The_Grimwitch_Chronicles

This is a chronicle of a young woman who has chronicled her life in notebooks she had made herself and suddenly discovered the availability of Blogs and how she could share a part of her secret self to the virtual community.

3:49 pm

The Frugal Gourmet (Wanna Be)

Posted by Leto of Blood

Getting married is taking a toll in my pocket...well, actually not just my pocket, but my husband's as well. When pay day comes, we allocate fund for the utilities (water/electricity/phone/association bills), savings and credit card bills. Then we set aside our living allowance good for 2 weeks until the next pay day. The rest of our income is spent on what we really indulge in best: FOOD!

My husband enjoys hot, homecooked meals when he arrives from work - no matter how late it may be. Steamed, fluffy rice with any fresh-off-the-pan viand will do. However, after six months of living together, we realized that this ideal meal will cost us our budget if we don't watch out. Since we since we intend to be independent of our parents support, we have devised plans how to keep our food budget in check.

1. We follow a menu for the week

You might think (with raised eyebrows) that only restaurants have menus. Our house has a new one every week of the month. We actually list down food that we want to eat for the whole month. We consider special days (like our monthsery, birthdays or holidays) and how many people will eat the meal for the day. Do we even deviate from the menu? Of course, we do! We have "wild card" meals which depend on which is the most affordable in-season food in the market. But the planned meal stays for that month.

2. We approximate a weekly budget

As much as possible, we approximate the weekly cost so that we could allocate budget for them. Expensive meals (stewed/grilled/baked) are offset with inexpensive ones(sauteed/fried/broiled). As much as possible, we try not to waste expensive cuts by saving them for sautes and grills.

3. We go retail.

Since it's just the two of us most of the time, we buy ingredients in retail (or "tingi"). We compute the actual weight or volume of what our meal's ingredients are and buy them - by the gram or milliliter. Nothing goes to waste since we have a small refrigerator.

4. We try to save on meat.

Milk fish and St Peter's fish are generally cheaper after strong rains so it's the usual mainstay of our freezer in rainy months. Sometimes, we buy sea fish (tuna, salmon, etc.) on dry spells because it's more affordable during those months except on Lent.

Meat extenders are always in our list. We both love to eat meat but if it costs way too much for our budget, we use meat extenders. We use the meat-like tofu (very high in uric acid so eaten in moderation), veggie meat (which we reserve for dishes with thick sauces to hide its light grey color), sweet potato (an extender for casseroles, sautes and meatballs), cold cuts (especially for high fiber dishes) and chicken breast (easier to cook but I'm usually allergic to chicken meat).

5. We make the most out of "food sales"

Whenever we notice a good buy in the food sections of the supermarket or local market, we buy it. We incorporate this ingredient in our menu. We usually stock up on meat in our freezer but consume it in a fortnight. We do not stock fish (albeit it would have been a healthier choice) because it deteriorates easily, even when frozen.

6. If possible, we buy at local markets

Let's face it, although I practically live and breathe in the mall, prices at local markets are way cheaper (at wet markets) than those found in mall supermarkets. Dry goods (like vegetables, spices, flour, condiments, etc) are also way cheaper. Cleaning and grooming substances (detergents, soaps, deodorants, colognes, etc.) are cheaper in the supermarkets. But if you buy them in bulk at the local dry market, it's a little cheaper. Cooking, cleaning and eating implements can be bought here at a fraction of a cost in malls.

7. We buy only what we can eat in a fortnight

After every pay day, my husband and I buy our stocks for two weeks in the supermarket and the local market. We consult our list of our ingredients and our menu for the coming two weeks before we buy which either at the supermarket or the local market. Staples are bought in bulk while the other ingredients are retailed.

8. We love our refrigerator

Every month or so, we defrost our small refrigerator and clean its interiors with antibacterial detergent. We also try to set its thermostat to not higher than 3. Food that are perishable are kept here. The rest - like bread, condiments (except for mayo and oyster sauce)and sachets of juice/noodles/instant oats are stored in the kitchen cabinets.

