Reflections on my Christmas vlogs

I’m still in awe of what I’ve achieved these last two months - the vlogs!

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It all started sometime in October, while I was cleaning out the folders on my laptop - I stumbled across several videos I took during my stay in Lucknow last year. The first project I worked on was the subharrambh dance and the Diwali celebration. It was really simple - I just cut and put clips together, using iMovie. The comments when I posted it on facebook were really encouraging, so I decided to make more projects with the other clips. The next was a Typical week in Lucknow

Apart from uploading them on my personal page on facebook, I decided to put them up on youtube. While I was there, I started watching other people's videos, and then became familiar with the term 'vlog'. I instantly became inspired by/became a fan of Wil Dasovich! I really liked his 'the art of learning tagalog series' and then his travel/adventure vlogs, and how he got his sister Haley to start too, just a few months ago. SO! I decided to give it a try. I bought a little tripod for my phone, because I wanted to start with something small and basic, rather than use my DLSR. 

I spent a lot of time thinking of a series to start with, rather than just a 'random' vlog. I thought that Christmas would be a good theme because Christmas preparations here in the Philippines, or specifically Manila where I am, are insane! People start decorating the malls and streets as early as September every year. Hence my first vlog Christmas in Manila: Episode 1.

This first one was really simple, even though it was pretty long. I didn't play around with iMovie that much so there were no effects. At this point, all I knew was how to trim and transition! But the experience was really interesting because it took me a lot of courage to hold my tripod and talk to the camera (lol) in the jeepneys and while walking in the malls. Once in a while I felt conscious of the people around me, but it didn't take long before I got really used to it and felt confident. I guess I felt too comfortable that I didn't realize how much I kept wiping off the sweat from under my nose and on my forehead (that's something I wish I hadn't done!) 

The second vlog had more work put into it. I literally bought a little notepad to write my scipts! So that I could talk straight without stopping and thinking or looking around (because I noticed I kept looking away from the camera whenever I spoke in the first vlog/lacked eye contact) so I decided that having a script would keep me focused (or else I'd talk on and on). So I added monologues here and there, and added music to the b-rolls. I really felt that Christmas in Manila: Episode 2 was a big improvement from the first.

I had really big plans for my 3rd vlog because I received lots and lots of encouragement from my second vlog on facebook (with people giving suggestions of places to visit). Also very happy with the number of views!

BUT filming was a fail. I had planned to visit MANY places, but it was impossible because of Christmas traffic! Yes, there's such a thing here. Everyday before Christmas, the taffic on the roads here were insane! Everyone was out shopping for Christmas; the malls extended their closing times. There was this one day I left home to go to Cainta, Rizal to visit the famous Christmas house in Filinvest, but it took me 45 minutes to cover the first 1km from home. It was already so tiring, we made a U-turn and went to Rockwell. Inside the mall I brought out my DLSR to take better quality videos (by the way, up until now, I've just been using my Samsung S4. It's 13 MP, I'm very very happy with the quality, it's sharp, BUT the videos are shaky, no matter how still I hold my hands - I guess it's an internal thing because with my DLSR, even when I run, the video is really smooth and stable, so I have to admit in all my vlogs I'm not happy with the way the walking/moving videos are shaky). Back to Rockwell mall, a security guard approached me after a few minutes of filming telling me I wasn't allowed to record videos there without a permit. Since I couldn't really reach anywhere I had to go, for many weeks all I could do was just take out my phone whenever I saw a Christmas tree, while driving by. That said, here's Christmas in Manila: Episode 3 which is more of a b-roll of Christmas decorations that I've seen while driving by.

And finally, the last in my Christmas series - this one wasn't shot in Manila; it was in Mindoro instead. I spent a few days there (where my Mom's parents are from). We arrived two days before Christmas, and then had some friends and relatives over on Christmas day for lunch. The first part of the vlog really didn't have anything to do with Christmas, but the second half - well, just a little. This is my FAVORITE vlog so far, I had so much fun making it! I spent a lot of time thinking out the stories, the script, the plot. I also had my power bank with me at all times, to recharge my phone every now and then because I did not stop recording! Choosing the music and sound effects was something I also took seriously. My Dad's presence in the vlog also made it funny, so it had many light moments. I really enjoyed this, hope you do too! 

***

Even though being a Bahá'i, I don't celebrate Christmas (no trees, lights, etc) I really felt the Christmas spirit around me this year and I think it's because of making these vlogs. Every time I went out, I'd notice the Christmas decorations around the city. For example I've seen paroles all my life, but this is the first time I really went up close to see how they're made, and to really appreciate them (see Episode 2, and Mindoro vlog). On a personal note, I created some Christmas-inspired decorations for my room:

Apart from decorating my room, I also made some Christmas-inspired art on my nails 😜

I participated in my first Christmas gift-exchange. It happened that my Mom and I co-incidentally picked out each other's names, so I had to get her a gift and she got me one. This was my very first time ever having to get a Christmas gift for someone.

