Queenkv’s Brainpickings

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Like many young punks growing up, I didn’t think I’d make it to my 30th birthday. I was too wild for my own good. Besides, being an adult was so ordinary! I couldn’t imagine myself being married nor could I see myself working and paying bills.

When I was younger, 30 seemed like the end of the world. It was the end of the countdown to settling down. I figured if I made it to 30, I would be knocked up or have already given birth to a mini-Kristina or two. I imagined I would have settled for a white-collar drone job that simply paid the bills. I pictured myself with a dumpy body. Between taking care of kids and working full-time, I imagined wouldn’t have any time to take care of myself.

Now I know I’m coming to terms with being an adult. It feels like my life is far from ordinary and I am grateful for the amazing adventures I’ve had around the country and the world.

I’ve had one foot in Rome and the other in Vatican City.

I straddled the Prime Meridian.

I also towered over the International Boundary at Niagara Falls.

On the road, Mark and I drove to Chicago, New York and back to California. And then onwards to my first news job in Kansas.

In the Sunflower State, I watched tornadoes twist on our skycams. I also watched homes, farms and towns washed away by the floods.

In London, I rubbed shoulders with Jude Law and Sienna Miller. I also interviewed Pierce Brosnan at a movie premiere at Leicester Square.

In Washington D.C., I covered the President’s Inaugural Ball and I interviewed Senator Obama on his first day in Congress.

So far, I’m having fun as an adult - with my marriage and career. Mark believes in me. That gives me the courage to face the challenges in television news. My family loves me. That gives me the strength to endure the roller coaster nature of the media industry. My friends get me. That helps me balance working hard and playing harder.

Standing at the edge of 30, I can imagine a future with kids. I can see little Marks and Kristinas running around, getting in trouble and being amazing. We’ll take them to Disney World (so that other people won’t think I’m a monster for dissing on Mickey Mouse). I’ll drive them to baseball practice and dance rehearsals. Mark will help them with math and science homework. We’ll introduce them to Europe and the Philippines. We’ll show them it’s OK to be different. When I’m ready to be a mom, I will do everything in my power to help our kids make their dreams come true.

If anything, turning 30 is like the start of another adventure. So, rock on!

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I loved the smell of bacon frying in our kitchen. The bay leaf, parsley, onion and bacon fat added rich, smoky flavors to this rice dish. Next time, I’d like to try this recipe with Canadian bacon.

Rice is part of my earliest food memories. Before kindergarten, I remember listening to the rice cooker bubbling in my cousin’s house in Rowland Heights. I remember the smells of my lola’s chicken adobo mixing with the steamy rice. Sometimes she tried making us eat more exotic Filipino dishes (at least to our American toddler palates) and I remember the only thing I could finish on my plate was the steamed white rice. In our Diamond Bar house, I remember my dad frying up rice, soy sauce, eggs, meat and veggies for a quick, hearty breakfast. At Cal, I followed a college friend’s example and rolled up a handful of rice inside dried seaweed leaves for a tasty snack. In the Philippines, my Tita Chita served up my favorite breakfast meal on our vacation: longanisa, pan de sal, fried eggs, rice and coffee. In our London flat, my bears cooked up Spanish-flavored rice.

Bottom line: I like rice. I can’t live without rice and I don’t want to.

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Lately, I’ve been going back to my food roots and exploring rice dishes. I’ve figured out the Spanish paella and the Italian risotto. Now I’m trying to master the art of fried rice. It’s one of the most basic Filipino meals and I’m tripping over the combination of soy sauce, patis and salt. I also found some inspiration for fried rice in our Christmas present from my cousin and her hubby: Seduction of Rice.

I’m also in an egg phase. In our kitchen, I’ve rekindled my love for all savory parings of eggs. Like scrambling eggs with peanut oil for my Mom’s fried rice dish. Or frying an egg in olive oil and pairing it with slices of a prosicutto for a hearty breakfast sandwich. I’m digging the yellow yolk flavor spilling over toasted bread and white rice. Good times.

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A few weeks ago, I did coffee with a San Jose reporter. We met through AAJA and he has some amazing contacts in the business. He knows reporters and anchors at my old station in Kansas and my new one in Sacramento. We chatted about news, presidential candidates and weather. We’re both happy to escape Midwest winters.

Then we moved on to my favorite topic: food. He told me he had some yummy Filipino food in Lenexa. He also discovered balut at a Vietnamese restaurant in the Kansas City area. He said it’s not on the menu and you simply to have to ask for it. He said it’s one of his favorite Filipino delicacies, along with kari kari and halo halo.