Storage also affects food quality. Vegetables fresh from the market are removed from their plastic containers and placed in the crisper. We wash them only before cooking them to retain their freshness. Fish are removed of their innards (which I broil with vinegar and some salt for my pets), salted and stored in microwaveable plastic containers in the freezer. Meats are trimmed, washed thoroughly with water and rubbed with salt and pepper. They are then stored in large plastic containers in the freezer.

We try as much as possible to keep only 2 trays of ice during regular days or buy tube ice from the convenience store when there's a party. Since our ref also comes with a water cooler dispenser, we replace its water regularly so that we conserve energy by not opening the refrigerator door just to drink a glass of water.

9. We use the right stuff to cook good food

Pots and pans determine how long the cooking time will be as well as the texture of the food. We use flat pans if we want the food fried evenly, simmered or seared equally. Pans are also good when we cook meat sauce for spaghetti. If we lack coal for grilling, I brush its interior with oil and grill meat with it. Our oiled wok is good for quick sautes and fried rice. This contraption releases heat easily which prevent food from being burned easily. Thick pots are for slow cooking like stews and broiled meats.

We cook in a traditional stove top powered by gas. It tends to lose heat in the process of cooking, thus, longer cooking time. My mum has an induction oven (powered by electricity) which is heat efficient because it directs heat into the pan and hastens cooking time. The problem is, she uses special teflon coated pans for it. I have tried using it but with unsatisfactory results. It hastens cooking time but it overcooks food if you aren't used to the timer and temperature settings.

10. We have mainstays in our menu

Stews ( defined by the Wikipedia as "a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in water or other water-based liquid, typically by simmering, and that are then served without being drained")are a mainstay on weekends or holidays when both of us are home. Cheap cuts of (pork or beef)meat are simmered with vegetables, tubers or fruits in water. We sometimes add tomato sauce (for its lycopene content) or squashed gabi/potato tubers to thicken its texture and enhanced its flavors.

Vegetables are a mainstay in every dish we cook. My husband and I always crave for fiber in fruits and vegetables. Otherwise, we drink cereal milk drinks. When cooking vegetables for stews or any time-consuming meal, we would put them last...just enought to cook them a bit.

Old staples are given a twist by putting in new ingredients to the old recipe. An example of this would be putting Japanese corn in the traditional "Beef Nilaga" for a sweetish taste. Boiled, shredded eggplants are added to cheese sticks for a filling ang healthy snack. Horseradish leaves are added to mongo beans stew for a flavorful nutritious dish.

11. Left over creativity

Left-overs are not a problem since we have the Succubi with us which we feed with rice and whatever's left-over. However, not everybody has pets which can feed on left-overs so how do we deal with left-overs when there are no available Succubi?

a. Left overs are great with anything that has carbs
Chunks of meat from a previous meal can be shredded and made into homemade pizza or a filling sandwich. Fish can be mixed with flour and spices as fish balls or fish nuggets for another meal. Vegetables are a little tricky...since it depends on how they're cooked. Boiled vegetables can be put in as noodle extenders (for ramen or "pancit.") Sauteed vegetables can be put in a tortilla or lumpia wrapper and fried. Beans and tubers are a different matter. They can be filling for bread when mixed with sweetened milk and sugar.

b. Avoid left-overs...REALLY!
One can avoid left-overs by training people in their household if they'll eat which meal at the house. If it's just you, fix yourself a salad or a sandwich. Don't sweat the small stuff!
Learn to adjust to the household's appetite. Count how many ate which and adjust for the next meal. It takes a lot of diligence (I used to cook for my parents and siblings when I was single) but it's worth it. Nothing goes to waste.

c. Proportion is the key
By the time you get to this part, you have probably mastered the art of networking (you've asked everybody who's eating at home for a particular meal) and accounting (you've got a mental list as to who eats this much). When you buy meat in bulk from the market, have it stored in different plastic containers. Use a masking tape to label each bag with the cut and the intended recipe.

That's how we keep our food budget in check. It takes a lot of time to get used to eat but eventually, when you do master it, you'll reap the benefits of being in control of the majority of your budget.

