Shanghai the Second Time Around

They say that love is sweeter the second time around, but I guess that this is not the case for Shanghai. The first time I went here to Shanghai, I was with my sister. We attended an exhibit and spent the rest of the time that we had here shopping.

This time, I’m here alone and for a business trip. Funny how I didn’t notice before that the skies here are always gray. Fog or smog rather blankets over the city which is why I can’t get a clear view of anything anytime unless I walk or drive really close to it.

The water has a yellowish color which reminded me of diluted tea. Come to think of it, it also tastes like tea… maybe China water is tea.

The people are not that bad but it wouldn’t hurt for them to take a bath more often.

Although news and media boasts of Shanghai’s affluence, I can’t help but notice that the place still reeks of poverty. I can’t help but feel bad for the waiters and waitresses in the restaurants whose clothes are a little too big for them. Their oily hair and grimy faces reflect that they do not care much for hygiene, or maybe they don’t have the time for it.

Dirty old western men also go here to have a good time with the ladies. Why, just last night, I saw my old neighbor, who looks like Albert Einstein, with a young Chinese girl. The girl looked very young. I heard “Albert” lock the door and I didn’t bother to find out what they did after that.

Shanghai holds a lot of promises, economically, but I wonder when they will realize that money isn’t everything. Money can’t undo the damages done to the environment nor can it bring back the value for life and dignity of a person.

The Truth About Foie Gras

A number of us enjoy eating foie gras. But after knowing the cruelty these ducks suffer to produce a fatty liver, do you think it's still worth it to promote the foie gras industry?

The methods used to turn duck and goose livers into the "delicacy" known as pate de foie gras are anything but delicate.

Foie gras is a French term meaning "fatty liver" and it is produced by force-feeding birds. The ducks and geese force-fed for foie gras are compelled to consume much more high-energy food-mostly corn-than they would eat voluntarily. This damages their liver and often kills them. Birds are force-fed tremendous amounts of feed via a 12- to 16-inch plastic or metal tube, which is shoved down their throats and attached to a pressurized pump. The force-feeding may be performed twice daily for up to two weeks for ducks and three to four times daily, for up to 28 days for geese.

Force-feeding results in accumulated scar tissue in the esophagus. In addition, force feeding also results to the enlargement of the liver. The geese's liver can be enlarged to as much as 12 times its normal size. Increased liver size forces the abdomen to expand, which makes moving difficult and painful. An enlarged abdomen increases the risk of damage to the stretched tissue of the lower part of the esophagus. The liver can also be easily damaged even by minor trauma.

Many of the forced fed ducks were unable to walk or even stand, their bills showed deformities. Their eyes were also dull and their feathers were unkempt. Only severely stressed or ill ducks allow their plumage to deteriorate.

Necropsies taken of the dead birds revealed many painful conditions: The force-fed birds had chronic heart disorders; ruptured liver cell membranes; cirrhosis; traumatic esophagitis; and lesions in their gizzards and intestines. Dead birds were also found with food filling their esophagi and spilling out of their nostrils.

I used to like eating foie gras, but after reading about the cruelties these ducks are subjected to, I would feel really guilty eating foie gras again. You may probably argue that pigs, cows and sheep are also slaughtered before they end up on our plates. But this is different. These birds suffer a slow death. Eating foie gras is not good for us anyway.

Foie gras and de fois gras can make people fat and sick like the unfortunate birds tortured to produce it. Foie gras gets 85 percent of its calories from fat--more than twice as much as a hamburger! The fat is mostly palmitic acid, a saturated fat known to increase cholesterol.

Some Stuff I Picked Up From Work

*Did youw that it takes approximately 10kg of grass to produce 1kg of beef? ---> This explains why beef is more expensive than most vegetables. So, wouldn't you rather eat vegetables instead. Vegetables are not only cheaper, they are also better for you.

* Did you know that when you're flying in a plane, you lose 30% of your sense of taste? ---> So, don't blame everything on airline food.

