Insects that have perished at my hand

Cockroaches, big bastards they are too. Poison, and the slipper.

Ants, suicidal ones that have perished in wood chucked in the mud oven, and squished by hand. Another bunch of them who had set up home in the oven yesterday shifted out very sharply when it got too hot. Several different varieties of ants have gone this way.

Termites, residing in rotten wood have also been incinerated.

Mosquitoes the most evil of all small insects, splatted, and poisoned.

Head lice have also been poisoned.

Correct method of making bread

I checked out why my loaves weren't doing so well. They were rather cakey and generally like bricks. So here's what you actually have to do. Using the same ingredients as noted below, the trick is in the kneading, and letting it rise twice. So first time knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Then let it rise. It should get big! Then what is then called the punch down after its risen lots, which means squishing it back down to its original size, and kneading again another five minutes. This pushes lots of air into the dough which is good for all sorts of reasons. After this, it goes on your baking tray, and rises for a second time. When its risen, pop it in the oven. I would show a picture of the bread that came out of the oven this time, but it was all eaten! Success!

Fan Assisted Mud Oven

It is also possible to cheat if necessary. Mixing the stone age with the industrial age here we can kick some life into a fire that was slow in starting and unresponsive.

Woooooof!

Mud Oven Gets Tin Roof

Yet more developments on the mud oven front. Here, I have nailed a tin roof on it. There's about six inches clearance between the oven and the roof itself, and everything was made out of crap I found in the garden.

Although by now the oven is as hard as stone, I fear a torrential downpour here, with the quantity and speed of the rain, may wash the oven away. It is recyclable anyway and sooner or later will return to the soil.

Loaf of Bread in a Mud Oven

This loaf was made from a loaf kit: called Bob's Red Mill or something, which you can find all they way in Shangri-La Mall in the organic shop. Looks rather smashing, but as with most home made loaves, a bit on the stodgy side. The flour was rather heavy. However, it went well with the roast chicken, and we learn every day.

I also learnt how not to make a loaf of bread, and that is to make the thing, and leave it to bake overnight in a heated mud oven. The end result I considered marketing as a new type of building material.

Roast Chicken in a Mud Oven

Inside the oven a chicken roasts. The seasoning I use is Spanish Paprika (available here - it has a slight smokey smell), garlic chopped and some salt and pepper. Give the chick a good rub with this seasoning, inside and out, then roast upside down. It keeps the chicken breast moist and tender rather than dry. This oven was rather hot, so I had to cover the pot with banana leaves, and baste the chicken quite a bit. But rather tasty and rather pleasant.

Philippines 1 Good Food 1: The Filipino Curry!

Trying to interest the uninterested in foodie type things can be a challenge, I have finally found a dish that is very nice, and apparently a Philippine dish. The Filipino Curry. I used the recipe from this page, which worked very well. Not too spicy, not too tasteless. Enjoyed by both the foreigner and by the native, and pretty easy to make. For those familiar with curries cooked in Chinese take-aways in the UK, its very close.

Ants in discussion

These ants live on the washing line and in the trees. Here, they are having a chat as they traverse from one side of the wire to the other. The subject is possibly that of a religious nature.

Beer in the Philippines

The local beer is rather strong here, and some bottles don't even have labeling to identify the alcohol content. One called Red Horse is notorious for knocking you out, and I've not found a drink under 5% ABV. It slips down rather well. In the heat, you drink it faster as well. Shortly its like you've been clubbed over the head, but still a few more sink down. The well-known "Stella moment" can be common which is either bursting into tears or flying into a blind fury about something daft. The following morning your head hurts, depression looms and the only cure is either time or more beer.

Reminds me of Edgar Allan Poe's poem about drinking (written shortly before the drink killed him)

Fill with mingled cream and amber
I shall drain that glass again
Such hilarious visions clambour
Through the chamber of my brain
The queerest thoughts and quaintest fancies
Come to light and fade away
What care I how time advances?
I am drinking ale today.

Splat!

This one was running around the floor in the dark when I came back from a local piss-pot bar. Certainly not fast enough to beat the slipper and got mashed. Funnily enough no ants moved in at all on this one and it was just lying there until aforementioned Bullet did the duties with the broom.

Ants co-operate in shifting dead insect

Garden ants co-operate shifting a dead insect for unknown purposes. 30 sec clip.

Philippines 1 Good Food Nil

I'm finding it hard to eat out here. Firstly the heat seems to quench your appetite. Filipinos put sugar in more or less everything: bread, sausages (yes, sausages), which actually makes it harder to stomach. Decent food appears to be imported, thus expensive, but not of top quality. Chicken Adobo, the national dish, is not bad but often the chicken is dry. There is disdain for normal spices, and mixes are used often which contain (surprise) sugar.

Most of my meals, with the occasional exception of breakfast, are being replaced with beer. This has the advantage of allowing you to get the illusion of filling your stomach and drowning your sorrows. The disadvantage means that wounds take longer to heal, and you start to feel rather weak after a few days.

This is totally inappropriate given some of the levels of poverty out here, but there you go.

Home Made Bread in a Mud Oven

The recipe: flour. Its hard to get decent flour here so its just local flour. Olive oil. Salt. Rosemary. Can actually get this. Mix. Put yeast in water with a little sugar till it fires up. Mix in to bread mix. Knead a little. Wait till it rises.

Fire up the fire, charcoal, wood, whatever. If bread has risen, then chuck in your loaf with a dusting of flour. About half way through, a splash of olive oil on the loaf and back in.

Then your done.

The results are not spectacular, but the stuff is edible and goes well with oil and garlic.