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2:51 pm

MalLabor

Posted by Leto of Blood


Recently, the Department of Labor (of the Republic of the Philippines) conducted an inspection at the mall where I work in. At first, my cohort and I thought somebody must have snitched on our company. After all, it was the first time in all our years of working for capitalists that the department took interest in what the REAL situation is in the workplace. I have never been interviewed by the labor department's emissaries nor my cohort. As we stared at each shop and each employee of that shop getting interviewed on the nuances of their job, memories came flooding in my mind.


My family belongs to the middle class so luckily, we never experienced child labor. We used to have a small store near our rented apartment and we would take turns as vendors - usually after class or during semestral breaks. In fact, my sister and I even slept in the mezzanine to guard that store. We were never given salaries (like regular employees) but we enjoyed drinking cold soda or munching on chips while reading all the magazines or newspapers sold in the store stands. We could talk to friends or bystanders whenever we feel bored. We would watch the big trucks rumbling by at night or pity the cars and buses stuck in traffic. The person who'd tend the store will not be with the family during meal times, but my mum or my dad will reserve the most special/biggest/yummiest portion of the viand for her/him. We enjoyed writing prices of goods bought from the distributor and displaying them in the store shelves. We could do our homework from the store and not be bothered by household chores like washing clothes or doing the dishes. I don't think that's child labor at all.

But in the Philippines, you can observe that rampantly. These are children who are too poor to be fed by their own parents yet too proud to beg. In the city, they sell jasmine garlands or newspapers, clean jeepneys in the terminals, act as barkers or even conductors for jeepneys on provincial trips. In the country side, these children help during harvest time (especially of rice, sugar cane, corn, etc.) and they'd be given the scraps for salary. They would do odd jobs like selling water, sell vegetables for other vendors, wash clothes or even tend farm animals so that the would have enough money to spend bare essentials (which goes for th family rice, dry fish for viand) for the next day. If there is any left, they would go to their allowance in school.

Sadly, these children have never enjoyed playing. They regard play as something of a vanity that they can rarely indulge. They have to work hard for their families to eat and live another day. They're often late or if not, absent in school because either they're too tired to study or that they need to work long hours to afford things that their families need for the next day. They have no choice but to sacrifice their self for their loved ones.

Eventually, these children mature sooner than their bodies. They rarely develop into well-rounded adults because they have experienced hardships and criticism at an age when they should have been building their confidence. They'll become cynical and insecure. Most of them rarely finish school. They get by with whatever work they could find, paid poorly because of their ignorance, abused by the society and pass on the cycle to their offspring. Then, the cycle of poverty and child labor goes on.

 He went to our store at last. He showed us his ID and asked a lot of questions. He queried about our pay and the benefits that we receive from our employer. Although hesitant to answer his questions, we cannot lie because he asked for our pay slips and made a lot of notes in his report.
He noted that I was paid very poorly...underpaid, he said, but overqualified. He sadly shook his head as he continued scribbling more notes. He never asked me why I accepted the job in this shop. He wanted the assurance that I am okay working with the company who pays me little but expects too much. He said he would take care of that situation and that he will deal with our managers accordingly next week.

Ever since I graduated from college and passed the licensure examinations, I have never experienced paychecks that go way beyond the basic pay mandated by the law. I remember my first pay check for the month amounted to Php 4,200.00. But that time, I was working 48 hours a week and the basic pay per day was Php 250.00. Isn't that a perfect example of flagrant abuse of greenhorns?! However, I accepted the job because it was a race against time and a matter of pride - I was the one who got employed first in our batch in a prestigous cosmetics company. The clientele was elite: local politicians, ambassadors, actors and actresses and all the who's who of Makati. I compounded dermatological formulas for them (as prescribed by the resident dermatologist), got free cosmetics (that were really way too expensive to come out from my pockets), was given free treatments to clear up my skin, and of course, got to know everything from the grapevine before it could ever get out in the news. That was the life...a single Makati working girl!


