One of my favorite restaurants: Krung Thai in Marikina

I love trying out new restaurants particularly those that are out of the way and not in the fashionable districts. Krung Thai is one such restaurant. It is situated somewhere in the Marikina Public Market (M. Cruz corner WC Paz, Sta. Elena with tel. no. 646-4041) and almost all its patrons go out of their way just to eat here. I discovered Krung Thai years ago while walking around the area. Everyone of my friends who I invited to eat here all swear by it and in turn have brought their own friends as well.

They infuse traditional Thai food to go with a Filipino palette making for a flavorable dish. I like how when I go here there are always a couple of people eating but it's never packed where it becomes irritating. That way the quaint and quiet atmosphere makes the dining experience even more enjoyable.

What did I have? I'm a creature of habit and I usually order the same stuff -- liempo cooked the Thai way (with a bowl of veggies it fetches for PhP199). The set meal also comes with a tall glass of Thai iced tea so it isn't so bad. Now I love veggies so I got the stir-fried kangkong (PhP59). I think I spent 45 minutes eating this dish so I could savor all the flavors. 

Here's the menu to Krung Thai (picture below). It really is an affordable and sumptuous place to eat and you'll love the quiet and laid back ambiance. One of their best sellers is the crispy chicken with steamed rice in coconut cream (PhP99). 

Who said making sandwiches wouldn't be this fun? But in an Intro to Journalism class. You bet.

In my Intro to Journalism class, I teach my students different facets of journalism. We'd done simulations of broadcasting. We've done podcasts. We've done a photo session. We've done a music review. And there was the more difficult investigative report. For this class and the next few ones, we're going to be doing more opinion-based ones.

What that means is it's a food class where every team gets to prep sandwiches with ingredients costing not more than Php500 and they must prep it in three minutes of less. Everyone gets to taste every group's sandwich and they have to individually review it. The kicker here is, we had a real chef... Chef Edward Bugia (Paolo's cousin) to review each and every sandwich and pick out the winner.  The winning group goes for dinner with me at a restaurant they have most likely not eaten at. 

While some group members were prepping their sandwiches, the others had to sell their original recipes. It is an exercise too in creativity. We had the "Fancy-log" (as in Tapsilog). The Buff Dude Sandwich. The Red Light District Sandwich. The Breakfast Club. And a few more (including a donut burger).

As usual, we got to see the class at its creative best. Was it an attempt to be healthy? Er.... just taste them and decide for yourself. While the some members of the teams were prepping the sandwiches, the showmen took over in selling their original creations.  In the pic above, Robi Non attempts his best Paolo Bediones impression. Stu Balmaceda (not in the pic) as always was a riot.

The big idea for my class is to give the students a taste of all sorts of journalism. Who knows how this will work out for them in the future.

The group of Meg, Jiggy, Raymond, Migo and Lou won with their "French"-inspired sandwich. Now the biggest treat of them all was Chef Edward prepping an original sandwich -- the Kani Dilis Salad Sandwich! A master at work, indeed. The sad thing is -- I didn't get to taste any of it. My students finished everything.

My class (three were absent as they were all out of town - Kirk, Thea, and Steffi) with Chef Edward.

Re-discovering the X-Men after Re-genesis

During the Holiday season, I bought myself a couple of trade paperbacks of X-Men comic books. I practically have every single X-Men comic book from until two years ago when the flood waters of Typhoon Ondoy destroyed much of my collection and with it my interest in reading and collecting.

But I guess you can say that I am a fan for life. I distinctly recall only one time when I stopped collecting and that was when I was in college and I lost some prized titles (mostly original Frank Miller Daredevils) to a burglary. In a fit of anger and madness, I sold my entire comic book collection. Months later, while in the midst of lecture on law, a classmate of mine brought out an X-Men comic book. I didn’t pay attention to the lecture and instead read the entire comic that was an X-Men Annual with Alan Davis doing the art chores. I was lost in the story arc then but my interest was piqued enough for me to go back into collecting.

After Ondoy, I tried reading a few titles but I had a hard time figuring out what had happened in the space of two years. I was lost. I found a re-entry point with Schism and have since picked up every X-title. What helped bring back my interest was picking up many of the trade paperbacks that collected the run of “the new X-Men” of Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, and John Byrne. And it was like getting reacquainted with an old friend. The stories have retained their charm over the decades. Every issue was a voyage of discovery that built on one another. And I intend to get trades of every single X-Men arc that I love.

Over the intervening years, the stories got darker and more grim. I have to admit that yes, there were some great storylines but what happened to self-contained arcs that were masterpieces in storytelling that laid the fount for the next generation of X-Men stories? Arcs such as God Loves, Man Kills, Madripoor Knights, and Mutant Massacre? In its place we had E is For Extinction, the Messiah Complex, and Schism.

Quite honestly, I am not crazy about the direction the books have taken but I understand why they have happened.

But I do miss the days when the team did not have to regularly deal with extinction events. The Regenesis titles have been interesting but I am still not in agreement with the premise of many things. The idea of reopening the school in Westchester is insane. How many people know that the X-Men are based there? It seems a little foolhardy and hypocritical. Wasn’t this the premise of the Generation X title until the creative groups strayed from their original vision.

The illusion of a normal life will come crashing down painfully on this group of X-Men. On the other hand, with Cyclops’ team, there have been so many compromises that it is quite obvious that some have agendas of their own. And poor Cyke will probably regret some of his decisions. But at the end of the day, these two teams will be reunited. And even at my age, I’ll be there for the ride.