Christmas ham! It's tradition for people here to buy ham for Christmas dinner/ new year's eve. We went to Excelente Ham in Quiapo to get ham for our Mindoro trip; it's the number 1 ham here, media men were even there filming and the owner was around, attending to the dozens of people flooding into her store every minute, just to get their special, truly excellent, ham!

Apart from this year, I've spent a few other Christmas holidays in the Philippines before. I've also spent Christmas holidays in Iran and Nigeria, once in India (last year) and once in France (the previous year) and I must say, the Philippines takes Christmas to a whole 'nother level. EVERYONE is really in the festive spirit...that even if you're not a Christian, you will definitely be affected - the happiness is just so contagious... from the music in the malls to countdowns at the end of every TV news report to the fact that everyone (people who put fuel in your car, security guards who help you reverse, sales ladies) will religiously greet you "Merry Christmas po!"

at Powerplant mall, Rockwell

STOP AIDS...in my lifetime

All year round, we celebrate World Day of this, International Day of that...there are so many but there is one particular date that I never forget, which is World AIDS Day on December 1st. No, I do not know of anyone personally that has been infected by HIV and AIDS. I don't have any personal stories to share. The closest I've been to people living with HIV was the time I helped host three Speakers (who were doing a Speakers Tour around England) at the University of Sheffield. You don't have to have experienced something to really care about it. Of course, most people become very compassionate about certain things based on their experiences. My experience with HIV and AIDS is not that deep. It goes back to February 2013 when I started my first job, with the Communications Unit of Management Sciences for Health, Nigeria. I remember it was sometime during my second week that my boss started giving me some background information on a story I had to write, and I guess she thought I looked very confused or blank that's why she paused and asked "How much do you know about HIV?" and I said nothing. I knew that MSH worked around HIV and AIDS (improving clinical services and training medical workers, and providing assistance for orphans and vulnerable children who had lots parents to AIDS). I thought that going through the MSH website, reading their brochures/success stories (from Nigeria and around the world) was enough, but no - I needed to understand things like CD4 cells and anti-retroviral treatments, mainly because when I had to interview my colleagues in order to write a news report or story based on their work, they would use scientific terms (I didn't always have to write those terms in my story, but I had to understand them in order to translate them into something that everyone else would understand).

I guess the highlights of my year at MSH were 1) when we met the Head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Mark Dybul - trust me, I was star struck when I saw him in the distance!) and 2) when we attended a Special Summit of the African Union on AIDS, TB and Malaria (in which I got to stalk several African Heads of States with my camera!) Sitting through these two events really helped me see the tremendous efforts done by Governments and different non-government organizations in the fight against this pandemic HIV/AIDS. 

When I was in England for my post graduate studies, I found a student society called "Student Stop AIDS" at the University of Sheffield, and I became a very active member. Of course it was not compulsory to join a student organization; but I wanted to maximize my post graduate year (so I joined other societies too). That was back in 2013/14 - it wasn't a big society at all; only 4 of us were very active and met all the time. The other three members were medical science students, so the language they used during our discussions was a bit difficult for me to follow at first, so I was more helpful with planning events and promoting them. Our very first project was a video - one day we decided to go around the University and ask passers-by a few questions just to know how much they know about HIV/AIDS. *A few days after this, we met in the library to put the video together, but we spent SO MUCH TIME just "hanging out" talking/laughing about every other thing rather than the project at stake....so this video was never achieved😕

me taking the video; STOP AIDS president Harvy asking the questions

Favorite reads of 2016

One of the first things I do every morning is check the news, browse the headlines and click on a few things to read. I love readings about global affairs (historic and current), I love reading stories about people. I read at least one article a day. This helps me form intelligent opinions, think of out the box, and most importantly just connect with the world. We are one with the world; even if events on another continent don't affect you directly, knowing about it does not take anything away from you. 

I'd like to share with you some of the articles I've read this year that I enjoyed/found very interesting. Of course I don't remember ALL of them, but these are the few that I still remember having come across. I'll share the links too, so you can read the full thing too in case you're interested 😉

1) Should We Execute Dylann Roof? by David Langness

I didn't know about Dylann Roof until I read this article.  Last year (at the age of 21) he entered a church and shot nine people who were praying - all of whom were "African Americans". People call this a "hate crime" because his sole motive was racist. Anyways, this article was really moving for me. In the beginning it showed all the reasons he should be executed. I mean, why not? He killed nine people just because they were "black", who hadn't done anything wrong to him, and who were in the midst of worshipping. BUT not everyone thinks he should face the death penalty. And you know who some of those people are? The family/relatives of some of those victims/people he shot; they prefer to forgive him. The article also shares the Bahá'i perspective on capital punishment. 

