Vegan MoFo is upon us! Vegan friendly relief good items: Vegan MoFo #1

Hey bloggers and readers! Last year I blogged every weekday of October in celebration of Vegan MoFo, or Vegan Month of Food. I had a blast and it really gave me the push I needed to be a frequent blogger.

What's Vegan MoFo, you ask? I quote from The Post Punk Kitchen's website:
"The idea is to write as much as you can for the month of October about vegan food. The blog entries can be about anything food related - your love of tongs, your top secret tofu pressing techniques, the first time your mom cooked vegan for you, vegan options in Timbuktu - you get the idea. There is no strict guideline for how much you have to write, but we shoot for about 20 times a month, or every weekday."

Vegan MoFo is a blog event celebrated around the world in celebration and promotion of vegan food. If you're a local reader, excuse me when I sound like I'm talking to the international community.

I would have loved to start off MoFo #1 with something home-cooked or home-baked but maybe this post will be something completely different from what other Vegan MoFo bloggers would blog about. If you haven't heard the news, my beloved country, the Philippines, was hit by massive Typhoon Ondoy over last weekend, leaving 80% of Metro Manila completely flooded and half a million people displaced. I believe the death toll is 246, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Floods have reached over 10 feet high and they have not receded in some areas. People say that Ondoy is worse than Hurricane Katrina.

The great thing about the Filipino spirit is that we want to help out in any way we can. To be a Filipino in this state of calamity means giving your all for your fellow countrymen. No dependence on the government for us, nosiree (that's a whole different rant). Everyone has and is chipping in -- whether it's through donating relief goods, cash, or time to volunteer at packing centers or evacuation centers. Classes have been called off for the week and even the kids are helping out.

Flood refugees are in immediate need of food, and fast. The usual food care package a refugee and his/her family receive is composed of rice, canned goods (usually sardines, corned beef, and / or luncheon meat), instant noodles, and water. I'm not about to get on my high horse and say they shouldn't be eating meat. When you've lost your home and are struggling to survive and get your life on track, you definitely don't have the luxury of choosing what goes in your mouth.

But if you're someone who wants to donate to disaster victims and would like to give something different, let me enlighten you: give something vegan. Not only are vegan items more nutritious than their meat counterpart, they give you more bang for your buck.

Here are some food ideas one can donate to a refugee's care package:

1. Rice -- always a staple grain in Filipino cuisine and something that easily fills you up. White rice is of course more preferable, as it cooks more quickly than the brown or red varieties.
2. Mongo beans -- this local legume is absolutely cheaper than meat and has a long shelf life. It's a good source of protein and fiber, which canned meat lacks. Best to get cracked mongo beans so they cook quicker. True, dried mongo beans need to be cooked and not all victims have access to cooking utensils, a makeshift stove, and drinking water for that matter. Perhaps soup kitchens that are popping up everyone should consider making mongo guisado over arroz caldo with chicken. Cheaper, more nutritious.
3. Canned beans -- beans in tomato sauce are usually available in most supermarkets and there are always the kind packed in salted water. True, beans-in-water isn't as tasty as anything floating in sauce, but when you're a refugee, I'd think you'd take whatever you can get. Oh and, these are cheaper than canned meat.
   
4. Crackers -- something that also fills you up cheaply. I am partial to the regular Skyflakes kind because it doesn't have milk (their wholewheat is not vegan).
5. Peanut butter -- who doesn't love peanut butter, aside from those allergic to it? My favorite brand is Lily's because it doesn't contain additional oil and high fructose corn syrup. Made from local peanuts too, so you support local peanut farmers. Peanut butter is a quick source of protein, fat, and fiber, and easily goes with crackers and bread which are cheap. I've actually once eaten rice with peanut butter once, when I didn't have access to more palatable vegan food. Not the worst thing.
   
6. Bread -- I like Olsen's over Gardenia because [a] it's cheaper, [b] it's vegan, and [c] it doesn't have an ingredients list that requires you to major in Chemistry.
7. Soymilk -- I know I know, some brands are pretty expensive, but I love the brand Soyfresh because it's in the same price line as cow's milk. Aside from 1-liter tetra packs, Soyfresh comes in individual-sized drink boxes. Something for the kids, who need as much calcium as they can get.
8. Sugar -- Most refugee parents would like to get sugar in their care packages because they mix this with water and feed it to their kids. I can't pull up a site right now but I think it's got something to do with dextrose. Or even blood sugar. Not only is brown sugar "healthier" than white, it's cheaper too.
9. last but not the least... Water.

I hope this post enlightened you.

Hey international readers! If you'd like to help us out, please visit Google's site on Help for Typhoon Ondoy victims. Scroll down to "credit card / paypal donations" if you'd like to make a monetary donation. Scroll down to "US-based drop off points" if you'd like to make a donation in kind. Sorry, I don't see any other drop off point for other countries. You can check Google's site frequently for updates. What's urgent right now is monetary donations because these will reach us faster.

If you're wandering what's happening to the non-human flood victims, the Philippine Animal Welfare Society is spearheading rescue efforts in Marikina, one of the most devastated cities in the metro. They currently have 16 animal refugees. More information on and pictures of the flood rescues here. Anyone can also drop off their pets in the PAWS Animal Rehabilitation Center here, while he/she attends to his/her survival. If you would like to make a monetary donation, view their instructions here. If you prefer in kind, view instructions here. Find out what they really need here. For the international readers, best to donate money.

