How to grow lavender in the Philippines

Growing an herb patch is one of the satisfying aspects of gardening because the plants are directly connected to the food we eat. The garden to table concept is also one endeavor that is easily achievable, even just making use of a condominium rooftop or even potted plants.

When I first started my own herb patch, I initially obtained the popular herbs like basil, mint, oregano, and more. I tried two kinds of basil – sweet basil and Thai basil. The Thai basil grew into a bush and was a hardy plant. It took longer for me to grow the sweet basil until I realized that it liked a lot of moisture. 

There are also different kinds of oregano. The one with bigger leaves is usually used for cough, although there is a limit to its usage because it is very potent. The one with smaller leaves is used for cooking. 

Mint grew like a weed crawling everywhere. Rosemary didn’t seem to grow that fast and we used a sprig to cook roasted chicken and potatoes. 

Together with rosemary, lavender was a treasured favorite due mainly to its intoxicating scent. It was also hard to find and difficult to grow initially.

The first potted lavender plants that I ever nurtured died in a short period of time. And I was clueless about it. In later years, I also discovered that many gardeners in the Philippines have tried and failed to grow lavender dentata, the variety that is usually found in Philippine garden stores. So I practically gave up on the idea of growing my own lavender.

A few months ago, I tried getting cuttings from my newly bought lavender plant and then planted them in small pots. I placed them under my worktable where a little sun and wind could still reach them. I noticed that as soon as the leaves wilted, they would die because there were no roots yet. So all the cuttings died.

Then, I discovered this wonderful solution! Believe it or not, it came from a discarded S&R muffin pack. 

First of all, it’s good to remember that mature lavender plants prefer a drier soil because their roots are very thin. They also like lots of sun but not extreme sun (like in the Philippines) so you may need to keep them in a calibrated environment and watch their growth.

For cuttings, professional gardeners recommend a certain pH level for the soil and the use of rooting hormone. In my case, I just bought garden soil and planted without the rooting hormone.

When growing lavender cuttings, just remember that they are delicate because they have no roots yet. Keep them away from sun and wind. So I placed them in a controlled environment that was the muffin pack.

I cut some holes for drainage, put a little soil, watered enough to keep it moist, and then added the cuttings. I closed the muffin pack and placed it in a dark corner outdoors. Then forgot about it for about three to four weeks before opening again. The moisture inside was enough to keep the seedling going. Occasionally, I would peek to see if there is still enough water. You just need to make sure that the soil does not completely dry out.

This was how the seedlings looked after I opened the muffin pack after around one month.

 

If the seedlings are still alive after a month, you need to slowly introduce them to the external environment. It is called hardening of the plant. It will take a longer time before these seedlings mature and they can still die.

Lavender is the companion plant of the rosemary herb. They both don't like a lot of moisture and have similar needs. It's a good idea to keep them together.

Growing lavender requires a lot of patience because the plant takes a long time to grow. It is often easier to simply purchase the mature potted plant. Growing the plant from cuttings will make one appreciate the hard work done by professional gardeners.

Why Filipino adobo is cooked in a single pot

Many Filipinos say that there is no such thing as a universal adobo recipe, that the choices are as numerous as the islands in the Philippines. 

While that statement may be somewhat correct, I think it is still possible to find a thread that unites such diverse Filipino options.

In a previous story Evaluating Sam Sifton's NYT Chicken Adobo Recipe, I found commonly used ingredients in the whole Philippines such as vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and peppercorns that serve as a base recipe. Other ingredients are added according to individual or regional taste. 

A basic adobo recipe using the four ingredients is shown in the following link.

http://joyposadaswrites.blogspot.com/2015/11/evaluating-sam-siftons-nyt-chicken.html

It is worth noting, however, that certain provinces in the Philippines have a particular preference for the use of coconut milk (gata). 

However, the statistical numbers presented in the previous Sam Sifton story indicate that the use of coconut milk is limited to a minority.