After a month or so, I was not given the well deserved raise that was promised to me at the interview. The manager told me that it was verbal...not in black and white so it was quite preposterous of me to expect that from them. She told me that there are people who, just for the sake of working (for years)in their elitist company, were paid below my rate. I was stunned. She had the gall to point that out to me. I told her that I musn't be underpaid because I am a professional. She laughed it off. I quit the next day.I consoled myself after that incident but my pride was badly injured. That was the first time I had been rejected. But that did not stop me from being disillusioned by the promise of a nice fat paycheck. I went on from job to job (being a medical sales agent to college lecturer to hospital pharmacist)until I got into teaching in a private school for girls.

That was the first time I ever saw 5-digits in my paycheck that does not include the centavos. I thought, "WOW! This will definitelty make my momma proud!" I was able to live the lifestyle I was used to when I was still in Makati but this time, everything came out of my OWN pockets. It was very empowering. My family greatly benefited from it because I could pay for some utilities (like the house phone and the househelp's salary). I could even go on weekend trips with my younger siblings to shop, to play or just dine out. I was on a budget but including my luxuries.Work, however, was very draining. I look forward to meeting my students, young as they are. I teach them new things about science that they can really use outside the classroom. But I dreaded coming to the faculty room with loads of paperwork, witnessing how co-teachers stab each other in the back, being sarcastically talked to by my superiors, walking home late at night through the dark streets to get a ride home, having less time with Beau Boi, etc. I regretted as each dreadful month ended as much as I happily expected my paycheck.

Much to my family's dismay, I quit the post after 2 school years. As I slowly walked away from that school, dragging accumulated teaching aids along the way, I realized something. I value my psychological well-being, my family time and of course, Beau Boi too much than my big fat paycheck. After that, I worked for an English school for Koreans in the afternoons and taught at the nursing college in the morning. The rest, is history.

He came back the following week as promised. Our bosses in Makati have been too disturbed by the fact that the DOLE is now looking into the rights of their employees that he sent our company's accountant and of course, the administrative manager. He was cordially informing them about my rights as an employee and the other benefits that I should be receiving. They promised they would change the payroll starting next month. The inspector smiled satisfactorily and told me that I would be getting a better pay check for my family. He, the manager, the auditor and I signed the papers and after a piping hot cappucino and a crisp croissant..he was off. I believe the inspector went back to DOLE happy that he was able to put out a laborer's misery by having the managers acknowledge their deficiency in giving the correct pay. He probably wouldn't give us, mall employees, much thought after that day. He was assured by the affixed signatures of the managers that they will protect the rights of their employees in terms of corporate remuneration.

Up to this time, I have yet to see on my payslip, the increase that was written on that piece of paper he brought to DOLE. I bet other employees in this mall feel the same. My manager had a mole inside the labor department which she paid off with bribe (a state-of-the-art air conditioning unit). The inspector will never come back again.

P.S. Still, while I have yet to feel the economic crunch, I'll stay here. I love being a mall rat!

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5:59 pm

Melamine = Kidney Stones

Posted by Leto of Blood


In Asia nowadays, people are scared of taking in dairy products or anything that has milk in it, especially if it's from China. News are flashed on the television informing us about the pull-out of Chinese-imported products that contain milk or that it causes kidney stones in children but they never tell us, their viewers, what the hell "melamine" is about. Questions kept sprouting in my class which I try to answer as patiently as I could, though they are totally unrelated to my lecture for the day: How does melamine get in the milk? What is melamine's real use? How does it cause kidney stones? Does it affect adult kidneys too?

Literature in the textbooks and journals are not really that helpful because they are not for laymen. People with very little understanding of scientific terms will have kidney stones before they could ever decipher what the article was all about...so I'll try and explain it as simple as possible.

Before it was identified as a "bad guy" in the news, let me tell you what it was before all the media attention. Melamine is classified as a very heat resistant resin. If you have those microwaveable plastic bowls, these have been coated with melamine to prevent melting of the plastic when microwave particles pass through it to heat food. In fact, they are sometimes found in flame retardants! Melamine is also used to coat counter tops and white boards - see their glossy surface? That is melamine. Sometimes, it's found in glue (the ones that say that do not produce noxious fumes) and of course, burn proof fabrics like aprons and pot holders. Its derivatives from arsenic is used to treat African trypanosomiasis - therefore, an important chemotherapeutic agent.