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Best effort to do a Vegan MoFo post every weekday in October but given that we're in a state of calamity, I'll do my best :)

A day for the animals, a hearty Indian-ish dinner, an attempt at homemade vegan cheese

A day for the animals











Photos by my coworker, Jeanette Mactal

So I finally got to visit the PAWS Animal Rehabilitation Center in Quezon City 2 Saturdays ago with a couple of coworkers, bringing gifts of food for the shelter dogs and cats. After the feeding activity, Anna Cabrera, the Philippine Animal Welfare Society Program Director, gave us an orientation and tour of the facilities. Let me just tell you, WOW. It's really amazing what PAWS does to help the plight of Pinoy dogs and cats, also known as askals (street dogs) and puskals (street cats). The place was brimming with 36 dogs and 184 cats (as of September 5), all looking for their forever homes. The feline quarantine area was full of days and weeks old kittens. The canine quarantine area had its own fair share of sadness. The guy up there was rescued from the dog meat trade. A lot of them were abused and abandoned by their former owners. The rehabilitation PARC gives them is amazing. It's really different when you're sitting pretty at work and at home with theoretical veganism, and when you see animal cruelty staring at you literally in the face. Hearing their rescue and rehab stories truly is a testament to the philosophy of living compassion and non-violence in one's life.

Anyway, the day-for-the-animals was made complete when my vegan brother (who tagged along at this office volunteer activity) and I stopped for awesome practically-fast food veggie burgers at Good Burger in Pasig, across Tiendesitas. It's sooo nice to be able to eat vegan fast food! Good Burger sells veggie burgers with the option to remove non-vegan items, such as mayo and cheese. They also sell chicken burgers, which is insane... I mean, I would think meat eaters would go for beef rather than chicken when it comes to burgers. I seriously doubt their chicken burgers were any good... Oh, and after the Good Burger lunch, my brother and I spent the afternoon making:


Julie Hasson's Spicy Italian Sausages, recipe here.

Excellent excellent day. We hung out with the shelter dogs and cats, scarfed down veggie burgers, and made a ton of veggie sausages.


Indian-ish dinner
On the Tuesday after the PARC visit (2 Tuesdays ago), it was so nice to sit down and have a hot hearty meal after a grueling day at the office. I was supposed to ride home with my brother on that day but it was pretty traffic from his office to mine -- he ended up arriving at my workplace at around 7:30. So we headed to the nearby mall, specifically Powerplant, for a satisfying dinner at a restaurant, particularly Wild Ginger.



Wild Ginger is one of the few restaurants in Powerplant that has good vegan options, and I'm not even talking about tomato sauce + noodles. They have legumes! I've eaten there several times but it was my first time to try their dal and spinach chapati sandwich, which was really good. I call it an Indian-ish dinner because I'm not certain Indians would use 2 chapatis to make a sandwich. It looked more like a no-cheese quesadilla. It usually comes with a yogurt dip which is easily do-withoutable. It was topped with basil, but I think it would've been better if topped with cilantro. The cumin and (I think) coriander really shone, and the dal wasn't dry at all.

I also had the Asian tomato soup -- awesome as well. It was flavored with lemongrass, a pleasant surprise, chili, and cilantro.

Soup and sandwich -- such a Western meal, yet it was Indian.


An attempt at homemade vegan cheese


Eek, I know, what a crap looking photo.

With the success at making vegan sausages under my belt, I decided to venture out and make my first vegan cheese. "Mostarella", to be exact, from the pages of The Uncheese Cookbook. I'm glad that it doesn't taste like dairy cheese. It has cheese-like qualities -- it's savoury, slightly sour, and it melts. The sourness can be attributed to my addition of tahini and a combination of lemon and calamansi juice. I'm glad I finally experimented, although the results were just alright. I guess I don't miss cheese that much that I'd want to scarf down the fake stuff. It is a nice alternative topping on toast, which I usually have it on in accompaniment to a bowl of beans for breakfast. It actually does spectularly in vegan lasagna, together with Veganomicon's tofu ricotta. By the way, that tofu ricotta is pretty good stuff in Italian-inspired dishes.

Shelter dogs and cats deserve your love too

Nothing much up in veganland, I'm just really excited to visited the PAWS Animal Rehabilitation Center, or PARC this Saturday with some officemates. For all my vegan exclamations I have not yet set foot in an animal shelter. One day I hope to put one up near where I live, but it sure is a vocation that needs a lot of dedication, hardwork, and of course, money. A farm animal sanctuary would be heaven too... I live in Southern Manila and PARC is all the way in the north -- one of the reasons why I haven't been to a shelter. While the country is brimming full of unwanted dogs and cats, we only have pretty much 1 shelter (does anyone else know of a shelter?).

Just wanted to blog about that bit... Now if you're thinking of buying a pet, I highly encourage that you think of all the unwanted dogs and cats for a moment. These all deserve a good home just as much as that pet you're about to buy. Only that by adopting a shelter dog or cat, you're doing both of yourselves a favor. Buying a pet kills a shelter animal people, please believe me. You buy a pet, a shelter animal wallows away. Another reason why sometimes I feel like I'm about to explode when people can't understand this concept and decide to buy anyway... Or God forbid, have their female pets get pregnant and sell the babies...

Open mouth, insert foot: confessions, justifications and apologies from an animal lover.

Would you adopt me even if I didn't have a pedigree?

Okay, I will confess. Since becoming vegan, I have become more judgmental and less forgiving. Sometimes I’ll be cold if you say something I find insensitive that pisses me off more than before. With all my how-dare-you’s, I’ve had to do a lot of I’m-sorry’s. I know, blowing up at people is the best thing to get you to the vegan side! But hear me out loud please.