When I first kitchen-tested Amy Besa's recipe, I cooked the dish with a native Filipina who hailed from a province that used coconut milk. She told me that in these modern times, some people in her town skipped the use of coconut milk because they don't have the time to prepare it from scratch. 

Of course, much of it depends on personal preference. It is perfectly okay to cook with coconut milk if it is desired. An example of adobo sa gata is Amy Besa's recipe.

https://joyposadaswrites.blogspot.com/2015/11/amy-besas-chicken-adobo-recipe-in-my.html

It also occurred to me and this is just my theory that the traditional Filipino adobo is almost certainly a one-pot dish. This means that all the ingredients are placed and cooked in a single pot. The meat does not leave the cooking vessel.

Why is this so?

In the first place, most of the adobo recipes I have found require that the meats are boiled and simmered in a metal or clay pot. 

I have seen other cooking methods such as baking or broiling but they are not the usual cooking procedure. This is not to say that the dishes are not delicious. But I think these are more modern methodologies. 

I have reason to believe that Filipinos traditionally cooked adobo in one pot only.

The picture above came from the home of Philippine national hero Jose Rizal who lived during the mid to late 1800s. His birthplace was in Calamba, Laguna and the above cookware was typical during his era. 

http://joyposadaswrites.blogspot.com/2015/06/happy-birthday-jose-rizal.html

As you can see, the cooking gadgets in the past centuries were crude plus refrigeration was not yet available. That is probably one reason why vinegar, together with the oil and meat fat, was used to preserve the food.

The Philippines is also largely a rural country with a few pockets of developed cities. 

I have personally visited some homes in the Mindanao countryside and have seen how they used wood or charcoal to cook dishes. There were no ovens. Food was cooked in a clay pot (palayok). I don't remember seeing any refrigerator. Up to this day, there are still areas in the country without the benefit of electricity. 

So my conclusion is that the adobo dish probably evolved from that clay pot. If you ask me what I think is a traditional adobo dish, I would say that it was pan seared, boiled, simmered, and cooked with simple ingredients in a single pot.


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Richard Parcia is a Filipino who grew up in Negros (Visayas region) and South Luzon.

Upon reading the above story, he shared his experience observing the cooks prepare adobo in a palayok (clay pot) for daily consumption or for fiestas (particularly the night before the actual day called the vesperas). 

Parcia recalls, "Vesperas, linked to the Catholic vigil night, is when the cooks prepare slow cooked stuff like dinuguan, adobo, humba, caldereta, etc." 

"The key to very good Filipino food is in its glorious past. Not the fusion types nowadays. We used to cook our dishes fresh and long, just like what the French do with theirs until now."

He shares the following technique they used in cooking adobo over charcoal or wood. 

Parcia recommended a certain type of charcoal (uling) called Agho. According to him, it is a place where the charcoal came from and also refers to the type of wood used. He says that Agho burns brighter and lasts longer.

"It's via single pot and cooked long. It never leaves the kalan (stove). The control mechanism is done by repositioning the charcoal or wood (from center position to leaving space in the middle as it cooks and kept warm until late night). This will bring the fat out which becomes valuable when reheating it the following day. The dish lasts for 3 days with every day changing its texture."

He talked about the twice or thrice cooked adobo. He said that it was important to keep the meat in the same pot to get the right results.

"That's why keeping it in the same palayok is important. On the third day, the pork, when reheated in the same palayok, will be practically fried in its own fat with natural succulence and full of flavor."

Jose Rizal's Sacred Heart sculpture and conversion

While doing research on Philippine national hero Jose Rizal, I discovered some tidbits about his life. He was essentially a non-practicing Catholic who found conversion before he was executed. 

The Sacred Heart image that he sculpted and kept in his room was given some historical importance.

Whether the conversion happened or not is hotly debated. But I guess the best persons to ask would be the Jesuits whom he was in contact with or his descendants.

Fortunately, I discovered the writings of two priests whom I have met personally. Both of them are already deceased. Fr. Victor Badillo is a Jesuit priest and Fr. Marciano Guzman is a descendant.