Interfaith seminar, UST

I was supposed to write about this last week, immediately after the event, but I got so carried away with my other life - VLOGGING, with letter V! It's good I remembered my blog today, and this particular event, before it becomes too much of a past. Sometime in October, I was contacted by a student from the University of Santo Tomas, who wanted to meet Baha'is, as part of his school's project. I invited him to the Baha'i Center here in Manila, then he came with a bunch of his classmates and were then presented an introduction to the Baha'i Faith by some of the Baha'is present. A few weeks later, they shared with us (the Baha'i community of Manila) an invitation to a seminar they were organizing, called IISA: Investigation on Interfaith Solidarity and Action, to participate in the dialogue. I decided to go for two reasons: 1) I generally like interfaith dialogues. I have been to so many, both here in the Philippines and in Nigeria and they're very meaningful. It's step one to world unity! peace! harmony! oneness! equality! all the good things! Also, we all know that our world has so so many problems. We've tried political solutions, economic solutions so many times. The problems continue. Have we tried spiritual solutions? 2) I have only been to that part of town "España"(where UST is located) once, so it was a good excuse to visit somewhere I'm unfamiliar with and see if there are any Christmas-y "stuff" for my vlog! 

I'm on Youtube!

I've been thinking about taking blogging to the next level, which is Vlogging! Over the last few weeks, I've been playing around with old videos and photos stored in my computer, with an inbuilt software - iMovie! It's been really fun putting clips together, trying to find the right music, playing with sound effects and captions! Most of the files are too large to be uploaded directly on this blog, so my only other option was to upload them on youtube then put the link here. So today I got all of them up on youtube!

 *Link to my channel*

From the most recent:

1) A typical week in Lucknow

I dug out videos & pictures I took during my year of service in Lucknow last year, and put them together - from the crazy journey to and from school, to animating groups of 1000+ junior youths a week, followed by office work and yummy street food...to weekends with my neighbourhood Junior Youth group; sightseeing and wedding-crashing! 

The bonus part only CMS people would understand ;)

*Go through my blog archive on the right side of the page, for more blog posts about Lucknow!

2) Bahá'i Children's Class, Sampaloc

Children's Class with the kids of Barangay 576, Sampaloc on November 1st 2016, as part of Manila community's celebration of the Birth Anniversaries of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. (Full story here)

Twin Holy Days, Manila!

The Bahá'i Faith is a relatively new religion, founded by Bahá'u'lláh (the Glory of God) 173 years ago. Before Bahá'u'lláh revealed that He was the Divine Messenger from God (foretold by the Messengers of the past, for this time and age) there was another Manifestation - The Báb. The Báb prepared the people for the coming of "Him Whom God shall make Manifest", just as John the Baptist heralded the good news of the coming of Christ. 

[Concerning the uniqueness of Bahá'u'lláh's station and the greatness of His Revelation, Shoghi Effendi affirms that the prophetic statements concerning the "Day of God", found in the Sacred Scriptures of past Dispensations, are fulfilled by the advent of Bahá'u'lláh:

“To Israel He was neither more nor less than the incarnation of the "Everlasting Father",

the "Lord of Hosts" come down "with ten thousands of saints";

to Christendom Christ returned "in the glory of the Father";

to Shi'ah Islam the return of the Imam Husayn;

to Sunni Islam the descent of the "Spirit of God" (Jesus Christ);

to the Zoroastrians the promised Shah-Bahram;

to the Hindus the reincarnation of Krishna;

to the Buddhists the fifth Buddha.”] -The Universal House of Justice

Bahá'u'lláh teaches us that there is only One God (whether you call Him Allah, Dios, Dieu) we are all referring to one God. The same God sent us Krishna, Moses,Jesus Christ, Buddha, Muhammad, the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh to teach us about Him, and guide us, therefore Religion is One (they are the rays of one Sun; their spiritual teachings are all one in truth). The third main tenet of the Baha'i Faith is that Mankind is One - we all belong to one human race, regardless of our color, religion, class, gender, and we can all be united if we practice principles such as the equality between men and women, eliminating prejudices, refraining from backbiting, the importance of education, striking a balance between science and religion and of course you can't love mankind without serving mankind! 

So there are millions of Baha'is all over the world (yes, in every country!) and during the last two days we celebrated the Twin Holy Days! Up until last year, we celebrated the Báb's birth anniversary on October 20th and Bahá'u'lláh's on November 12th. Why the change in dates since last year? Here's what's written in a letter from the Universal House of Justice on 10 July 2014 [The Festivals of the Twin Birthdays...have, in the East, been traditionally observed according to their correspondence to the first and second days of Muharram in the Islamic calendar. "There two days are accounted as one in the sight of God", Bahá'u'lláh affirms. Yet, a letter written on behalf of the Guardian states, "In the future, no doubt all of the Holy Days will follow the Solar calendar...How to satisfy the intrinsic lunar character of these blessed Days within the context of a solar calendar has hitherto been unanswered. We have decided that they will not be observed on the first adn the second day following the occurrence of the eight new moon after Naw-Ruz, as determined in advance by astronomical tables using Tihran as the point of reference. This will result int he observance of the Twin Birthday moving, year to year...from mod-October to mid-November according to the Gregorian calendar.]

