The Sassy Lawyer & Pinoy Cook on food, family and home.
Warning: Some graphic descriptions that can make your stomach turn. You’ve been warned. I had given up on this neighborhood. Seriously. I don’t make any more attempt to be neighborly or friendly or nice. A month ago, neighbors invaded the clubhouse after midnight, hollering and all. I looked out wondering what the commotion was about ... (more)
Before I put up that section that Sam wants, the family conversations “too hilarious not to be shared with the entire world,” I want to say something about Speedy. And I want to say it now because once the section that Sam wants is up (it’s mostly about her father’s booboos), Speedy might not talk ... (more)
Over at the food blog, in the bacon and potato soup entry, a reader asks me to share recipes that won’t make her feel guilty. Here’s a screenshot with my response. It behooves me why there is so much guilt attached to eating these days. People feel guilty when they eat more than they think ... (more)
Yesterday’s news was full of tidbits about the newborn baby boy of Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. I knew Penelope Cruz as Tom Cruise’s ex; before No Country For Old Men, I didn’t know who Javier Bardem was. After seeing Vicky Cristina Barcelona, my respect for both rose sky-high. Moreover, in Bardem’s case, the respect ... (more)
Last weekend, there was a reunion of the U.P. College of Law, I went and had a blast. Some of my classmates, former drinking buddies who are now elected government officials, contributed cocktail drinks recipes for my food blog. They happily volunteered, believe it or not, and I will be posting those recipes soon. But ... (more)
In the 1980s, it was a common sight especially on the last Sunday of the bar exams — crowds of cheerers and supporters, mostly students from law schools, gathered in front of the exam venue to cheer the examinees as they came out. A bar exam tradition. When Speedy drove Alex back to the condo ... (more)
Last Friday, I attended a reception to welcome the new U.S. Cultural Affairs Attache, Alan R. Holst, and Assistant Cultural Affairs Attache, Joseph Tordella. The invitation came in the mail more than a week before the date of the reception and I accepted (I declined the invitation to the reception aboard the USS Blue Ridge ... (more)
If you haven’t yet, please go read Daniel Wagner’s article on The Huffington Post. I’ve read it, it hurt reading it but I have to concede that many of his observations are true — in part. Mr. Wagner asks: Politically, the Philippines has descended into an ongoing competition between political dynasties: Marcos, Arroyo, and yes, ... (more)
When Hong Kong journalist Chip Tsao’s tacky style rubbed Filipino sensitivity in the wrong way, Filipinos started calling the Chinese terrible names. Just check the comment thread in the linked article. Narrow-minded, isn’t it, considering that Chip Tsao was one person and his writing was not necessarily a reflection of the way all Chinese nationals ... (more)
When the Gabriela Women’s Party filed House Bill No. 1799 (Divorce Bill, for brevity), the long dormant debate over the legalization of divorce in the Philippines was revived. Since the effectivity of the Family Code in the late 1980s with its provision for marriage annulment, the divorce issue has taken a back seat with most ... (more)
A couple of weeks ago, I posted an entry at the Food Talk Community about Gwyneth Paltrow’s upcoming cookbook. A writer from Vogue magazine interviewed her, cooked with her, was amazed at her knife skills but wondered why she made the mistake of using pasta flour for making pizza crust. Now, I’ve seen her website, ... (more)
There was a time when I was in my teens when my mother, encouraged by a friend who turned vegetarian, entertained thoughts of turning all of us into vegetarians. She “diluted” meat dishes with vege-meat which we hated. Then, her vegetarian friend started having dental problems. Apparently, the vegetarian regimen was not supplying his body ... (more)
Casa is Spanish for house. CASA is also an acronym for Connie, Antonio, Sam and Alex. We are all surnamed Veneracion. We all love to take photos -- of anything that catches our fancy. It's a family obsession.
This is a journal of how we live, eat, learn, play and have fun. Work? Work is part of playing and having fun. Seriously.
In 2003, a time when I hadn't heard of the term "blog", I started a recipe website at cooking.houseonahill.net using a now defunct content management system that ran on ASP. Ok, never mind the geek talk, I'm sure you're not interested in that. The contents easily multiplied and, in 2004, I moved the food site to pinoycook.net. Always unhappy with the fact that the dot com versions of houseonahill and pinoycook weren't … (click here to read all »)
Conversations