Before I became vegetarian in October 2007, I lived in a man-centric world where everything was meant for our pleasure. Food made from cow reproductive secretions? Yum! Skinned lambs on our backs? Bring it on. Mascara tested on bunny eyes? As long as it makes me look like I actually have eyelashes, I’ll buy it. And yes, I used to not like animals. I’ve had pet chicks and a rabbit which I bought from a school fair. Yes they all died.

I lived in a world so convenient for me, I was like Neo before he found out about the Matrix. Ignorance was indeed bliss. And then through some careful research, the veil was lifted, my paradigm shifted, and I learned all the shit happening to animals everywhere. It was pure torture. Heart ache. I’d cry watching the undercover videos. I couldn’t handle the truth, partly because it went against everything I was taught in life. Sometimes I wish I would go back to my pre-vegan days for the convenience thing. It sure was a lot easier when I didn't have to check if the bread I was buying contained whey and that the cute winter coat had no wool.

And then I think of myself (haha, still on the [wo]man-centric thing). Would I want to live in a cage my whole life, have all sorts of crap put in my eyes just to make sure someone else wouldn’t suffer what I had to suffer? Or, how would I feel being raped and impregnated over and over again, just to have my baby ripped from my arms and having machines suck my nipples to get my milk to “more deserving” people? For those who didn’t know, cows have to be pregnant and give birth in order to be milked. I can’t imagine it and I’d hate those lives. I’d surely kill myself before being killed.

I will always remember April 30 as the day Lucky came into my life. He’s my first cat and despite his I’m-too-cool-to-pay-attention-to-you attitude, I love him and my other 2 cats, all rescues, to death. Some people (namely my family) think I’m crazy because I hug them and kiss them and yes, talk to them. Everyday. I will brave dengue-carrying mosquitoes to go to their cat house to scoop out the poop from their litter (sadly my cats no longer live in my home as my mom is convinced my youngest brother is “allergic” to them). I will even weather a storm to bring towels to them in the middle of the night to make sure they’re warm. One of them needs antibiotics? I’ll give it in a syringe and say that “you’re such a brave, brave cat.”

That’s just the tip of my iceberg craziness, people. When Lucky was 2-3 weeks old my dad stepped on him (yes Pop, you’ll never hear the end of it!) and he looked like a mangled pirate kitten. His legs were broken. He could not poop on his own (actually, all kittens need help in the crapper). It was summer and my 3 younger brothers and I took turns monitoring him 24 hours a day. My shift was between 5am and 7am. One morning I was massaging his butt with a moist cotton ball to try to coax the poop out. He ended up squirting shit on my hand, and some on my shirt. And here was this one-eye-swollen-shut kitty struggling to get away from me and my poopy hands with his useless legs, and all I could do was laugh and clean up. What fun cats bring, and I'm not even being sarcastic.

Believe it or not, animals can bring us humans a lot of joy. In fact, you don’t need to be vegan to learn this truth. If you’ve got a pet at home, and I’m assuming you’re a pretty loving owner, you know what I’m talking about. Pets don’t care if you’re getting fat or your hair’s seen better days. Even if you accidentally forget to leave them food in the morning, they. Will. Always. Come. Back. To. You. Because yup, sure we’re taught they aren’t rational beings, but how can irrational beings have unconditional love for us? Here’s another question: how is a purebred cat any different from a cat from the street, other than its color?

So what am I getting to? I’ve been vegan for almost 2 years and yes, aside from the food and no-leather, no-stuff-experimented-on-animals thing, I have changed. Knowing what I know now, I’d like to think I’ve changed for the better. Yes, I am the crazy vegan lady who is often insensitive and is almost always the party pooper when it comes to “I love foie gras!”, “I want a labradoodle!”, "I just want my cat to experience the joy of kitten birth!" exclamations. Yes, if you ask me “If you’re stuck on a desert island with a lion, would you eat it?”, maybe I will eat YOU. And we’ve ALL heard about the vegetables-scream-when-you-eat-them joke, harharhar. We’ve never heard THAT one before. Or how about, “If you’re so much against animals being abused, why do you have cats and why don’t you let them roam free?”

It’s been more difficult for me to be more patient, because sometimes I forget that people don’t know or don’t want to know the truth about the plight of abused farm animals, pet overpopulation caused by our breeding of dogs and cats, horrors of vivisection, what goes on in a fur farm and egg farm, etc etc. Which is why, a lot of the times my responses to animal-related questions may sound condescending, bitchy, and downright icy enough to make you sound like the enemy. Which is why I would like to sincerely apologize to readers of this blog who I may have accidentally alienated with my answers regarding your questions related to animals and animal rights. Maybe you were just really curious and didn’t mean any harm. Sorry guys.

I’d just like to make a point though, with regards to pets. Yes I have my cats and I am not against having pets. I have them partly for selfish reasons, partly because the other option was for them to become road kill, and partly as a symbolic promise to all animals that I will help them in any capacity that I can.

I am, however, against the purchase of animals for pets and am fully supportive of adoption. Our country, no this world, is TEEMING with millions of dogs and cats who just want a home and a loving human companion. These guys didn’t just pop out of nowhere, we bred them into existence. They’re not coyotes and tigers, they are animals domesticated by us over hundreds of thousands of years. And then when we feel too tired to take care of them, we let them “go free”. Or, sometimes we just chain them up and forget to feed them, whatever floats our boat. Sometimes we’ll shout at them when they piss on themselves because we’re too busy to take them out to exercise and do their toilet business. We complain when our female cats get pregnant because, who wants to take care of kittens? Let’s not spay her, oh no that’s too expensive. Let’s just stick her babies in plastic bags and drown them. We also looove to rant about all the street dogs and cats that populate our communities, and sometimes, we secretly love to run over the slow ones who don’t manage to run across the road as we step on the gas. Maybe if you had an opportunity, you’d shoot that tomcat that just loves to stroll around your garden. Who gives a shit, right? They’re not humans.