So this year, November 1 and 2 was the 197th birth anniversary of the Báb and 199th of Bahá'u'lláh  respectively (yes, next year will be the bicentenary celebration of Bahá'u'lláh!!) The Manila Bahá'is, together with a few of us from Makati started planning two weeks ahead (designing banners and invitation cards, shopping for decorations and drawing up a menu). Our first programme was an evening celebration on October 31st, with Bahá'is and friends from Manila, Makati and other neighboring clusters. (why 31st? well, according to the Bahá'i calendar, a day is from sunset to sunset, so November 1st meant sunset of October 31st til the sunset of November 1st). Early that day, several youths gathered at the Bahá'i Center to decorate the halls up and downstairs:

team work! 

Gummy Halloween

Even though I am generally scared of anything scary - I can not survive a whole scary movie (the last time I watched one, I stayed awake for two whole days), I am terribly afraid of the dark (I cannot sleep in absolute darkness) - I still look forward to halloween every year! Not the scary part of course - but the creative part!

This year - no party, no dress up, so I decided to try something new - make halloween treats! I created three very simple desserts, which I've also given names to.  

Theme: Gummy worms! 

1. Gummy Jelly Wormy

I prepared two gelatine separately - one red and one green. After melting the jelly powder in hot water, I poured each into a glass, and in the third glass I mixed the green and red, then I let them cool in room temperature. After about 30 minutes I put them in the fridge for five minutes, then took them out and placed the gummy worms (some inside, some on top). See, after just five minutes in the fridge, only the top of the jelly becomes hard, which makes it easy to place gummy worms on top, or pierce one through. After that, I put them back in the fridge and chilled overnight: 

One wormy needs a band-aid

JYEP 2: complementary activities

Part two of my JYEP series - apart from drawing and coloring, there are many other ways we can help our Junior Youths understand the lessons, internalize the concepts, express their thoughts and feelings and unleash their creativity! Here I'm sharing with you examples of complementary activities I've done with my Junior Youth groups. Feel free to use/share!

I. Breezes of Confirmation

Lesson 3 (Dinner)

Activity: Career Ladder. Ask the students to draw a big ladder with 5 steps. On top of the ladder, they shuold write what they want to become when they grow up. Then on the first step (at the bottom) they should write What does a XXX do? Step 2: What do I need to study?

Step 3: What efforts should I make?

Step 4 and 5: What virtues do I need to practice? 

Lesson 5 (Prefer your brother)

Activity: Prefer your seatmate. Cut out heart shapes, and give one to each student. Ask them to write what they love about the person sitting next to them. Encourage them to describe each other with virtues. Let them write with colors, and if time permits they can draw borders/decorate the heart. In the end, decorate their softboard with the hearts, and while putting them up – read them aloud.  

JYEP 1: artistic expressions

For those who don't already know, the Junior Youth Empowerment Programme is for those in the age group 12 - 15. You call them teenagers, we call them Junior Youths. You call them confused and rebellious, we call them a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. The programme has a couple of books which the group goes through with the help of an animator. These books are more or less story books, each chapter with reading/comprehension and vocabulary exercises, and then quotations to reflect on and memorize. But you can't learn kindness or justice by just reading and answering questions. Definitely you have to practice, that's why engaging the group in service projects is a very important component of this programme. The third way of exploring the concepts/virtues in the stories is through ART (being imaginative and creative). Of course art takes several forms, but this post is about how valuable drawing/coloring is! 

My list of other complementary activities I did for three JYEP books are in the next post.

Drawing is my absolute favorite activity to do with Junior Youths. I recently started a JY group here in Manila, and right after reading the first chapter of Breezes of Confirmation, I asked them to draw the members of their family and write on them what quality they love most about that person. So they could have just written Mom or Dad or the names of their family members and next to it the quality - but I asked them to make an extra effort and draw. Why? Well, I just feel that they write and write all the time in school, so I don't want them to feel that JYEP is just another "class" on weekends. I also asked them to show everyone in the group their drawing...since it was their first day with each other, naturally the JYs were shy. Perhaps they weren't confident about their drawing, but then I didn't pass any sort of judgement; I was just extremely happy that they drew and so I made everyone clap for each other. This again removes any feeling of a "formal classroom" because they aren't getting a grade for their drawing (so no competition).  

