On the "New" Batman

As an avid comic book reader and collector in my youth, the story of Batman and his adventures figured prominently in many idle hours past.

Furthermore, as a serious pencil sketcher or drawer in that same milieu, Batman also figured prominently because the drawings of Bob Kane, the original illustrator, were easy to draw and duplicate, aided of course, by the fact that the face of the masked crusader was quite simple in line and design. A mask with protruding bat ears, squared jaws, and nothing much more.

The original storyteller was one named Bill Finger and he started his series in 1939 without much fanfare. It was only later on that the "origin" of Batman was detailed in a rather short episode. He was witness to the robbery and murder of his parents, on a night out to the movies. Young Bruce vows to fight crime in memory of the sad plight of his parents. That's all. I remember that the comic book that had this episode devoted only maybe a dozen panels about the incident.

And back then, any signs of the "darkness" now popularly associated with Batman were limited to the facts that he took on the persona of a bat, which we all know is a nocturnal animal; that he was always summoned using a bat signal that lit the inky night sky. Or that the Wayne manor was depicted as a dimly-lit place which housed the equally dimly-lit bat cave, where most things associated with Batman were kept. But not much references to the darkness of his character, melancholic moods, or other dark human qualities.

I've personally kept a copy of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (1986) not because I like it but because it is a constant reminder for me how starkly different the Batman is now portrayed as compared to the Batman of my youth. And I do not mean just on the artwork. The simpler and easy to unravel masked Crusader with no dark sinister secrets bottled up or constantly conflicting him.

And thus, I often wonder how this metamorphosis came about. I doubt if the original creator, Bill Finger, had these now-accepted trivia stored up somewhere in the back of his mind waiting to be revealed and released at some future date. And this doubt extends to the original illustrator, Bob Kane, who probably was limited to the artwork.

Who started this gradual conversion of Batman into some kind of complex and inscrutable individual, confusing one whether he really stands for good or for something evil?

But definitely the movies and comic books about him now regularly portray him in this somber light. This most current movie, Batman Begins, which I have not yet seen, is touted by its makers and actors to become the definitive movie on Batman. The one that will come to mind first when movies about Batman are discussed.

Is it really? Or is it maybe, the definitive movie of the "new" Batman, sculpted to this dark image by some imaginative writers and equally creative screenplay-writers.

You know we are now a very complicated, conflicted, and at times sinister, society, so this simply may be a reflection of the current milieu. And a thirst-quenching product of our avid hunger for things front and center in our lives. Hollywood is arguably very adept at this.

A very far departure from the simpler and uncomplicated times of yesteryears.

Recipes From Eastern Visayas - Region VII

For this, we go to the storm-tossed islands of Leyte and Samar, periodically brought into our collective consciousness because of devastation wrought on their many places by typhoons. But Leyte is also home to the hardy Warays, they with their aggressive nature and can-do attitude. And this collection of recipes will also provide testimony to the region's other outstanding qualities.

TAMALUS
1 cup finely ground raw peanuts
3-1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoon atsuwete
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup water
1 cup malagkit flour
1/2 kilo pork liempo, cooked and thinly sliced
6 pieces banana leaves, wilted and greased (14"x15")

Cook peanut in water for 40 minutes.
Sauté atsuwete to extract color.
Remove seeds and brown garlic and onion.
Add peanut, vinegar, one teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.
Cook until peanut sauce is thick enough to spread.
Add the remaining seasonings to the water and mix flour to form a ball of dough.
Divided equally into two portions.
Put one portion on a banana leaf and roll out with a rolling pin.
For a rectangle 10"x5x1/8.
Steam 5 minutes.

Remove carefully from hot steam with a turner.
When cool, slip dough on another leaf.
On the dough, arrange half of the pork and top with peanut sauce.
Fold dough neatly and spread top with peanut sauce.
Wrap with a piece of banana leaf and tie securely with a string.
Repeat the same procedure with the other half of the dough.
Steam for two hours.
Before serving, divide each tamalus into 5 slices.