So next time I answer really snarkily, I’m really sorry and I hope you’ll forgive me. Please remember that I don’t meant to attack you, I’m just thinking of all the poor animals out there that are abused and unloved. Sometimes I forget to think before I talk, I end up being an ass and I stick my foot in my mouth. No hard feelings, okay?

To readers out there – I’d like to ask you a question. Do you often find yourself short tempered when it comes to asinine-sounding questions? How do you manage your temper and your mouth? To the vegetarians and vegans out there, how do you deal with your pent-up emotions about the animals, and how do you make sure you don’t come out as the crazy vegan?

Would you want my life?

Stuff I've been doing + a duck photo

Sorry blog, I neglected you once again. Here's what I've been up to since my last post:














Chocolate cupcake and almond rosewater cupcake.

Tinkering around with rose-inspired frosting designs. I've been spying cupcakes frosted to look like roses 'round Flickr and it's been driving me crazy. I really couldn't figure out how those bakers did it! After a few experiments I finally broke the code. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a super baker's secret, but what the hell. You basically use a 5-point star tip, start frosting from the center and work your way out. So simple yet so stunning.


Missing old childhood food. I don't miss the dead animal flesh mind you, I just miss the familiarity of eating a burger sandwich, using an actual bun, filled with ketchup and mustard. I took this photo about 2 months ago and uploaded it in Flickr 3 weeks ago. As of this post it's received 99 views. Hmmm. I guess vegans do miss familiar food. This is a burger bun filled with 3 vegan burger patties, a couple of lettuce leaves, and a good dose of mango vinaigrette. I know, not conventional, but it went pretty well. The vinaigrette was a version of this recipe but with cane vinegar subbing for the calamansi juice and olive oil subbing for the sesame oil. The burger patties are a version of Vegan with a Vengeance's.


Promoting vegan cupcakes to mainstream media. I sent a box of these cupcakes to a well known local food magazine for a pictorial. They actually found me on Multiply! So so tickled. Anyway, the magazine edition with the cupcakes should come out sometime in the 4th quarter. This box has 6 flavors.

Top, L-R: red velvet, chai latte, lemony.
Bottom, L-R: banoffee, carrot cake, almond rosewater.

I sent the same box to a vegetarian restaurant in the Makati CBD called Corner Tree Cafe. They seem to like 'em, they've been ordering every week for their customers. If any of you readers are around Jupiter St. in Makati, hit up Corner Tree Cafe! It's near Aristocrat.

(I also sent another box of cupcakes to a lifestyle magazine targeted to Southern Manilenyos, not pictured. Well received too!)


Cupcake-catering for my lolo's / grandfather's 95th birthday party. My dad asked me to make cupcakes for giveaways for guests. In the span of 7-8 hours I was able to come up with 100+ cupcakes, packaged in these beautiful silver cardboard-plastic boxes. They looked smashing, if I do say so myself. I just cringe when I think about the amount of waste these generated. I hate using plastic...

Anyway, here are some closeups:














Red velvet cupcakes.














Banoffee cupcakes. Banana cupcakes topped with coffee buttercream and shaved dark chocolate.














Lemony cupcakes.

I can't resist some cupcake porn:


Closeup of a red velvet cupcake.

I'm really loving the foil cupcake liners. They're pretty costly but they look so professional. They go really well with the silver boxes, and they don't absorb moisture from the cake (vs. paper liners). I like that they hide cupcake batter spills too!

I also can't resist a gratuitous photo of cute animals:

I found these guys trying to cross a major road in my village as I was heading out to Sunday lunch. I quickly snapped a photo of them before herding them back to the creek from whence they came. I'm glad to report that no one got hurt! Motorists actually halted for these cuties.

That's about it, so I've been quite busy. Hopefully my next post won't be too far off.

My heart is breaking for the pigs :(

It's been a sad sad couple of weeks for the pigs over at Bulacan. I've blogged about the Ebola-infected pigs issue here and here. Six thousand pigs are set to be slaughtered all throughout this week. About 2,600 have been killed as of today (according to this article) and the government is targetting the killing spree at 1,000 a day. The killing's been slow and everyone's pressured to up the number of carcasses. I am so so sad, particularly because:

1. The pigs have not been given food and water for several days and prior to their deaths they have been crying and wailing all day and night. Farmers say they can't afford to feed them anymore (!!!). Government (Bureau of Animal Industry) says they're doing the best they can. PETA and PAWS have made their sentiments known that this is not the humane way for pigs to be treated before they die. In fact, it violates the Animal Welfare Act (Republic Act No. 8485). But of course, who cares about the animals right? They're just dumb creatures God created for us to abuse and eat.

2. The slaughter method of choice was to stun gun the pigs between the eyes to render them unconscious before piling their bodies into a pit to be burned. Naturally the stun gun wasn't 100% effective. Police men who were present had to shoot the pigs themselves -- several times at that, because their 1 shot wasn't enough. Can you imagine being conscious with a bullet through your head, while someone else is ripping your body apart with other bullets??

3. As if it were the pigs' fault that they had the Ebola virus! Not only are they living a miserable life of a food animal -- they were infected, starved, then killed in a most gruesome manner. No remorse from their farmers and National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc. at all, except that they lost out on sales.