Here are some photos/stories from last year, animating over a dozen groups of Junior Youths at City Montessori School, Station Road Campus, Lucknow:

The Sweet Side of Lucknow

The center of all sweetness in Lucknow is Moti Mahal. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've gone there by tripling on a motorbike, suicide riding on a rickshaw, and even begging my van driver to detour, just so I can have my dose of sugar. When it wasn't sugar, it was craving salt (paani puri and the insanely yummy aloo tikki with dahi). Funny how I still remember all these names. 

Here's a video of when I braved the streets of Hazratganj on a rickshaw, for the love of ...

Warm halwas and gulab jamuns were in-season during the winter. This is a picture of Carrot Halwa, rich with many kinds of nuts - cashew, pistachio and almonds. Apart from carrot cake, this has been the only other carrot-related dessert I've ever had. I actually find this dessert to be very healthy!

I have a su - I have a shi ... ugh... Su Shi!

And the third no-bake food I prepared for yesterday's occasion waaas a sushi cake! 

nah, just kidding. 

So I'm going to call it Kimbap instead of Sushi. That's because this is more of the Korean version than the Japanese. Difference? Sushi usually has raw fish (the most fish you're ever going to have in a Kimbap would be canned tuna). Kimbaps are also a lot simpler; Sushis are fafafannnccyy and more colorful! I know a lot goes into making the perfect rice, but for me the goal is just to make it sticky. When I was in Iran earlier this year, I made Kimbaps with long basmati grains. For 2 cups of rice I first used 3 cups of water, but while cooking I had to add in another 2 cups of water...in order to get that sticky, mushy texture in the end. 

you can always make it werk werk werk werk wek

Ingredients:  4 cups of Japanese rice (boiled in 5 cups of water), 15 sheets of seaweed paper, Korean chilli paste, pickled radish and burdocks, and (my fave) SPAM ham! 

Spread the rice all over the seaweed sheet. On one end I smeared 

some chilli paste, then on the other end I lined up the 

pickles and the ham. 

Start to roll. I prefer to roll with hands than with the sushi 

rolling mat. This way, I can feel the whole thing as I'm 

rolling to make sure everything's compressed/tight! 

Nah, who am I kidding - I've tried using the 

rolling mat several times, I just couldn't get it right.

Say cheeeeesseecake!

I felt really honored (haha) when my Mom said okay when I asked if I could make her birthday cake this year. She usually does everything (and to perfection), and I'm no where near as amazing as her in the kitchen...so the fact that she let me handle "the cake" was a surprise. The cake is always the highlight of a birthday party, right? So the pressure was on, to make this birthday celebrant happy.... with TWO cakes!

Click here for the other amazing cake

My recipe

The base: Graham crackers. Mash and mash and mash til fine. Then I added a spoon of sugar, and some melted butter (I didn't measure the butter because I really don't measure anything when I bake *I follow my heart* haha!). I mixed everything with a spoon until the crumbs were no longer loose; they were all held together with the butter. Then I flatted the crumbs on the bottom and sides of a springform pan. Refrigerated while making the filling. 

[Since I opted for the no-bake cheesecake, I decided to not use the oven at all even for the base. Whenever I bake cheesecake, I also put the crumbs and pan in the oven to settle, but this time I refrigerated instead. A lot of baking sites suggested this, but I don't think it was a good idea in the end, because my cracker base kept crumbling down. It's either that, or my base was too thick.]

 The filling: Mind you, this was my first time making a no-bake cheese cake; I always use the oven. So I learnt that if you're not going to bake it (with eggs), you use gelatine instead! I went for lemon flavor. I mixed a 3 oz pack with boiling water then kept aside to cool. While waiting, I blended about 550g of cream cheese with two spoons of sugar. Instead of vanilla essence, I used cinnamon powder. When the gelo wasn't so hot anymore, I poured it into the mixture and continued to blend and blend until it was very smooth. Then in the end I folded in some all-purpose cream, and a few spoons of chia seeds [another experiment].

Ice Box Cake

For the first 16 years of my life, my dear mother made my birthday cake. This year, for the first time...I made the birthday cake for my dad (in March) and today for my mom. It's amazing how things change with time; sometimes my mom comes home to food cooked by me and nowadays I'm the one who reminds my Dad to eat healthy...it's basically a reverse of roles!

I made two no-bake cakes for her special day today. An ice box cake and a cheesy cheesecake (see here). Ice box cake is basically biscuit, cream, biscuit, cream...in layers. 

Here's how I did it:

Ingredients: Graham Crackers, All Purpose Cream, Cinnamon Powder, 

Sugar, Cashew Nuts, Banana, Marshmallows. 

I blended the cream with cinnamon powder (just because I love cinnamon powder), and sugar. Blend blend blend for several minutes until cream is really thick. 

Baha'i-inspired ART!

"O My Servants!

Ye are the trees of my garden; ye must give forth goodly and wondrous fruits, 

that ye yourselves and others may profit thereform. Thus is it incumbent on everyone to 

engage in crafts and professions, for therein lies the secret of wealth, O men of understanding! 

