Friday, February 25, 2011

Jess Abrera's illustrations


The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. In this case, punk musician and Kikomachine Komix artist Manix Abrera is the son of editorial cartoonist and sometime book illustrator Jess Abrera who came up with the iconic Guyito (carabao mascot) of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. And these visuals for the Nick Joaquin story "Sarimanok vs.Ibong Adarna" (apparently posting the photos of "Lilit Bulilit" hit a chord with some who remember it as a gruesome and scary story :D)

 (pardon the black and white photocopy look...this actually was supposed to be material for a final thesis I was supposed to do...but most of my index cards were thrown out my my mom back then. was in a major funk after that.)

 the whimsical story is about how a bunch of kids in one neighborhood started a crazy game of one-upmanship with fantastic pets (live bears, snakes...) which had some kids making up their own super-cool "pets" like the Sarimanok that could disintegrate people with death rays shooting out of its eyes, and the Ibong Adarna whose singing could put the listener into a deep sleep (and if you were unlucky enough to get pooped on by the mythical bird, you'd be turned to stone).
 
 Things get out of hand and the pets escape and wreak havoc (siblings disintegrating or being turned to stone...something that would get you into trouble with the parents if they found out).
 So the owners team up (against their will) and capture the beasties and set things right again.
Sorta. :D

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Bookworm:1, Chickenzilla:0

One of the lovely things about having a chef for a neighbor and friend is being treated to interesting and delicious food. It also leads to almost-hilarious situations such as an encounter with a jumbo chicken.

The week before Chinese New Year, Chef E decided to gift my family one evening with Birdzilla, a hefty specimen initially mistaken for a small turkey.


Having opted to get an early start on  a good night's rest, I half-awoke to frantic knocking on my door and heard the words "there's a big chicken outside! Kitchen area!" Hence the thought that Metro Manila was being ravaged by a supersized version of Gallus domesticus. Confronted with the still-frozen beast, I did the first thing that came naturally: put it in a bag and into the freezer. Before I was allowed to go back to sleep however, I was told to decide what to do with the poultry.

The debate: cut it into smaller pieces and fry it (my thought: what a waste!), adobo (sure, but still...how often do you encounter poultry this size?), grill (risk burning it?! no!!!!) and the last: roast it (while consulting my favorite cookbook found in a second-hand shop in Bangkal, Makati). And seconds after the recipe was approved, a comment from the Asian Food Channel viewer: "what. no lemons? Jamie Oliver puts lemons in his roast chicken."




After consulting with Lori (who recommended that I stuff TWO lemons in the bird's cavity & grate the zest on the bird prior to roasting), I marinated the bird with salt and pepper, reviewed a few other recipes online (and watched the Alton Brown roast chicken episode), gathered/borrowed the equipment, got my ingredients together, and...(after many hours roasting at temperatures hovering around 400 degrees). My Home Ec teacher would definitely wonder what got into me (I was definitely a middling student who wanted to be in the school paper more than the high school home economics club).
 


We ate chicken for next few days. I swear, just carving off one thigh, drumstick and one breast was already equivalent to one of those "little" rotisserie chickens. Chef E was pretty generous in praising the result (he liked the tarragon, which was part of the Union Square recipe for herbed roasted chicken). If I ever get to tackle jumbo chicken again, I'm going to try "butterfly-style."

The verdict: it really takes a village to roast Birdzilla.

Pop Stories for Groovy Kids :)

A book from what I consider the best-illustrated and subversively written (in a good way!) stories for kids back when Love Buses plied the roads and EDSA1 was just a dream.



Bought this for Php5 (five pesos, which can't even pay for jeepney fare these days) at Alemar's Cubao (they already were in their death throes back in the early Nineties).