LELANG
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon garlic
2 tablespoons sliced onion
1/2 cup fresh shrimps, blanched and shelled
1 cup cubed boiled pork
2 cups shrimp juice from pounded heads of shrimps
1 cup munggo sprouts (togue)
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups sotanghon, soaked and cut 2" long
1 cup water
1/4 cup green onions
Dash of pepper

Sauté garlic, onion, shrimp and pork.
Add shrimp juice.
Cover and allow to boil.
Add togue and cover.
Cook 10 minutes.
Season to taste.
Add sotanghon and cook 5 minutes longer.
Add one cup water and bring to a boil.
Just before removing from fire, add green onions and dash of pepper.
Serve hot. Serves 6.

LAUOT-LAUOT
2 cups coconut milk (second extraction)
1 cup dried dilis
1 tablespoon bagoong alamang
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup cubed squash
2 cups sliced patola
1 cups cut kangkong stems (1" lengths)
1 cup cubed okra
1/4 cup red pepper
2 cups kangkong leaves
2 cups alugbati leaves
1/4 cup sliced tomatoes
1/2 cup pure coconut milk

Heat second extraction of coconut milk with dried dilis and bagoong.
Cook 10 minutes.
Season with salt.
Add squash and cook 3 minutes.
Add patola, kangkong stems, okra, red pepper, leafy greens and tomatoes.
Cook 4 minutes.
Add coconut milk and remove from fire as soon as it boils.
6 servings.

EGGPLANT PAKSIW
1 cup pure coconut milk
1/2 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon peppercorn
2 teaspoons salt
6 pieces medium eggplant, whole

Place all the above ingredients in a saucepan except eggplant.
Bring to a boil and stir to avoid curdling of coconut milk.
Add eggplant and cook 15 minutes.
6 Servings.

BOCARILLO
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 cups grated coconut
1/2 cup evaporated milk (undiluted)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon kalamansi juice

Mix sugar and grated coconut.
Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly to avoid burning.
Add milk little by little, mixing thoroughly.
Add slightly beaten eggs; continue mixing over moderate. Heat.
Flavor with kalamansi juice.
Remove from fire and drop by teaspoonfuls on wilted banana leaf or wax paper.
Yield: 50 pieces.

BINANGOL
3/4 cup shredded raw gabi
1 cup rich coconut milk (e medium coconuts)
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 clean medium coconut shells (4-1/2" dia., 2" high)
1/2 can (1 oz.) full cream condensed milk
4 egg yolks
Wilted banana leaves
String for tying

Mix first three ingredients and cook over moderate heat for 5 minutes, constantly stirring.
Lower heat and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
Add condensed milk and cook over low heat 20 minutes longer, stirring constantly.
Fill each coconut shell with mixture.
Make a well in center and drop raw egg yolk.
Cover top with tuber mixture and spread until smooth, very close to brim or shell.
Cover whole shell with two layers banana leaves and tie securely with strings.
Steam half an hour.
12 servings.

Recipes From Western Visayas - Region VI

The western portions of the Visayas take us to the islands of Panay, Guimaras of mango fame, part of Negros, and Romblon more noted not for its cuisine but things like its marble.

While the main ingredients may all look too familiar, such as pig's feet, bangus, and chicken, the different ways that the dishes are put together reveal the artistry and resourcefulness of the peoples in this region.

Thus a menu like Chicken Binakol introduces us to the use of a bamboo tube in cooking.


PORK TINOLA WITH BANANA HEART & GREEN PAPAYA
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons sliced onion
1/4 kilo spareribs, cut into serving pieces
4 teaspoons salt
3 cups rice washing
2 cups sliced banana heart
2 cups sliced green papaya
3 cups sili leaves

Sauté garlic, onion and spareribs.
Season with salt.
Add rice washing and let boil.
Add banana heart, green papaya and cook 8 minutes.
Add sili leaves and cook 2 minutes more.
Serve hot.

