I just read on Nerissa’s blog about ooligan grease — which really intrigues me. We use fermented fish and seafood, particularly shrimp, in our cooking, but this is the first time I’ve heard of fish oil in cooking (the only fish oil I know anything about is cod liver oil, which I don’t think I want to put in pasta anytime soon). Google ooligan and you’ll find lots of interesting information. Here’s one that caught my eye. Did that just say RETINOL? I haven’t used the stuff (and don’t plan to anytime soon) but it seems everytime I open a magazine, there’s an ad for it — I wonder if this is the source? Regardless, I think I’d rather have the stuff on my plate than on my face .

Did you know that some people actually eat armadillos? When hubby was a small child, he took his first trip to the US and his one goal was to come home from Texas having caught himself an armadillo. I love this story because I can imagine him as a little boy walking around Houston looking for this animal. Today I was browsing through Alan Davidson’s book The Oxford Companion to Food and I found an entry on armadillos and how it’s actually eaten in Brazil! And look! I even found recipes! When I Googled I found a whole bunch of recipes too that are called “armadillo-whatever” but they were just made-up names of other dishes. Interesting though.

So, if I served you armadillo, slathered in butter, would you eat it with me? We’d have to catch one first, though.

We regularly post prayer requests at the homeschooling forum. Last year I managed one of the 4 prayer request lists of the homeschooling group. I am surrounded by prayer, and prayerful people, online and off, and I’ve tried to make my life a prayer, talking to God at random moments during the day, but for some reason, this morning, I have been thinking about prayer itself.

On some level, I do understand that all prayer is prayer. That prayer is nothing more than communication with my God, be it through a “formula” prayer that is said from the depths of my heart, or through a statement as simple as “God, help me!”

A friend recently asked for prayers for her unborn child, and I promised our family’s rosary that night for her. When I promise to pray for people, I don’t know why, but while praying the particular prayer that was promised (hah!), I feel guilty when I start thinking of other things or praying for other things. It’s like I’m “cheating” the person of the prayer that I’m saying for him/her. I know that shouldn’t be the case, but that’s how I feel.

I know the notion that some prayers count more than others is ridiculous, perhaps it’s something I picked up as I was exposed to other faiths, and heard/read others belittling the Catholics’ formula prayers. (Though I had always believed that it’s not the words you say but how much of yourself you put into the prayer.) Or perhaps it’s my relative ignorance about traditional prayers of the Church. I do know certain prayers but I admit I’d have to Google if you asked me to give you a novena for getting a new job, let’s say. Not that I think a novena is more powerful than simply saying, “Lord, bless that person and help him get a new job.” Or maybe it’s my exposure, in recent years, to people who have the “prayer answer” to this and that, and the realization that I’m not as good a Catholic as I’d like to be. Which is totally wrong since I’m sure God will not ask me how many prayers I know or how many saints from whom I’ve asked intercession. Maybe it’s the desire to teach my children something that I still don’t fully comprehend. Maybe it’s my own drive for perfectionism, this know-all tendency that comes from and can amount to nothing but evil. Maybe it’s because the more I get to know my faith, the more I’m aware of the blanks and gaps that exist…. and I struggle with the knowledge that in the end, those blanks and gaps won’t matter anyway…. though I still would like to fill them. Hmm.

I was bloghopping over at Pinoy Teacher’s Network and saw this post. (LOL, wrong time to be bloghopping, got a ton of things to do but I couldn’t resist responding to this.)