Last Monday the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that pictures of the actual slaying would not come out in the papers; however pictures indeed came out in yesterday's and today's issues. One of the reasons for the photo ban was that PAWS did not want the public to see the slaughter. While I respect their decision of honoring the animals (I think this was their reason? I may be making this up. It could also be protecting the public from the gruesomeness), I have to disagree. I think the public SHOULD see the actual kill. They should be obligated to see it - after all, pigs would not have been raised if not for public consumption. We need to konw where our food comes from and how the consequences look like when we screw around with nature.

Holy hell, it's only Wednesday and the week's been so heavy with this news.

A little thought exercise for the omnivores out there -- how would you feel if it was your pet that got Ebola? How about a loved one? What if the government set out to exterminate your pet / loved one because of the disease?

#4 reason why I'm so sad: really, no one gives a shit about farm animals. Let's put purebred dogs and cats on pedestals, let's forget about the other animals. Pigs are smart creatures too (not that intelligence is a factor for one's compassion over animals) -- they are as smart as 2-year old kids! Let's not forget that they are sentient beings -- they feel pain and emotions just as we do.

One article pointed out that the some of the pigs mourned the loss of their compansions who had just been killed -- they trotted around the corpses and cried :(

NB Just something worth mentioning... some of the slaughterers suffered from hypertension after 1 day of killing. Surely being a slaughter house worker is the worst job ever... Why do people support an industry that is cruel to animals and to its workers?

Heavy heavy stuff.

The continuing Ebola-pig saga, more beached aquatic mammals, and a tarsier display ban

Photo from the Wall Street Journal

Poor pigs :( -- a continuation of my earlier post
Great. Not only did the piggery farmers in Bulacan rear their pigs in such disgusting conditions that their pigs tested positive for the Ebola-Reston virus (typically known to infect monkeys, but that’s a whole other vivisection story; researchers think that bats may have been the carriers) but now all 6,000 pigs are going to be massacred. FYI, 6,000 pigs = 0.05% of the total hog population of 13 million (of the country? Of Bulacan?), according to this news article from the 24th of February. Now the method of genocide is a little fuzzy. According to this article from the 27th, the pigs will be burned (whether alive or unconscious, I have no idea). According to this article from the 1st of March, the pigs will be stun-gunned (more humane than electric prods & co.) and then burned. The government actually considered the captive bolt pistol and electric prods before burning, but we all know how pigs can wake up from unconsciousness after being improperly stunned by those methods. WTF indeed. They call this catastrophe “a depopulation of the hogs”. They are targeting a slaughter of 1,000 pigs A DAY, "humanely".

And OMG, a brilliant quote from the secretary of the mayor of Pandi, Bulacan: “When WHO (World Health Organization) went here, they told us that for as long as the meat is cooked, no problem. But of course, sales in the market in the village where the farm is located has dropped.” By meat, we’re talking about the Ebola-infected meat of course.

According to the same article, “Workers affected by the depopulation will be assisted by the Department of Labor and Employment while financial support will be extended by the Department of Agriculture and the municipality of Pandi.” Great. Not only do our taxes pay for the cruel treatment of the pigs, these pigs got infected by these farmers, and we’re still paying for the massacre AND compensation for the workers.

Bulacan’s not the only province to be monitored for the Ebola-pigs. Other provinces in Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, Pangasinan – watch out.

By the way don't expect any photos on the actual massacre... Media wasn't allowed in during the act. Of course not. The pork industry doesn't want to lose any more sales.

Photo from the Philippine Star

More whale / dolphin drama.
In other news, remember that weird dolphin phenomenon reported on the 11th of February where 200 to 400 melon-headed dolphins beached themselves on the coast of Bataan province? Luckily a hundred or so fishermen with BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources), the police and Coast Guard tried to lead them back to deeper waters. Village councilor Rodolfo Joson says, “It looked like they never wanted to leave. They looked sad.” Four dolphins were found dead, including 2 female adults of which 1 had a fetus – all from drowning.

The last time a large aquatic mammal strayed into shallow waters was in 1956 when a big whale beached and died 3 days later.

According to the article, “The dolphins could have strayed in the area due to an undersea quake that might have damaged their eardrums, or they might be following a sick or injured leader.” Another article said other causes could be dynamite fishing and large boat activities.

Reported earlier today, 194 pilot whales and several dolphins beached themselves on an island off southern Australia called King Island. About 144 of the whales have died while a race is ongoing to save the other 50. This latest beaching takes the total number of whales stranded around Tasmania in the past four months to nearly 400.

Photo from this German website

Let’s all hope for the best for the tarsiers.
Bohol province is usually known for its tarsiers, an endangered primate species known for their humongous eyes and elongated ankle bone. Unfortunately the tarsiers have been exploited by being displayed for tourism purposes. According to this article, the local government has placed a ban on the tarsiers’ commercialization. Let’s just hope the ordinance is properly enforced – local businessmen are lobbying for the scrapping of the ban.

Pigs have ebola but the gov't says it's ok to eat them.

Holy crap. Bro #5 called to my attention a very important issue in the local animal agriculture scene, specifically the pork industry. It's been such a huge deal, it's in the New York Times.

There is an outbreak of the Ebola virus in pigs in Bulacan while 4 particular pigs have been confirmed to have it. Bro #5 saw on the news some footage of these poor pigs eating what appears to be sewage. Good grief, no wonder these pigs are infected, they literally eat shit.

According to the NY Times, a piggery farmer actually caught the virus 6 months ago but this particular strain (the Ebola-Reston) is not known to be dangerous to humans.To risk sounding insensitive, if this is the same farmer who reared these ebola-pigs, don't you think he would've deserved to be infected? You reap what you sow.