LASWA WITH PINAKAS
3 cups rice washing
2 tablespoons sliced onion
1/4 cup sliced tomatoes
6 pieces dried pinakas (fish), washed
2 cups cut sitaw (2" lengths)
2 cups cubed kalabasa
2 pieces eggplant, sliced diagonally
2 cups alugbati

Combine first three ingredients and bring to a boil.
Add pinakas and cook 3 minutes.
Add sitaw, kalabasa and cook 2 minutes.
Add eggplant and alugbati.
Cook 4 minutes more.
Serve hot.

TINUM-ANAN
1 kilo pig's feet, cleaned and cut into serving pieces
1/2 cup vinegar
1 cup young guava leaves, washed and chopped
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon garlic
Dash of pepper
2 cups water
Guava leaves for lining
Banana leaves for wrapping

Combine all ingredients except water.
Let stand 20-25 minutes.
Line saucepan with guava leaves and set aside.
Wrap pork mixture in banana leaves and place on top of guava leaves in the saucepan.
Add water, boil, then lower heat and allow to simmer until meat is tender.
Serve hot.

BANGUS NILAGPANG
1 medium bangus, cleaned, salted and broiled
3 pieces tomatoes, broiled
1 small onion, broiled
2 cups boiled water
1/4 cup cut green onions
1 teaspoon salt
2 pieces siling labuyo, crushed

Flake broiled bangus coarsely; remove bones.
Slice broiled tomatoes and onion.
Mix with bangus.
Add boiled water and green onions.
Season with salt and siling labuyo.
Serve hot.

CHICKEN BINAKOL
1 small chicken, cleaned and cut into 6 serving portions
4 medium potatoes, pared and quartered
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1/4 cup sliced tomatoes
2 cups water
2 tablespoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 fresh bamboo tube (1 node, 12" long 4" diameter)
2 tablespoons sliced onion
1 bundle tanglad (lemon grass) sufficient to close end of tube

Mix all ingredients and put inside bamboo tube.
Close open end with tanglad leaves and place over live coal in a diagonal position to prevent dripping.
Turn bamboo at 5-minute intervals.
Cook 45-50 minutes until chicken is tender.

BAYE-BAYE
2 cups pinipig
1 cup coconut water
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 cups butong (young coconut), grated

Grind toasted pinipig
In a bowl, mix ground pinipig, coconut water and sugar.
Blend well and add grated butong.
Divide into serving portions.
Wrap each servings in banana leaves or wax paper.
Chill before serving.

CHICKEN WITH BANANA UBAD AND KADYOS
1-1/4 cups fresh kadyos
1 small chicken, cut into serving pieces
2 cups water
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons sliced onion
1/2 cup sliced tomatoes
4 teaspoons salt
2 cups thinly sliced banana ubad
4 pieces tanglad leaves

Boil kadyos and chicken together until tender.
Separate chicken from kadyos and set aside.
Sauté garlic, onion, tomatoes and boiled chicken.
Season with salt.
Add kadyos and broth.
Let boil.
Add banana ubad and tanglad and cook 10 minutes more.
Remove tanglad leaves before serving.

Recipes From Central Visayas - Region VII

Our focus today will be on the two big members of this region, Cebu and Bohol. Two places that are close and dear to me because I spent part of my youth in Cebu, the home province of my mother, and Bohol, for vacations being very proximate to our nothern Mindanao province.

APAN-APAN
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup water
3 cups kangkong stems, cut into 1/2" lengths
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
2 tablespoons sliced onion
1/4 cup sliced tomatoes
3 tablespoons bagoong alamang

Mix vinegar and water and heat in a saucepan.
As soon as mixture boils, add kangkong stems.
Cook for 7 minutes over high heat until all the liquid is absorbed.
Set aside.
In the same pan, sauté garlic, onion, tomatoes and bagoong alamang.
Add kangkong stems and mix thoroughly.
Remove from fire and serve as relish or appetizer.
Serves 6.