* Did you know that airline food is cleaner than food from most restaurants? ---> Airline caterers adopt the best kitchen hygiene practices because the airlines can't afford having sick passengers onboard. Lawsuits arising from these cases involve a big amount of money. Not only that, it's hard to get medical help while you're up there in the air. They can't risk passengers dying on them just because the passenger was allergic to the food they served or the food was unclean and made the passenger sick. (FYI airline food is free from MSG)

The Great Singapore Sale Trip and then some...

I’m going back to Singapore this June to attend a meal presentation for the company. Hopefully, I would be able to catch the great Singapore sale this year. Last year, I also went to Singapore but wasn’t able to catch the sale. So, in my opinion, last year’s great Singapore sale wasn’t so great. I really felt bad because the sale caught me unaware. I left for Manila the day before the sale started. Imagine, if I were only there, I would’ve brought really great bargains home.

This year, I will go there prepared. For starters, I extended my trip and filed the extra days that I will be staying in Singapore as vacation leaves. Not only that, I will also be bringing my best friend, Tanya, along with me to enjoy this once a year phenomenon. Tanya is more shopaholic than I am so I probably won’t feel guilty about the purchases that I will be making. Also, I’ll be sure to include my handy dandy credit card in my "must- brings" because you’ll never know when you’ll run out of cash. One thing I learned when while travelling is to always bring your credit card with you. That way, you won’t regret not being able to buy something you really want. I mean, it’s not often that you get sent to other countries for work. I don’t worry about maxing my credit card, because I have an iron will.

Our trip there won’t be spent entirely for shopping. Tanya and I also plan to do some sightseeing. When the urge to do some shopping has been completely fulfilled, (I won’t count on this), we’re going to Sentosa and the Jurong Bird Park. I’m still contemplating on whether we’re gonna visit the Night Safari. According to my officemate who went to see the Night Safari, the place lives up to its name. It’s too dark that you can barely see anything. Everything’s tentative though, what good is being there if you can’t go to places you’d really like to see because of your plans, right?

Whatever Happened to Bruce Morada...?

I probably was not the only girl who fell for Bruce Morada’s charms. He probably was my first and last crush in college. Every time I saw him, my face automatically broke out into a smile. I felt so silly, then. But I can’t help it.

The first time I met him was during the Apostolate that we had every Sunday. He had long, wavy hair and dreamy eyes. The kind that penetrates your being whenever you gaze into his eyes. But, that’s not how I saw him that first time. That first time, I saw him as the guy with unruly hair (I hate guys with longer hair than mine), poor manners, and even less sense.

However, everything changed the first time he picked up the stupid guitar and sang the song “Is it Okay if I called you mine?” by Paul McCrane. Oh, why did he have to sing that stupid song and why did I have to be a sucker for those kinds of songs during that time. I bet, if someone sings that song to me now, it probably wouldn’t have any effect on me (well, maybe it will… depending on the person who sang it). Anyway, he didn’t exactly dedicate the song to me. But, at that moment, I felt like he was singing the song to me and that we were the only two people in the org room.

Oh, I know that he saw me only as the little freshman girl but it didn’t matter. From that day on, I looked forward to “accidentally” bumping into him. Not that I wanted to hook up with him or something, but I just wanted to see him. And it’s not like I deliberately followed him to bump into him.

From that day onwards, his wavy hair seemed to be nice and not disgusting. I also noticed that he had a set of nice, white teeth. His voice was deep and relaxing. He was also quite smart, actually and I wonder if he was only pretending to be an airhead. He made sense when everyone didn’t and didn’t make sense when everyone made sense. So that made him kinda smart, right?

I guess that he only saw me as a little sister but it didn’t matter. All I know is that I was happy when I was with him. Even if what we did wasn’t even remotely romantic, I guess we had some fun. I even got a free back massage from it. *^__^*

Anyway, he eventually graduated and I saw him once or twice when he was working for the school. After that, I never saw him again. He will always have a place in my heart because he was my first crush and all, no more no less.

I heard that he is married now. Apparently, he got a girl pregnant in Davao. I hope that he’s happily married. It’s too bad that he didn’t end up with the girl of his dreams- Sherry. I don’t know if she really became a nun.

That’s all I have on Bruce Morada. I probably won’t bump into him again in the future, maybe I will… only time will tell.