So this strain isn't dangerous to us, but you never know how viruses can mutate to hurt us. FYI according to Wikipedia, some serious symptoms of the virus that is dangerous to humans include diarrhea, bloody stool, bloody vomit, hemorrhage, hypotension, and organ damage, among others. "On occasion, internal and external hemorrhage from orifices such as the nose and mouth may occur... Ebola virus can affect levels of white blood cells and platelets, disrupting clotting."

WTF. ABS CBN says, "Unlike monkeys, pigs are farmed for food and far more people are exposed to them, which puts them at risk of getting infected if the epidemic in pigs is not under control." It was in monkeys that the first Ebola-Reston virus strain was found.

Okay, so these pigs have the Ebola virus, and so do the pigs in other Asian countries (according to this article). The government says it's still okay to eat them though. Just, you know, don't buy a pig that died from Ebola (if you can pick the pig out of ground pork or the chicharon). And, make sure you cook it til it's no longer pink.

Of course this is (relatively) good news to the carnivores that can afford to shop at regular groceries. Two-thirds of this country is poor and can only afford to [a] buy meat from the palengke or wet markets (where raw meat is displayed in 30 deg C weather all day, plus all the flies!) or [b] rear their own pigs in their backyards in gestation crate-sized prisons. Let's not forget, a huge part of Philippine food culture includes street food.

These are the government's efforts, according to this article:

• The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) is set to conduct a Luzon-wide surveillance and improve vaccine coverage against common pig diseases with high morbidity and mortality to reduce outbreaks in the swine population.

• The Department of Agriculture (DA) will enhance bio-security measures to prevent and contain any future outbreaks as the government’s second line of defense to the spread of the virus.

• The DA and the Department of Health emphasized the need for all animal handlers in commercial and backyard farms to practice safe farming and biosecurity measures.

• The Occupational Safety and Health Center of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will come up with guidelines to ensure the occupational safety of all animal handlers as well as other recommendations on the proper use of personal protective equipment.

• The government is working to prevent the entry of “double dead” meat into the market.

• BAI has already enhanced their pig movement and shipment control, and increased strategically located quarantine checkpoints to prevent transport of sick pigs.
  

• The National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) has also tightened its control and is working closely with local governments to curb this unsafe practice.

Wow. Why not... go vegetarian and save EVERYONE (both human and non-human animals) a lot of heartache? You can't get Ebola, mad cow disease, and bird flu from vegetables, that's for sure.

Nature appreciation: La Mesa Eco Park

A bunch of coworkers and I participated in a company-sponsored tree planting activity in La Mesa Eco Park in Quezon City last February 7. La Mesa Eco Park houses a 700ha reservoir and 2000ha forest. The reservoir is Metro Manila's sole source of potable water and sadly the forest is the last remaining one of its size in Metro Manila. It's always nice to get away from the city (even though the park was in Quezon City) and see an actual forest. I stumbled across some interesting flora and fauna...

A mother duck and her little ones. A little googling and wikipedia-ing tells me that she is a Muscovy duck, aka Cairina moschata. She's not as regal looking as her Google lookalikes though (OMG someone actually cooked a muscovy duck and uploaded a photo in the image search! Beware). I'm sure she's had quite a hard knock's life.... It isn't easy being a duck in the Philippines.










Her babies are the cutest ever. She's one protective mama -- every time I'd try to get close to photograph her and the ducklings she would flap her wings and quack at me. She loved to nestle in the grass and observe her kids run around excitedly.

A kind human offers her and her kids some breakfast.















The fruit of the samak tree. People from Laoag City, Ilocos Norte commonly ferment the fruit, leaves, and bark with sugar cane to make vinegar and basi. What your eyes don't see...





























Yellow orchid. I think it is a Odontocidium. From this website: Odontocidium Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl' is an intergeneric hybrid consisting of Odontoglossum and Oncidium. It grows in a wide range of temperature conditions from warm to cool. The flower spikes emerge often twice per year and are colored in yellow and burgundy. The species behind the cross include Oncidium tigerinum, Onc. leucochilum, Odm. crispum, Odm. pescatorei, Odm. hallii, Odm. harryanum, and a host of odontoglossum hybrids.

I think it's so interesting to find out the scientific names of plants and animals, and learn more about them.

NB / disclaimer:
The La Mesa website says it has a "butterfly trail and hatchery" -- I didn't get a chance to visit this place. Oh and La Mesa has horseback riding = not vegan! It has a pond and boating lagoon -- I honestly have no idea if it's manmade or not and whether it has natural fish (versus fish bought from some Cartimar vendor). And, I have no idea if the duck was endemic to that area (or again, bought from Cartimar as a baby in a paper bag).

Why I'm the "Crazy Cat Lady"

Yeah, I admit it. I'm crazy about my cats. I cuddle with them morning and night, kissing their faces and smelling their fur. I'll even talk to them and get mad at them as if they were my own kids. When my Lucky was just new with us, my siblings and I spent 2 weeks nursing him to optimum health at 24 hour watch. I would get up at 5am to give him milk, make him poop, and put him to bed with a warm bottle of water to cuddle up to (his surrogate mom). Now my siblings and I have a routine of cleaning out the litter box and making sure the cats' food bowls have fresh food and water. When Lucky had the E Coli bug we would give him antibiotics 3 times a day. While I hate hate hate touching meat, I wouldn't mind picking up a piece of it for the cats (for those people who're about to start calling me a hypocrite... Cats are natural carnivores! Get over it!).