My comment was:

best time to teach your child sex education: when you’ve prepared yourself, and when your child is ready for it — hence 2 requirements: 1) prepare yourself so there are no surprises, and 2) know your child well (both easier said than done). sex education is the parents’ responsibility. PERIOD. the only time i would prefer sex educ in school is if the parents won’t take the time or the energy to get involved and talk to their kids, which sadly is prob. the majority of public school kids in the US. we parents should not shy away from talking with our kids about sex, it is our God-given DUTY and PRIVILEGE. the thing is, “sex educ” does not mean giving your child every little detail — age and prior knowledge are factors as well. for a toddler who asks where did i come from, you could still say God sent you from heaven or from mommy’s tummy. the same answer is obviously not suitable for a 14-year-old, though both are still true, and if he heard those as a child all you need to do is expand on those in language he will now better appreciate.

tito rolly, i’m conservative, but there’s a way to be conservative and still talk to our kids about what they need to know. they cannot go into adulthood knowing nothing — the media or friends will give them the info, so it’s best WE give it to them, in the context they should receive it. — this is getting too long, sorry:(

and the continuation…

But I have given up on referring to their genitals as “birds” when they began to refer to them in the lingo, which they picked up in school.

Precisely why we need to talk to them first. Sooner or later they WILL hear something at school. Even if what they hear isn’t what we want them to hear, the fact that we’ve already touched on the subject with them at home means they have something to fall back on instead of being completely in the dark, which can sometimes result in the children thinking of their peers as “the person to ask”, instead of their parents.

Teachers and curriculum planners should not stop at merely discussing the physiology of sex but should include the social, economic, moral, and psychological impact of sex and do it creatively

Exactly, but at the same time this statement has to apply to parents first and foremost. No matter where our children learn about sex, they will be learning about it in the context presented by the teacher/friend/media/whathaveyou. In what CONTEXT would you prefer that they learn about sex? I would prefer that they learn about it in the comfort of their home, preferably in the loving arms of a parent who has their best interests at heart. In a conversation that’s held in the quiet of their room, or your living room, or in a father-son/mother-daughter date. Whatever our beliefs, they SHOULD affect the subject. You cannot discuss sex clinically and expect children to derive the real lessons you want them to extract from “the talk”. Sex should always be discussed in conjunction with our faith and our morals. That’s the only way we can be consistent and unambiguous. That’s the only way we can give our children the confidence to approach us when they have questions. The first time you get to it more “in depth” with a teen is also the best time to go into a contract with them. Promise your child that you will always answer his questions truthfully, and deliver on that promise. Promise your child that you will not see any question as stupid. Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know.” If I’m unprepared to discuss something with my child, I say so. I say something to the effect of, “I’m glad you came to me with this question, and it’s very important that we discuss this, but the information I have is incomplete right now, or I still need to figure out what the best way is to tell you about this in words you will understand.” Most importantly, I ask my child to promise that if he/she ever has questions related to his/her body, or relationships, etc., that he/she come to me FIRST. This does two things: It increases your child’s confidence and trust in you, and it increases your trust in your child (a good thing). If we’ve done a good job of building up our relationship with our child over the years, this should not be difficult and should actually just be another step in the right direction. If we know we haven’t done a very good job, now’s the time to backtrack a bit, make deposits and investments into that relationship if we haven’t done it before.

“How come they kiss and have babies when they’re not even married?” (My son asked me this question).

I think my first question would be, how was the child introduced to this concept of kissing-having-babies-not-being-married? That is the first question that needs to be asked. Are we allowing our children access to information/influences/TV shows that are not exactly appropriate for their age or their base knowledge?

It’s true that for most of us, our parents didn’t do a very good job of educating us about sex. These subjects were still pretty much taboo at the time. But we could either complain and blame, or we can move forward. That was then, this is now. We also had a different set of challenges to deal with when we were teenagers. Our kids are bombarded now, nonstop, left and right, TV, radio, Internet — it’s everywhere. You either block it out completely (close to impossible), ignore the threat, i.e., let them be exposed to anything and everything without paying attention to the consequences, OR, as I believe we should, choose to FILTER what comes into our homes and our conversations. Yes, it is very difficult, and it’s the unique challenge we face today. But it’s doable. With unconditional love, anything is doable.

No, our job may not be perfect. Our children may still stumble. There may be heartaches we didn’t foresee. But if we’ve done our best (and prayed our best), chances are they’ll look back one day and have these lessons and promises in the back of their minds, ready to surface when their heads and hearts are ready to be touched again.