For results depend upon means, and the grace of God shall be all-sufficient to you. 

Trees that yield no fruit have been and will ever be for the fire." 

-Baha'u'llah, The Hidden Words.

***

I'm one of those who loves to click #Bahai on Instagram and browse through all all the pictures with that tag! Through the tag, I've come across so many Baha'i artists around the world whose art I really enjoy and absolutely love! I'm going to share with you some of my favorite Baha'i-inspired art works!

1) Elika Mahony's bookmarks with gorgeous beads!

See more

2) Dr Smile's "sometimes I make jewellery". I've been following Alex Rawhani on instagram a few years now - he's a dentist, musician, model...I enjoy his weekend posts of his children's and junior youth classes in South Africa. There was this one post he made many weeks ago of a ring he designed in the shape of the African continent, with the Greatest Name in it. I absolutely adore it! I grew up in Nigeria, so seeing this made my heart explode!  

Sayaw Pilipino!

The title means Filipino Dance! I'm going to share with you the last 

three times I performed traditional Filipino dances. 

1) The Filipino community in Abuja is HUGE. Every year, we celebrate the Philippine Independence Day either at the Embassy or at the Sheraton. There's always a program - songs & dances, and I joined them for the first time in 2013. I was part of the La Jota dance (it's with a partner, and we have to clack bamboo castanets with our fingers). This was my first time seeing this dance. There were so many other performances - latik (men hitting coconuts on their shoudlers & knees); a flower dance (bulaklakan), a hat dance (subli), a candle dance (pandanggo sa ilaw), a royalty bamboo dance (singkil), and in the end...hiphop! 

So many Filipinos were involved! See the bamboo huts behind us? A couple of Filipinos put these together. They were placed on stage, and while they made the stage look beautiful and local, they served as our changing room! 

costume practice - this was the hiphop dance in the end. We danced
to Laki sa layaw (jeproks) with sunglasses! It was an absolute
fun way to end the show

our elegant La Jota dance

Olives & Cheese: four ways

Olives + feta cheese = Oleese! This is my second favorite snack (first is yoghurt & chips!) First time I tried this combination was in Sheffield - I found these Apetina packs in Sainburys & Tescos... I've always loved feta cheese...olives not so much, but the photo of the two together (on the packet) got me curious. So I tried it, and fell in love! 

One day I added some fresh spinach to the end of the toothpick, and that snack time ended up feeling like lunch time.

I remember the day I made this - sliced olives, with feta cheese in between, on a toothpick. It was a few days after Nawruz (new year/March 21) in Iran. I was tired of all the kebab and sweets from the festivities, so my idea of a healthy break was this!

 We brought feta cheese from Iran to Nigeria, and then I bought fresh olives from a Lebanese-owned store in town. No toothpick here - I literally ate these with my fingers.

 My most recent combination - feta cheese stuffed in pitted olives! This took some time to prepare, but it's absolutely divine! One bite into the olive and you taste the creaminess of the cheese!

As for backgrounds (veggies in the first two; garden plants in the second two pictures) - they were necessary, for the oleese to be instagram-pretty! hehe

Home in a sip

My instagram followers probably know this already, but I still want to write about my 

#AsahBara mug!! because two months later, and the hype hasn't died yet!

I discovered Asah-Bara on instagram, literally through the "discover" button. If I remember correctly, I sent them a DM inviting them to my first Rooftop Bazaar, and then one day just as my family and I were leaving our home to go to the Philippine Independence Day Celebration, Xoxa and her friend stopped by to take a look at the rooftop. She came back down saying how much she loved the view, and then she signed up. As mentioned in my previous post about the bazaar, I made personalized posts for the vendors, so looking for pictures for their poster was the first time I really got to go through their page. Their insta-feed is so beautiful!

Poster for 1st bazaar

Poster for 2nd bazaar

I was in love with what I saw! Xoxa is the #BossLady of Asah-Bara. She and her team design mugs, glasses & diaries. Each mug is unique - and yet, you can still see something similar in all of them. Each post ends with "That's the spirit of Asah-Bara", so maybe that's just it! But the patterns - the triangles, the dots, the spirals! Wait, I don't think whatever I write will do justice to their art - this would actually require an interview with Xoxa and her team...so I'll just skip to 

the part where I ordered my first mug! 

Turbo-licious!

Let me introduce to you my absolute favorite cooking machine - the electric turbo oven! My family and I use this a lot (for chicken, beef, pork, fish) - present in our kitchen in the Philippines, 

Iran & Nigeria, because it's the fastest, easiest & healthiest way to cook up some meat!