As a student, Jose Rizal carved a 9-inch statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on baticuling wood, using only his pen knife. He would soon forget about this statue especially when he became a liberal in religious and political affairs. 

Fr. Badillo writes:

"In August 1887, Rizal returned to the Philippines and stayed till early 1888. Now a liberal in matters political as well as religious, he visited his Jesuit friends at the Ateneo. On his way out, the Jesuit porter showed him the statuette. Rizal replied, "Other times, Brother, other times. I no longer believe in such things."

https://monkshobbit.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/jose-rizals-statue-of-the-sacred-heart-travel-history-and-other-notes/

At the hour of his death, Rizal would obtain the Sacred Heart image and keep it on the table where he wrote Mi Ultimo Adios. 

"On the night before his execution, it was to Fr. Jose Vilaclara SJ, his former Physics teacher, that Rizal made his sacramental confession and be reconciled to the Church."

Fr. Marciano Guzman is a direct descendant of Rizal's younger sister Soledad and attested to Rizal's final conversion:

"The most formidable proof is the document of Rizal's retraction of errors and profession of faith, duly signed and drawn in his own handwriting from beginning to end."

https://monkshobbit.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/fr-marciano-m-guzman-on-the-retraction-and-conversion-of-jose-rizal/

He goes on to narrate all the evidence surrounding his conversion. 

In the end, He also mentioned that conversion is not due to any one person, not even the image of the Sacred Heart, but is due to the grace of God.

"Of course, God can and does make use of human instruments and external circumstances to produce a conversion. Nevertheless, we have to affirm that a conversion is the exclusive work of God's interior graces."

I just thought that this was an interesting slice of history. 

Rizal celebrates his birthday on June 19. You may want to visit his birthplace in Calamba, Laguna. Happy birthday Jose Rizal!

https://joyposadaswrites.blogspot.com/2015/06/happy-birthday-jose-rizal.html

Kate Spade was a housewife who struggled in midlife

Kate Spade who died at 55 years old was the quintessential American success story. She and her husband Andy Spade started producing classic handbags that would eventually become a billion dollar empire. They sold the brand to Liz Claiborne and eventually became detached from the company by 2007. Recently, Tapestry Inc. (formerly Coach) bought the brand for more than two billion dollars.

“At the 10-year mark in 2002, sales were $70 million, and e-commerce was added in 2004 — years before many designers were on board with the idea of selling online. The company changed hands again in 2006, when it was sold to Liz Claiborne Inc.”

“One of Spade’s primary incentives for leaving her signature label was to focus on being a full-time mom. “Having waited to have a baby as long as I did, which was 42, I wanted to be there. I felt it was a luxury that I couldn’t pass up,” she said.”

http://wwd.com/fashion-news/designer-luxury/designer-kate-spade-dead-in-apparent-suicide-1202692352/

For the next thirteen years of her life, she stayed home. It was only in 2015 when she decided to launch (with her partners) another fashion brand called Frances Valentine. 

“Being a mother adds an enormous amount of stress to your life. You need to make sure you’re there for everything,” she told The Cut. “We don’t have other people to do it for us — I want to make sure I’m there. When you’re trying to be a parent and a businessperson at the same time, that is the most stressful thing you could do.”

https://people.com/style/kate-spade-relationship-daughter-frances-beatrix/

According to her former publicist, Kate kept a distance from the limelight after she sold the brand. He said that she was invited to the best events in New York but often declined.

“Kate disappeared. The friends and the people like myself haven’t seen her for several years...I saw her assistant about a year ago and he told me he would go to her apartment twice a week and pick up her mail, and she would get an invite to every fabulous event in New York, and she declined them all. Kate really removed herself from society, from New York, from the fashion world, and she really just focused herself on being a mom.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeyePfDNoFw

In an official statement, Andy Spade admitted that they were not divorced or legally separated but were living apart for the last ten months. According to Andy, Kate was actively seeing a doctor and taking medication for both depression and anxiety.

https://people.com/style/kate-spade-andy-spade-living-apart-sought-help-depression/

Recently, a US study revealed that a good number of medications could lead to depression. Apparently, it can also happen to those who do not have a prior history of depression. 

