure of a social hour with the American Ambassador to the Philippines, Philip Goldberg and his staff. It was wonderful to be given the chance to talk with such an experienced diplomat and to learn from the embassy staff members who were accompanying him on his visit to Iloilo. We send our thanks that PC staff members Lynn Vista (bottom left) and Bill Moore (far right) for setting this up for us.

Top left to right: Tyler Hassig, Geoff Hightower, Ambassador Goldberg, Alan Willis, Lauren Willis, Jess Gulbranson, Terry Perez, Lauren Ciesiensky, Merrill Noser, Bill Moore, Lynn Vista

Afterwards we walked around the festival and found a street side food area amongst the ballon venders and henna tattoo artists.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Island Hopping Guimaras

While Claire and Eleanor were still visiting we had an opportunity to visit our friend Tyler on Guimaras. The weather was a bit windy and not exactly conducive for swimming but we were able to go island hoping and stop by a friend's farm for some buco (coconut).

The islands are beautiful, barely inhabited, and full of vegetation. The local tourist guides seem to be doing a great job keeping island hopper's trash out of the water and off their shores.