BINU-HANG GABI
6 pieces gabi tuber
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1-1/2 cups grated coconut

Wash gabi thoroughly.
Bore a hole on each tuber top and scrape out flesh without destroying shape of tuber.
Mix gabi meat with brown sugar and coconut.
Stuff gabi shells with mixture and cook in a pan of water until done.
Pare gabi, slice and serve.
Serves 6.

BUTSE-BUTSE
3/4 cup kamote
1-1/2 cups brown sugar
5 calamansi, squeezed
2 cups grated cassava

Boil kamote and mash.
Add sugar and a little amount of water to moisten mixture.
Add calamansi juice and mix well.
Set aside.
To the grated cassava, add a little sugar and water and set aside.
Form kamote mixture and cassava mixture into balls.
Insert kamote balls into cassava balls and fry until brown.
Roll in sugar and serve.

LINUBIHANG MUNGGO
4 cups water
1 cup dried munggo
2 cups coconut milk (second extraction)
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups malunggay leaves
1/4 cup sliced tomatoes
2 tablespoons cut green onions
1/2cup pure coconut milk.
Dilis

Heat water; as soon as it boils, add munggo.
Simmer for about half an hour until tender.
Mash.
Add dilis, second extraction of coconut milk and salt.
Cook 10 minutes.
Add malunggay, tomatoes and onions.
Cook 4 minutes.
Add pure coconut milk and cook for another minute.
Serves 6.

BUTONG WITH CRABS
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons sliced onion
1/4 cup sliced tomatoes
2-1/2 cups grated buko meat
1 cup coconut water
2-1/4 teaspoons salt
3 boiled crabs, cut into halves
2 tablespoons green onions

Sauté garlic, onion, tomatoes and buko.
Add water and season with salt.
Add crabs.
Cover and cook 10 minutes.
Drop green onions and cook 2 minutes longer before removing from fire.
Serves 6.

UTAN
6 segments garlic, minced
1 onion, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
1-1/2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 cup fine flaked fish
2 cups cut sitaw (2" lengths)
3 eggplants, quartered
3 cups sliced squash
Salt
Soy Sauce
1-1/2 cups bago leaves

Sauté garlic, onion and tomatoes in oil.
Add flaked fish, enough water and simmer.
Add sitaw, eggplant and squash.
Season to taste.
Add bago leaves and simmer until done.
Serves 6.

A Day In The Life

All the people I have encountered so far paint a dreary picture of their own individual economic conditions. The helpers we have engaged during our stay are mostly out of work and quite insistent that we hire then on a regular basis so they can feed their families. The carpenters are the same. The ones hired are out of work and are very glad to find work, whatever work is available. The business entrepreneurs chime in with the same woes. Business is bad, sales are down, and prices for producers are very volatile and most of the times, not good enough to be sustainably profitable.

Except for one.

He used to have a thriving appliance business but according to him, he is just bidding his time before he gets out of the business But he has one good "cash crop" that guarantees good sales and no bad debts. He has deployed in most towns of the eastern portion of the province, what are called videoke machines, at five pesos a pop. Drop a fiver and one can sing along for a few minutes, away from the dreary problems of daily living. He said he has hundreds of them scattered in the province.

And in the world of karaoke machines, the latest is now a DVD player with over 14,000 songs crammed in one DVD disc, showing many pretty petite Chinese ladies in their bikinis, cavorting around different beaches most probably located in mainland China.

One can take this home and spend one's remaining days going through the thousands of songs, available at the push of some buttons.

So, in a nutshell, our compatriots continue to find ways to parry the daily onslaught of hardships and sing the night away, accompanied by a couple of cheap light beer. At 20 pesos a pop.

Aside from this, everything else is heavenly, especially when one is perched atop Dahilayan Barrio in Manolo Fortich, watching the lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes, red pepper, etc. grow and eating them dipped in vinegar.

And as I end this, I sit amidst a bunch of shrieking kids playing video games in an internet cafe boasting of over 40 PCs crammed in a little space, as much space as one can muster when one locates very close to a big crowded school like Liceo.

So, rest well because all's well.