Its usefulness was exploited in the late 1950's when it was patented as a non-protein nitrogen source for cattle but was turned down after several studies because it was difficult to digest and that urea and cottonseed would be better alternatives. You may ask, why do these cows need a nitrogen source? They need nitrogen to build protein. Their diet which is mainly grass, contain chlorophyll, a little nitrogen and many fiber. To become economically beneficial, they need to have more muscle. More muscle means more meat. The heavier they will be, the more money they will fetch for their owners.

Melamine manufacturers were not disheartened. They incorporated melamine in food products (like those that contain milk!) to increase their advertised protein content without really spending much on a natural protein source. Its very convenient for food products to claim protein contents since the tests used aren't specific for what kind of protein is being claimed in the nutrition label. Now, the plot thickens...how in the world do these food manufacturers add an insoluble substance like melamine in milk? They mix it with formaldehyde...which will also lengthen the storage period of their product.

Let's not get scared yet. Melamine is not really toxic...in low doses. In fact, it's lethal dose is less than 3grams per kilogram (based on rats). So if you're 60 kilograms, it would take 180 grams of melamine to kill you...and that's quite a lot. Besides, melamine alone will not kill you. Its combination with cyanuric acid will.

(Cough!) WHAT IS CYANURIC ACID?!

Cyanuric acid is an ingredient of some bleaches, disinfectants and herbicides. Sometimes, this is found in drinking water especially in heavily herbicide-bombed areas. There was a study conducted that cyanuric acid is also as toxic as melamine when alone. However, when combined with melamine, they cause major damage like the fatal kidney/bladder stones in children. These may lead to bladder cancer or worse, reproductive problems.

Let me clarify that today's melamine scare affected children because they're the ones that usually feed on milk. Although it is not stated in the literature that I've read, adult kidneys are prone to melamine cyanurate (the compound formed from cyanuric acid and melamine) because these developed kidneys are more prone to abuse like alcohol ingestion and of course accessibility to high protein diets (think Atkins's diet, steaks and protein shakes). Children have lower body mass so acute melamine toxicity is easier observed in them. Maybe it'll take me 5 more packs of soft chewy chinese White Rabbit candies before I experience this.

How does melamine get into Chinese milk? I have three (3) possible theories:
1. It's ingested by the cows themselves. Maybe there are unscrupulous herders that add melamine to cattle feed in hopes of increasing the nitrogen content in their diets. Cats die of renal failure by ingesting melamine..what more of cows, which are bigger than they are? Before they die, their milk may have been transported halfway across the world.
2. It may have been added in the milk to increase its protein content. They might have dissolved a little melamine in formaldehyde, then added it to the milk before being analyzed. It's like hitting 2 birds with 1 stone. Longer storage and higher protein means more profits.
3. It might have been in the container. Melamine has been used in fire-proofing or for making smoother surfaces, it is possible.

I hope our BFAD recalls all the milk products from our supermarkets, especially if they're from China. How do we protect ourselves while these melamine issue isn't resolved? Simple. Beware of anything dairy that is from China - that includes their chocolates, candies, cakes, cookies, biscuits, milk and anything that could possibly contain milk. Next, ask yourself if the protein content in a particular product has logical amount of protein. For example, if none of the ingredients in your bag chips naturally contains protein and the nutrition labels says it has protein...don't buy it! Lastly, eat fresh food that is locally grown. Like buying fresh carabao milk from your local farmers or from people who are into organic farming. It'll do the local economy some good and it will definitely keep your kidneys safe.

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3:31 pm

12. Thank Goodness!

Posted by Leto of Blood

I have been panicking for a month. Why? Read on.

My husband lent me his laptop and since I got wi-fi access in my shop, I was delirious with techie happiness. I can access my emails whenever I like and watch online movies and tv shows abroad without ever going anywhere! I could chat with my friends from abroad and of course, updated in their social lives. It was bliss...and then..I remembered my blog.