Those are my confessions and I'm not ashamed to tell the world that I'm gaga over my cats. My parents think I'm insane but my dad seems to soften up to them (sad story, he stepped on Lucky when Lucky was just 2 weeks old and he was a pirate kitten for some time. My dad's never heard the end of it since.). My mom's different though. So one day coming home from work, she was waiting for me to make her beso and instead I made a beeline to Velma and gave her a huge kiss and cooed over her (I'd be sick to my stomach if I saw my behavior too, that's how affectionate I am to them!). My mom complained that I gave the cat a kiss even before I gave my own mother one! Then she said (miracle of miracles), "Marie, you need a boyfriend." Yes, this is coming from the strictest of all mothers, the one who instilled fear and mistrust of the opposite sex in me, the one who banned me from hanging out with guys in high school (!), the one who said that I'll need to bring one of my brothers to my first dates (um, to the guys out there, sorry if it'll be some time before you meet my parents. Or if I'll have to not mention you to them). Who'd've thought that cats would bring my mother to beg me to get a boyfriend.

But I digress. Here comes the drama. If the world wasn't so cruel to non-human animals, I wouldn't be a crazy cat lady. If only we never abused and harmed animals, if only we treated them like God's creatures, just as we are, I'd be perfectly alright without having any cats (they shouldn't exist in the first place! If we don't breed them, they won't exist). We've brought it upon ourselves: the problem of too many stray dogs and cats that their dead carcasses literally litter the streets.

Today as I was driving by the market at Boni Station on the way to work, I saw a dead cat on the road. I was near enough (and it was traffic enough) to see that his skull was crushed and his eyes popped out of his sockets. His black and white fur was dirty. What a sad death it was -- he was a poor forgotten and unwanted creature.

Last Sunday on the way to church in the village, I saw a cat on Country Club Drive, right smack in the middle of the road. He wasn't even completely flattened -- he looked like he was just bumped by a car and fell unconscious on the road. On the way back from mass I drove up to him and saw streaks of blood on the ground and on his fur. He was the same color as Lucky. I felt so horrible seeing this cat -- he died because some reckless maniac drove over him and didn't bother to check if he was still alive or dead. Oh and on that same day, I saw a stray brown dog happily walking down the same street, but this time closer to the intersection with Langka St. Some stupid owner let his dog out without a leash.

Last Thursday, I saw a ball of brown and white fur trying to cross SLEX while I was getting on the highway. Naturally this guy was rammed into by a car and he stumbled and fell. I so badly wanted to get out of my car and check him out, but I was on a 1-lane ramp. I think it was a dog, because he wasn't run over. Going down the Magallanes exit, I saw a flattened bloody carcass on the road. I couldn't even distinguish what the color of his fur was.

"Marie, you shouldn't care too much about animals. What about the poor people?" my mom tells me. Just because I care about animals doesn't mean I don't care about humans (for the record, I spent one week on a deserted island taking care of humans. I made a baby goat friend in the process...). I think we underestimate ourselves in terms of how compassionate we can be. I mean, it's such a burden thinking of the millions of poor people in this world who live by $1 (or less) a day. My heart breaks whenever I think about children whose parents have left them on the streets to make some money while they (the parents) are busy sniffing rugby. I hate hearing about baby corpses found on streets, wrapped in plastic bags and thrown away as if trash. I care.

But I also care about the billions of animals we ourselves have subjected to slavery, abuse, and a lifetime of suffering and unhappiness. I care so much that I don't eat them or participate in the system of suffering. It isn't right. Yes, even if it's "to feed the millions of hungry people in the world," it still isn't right. We can't make "what if" excuses for these atrocities. People can eat beans and rice and fruit and vegetables, and these are damn better for them than meat. The lack of food isn't the problem, it's the politics behind food distribution that's the problem. There are tons of grain (most of the time corn) left to rot in warehouses just to control their prices. Or, you've got tons of grain that could be fed perfectly well to humans, but instead go to livestock to feed them so they (the livestock) could be killed and fed to people who can afford the meat. See where I'm getting at?

So please don't call me crazy. Don't call me unfeeling. Don't say I don't care, because I do. I look forward to coming home at night to see my cats and I treat them the way I do because of what I see in and know about this world. After seeing dead carcasses on the road, I think about my cats and thank God that He's been so good to them. I also thank God for giving me the strength to embrace a compassionate (no matter how "inconvenient" it is, no matter how emotionally burdensome it is) way of life. I see my cats and I hug them and I talk to them, only because I know that all animals deserve respect and love. ALL ANIMALS, not just domesticated "pet" animals.

Defying Gravity

Some Broadway musicals may be fluffy brainless stories about tap dancing but a lot of them really have solid storylines that dissect serious issues. Romance aside, a myriad of musicals have tackled the war in Vietnam, prostitution, poverty, AIDS, relationships, and rebelling against society…

I’m listening to the soundtrack of Wicked, one of my favorite musicals, and I felt like I just had to blog about it. For those not in the know, Wicked is a story about the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, aka Elphaba. It’s a twist on the character, who in The Wizard of Oz is depicted as the ugly green-skinned witch who was the wizard’s enemy and who is the epitome of all evil… A green Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty), if you will.

Gregory Maguire wrote the novel Wicked, the unofficial prequel to The Wizard of Oz. The book was such a hit that it was turned into a musical, which won a lot of Tony Awards (Broadway’s Oscars). I haven’t had the honor of watching the play but I’ve seen the song “Defying Gravity” performed during the Tony Awards a couple of years ago, shown in Star World. Seriously, that song is so good. It gave me goose bumps just watching Idina Menzel (Elphaba) and Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda) perform.