You put the food inside the glass body (don't know how else to call it haha!) usually on top of a grilling rack so that the fat from the meat can fall to the bottom. Place the cover on top, set the temperature and timer, and then hot air starts to blow. We've used the turbo to cook for our family of 4 and even for guests up to 12 - it usually comes with two grill racks so you can place the shorter one under the taller one and cook more! The grill racks allow the hot air to go all around the glass body/ over and under the meat, so everything gets cooked well...and very fast because of the pressure. 

This is how I typically prepare chicken at home: First I marinate it (basic - garlic, salt, black/red pepper). Place it on the grill rack...While cooking, you can see the fat from the chicken melting to the bottom. This is why the turbo oven is very healthy! It melts all the natural fat from the meat away, and in exactly 30 minutes, the chicken is ready - very soft and very very juicy in the inside, with crackling crispy skin! Beats fried chicken a million times!

 Here I am lifting the chicken with the grill rack - notice the oil left at the bottom. 

A year's reads

Last weekend, I met some of the Baha'i friends in this area for the first time since I got back to the Philippines. After a lovely round of prayers and breakfast, I went over the host's bookshelf - this is a habit I have (I LOVE going through people's bookshelves). I haven't been able to keep books since 2012 because of non-stop traveling/moving from one place to another. As far as I can remember, the last book I bought and was able to keep was in December 2013 (I can't tell you what it is - it's a controversial book, and I left it in a controversial country haha). Back to last weekend - I found this family's shelf very interesting: it was a mix of science and religion! Most Baha'i families's shelves that I've gone through only have Baha'i books, but this one had books from other religions as well, and a lot of sciences. As always, I picked out a book and asked permission to borrow. I only started reading "Your Best Brain" by Prof. John Medina recently and I love it already. It made me realize how much I've missed reading words and paragraphs that are not on CNN.com. I read news articles everyday and I'm so immersed in current affairs that I've totally forgotten about other literature. After this book, I plan to visit a bookstore and buy myself a new adventure. 

In this post, I'm going to share with you all the books I've read in the last one year (since August 2015) - most of which were borrowed off friends' shelves in India. 

1) Baha'u'llah: The Promised One, by Gloria Faizi
It took me several weeks to read this little book - because it made me cry a lot. It's beautifully written. It's filled with stories about the early Baha'is, particularly the difficulties they faced. The descriptions of the horrific opposition they faced --- it's stories like the ones in this book that make me feel really blessed to be a Baha'i...and constantly remember to seize the opportunities I have today, which are very unlimited compared to the early believers, and teach the Faith...through words and deeds.
*Read more about Gloria Faizi in this link

2) In Grandfather's Barn, by William Sears
This was the book I got from the same shelf right after returning the previous one. I wanted something lighter...so I picked this book because of its cover! I wouldn't really call it a book for children, but the writing was a lot simpler ...though you had to do a lot of reading between the lines. It had a lot of humour...but it was deep...very deep... about "faith".

Teacher's Day is Students Day!

This blog is having a lot of throwbacks! Well, it's because I had such a wonderful experience in India but the memories are just locked away in a dropbox folder. I'm so eager to share them now!

sweet farewell gift from my senior animators

Today is Teacher's Day! We never celebrated teachers day in my schools in Nigeria, and I don't remember anything in University. So last year was my first time, not as a student but as a teacher! We had half-day work at City Montessori School (CMS) - I was greeted with "hi ma'am! here's a pen for you!" Yep, got a bunch of pens that day. I followed the teachers as they hopped from class to class - each class had a presentation for them. The two most memorable were with one 8th grade section and the naughtiest 6th grade section. In Grade 8, they did a comedy show! One boy was in front, making hilarious imitations of some of the teachers, including the junior in-charge who was present. We laughed so much because he was such a pro, especially at imitating her shouting! It got a bit awkward when he imitated another teacher insulting the students. Then suddenly one of the teachers said "do Farzaneh ma'am!" I thought to myself 'I don't think he can pull it off, I haven't spent enough time with this section', and you won't guess what happened... He walked to the door and put on a pack bag and walked to the front. I laughed like a hyena - he noticed that detail about me - I carried my pack bag to all my classes (I never left it in the staff room because I always had my laptop with me, and I also always carried coloring pens/crayons and chart paper around). This boy stood infront of us and said "everyone stand up, let's pray." So the students played along (they stood up and they started to chant "O Friend, in the Garden of they heart" then he stopped them and said "Wait, you stop laughing. Let's start again" ....oh yeah he got my serious face on point!! IT WAS SO FUNNY! The other students laughed too, but my fellow teachers in the room looked lost - they didn't know I started each class with a prayer...guess I was the only one who did that.

The next class I went to - well, I didn't even want to go there.

Bread Pizza

I'll let you in on a little secret - I'm terrible at making dough. I've tried kneading pizza dough a few times, and yes I got the right texture (it came out soft and moist) but I could never flatten it out equally on the pan (some parts were always thick, some thin). But I love pizza. I love making my own pizza too. So how am I able to make pizza when I can't make proper dough? I substitute! Here are some of the tricks I've pulled off, using three kinds of bread!