My goodness!

That's when I started to panic. I realized that I've lost my online diary! I had never expected that I would lose my account that fast. Thought came running to my mind:Was it deleted? Did someone know my password that they changed it so that I could not make another entry? I have made lots of entries here and that would have been quite a loss for me.

I tried making another account using my Gmail but I miss this account. I really do. Blogspot new accounts have to be logged on using Gmail nowadays. It's a little disheartening to see the message that my email is not recognized.

I have used the help portion found in this site lots of times but I never seem to get it right. I managed to reset my email address' password and here I am! Blogging as ever before.

As Captain Barbossa (Pirates of the CARIBBEAN:At World's End)said, "For sure, you have to be lost to find a place that can't be found, elseways everyone would know where it was."

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5:51 pm

An Illicit Affair

Posted by Leto of Blood



My Uriel has been nagging me for the longest time to resume working for the profession we've sweated blood and tears in college to practice: Pharmacy. After we've passed the boards, we have tied the knot with it.

Like a wife that needs to be monetarily benefited, I pay the PTR every year - just in case I felt like practicing again...and renew the license regularly very 3(or was it 2?) years so I could be updated at the PRC (Professional Regulatory Commission). He's irritated that I kept borrowing (not that often!?) money from him for that...which he thinks illogical and a waste of money.My mind agrees with him completely. Why not? The government earns money off me more than I earn from my "profession".

Ever since I got my license, I've been paid for pharmaceutical positions a little over than the basic pay for ordinary employee...which is an injustice, considering that rank and file employees do not undergo rigid evaluation after they graduate (like taking the board exams, for instance!). Pharmacists have to worry themselves about documents for the Bureau and other government agencies (which involve a lot of PR and diplomacy to get things done without That fact disillusioned me from the practice of pharmacy.



Like a mistress waiting for an opportunity for the tempted to succumb to her charms, I fell for the practice of Education. I was in between jobs when I was invited by one of the popular health science colleges in manila to be their lecturer for a semester. They've been short of professors lately and since they think I'm qualified for that, they've been bugging me since. So I gave in.

I taught senior and junior students of pharmacy all the pharmaceutical sciences I've learned from the practice and of course what I learned when I was in college. I never realized what power I hold in molding the minds of my future colleagues - they were awed by the fact that they've been taught by a board exam topnotcher (which I never flaunted, or thought of as anything special.) I was easily popular with the students because I have made it my personal mission to teach only what can be useful in actual practice.

Like all relationships, my mistress gradually showed her true colors as the one-semester contracted ended and was renewed to a full teaching contract (one whole school year). I began to feel the professional jealousy of my co-professors who are much older and definitely more experienced than I am. There were smattering of intrigues and subtle bribes offered by my students. I was getting noticed adversely by the conservative administration for my radical teaching styles. I got tired of handling many students (imagine, 1 class will have an average of 80 students!). I was overworked beyond compare...It took one big fight with my beau boi before I finally realized I needed to strike a balance somewhere.

I quit my teaching job there and drifted from one teaching job to another. I taught middle school, Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, high school students, post-college students...It was exhilarating how I managed to get into my student's psyche and teach them what they ought to know. But still, I'm getting rustier and rustier in Pharmaceutical Science.

Despite of all the teaching I did, I neglected the profession that I swore to practice till I die. It took me a failing grade in the APEC to realize that...much to my disappointment. It humbled me to a point that I had to be a pharmacist again. So...I struck an idea: MOONLIGHTING.

I looked for a job as a pharmacist for a food supplement shoppe in a nearby mall in the afternoons and taught in the morning at a nursing college. It enabled me to enjoy the best of both worlds. I work part time for 20 hours a week in the college while I have 50 hours a week in the shoppe. Although my husband and I split the household bills, I earned enough for my (and his) luxuries and debts.

It's a fun experience, although some of my friends caution me that it's exhausting (which is true...imagine rushing from one place of work to another) and that it might limit my chances of bearing and caring for children-to-be. Uriel and I take it in stride...we're not much of a hurry for anything.

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