Archive for April 23rd, 2008

23 Apr 2008 I’m Filipino, But I Won’t Eat That
Author: Gail |  Category: Food + Drink, Videoclips  | 6 Comments

* Vegetarians, look away. *

Actually, if you’re a meat-eater, this may very well turn you into a vegetarian.

It’s my younger brother’s birthday today, and I joked about him eating balut, which is common street vendor food in Asia, particularly in the Philippines. I post a lot of food pictures here, but you will NEVER catch me eating this, although I’m not above taking a photo of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut

Even when I was a kid, there were some foods my parents cooked that I wouldn’t touch and no one else had qualms about eating. I wasn’t a big fan of boiled intestines, tongue, or goat. (Although, the Caribbean style of goat I don’t mind, because they cook it longer.)

If you have a somewhat fragile constitution but are interested in seeing what balut is, here is a very tame 45-second YouTube clip of an American (author and chef) trying it in Vietnam, where it is also popular street food.

For those stomachs of the hardier variety, here is the 3-minute Filipino demonstration, which is much more… thorough, shall we say:

{ continue reading… }

23 Apr 2008 Protected: Curiosity
Author: Gail |  Category: PWP-3  | Enter your password to view comments

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:


23 Apr 2008 Taxi To The Dark Side
Author: Gail |  Category: Culture + Society, Reel + Screen  | 3 Comments

When I finished work shortly after 8pm on Tuesday, I felt the urge to purge my brain for a while — or at least fill it with something else. The quickest way for me to do that is to see a film so I checked out what was playing at my local nonprofit movie house, the recently re-opened Revue Cinema, a short 10-minute walk from my place. I bought a 6-month membership to the Revue at the Polish Festival back in September, but I hadn’t used it yet. I looked at the card expecting it to be expired, but luckily it’s good ’til the end of the month!

The Hot Docs Festival is on right now (April 17-27), which would normally draw me like a bee to a flower, but I didn’t feel like standing in a big queue tonight and I wanted to use my Revue card.

I read the synopsis to “Taxi to the Dark Side” but hadn’t watched the trailer for the film. When it comes to documentaries, especially, I prefer to keep an element of surprise.

{ continue reading… }