Just wanted to share:

Here’s the official announcement today for AboutWeblogs — where I have my Asian Food blog — merger with b5media. Exciting stuff!

For those that don’t know, stefoodie.net is my “playing area” and the Asian food blog is where I get disciplined and trained as a writer, I’m hoping in preparation for my cookbook (currently in the works). Shai Coggins, the gal who started AboutWeblogs (see her impressive resume) is our awesome manager/director/coach/teacher/mentor at AboutWeblogs.com and we are all super-excited about this! Come visit us sometime!

Fellow homeschooling mom Karen Edmisten writes about her journey as a convert. Being a cradle Catholic, I’ve been through everything she talks about, I’ve had my ups and downs, phases of questioning and doubt, etc. And I’m still here. Just today I was telling hubby how he scared me with his story about a co-worker who had left the Church and whom hubby would love to bring back to the Church. I wanted to stop him, I’ve been warned by people before — what if you don’t know enough? What if he pulls you out instead? What if you begin to doubt? But I have to remember that no matter how my dear hubby is largely “unschooled” in matters of the faith, that he (besides my parents) is the one person who’s held up my faith in the times when I’ve been doubtful. He’s the one who lives a truly Christian life day in and day out, much more so than I do. He’s a cradle Catholic but he lives his faith simply. He’s not going to be a Scott Hahn or a Jeff Cavins, but he has been Christ’s witness to me for as long as I can remember. If anything, I have been converted and re-converted because of him and his example. I should have no doubt that he can bring this man back to the Church if that’s what God wants him to do.

I know I haven’t posted about our trip to Boston and Cambridge in September, and unfortunately I have no good excuse save for the backlog of pictures and drafts that I have in my folders! (sigh) You can only blog so much in a day….

I’ll start at the end, how’s that? The picture above are goodies from Stel at Baby Rambutan, whom we finally met! Our families had a lovely time together. We arrived in Cambridge on a Saturday and went to the MIT Museum, as my boys (including the hubby who’s a mechanical engineer) are big robot fans. Then we had lunch at the Cambridge institution Mary Chung’s, where we had our fill of Szechwan food — I forgot to ask that they tone down the heat on the Dun Dun Noodles, so we were scarfing down water with each bite (we should have brought milk!). But everything else was just perfect and exactly what we were hoping for — especially the soup dumplings, which the kids loved that we had to place several orders . Mary Chung’s is a small hole in the wall, nothing pretentious about it, and for a family of 6 who just got off a 6-hour drive, that’s a blessing.

Sunday was spent in Boston seeing historical landmarks like Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution. Particularly difficult to navigate at the time because of all the construction going on, but that’s not a complaint. We had lunch at Faneuil Hall where hubby indulged my love of lobster with a lobster roll. Yum!!! After lunch, we walked all the way to the
Boston Children’s Museum. The kids spent a good two hours exploring while we waited to meet Stel and her family.

What’s thrilling about it, not only for me and Stel, but for our families as well, is that we’ve never had an EB before! Hubby and I are pretty cautious people; after we got married we’ve tended to stay in our comfort zone socially, so it was really neat to meet these folks. Stel and I did spend a few hours on the phone the few days before we met, so we all felt like we’ve known each other for a while, even the kids! You should have seen our boys. They made fast friends and on our way out my boys were already asking me when they would get to see Stel’s family again. One day soon, I hope!

Anyway, Stel and family took us to the No Name Restaurant, right by the water, so the view was beautiful, although to be honest, we spent more time chatting than enjoying it:D. Now if all people were like Stel I wouldn’t hesitate to go on more of these EBs LOL. I can’t believe the “pabaon” (goodies) she sent with us on our way back to the hotel. What an angel — these are things I have to drive several hours just to find. I’m sure you won’t be surprised that the pandesal became our midnight snack along with the mango juice. And when we got home the next day, too wiped out to cook, dinner was corned beef and tuyo (dried fish in oil), courtesy of Stel. But regardless of foodie gifts, it was such a heart-warming experience just to see a fellow foodie friend. Salamat again, Stel dear!