Tag Archives: Ateneo

Invite: Discover Filipino Cuisine – Dinner-Lecture at Café Ysabel

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The Cultural Heritage Studies Program of
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Ateneo de Manila University
Offers

EXPLORING FILIPINO TASTE THROUGH COMPARISONS
A Dégustation at Café Ysabel
P. Guevarra, San Juan del Monte, Metro Manila
26 January and 1 February 2012
6:30pm – 9:30pm
(These are two alternative dates. Please choose which date is more convenient for you.)

Objective: To understand the originality of a cultural artifact, cross-cultural comparisons are useful. To the frequent question: What makes Filipino cuisine unique and original?, a good answer would be to compare particular dishes with their foreign counterparts.

This annual dinner was conceived and actualized by Dr. Fernando N. Zialcita, an anthropologist, and Mr. Gene Gonzalez, a chef and culinary writer, over the course of nine years in order to help Ateneo students appreciate experientially the specificity of the Filipino cooking style.  This dinner forms part of the syllabus of a course called Culture and the Senses, and is one of the activities in the Social Sciences Week.

It is open to the public. Indeed various experts in Philippine cuisine and culture have tasted this dinner and have enjoyed it. They have even written about it in the national dailies.

MENU
Kinilaw na Tuna

Mexican Ceviche

Sinigang na Maya-maya Fish
Tom Sab Pla Soup  from Thailand

Filipino Adobo
Andalucian Adobo

Pinoy Barbecue with Pinoy Kurat
Char Siu with Taiwan Pickles

Kare-Kare
Thai Masaman Curry

Pancit Bihon
Vietnamese Bun Noodles

Tibok-tibok
Arroz con Leche

Mantecado Ice Cream
Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Coffee or Tea

Food preparation and narration by Chef Gene Gonzalez
Introduction and commentary by Dr. Fernando N. Zialcita

P 670.00 Net / Person (Tax Included, No Service Charge) You may procure your admission ticket from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology (G/F Ricardo and Dr. Rosita Leong Hall, Loyola Schools, Ateneo de Manila University). The deadline for full payment is on 25 January (12 noon) for the 27 January degustation, and 30 January (12 noon) for the one on 1 February.

– DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY
Ateneo de Manila University
School of Social Sciences
Loyola Schools
Rm. LH 100, 1/F
Ricardo & Dr. Rosita Leong Hall
Loyola Heights, Quezon City
1108 Philippines
Tel No.: (632)426-6001, Ext. 5270/5271
Tel/Fax: (632) 4265990
Email: socio@admu.edu.ph
Website: www.dsa-ateneo.net

5 Things I Learned from Ricky Tantoco

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Originally on 5 Things I Learned – March 17, 2011

Tonight, the choral group I belong to, the Ateneo de Manila College Glee Club performed for officers and staff of the Energy Development Corporation at the invitation of one of our patrons Mr. Ricky and his wife, Vicky Tantoco. After the performance, Mr. Ricky Tantoco was gracious enough to chat with us. It was an evening of music, wine and wisdom. I picked up so many lessons tonight, but I’d like to share three in particular.

When Sir Ricky was in his mid-twenties, he found himself at a crossroads. He had been working for a multinational for sometime and had risen up the ranks and stationed abroad and was earning quite well. He was thinking of taking his MBA abroad. The company offered everything to get him to stay. Confused, he spoke with his uncle Cesar Buenaventura former CEO of Shell Philippines LLC in the 70s-80s. The first three things I learned from Sir Ricky, were actually pieces of wisdom his uncle Cesar shared with him.

1) Always choose skill over well everything else.
I would phrase it as… Go with where you can learn and grow. Choose skill and learning over pay, position, company friends, etc.
Note: Sir Ricky decided to leave the multinational and study.

2) Don’t compromise your integrity.
Simple and straight to the point, without integrity there is no sustainability.

3) The money will come when you’re in your forties.
Build a solid foundation from which to build your life and make each brick count. Reinforce areas that are weak and when the time comes you’ll find yourself with a structure people will pay for to see, to enter, to appreciate, to enjoy, to engage, to use, to exist in.

Sir Ricky also shared with us a conversation he had with Fr. Adolfo Dacanay, SJ the chair of the Theology department of the Ateneo de Manila University. Fr. Dax is a professor of theology and his courses focus on love and marriage. He is also a Canon Lawyer and as such has handled thousands of annulment cases in the Philippines. Sir Ricky asked Fr. Dax what based on his reasons are the 3 Most Important Reasons why Marriages are annulled. Sir Ricky, shared two with us… he forgot the third (but promised to check his notes and share the last one with us on our next Christmas Caroling with their family.)

4) One of the two partners are fundamentally broken.

I’ve done a piece about brokenness before, and I agree completely. The most broken people have experienced childhood trauma, violence or abuse that they never recover from. Sometimes they have cast a veneer of normalcy, so that you would never suspect how hollow their sense of self is. Initially, pointers are not definitive things like possessiveness and temperamentalness – things that would seem more like personality defects. But for broken people, these are just the tip of the iceberg. Their brokenness comes out by way of increasing frequency and degree of physical and especially psychological abuse.

5) The great divide and the Messianic Complex.

There is a great challenge when bridging divides between two people the most common is socio-economic disparity, educational disparity and religious disparity. You have one partner who feels ‘superior’ or ‘more blessed’ and thus feels that he or she can ‘improve’ the life of the other. Eventually the messiah feels frustrated that the other doesn’t want to change, and the one who doesn’t want to change feels pressured to change even if he or she doesn’t want to.