“It was previously thought that a `predisposition’ i.e. a history of mood disorders would make a person susceptible for experiencing a depression side effect,” Spelsburg, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.

“Obviously,” she continued, “depression side effects are very common among individuals without any `predisposition’ who take more than one drug with this adverse effect at the same time.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-depression/many-us-adults-take-medicines-that-can-cause-depression-idUSKBN1J82RD

Another study on antidepressant risk revealed the following:

“The analysis found that in the general population, those taking antidepressants had a 33 percent higher risk of dying prematurely than people who were not taking the drugs. Additionally, antidepressant users were 14 percent more likely to have an adverse cardiovascular event, such as a stroke or a heart attack.”

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319462.php

Another issue for women at midlife is known as menopause. There are some women who breeze through the whole event while others experience debilitating symptoms. Few people understand the phenomenon because there are often conflicting experiences about it. 

“Although some women can have an episode of depression for the first time during menopause, women with a history of recurrent depression are up to 4.5 times more likely to experience another episode of depression at the start of menopause than other women at this stage of life.”

http://theconversation.com/menopausal-mood-swings-can-signal-more-serious-mental-illness-90307

Clearly, more research in the medical field is needed to get a tighter grasp on these issues. But Kate Spade seems to have gone through many similar struggles that mothers at midlife face. She was not alone. Would have been nice if she knew that back then.

Missing ingredient in Bourdain's unconventional life

Anthony Bourdain was a struggling chef until his forties. He shot to fame after the publication of his "Kitchen Confidential" book.  Upon his death, sales of this book skyrocketed on Amazon.

For many foodies, Anthony Bourdain seemingly led an enviable life of luxury and indulgence. Looking back now, perhaps it was also this unexpected fame and fortune that led to his untimely end. 

One report said that his 20-year marriage to Nancy Putkoski collapsed because his wife considered his newly found prominence as a threat. Since then, he was reported to be constantly suicidal until he met another woman.

“After his first marriage to wife Nancy Putkoski ended in 2005, Bourdain recalled that he was 'aimless and regularly suicidal'.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5827387/Anthony-Bourdain-regularly-suicidal-marriage.html

Of course, there was also his previous drug use to contend with. Plus, viewers would often see Bourdain drinking on TV.

The arrival of his daughter with his second wife Ottavia Busia appeared to have given him a higher purpose as he would mention how much she meant to him.

“Bourdain, who died at age 61, welcomed his only child 11 years ago with Ottavia Busia, whom he divorced in 2016, and he never shied away from expressing the girl’s influence on him.”

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/fatherhood-influenced-anthony-bourdain-survived-11-year-daughter/story?id=55746814

However, Bourdain did not settle down, as in stay at home with his family for a long period of time. Thus, it also led to the demise of his second marriage. While the couple remained friends, Bourdain continued to live independently and travel the world.

“The former couple—who married in 2007—opened up about their split shortly after the news broke in September 2016. “My wife and I live, have lived, very separate lives for years,” Bourdain told PEOPLE at the time. “There’s no drama here. We get along really, really well and it’s not a big lifestyle change happening here.”

https://people.com/food/anthony-bourdain-wife-ottavia-busia-asia-argento/

At this point, he met and fell in love with a new girl Asia Argento whom he considered his match since they both worked in the same industry.

Reports mentioned that Bourdain was head over heals with Argento. Thus, when pictures surfaced on the Internet that she was seen holding hands and hugging a French journalist Hugo Clement, people speculated that the event triggered Bourdain’s suicide because it happened within the same week.

“Like a teenage boy just absolutely lovestruck,” the insider tells PEOPLE of Bourdain’s feelings for Argento. “He would have done anything for her, and that was a little red flag for some of his friends.”

https://people.com/food/anthony-bourdain-lovestruck-asia-argento-friends-concerned/

Argento’s friend Rose McGowan wrote an open letter defending Argento saying that the couple had an open relationship and that suicide is a personal choice and should not be blamed on anyone.