The lyrics of the song are literally awe-some. If you think Elphaba was a mean old green witch, think again. She was a misunderstood brilliant beautiful woman, whose only fault was that she was born with green skin and loved animals. She was more brilliant and had more magic than the Wizard (who if you remember was a fake). She also had a big heart – she became more misunderstood and was considered a witch when she defied the norm and publicly denounced the wizard. She was an accidental animal rights activist: if I remember the story correctly, the wizard tricked her into performing some magic and before she knew it, she turned monkeys into winged monkeys. She also found out that the wizard was conducting experiments on other animals! In the fantastic city of Oz, non-human animals could talk English, were just as intelligent as humans and were treated as citizens of society.

Everyone in Oz was so in awe of the wizard and never knew the truth… When Elphaba found out (that the wizard was a fake, kidnapped animals and performed cruel tests on them), she knew she couldn’t be part of that society anymore. She freed the monkeys who ended up living with her and helped her out… She wasn’t causing destruction in the city as what everyone thought, she was freeing the animals. Such a powerful story!

Anyway, here are the awesome lyrics. They really mirror the passion I feel about veganism and animals. Once you learn the truth, you really can’t turn your back on it, no matter how inconvenient, how “radical”, and how unpopular. Elphaba knew that by becoming a non-conformist she would be considered the evil one.

By the way, if you were curious… Her sister, Nessa Rose, was the real wicked witch who in The Wizard of Oz had a house fall on her. When Boq her boyfriend broke up with her, she put a curse on him… Elphaba tried to save him and ended up turning him into the Tin Man. Elphaba’s lover, Fiyero, was being set on fire by Nessa Rose (I think, can’t remember) and Elphaba had to turn him into a Scarecrow to save him… I forgot what happened to the Lion.

“Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap

It's time to try
Defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity
And you can't pull me down...

I'm through accepting limits
'Cuz someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But til I try, I'll never know
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love - I guess I have lost
Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky
As someone told me lately -
Everyone deserves the chance to fly
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me -

Tell them how I
Am defying gravity!
I'm flying high
Defying gravity!
And soon I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!"

Accidental Companion Animal

On March 30, a 7- to 10-day old kitten was found by my sister in the empty lot across our house. She heard it crying from her bedroom window which overlooks our street. I suppose its cries were so strong and so persistent that she couldn't do anything but investigate. She found it alone, near the trash, being pecked on by a bird. The poor innocent thing was abandoned by its mother then became prey to an animal that was even smaller than it was!

Long story short, my younger brother (who's vegan too) and I made a decision without even thinking of the consequences: we had to adopt this abandoned kitty and give it a loving home. That Sunday night we camped out in our sala and kept the cat company. Now, a month later, Lucky (the name I christened him with) is still with us.

Needless to say, this cat has turned our lives upside down, and not in an unpleasant way. The first 2 weeks were tough --- my 3 brothers and I had to take shifts taking care of Lucky at night; my shift was usually 5-7am, before I'd leave for work. A kitten is very much like a human baby --- it need to be fed constantly; it needs to be burped; it needs a mommy to help it poop and pee (we moisten a cotton ball and massage its butt); it needs to cuddle to fall asleep. The list goes on.

It was tough for us as we are not pet-people. In my case, I've never wanted a personal pet (my sister has 2 dogs but I do not consider them my pets). Back in grade school I used to have 3 chicks and a rabbit (not at the same time). One chick got sick and died, and that pretty much scarred me for life. Two chicks grew to a ripe old age and became full-grown chickens. Our family dog Nana found them frolicking in our garden one afternoon and decided to have them for merienda and left the remnants of their beaks and adidas for me to see. I don't remember what happened to my rabbit Fluffy; I remember it got pregnant and had pups but abandoned them (we kids played with the pups too much and rabbits don't like humans touching they're babies; they turn cannibal or abandon them) so they died. I don't know if Fluffy escaped or if she died. I'm glad I don't know what happened. With my history of dying pets I never craved the love of a pet, or a more politically correct name, "companion animal". I hated that feeling of witnessing a death of an animal that was supposed to be under my care.

A lot of those "I don't want pets" feelings ran through my head when we adopted Lucky. For one thing I didn't have time to entertain and take care of another animal. For another, I didn't want this cat to die on me. But my young vegan brother was smart; he knew that we couldn't just abandon this cat for our own convenience. Not taking care of Lucky was almost like going against the principles of Veganism, and I couldn't just not take him in while preaching the gospel of compassion for animals.

I gotta say... I never understood the bond some humans have with their companion animals until I had one myself. My brothers and I are so blessed to have Lucky. Despite the smelly poop we love him so much, and before you think I'm a wishy-washy veggie, let me leave you with a thought: humans were given stewardship over creation but we've pretty much screwed nature up. Animals can be admirable beings for a number of reasons: they can be fiercely loyal and lovable; they are never plastic and always honest, always showing what they truly feel; if they must kill, they do so with a purpose -- for food and nourishment, and never for sport or for the sake of it. They are such simple creatures and are so happy with the little affection you have to offer them and a little bit of floor to sleep on.

They can be so trustful too -- one time I had to cut Lucky's claws and he allowed me to hold his little paw, nary a struggle or a meow of protest. He just silently watched me cut his claws, staring oh so intently at the nail clipper I was using. He completely trusted me not to hurt him, and my heart ached for all the animals in the world that have been victims to human abuse.

For those thinking of getting pets... May I suggest that you adopt a stray cat or dog instead of giving your money to backyard breeders and pet shops. There are so many animals that need tender loving care. Don't choose a purebreed over an askal or puskal for purity of blood's sake.