1)This is Lebanese bread (you find them everywhere in Nigeria. I haven't found anything exactly like it here in the Philippines - closest is the Greek pita bread). What I do is was spread some ketchup on the bread, drop some slices of hotdog, tomatoes, mushrooms, then some mozzarella cheeze and into the oven. I take it out when I see the cheese has melted. This is insanely delicious! When it comes to pizza, I always prefer thin crust, and that's exactly what I get here because this bread is thin - so the edges are a bit crispy and the middle really soft. 

The only challenge is there's no way to slice this! You either have to tear the bread in half (tricky) or just hold the whole thing and enjoy! You can also roll the bread like a shawarma ;)

2) Your regular square bread!

I've done this multiple times, especially when I was in England, but the only picture I have is the one time when I folded the pizza into a sandwich. So same steps as above - spread ketchup, add the hotdog and cheese and put in the oven. I don't keep this in the oven too long because this bread toasts easily - I still want it to be soft, and not crispy all over (I don't want it tasting like biscuit pizza lol).

I apologize for this poor photo! but you get the point :)

3) This next one is a trick my Dad and I did in Iran this year. My mom is the dough queen, but she wasn't around. SO my Dad went to a bread shop (Iran has their own kind of bread; they're not into square bread or baguettes. Their typical bread is almost similar to the Indian's naan). The bread shop my Dad went to was one where they made noon sangak (go to google here). The bread is cooked on top of hot stones, inside a brick dome. The bread is usually turned twice inside before taken out.  My Dad requested them to give him a half-cooked bread, meaning, to give him the bread after being turned in the dome only once. In the picture below, you'll see the bread flat on the baking pan, with tomato sauce on top. We overloaded our pizza with toppings because Iran has amazzzinnnnggg fresh vegetables -mushrooms, zucchini, tomatoes, olives, onions, green pepper (and really cheap too, compared to Nigeria or the Philippines) and mozzarella is also really cheap there! the chicken salami too.

I put this on my instagram some time ago - pizza competition with my mom. Of course she did better because no substitution comes close to reeaaallll dough!!

See Seafood!

I believe that every family (or shall I say foodie-family lol) has that one favorite place in common to eat out. Think back to your childhood. Or perhaps even now? Or perhaps you don't go there as often anymore but you continue recommending it to friends? Here in the Philippines, our family place is "that seafood restaurant". Yep, that's how we call it. Of course that restaurant has a name 'Yatai Ramen' but if I tell my parents or brother let's go to Yatai Ramen, they'd have no idea where I'm talking about. Someone brought us there several years ago, and we just kept coming back. During my University years here, my family would visit me once every year and I'd drive them straight from the airport to this restaurant. My brother and I have celebrated birthdays there, and I've brought a few visiting Baha'i friends there as well. Of course the Philippines has its national/popular favorites (eg. pancit - noodles and pork adobo) but then we also enjoy an abundance of seafood
(coz we're a bunch of islands!)

seafood market with a variety of shrimps, fish & clams

Yatai Ramen is only one of dozens of restaurants in an area called Dampa (along Macapagal, near Mall of Asia). On one side you see the seafood market and on the other side you see lots of restaurants. Yatai Ramen also happens to be the first you see when you enter. You have to go to the market first and buy your fish, then bring it to the restaurant and choose from their menu how you'd like your fish cooked. This is really good, because at least you've seen that your fish is fresh. And besides, the is very organized and is always clean, but you have to do a lot of bargaining. Sometimes we walk all the way til the last stall before we can find cheaper shrimps. Our family pick is ALWAYS shrimps and mussels (tahong). Four the four of us, a kilo of each is ideal. We bring them over to Yatai Ramen and ask for the shrimps to be cooked in "chilli garlic sauce" and the mussels "baked with cheese and garlic". This is our classic order. 

perfect for 3 - 4 people. 

I went there few days ago and I was really impressed with how the taste never changed - the richness of the chilli garlic sauce on the shrimps and the generous quantity of cheese on the mussels are the same! My parents actually tried making these at home before - my mom bought mussels and baked them with cheese and garlic, and my Dad once tried making a chilli garlic sauce for the shrimps (but with Nigerian pepper, so it was chilli chilli garlic hehe). I realized the recipe is really simple, but certain long-time-favorites are just better enjoyed NOT at home :)

Pictures from that seafood place

This is their delicious baked mussels! See the cheese and the garlic
Sometimes I scoop it out with a spoon, sometimes I suck it off the shell. 

Family orders. Picture below is with a visiting friend from Japan.
We usually start off with spoonand fork but we always end up 
having to get our fingers dirty (and yummy) peeling the shrimps

This was on my 20th birthday - see how we nothing was left in the end!