It was truly a night that reaffirmed the importance of connections and conversations…all that’s missing is convergence.

Between Seduction & Mission

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"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." — E.B. White

I encountered this beautiful quote the other day through stumbleupon and I couldn’t help but think that socially oriented individuals – those of us working as civil servants, social entrepreneurs, development workers, social workers and the like struggle with a desire to ‘enjoy the world’ and to ‘improve the world’ everyday.

I think a person once he/she makes a commitment to development work has to come to terms with three things:

1) Income – Anyone considering development work seems to automatically assume that his/her income will be less than that of peers in the corporate world. I think this is generally true…however this doesn’t necessarily translate to being poor yourself or even needing to deprive yourself.  It is problematic because it is an “assumption” that doesn’t take into account the additional income opportunities available through academe, research, consultation and social entrepreneurship. Admittedly though, In my experience with Colayco Foundaion, development workers have to be more prudent and purpose driven in their financial planning especially if they wish to maintain or exceed the lifestyle they had prior to development work or when they were supported by their parents. Thus, personal finance planning is key to a financially independent future!

2) Luxury – Working with and for others who are not as financially blessed as you are definitely makes you feel thankful for the simple and extravagant luxuries you do have…but at the same time it can also make you feel guilt. The price of the luxury item is not the issue…it’s the idea that you (as an income earning development worker) can even think of enjoying luxury while there are others that cannot. And then there’s also the ‘fear’ that someone else might see and think ill of us. But the think is, depriving yourself of things that bring you added joy. Whether its buying a new outfit just because, treating yourself to an expensive dinner or maybe something as simple as taking an air conditioned bus instead of the ordinary one, we need to pamper ourselves! It is one way of taking care of yourself (especially if it is done in a financially responsible way). It helps us refuel our energy tanks…to this effect we shouldn’t feel guilty in enjoying luxuries prudently.

3) Work-Life Balance – Just the other day Joyce Talag, an AdMU Development Studies Alumna, asked whether development workers would be willing to volunteer for a development related activity during their free time. The younger ones said yes…the more seasoned ones said no and maybe. Yes development workers are striving to accomplish the impossible. Every task seems like mission critical. Thus so much energy – physical, emotional, mental – is used up. The young have so much energy that in their free time they can still continue to “work” But burn out is inevitable and eventually they will become ineffective. Those in the sector for quite some time have learned that there are other things equally as important: the self, family and friends.  To live as though the only thing in our world is our work (unrooted in the self, family and friends and God) is dangerous. Learning how to balance life young nips a usually turbulent transition (from a work-dominated to a balanced life) later in life.

Inspiration is borne of Irritation

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Tonight I had the wonderful opportunity of attending Gawad Kalinga’s Center for Social Innovation night at Ateneo de Manila University. My friend, Karl Satinitigan has been inviting me to attend but the trip from Pasig to Ateneo was tiring and impractical when I was still working full-time.

Many things struck me tonight, but one clear idea came from RJ Ledesma one of the entrepreneurs behind Mercato Centrale food market in Bonifacio Global City. He said more often than not “Inspiration is born of irritation.” Mercato was borne out of his wife’s irritation that the existing food markets – the traditional Filipino wet and dry markets better known as the palengke – and also the weekend markets in Legazpi and Salcedo street in Makati were not comfortable-hot, sometimes smelly, crowded, etc. I guess in her mind she asked – Why should I subject myself to this when I can create a market that is more comfortable? And thus the inspiration to begin Mercato was born.

Since hearing those words, I’ve been thinking about what are the things that irritate me and here’s what I’ve come up with on the fly:

  1. Inefficient systems and processes
  2. Bad customer service
  3. Metro Manila’s Public Transport System
  4. Corruption and Metro Manila Traffic Enforcers
  5. How little hard working poor people earn
  6. walking on uneven side walks
  7. that pedestrian lanes are not respected by vehicles
  8. smart and capable graduates from schools other than the Big4 and some of the more notable ones don’t get to have a decent chance compared to graduates from the Big4
  9. electronics are made to be broken – high tech gadgets, home and kitchen appliances, etc. do not last.
  10. laptops, cellphones, and other gadgets even the cheap ones are still expensive…and the cheap ones are not made to last

Am I inspired by these irritations? Not at the moment – at least not enough to be able to think of a potentially profitable social enterprise that can address these. But it does inspire me to look for solutions because each of this is a potential venture and being able to rid the world of this would make a greater number of people (other than myself) happy!

Ateneo College Glee Club Europe 2012

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I have been a member of the Ateneo de Manila College Glee Club for the past 6 years (since 2005) and in that time my beloved choir has gone on two local tours, one in North Luzon (Ilocos area) and another in Davao, three international tours for concerts and competitions Guam in 2009 and Europe in 2006 and 2011. We have also produced two CD recordings (which incidentally are running out of stock) and have staged countless concerts and performances.

This year we celebrate our 90th Season! We began with our European Tour 2011 entitled In eXCelsis Deo! We were awarded the Grand Prize of the International May Choir Competition Georgi Dimitrov Varna, Bulgaria. This distinction also qualifies us to compete for the European Gran Prix for Choral Singing in 2012 to be held in Maribor, Slovenia. 

Having been part of the organizing and implementing committees of the past three international tours, I am confident that we can organize the upcoming European Tour without much difficulty.

For more info about the Ateneo de Manila College Glee Club visit our website or facebook page. You may also email me at blogsbyguita@gmail.com should you have inquiries or would like to invite the ACGC to perform at your event.