Here’s a video of Anthony Bourdain trying Hot Vit Lon in Vietnam for his show “Cook’s Tour”. He’s a little more open-minded to tasting exotic stuff. On his trip to Nambia, he tried a warthog’s anus. Seriously.

I wonder if I’d have the same reaction. Balut and/or warthog.

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After a lifetime of being my father’s daughter, after 20 years of defining myself as an Arab-American writer, I began writing Origin, a different sort of book - an American one. By setting aside culture identity in my psychological thriller, I was reclaiming both my countries, all my selves.

It’s never one or the other for folks who grow-up hyphenated in America. I’ve pushed for balance in my own life. It was a bumpy 29 years, but eventually, I learned how to cherish both my Filipino and American identities. I’ve also learned to ignore cultural expectations from others and follow my own path. That’s stopped me from going crazy.

This is a good thing. I’ve also grown more tolerant of ignorant and racially-biased questions. From strangers wondering how my family accepted a white man as my husband to others wondering if I knew how to celebrate Thanksgiving (because that holiday doesn’t exists in my parents’ homeland or something.) I’ve had to bite my tongue hard from spewing something mean and realize they’re not being cruel in return.

I found a way to answer those questions with respect and without callousness. I tell myself to take this opportunity to educate them. I’ve learned tolerance goes both ways.

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originally uploaded by queenkv.

I picked up Mark from the airport on Saturday night. We headed to Lawrence to do dinner with Fally. We ended up taking a drunken tour of downtown Mass. At the replay lounge, Mark stayed with the Latino spirit with his choice in cerveza. I was sipping on a greyhound, in honor of my drinking buddy in SF, Susan.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

Yummy Filipino food in Topeka! On Sunday night, we went to the May Festival at Christ the King Church. I bought tickets from a Filipina I met at the gym. She asked me if I met my husband on the internet. Than I realized she I thought I was one of those internet brides, marrying for a visa. I set her straight, explaining I was born in this country…and she invited me to the party. I loved this lichon. They also served up adobo (chicken and pork), lumpia, pansit and more. But they were running low on rice. I ended up having a good time at the party, chatting with a family who just finished up a trip to Manila. We also met a priest from Ghana, who was catching up with his tennis partner; an older Filipina who used to be a teacher.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

Filipinos doing country-line dancing….Mark said that was when he knew he was back in Kansas. One lady told me they learned how to do the synchronized dancing at a family reunion. How about that. This was the electric slide and the one dance I recognized. So, yeah - I gave in to the mob mentality and clomped my way through the dance. Good times.

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My dad and Tita Chita whipped up some yummy Filipino food. It’s always a pleasure to dig into food I grew up with: pansit, adobo, rice, ribs and more.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

Then the cork broke inside a bottle of cheap red wine. So Mark came up with the idea of using a coffee filter to save what’s left of the alcohol. My hubby is so smart!

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The next day, we had dinner at Hyakumi inside Caesar’s Palace. It’s located across from Cleopatra’s Barge. This sashimi platter had some amazingly fresh pieces of fish - tuna, salmon, yellow tail and more. I also ordered up a side of a toro roll - the fatty part of the tuna. It tasted buttery and smooth. Our server was a sweet Filipina who recognized my dad from earlier visits. Despite carding me, she took care of all our culinary needs.

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My dad got us tickets to see The Producers at Paris. A thoroughly entertaining show starring David Hasseloff as the cross-dressing director. The former Knight Rider knows how to sing and he made a hell of an entrance in that sparkling black and silver dress. I hope for his sake he wasn’t wearing heels for that scene. The men who played Leo and Max were from London’s West End production. The original movie with Gene Wilder is still my favorite version, but I warmed up to the latest incarnation of the show. Since Springtime for Hitler was made for Broadway, it was a pleasure to watch the outrageous costumes, songs and dances on the Vegas stage.

Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Watch out, Europe
We’re going on tour!

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Our show tickets gave us a two-for-one drink special at Napoleon’s. These dueling piano players took requests for any rock ‘n’ roll song, as long you were willing to tip often. And at times, they’d avoid doing a song if you were willing to tip more. Folks were having a good time and they played a bawdy tune for a birthday girl. We requested “November Rain”, by Gun and Roses. They took one look at our request, played some snipit of another November Rain song and said it was a bad idea. Grrr….I was annoyed they couldn’t even make fun of the right Guns and Roses song. So, yeah.

Still, we had a blast in Vegas…we always do.

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