“Anthony’s internal war was his war, but now she’s been left on the battlefield to take the bullets. It is in no way fair or acceptable to blame her or anyone else, not even Anthony. We are asking you to be better, to look deeper, to read and learn about mental illness, suicide and depression before you make it worse for survivors by judging that which we do not understand, that which can never fully be understood. Sometimes we are stuck in the unknowable, and that is where we are now, a massive wave of darkness that threatens to swallow everyone in its wake,” she added."

https://people.com/movies/rose-mcgowan-anthony-bourdain-asia-argento-had-free-relationship-without-borders/

Depression and the role of family support

The public will never come to know the ultimate reasons for Bourdain’s suicide. Perhaps there were also other contributing factors that are not very obvious. 

Given his unconventional life, however, he didn’t appear to have had much of a family life that involved deep, constant, and stable relationships. This may have contributed to depression in his life.

A clinical study titled “The role of family bio-social variables in depression in a resource-constrained environment” (Pascal Iloh GU, Orji UN, Chukwuonye ME, Ifedigbo CV) states, “Depression is a family and public health problem that causes significant mortality and morbidity with affectations of interpersonal, family, work, social functioning, and health-related quality of life of the victim, especially when it is unrecognized and severe. Depression is defined as a mood or mental disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in pleasurable activities accompanied by an inability to carry out daily activities for at least 2 weeks.”

http://www.jmedscindmc.com/article.asp?issn=1011-4564;year=2018;volume=38;issue=1;spage=29;epage=37;aulast=Pascal

The study concluded that family dynamics are directly linked to depression.

“Depression occurred among the study participants and was significantly associated with the unhealthy family function, low-acuity family support, least family cohesion and expressiveness and most family conflict interactions. The most significant family biosocial predictor of depression was unhealthy family functioning.”

Family as a support group was defined as “a group of individuals connected to a patient biologically, legally or by choice from whom the patient reasonably expects (sic) a measure of support in the form of food, shelter, finance, and emotional nurturing sharing a past, a present, and a future including all who contribute to the family culture. There are different types of family, the classification of which can influence depressive illness positively or negatively with implications for development, course, recognition, and treatment.”

Certain suicide hotlines in the United States have reported a spike in calls after the recent tragedies that may be a good outcome from the sad news. 

However, concerned individuals should also check on their relationships with friends and relatives to see how their own family support system can become even better.

Realistic Chinese art of Lao Shi Caesar Cheng

Sometime ago, we chanced upon the Chinese paintings of Caesar Cheng at an art exhibit. His introduction read, "Quiet and self-effacing, Teacher (or Lao Shi) Caesar Cheng cringes at the thought of having someone call him master."

Lao Shi means teacher and he is best known for traditional and Lingnan styles (a region south of Guangdong). His artwork is more realistic than symbolic. It is a bit different from the one stroke Chinese techniques I've seen.

China Daily explains, "Lingnan comprises a collective of Guangdong painters who emphasize life and nature, and have created a new Chinese art movement by instigating a synthesis between East and West."

Cheng taught at Ateneo de Manila University's Confucius Institute. He has won a few national art awards and has participated in group shows in both China and the Philippines.

Contact information was provided for those interested to know more about his work. Cellphone number 0927-418-6644.

Sunflowers symbolize long life and good luck.

This church and kalesa scene has Chinese-Filipino inspirations coming from Binondo.

Looks like a crane but it is sometimes confused with the heron. Cranes fly with necks outstretched and they graze on wetlands.

Not sure if the Philippine eagle eats rabbits. From what I learned, they eat civets, monkeys, bats, birds, snakes, lizards, and maybe other wild animals. Nevertheless, this eagle is very rare.

Peacocks are beautiful. His artistic style incorporates many details such as the feathers that are similar to Western style paintings.