Dalandan Season

Just in time when we're starting to sniffle because of the changing weather, the dalandán trees (mandarin orange, Citrus reticulata) are ready for picking! It's a great Vitamin C morning boost (above), and infinitely more delicious than temperate-country citruses.

Some trees are so heavy with fruit (below) that we have to brace them with pole supports. In my area, these are called çintóres and I couldn't decipher how this name came about in Batángas. It sounds Hispanic and plural, but no amount of internet researches sheds light on the name's source.

We have around thirty trees in all, mature and fruiting by the time I acquired the farm. Apparently, they were grafted from a prolific mother tree; they do produce a bountiful yield but the tree's life span may not be as long as one borne from seed.


I will need to start planting a new grid of cintores trees to eventually replace this batch, which will hopefully remain fruit-bearing for around ten more years.

Contrast

Two plants, totally unrelated but contrast each other in the gardens. Both of them look curiously unusual, and are colored from opposite sides of the spectrum.


Above is the Dwarf Papyrus (Cyperus haspens), a miniature version of the bulky water plant commonly found in ponds or river edges. This looks good as a potted specimen, elevated to a comfortable height so the plant can be appreciated properly.


On the other hand, the Red Powderpuff (below, Calliandra emarginata) has a similar silhouette but is a different plant altogether. In this case, it is the flower and not the leaf that is umbel-like, and is in a bright crimson color that warmly glows in the sunlight.

Around Lipa: the de la Salle Chapel

Inside the de la Salle campus in downtown Lipa is a quiet, contemporary chapel that invites one to just stop by and commune with God. Oftentimes, the other churches in the city can be filled to the brim and may sometimes be noisy and surrounded with activities. But this school chapel has a calming and natural atmosphere, it gives a meditative vibe that somehow makes one introspectful. 


It helps too that from the inside, one can see an expanse of green; the school's football field, surrounded by trees and flowering gardens. It's nice to see that contemporary tropical design principles are also now being applied to ecclesiastical architecture.

Of course, I couldn't help but note that they have interestingly-designed pews. I couldn't tell if it partly uses recycled lumber but undoubtedly, it uses combinations of beautiful tropical hardwoods.

Our Own Sinamak

My caretaker, Bukíng surprised me one weekend with vinegar that he made himself,collecting the coconut sap right from the tree and fermenting it for some time by then. It was remarkable that we are now making our own vinegar! It's not rocket science at all, but is quite laborious to make if only for small quantities. We realized it when he emphatically told the cook not to waste it for cooking but just for dipping; I guess if I have to climb a coconut tree everyday to make a bottle, I'll say the same thing!


And since that remark, the cook, May thought why not use it to make our own sinámak?   After all, we just have to add market-bought báwang at sibúyas (garlic and onion) to our own home-grown síling labúyo (chili pepper, below left), lúya (ginger, below right), and pamintáng buô (peppercorn).


Sinámak, as you can see is a wicked concoction of a dipping sauce for any dish you want to add some kick to. It works best for inasál na manók (grilled chicken) or iníhaw na pusît (grilled squid), fried lumpiâ, or any deep fried, crisp fish.

Chili Pepper/Siling Labuyo

Ginger/Luya

A variation is to add some tóyo (soy sauce) to add flavor to some real killer bagnět (deep-fried pork, below). Just don't forget the Lipitor!

From My Library: Flora Mirabilis

I would periodically browse through amazon.com's site and window-shop for good deals, enjoying going through some selected pages as if I'm leafing through real books in a bookstore. I'd put them on my shopping cart after  but won't actually purchase until I'm certain someone can bring it here to the Philippines if I have it mailed to family in California. Sometimes, the deal gets taken and their system will replace it with a pricier equivalent.


For some reason, this National Geographic book is one that's been parked for a long time and never made it to the virtual check-out counter. I've not been to the US for some time, for one. I guess I've also just forgotten about it. But to my sheer excitement, I found a clean and marked-down copy some months back in Book Sale in my neighborhood grocery!

It is sumptuously illustrated, with awesome botanical prints in every single turn! It is a romantic gardener's prized book, with rare and delightful visuals that would fascinate you just as much as the plants themselves. Since I had it, I've been trying to get another copy with the intent of tearing off the pages and framing them as wall decór!

The author, Catherine Herbert Howell selects important historical plants that shaped our present culture and lifestyle today: wheat, rice, sugarcane, tobacco, tomato, cannabis, and orchids, just to name a few. It explains the plants in the context of parallel historical events to help the reader better understand and appreciate just how important and influential plants really are in our daily lives. There are even timelines (below), sidebars with historical notes, striking quotations that would make us see history from a new point of view.