Cooking By Numbers

I chance upon cookingbynumbers.com while looking for novel BBQ techniques. It suggests recipes based on what you have in your fridge.

I only have an apple so I indicated so. The website processed my form and returned the following recipe:

Apple on its own. - Serves 1

Ingredients
1 Apple

Method
1. Take apple and examine for signs of wear and tear.
2. Put your coat on and go down the local shop or supermarket.
3. Whilst walking chew on your apple. Stop eating when you get to the pips and stalk. Throw the stalk in the bin and get some food.

Christmas 2005 List

Ten things I will miss this Christmas:

1. People I love: my family, Jenn, my dearest friends, the Managers for Christ, my loyal friends in Saudi Arabia, and many more who are not in Bahrain.

2. My room: small but my very private domain.

3. My state-of-the-art PC: My brother Glenn has condemned the poor PC to oblivion.

4. Spending rampage: I would loved to but I can not, ask my employer why!

5. Sinful food: I am watching my health now, I think I'm winning so far. I have maanged to reduce on my carbohydrate intake.

6. The Metro Manila Film Festival Philippines: I don't care if Philippines movies are still a far cry from their Hollywood counterparts, I just love to enjoy the season at the movies.

7. Christmas cards: For several years now, I no longer receive Christmas cards via the postal service. All of them are on my mailbox - Eudora, Yahoo, Hotmail, Myrealbox and now Gmail. I am returning thefavor too! But I will have to give up my support of the UNESCO cards. Am sorry.

8. The noisy barrage of tots carolling out of tune: You know them! They usually sing only one song - "Ang Pasko ay sumapit...." - while jingling their homemade tambourines fashioned out of flattened softdrink and beer crowns. They are no longer happy with one peso. The nerve of these kids! But, they are really heavenly and fun! And only in the Philippines!

9. The hustle and bustle of Christmas in the Philippines: No amount of difficulty can break the Christmas spirit of the Filipinos. You would just not believe we are in a tough economic situation with all the spending happening around. And I am not referring to the mushroom malls around the cities but to the "classic" Divisoria and Baclaran!

10. The noce buena I usually prepare single-handedly: Yes, I do all the shopping, planning, cooking and arranging the noche buena table. And you expect me to clean the mess after the dinner?! But I really enjoy it when everybody enjoys my dinner! Am a frustrated iron chef!

Still, I will have a merry Christmas in Bahrain.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Most Christian expats in Gulf can celebrate Christmas

This is a rejoinder to a report by Agence France-Presse I saw in inq7.net today. Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar, and Kuwait were mentioned as places in the Middle East where Christians can freely practice their faith and enjoy sanctuaries.

However, the article failed to mention the Kingdom of Bahrain where freedom of religion is being enjoyed by everyone for the longest time now. In fact, Bahrain is host to the only Christian cathedral in the Gulf region - the St. Christopher's Cathedral. There are huge Christian churches here. We can even pray before meals anywhere. We can even pray for intercession in public places. People of different religions respect each other in Bahrain.

In fact, our church, the National Evangelical Church will be celebrating its centennial in January, 2006 - a testament to the openness and greatness of this tiny island kingdom which has long been the beacon of tolerance, pluralism and religious freedom in this part of the world.

Merry Christmas to all Christians in the world especially those in the Middle East and Season's greetings to our non-Christian brethren!

I was blogged - the other way around

I was skimming through GDN today and was shocked to read my name splashed on an headline:

Gilongos has last word

FILIPINO Nomel Gilongos took first place in the Filipino Club Toastmasters' (FCT) Table Topic Speech Contest held at the Bahrain Carlton Hotel, Adliya. Second place winner was Filipino Albert Gayo and third was Bahraini Hamza Ali.

Nine contestants of various nationalities were asked to comment one by one on the statement "You Can Tell a Man's Character by Looking at his Friend".

During the contest, Mr Gilongos and Mr Ali both agreed on the statement, while Mr Gayo disagreed.

The three winners have been selected to represent the FCT in the upcoming Area Three Contest between five Toastmasters clubs in March next year.

FCT is one of the clubs connected to Toastmasters International of Santa Ana, California, US, whose main mission is to teach men and women the art of public speaking.

FCT's next contest on speech evaluation is on Tuesday 8pm at the Carlton. All are welcome.

For more information, call Mr Gayo on 39277920.

Two Christmas greetings

Everywhere: Merry Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Here: Merry Christmas! Hu! Hu! Hu!

No more tax cuts on pay

Uhh, ok... Fine, whatever! Effective January 1, 2006, minimum wage earners in the private sector and their counterparts in government (in the Philippines) shall be exempt from the payment of witholding tax.

This was intended to be a good news and a timely gift from the beloved Philippine President, Gloria Arroyo. However, there really is nothing to rejoice about this scheme. In fact, this is merely delaying the inevitable - payment of income tax. Come to think of it, instead of enjoying refunds in case your witholding tax is actually bigger than the tax due, employees will be hard pressed to come up with the money to pay their income taxes.

With the insufficient salaries received by our minimum wage earners, many of them will find it hard to keep a portion of their salaries and save them for their income taxes. They might welcome the additional money but eventually they will have to contend with the reality that they would still need that money to pay for their income tax. It is merely staying the execution.

The President ordered the exemption "in order to mitigate the present condition of workers and the anticipated income of the R-VAT." But how will she mitigate the condition of workers when it income tax payment time?

If government really wish to help the people, it should come up with an honest to goodness progressive taxation, intensify its tax collection in heavily corrupted sectors and put up a genuine and aggressive battle against corruption.

Unfortunately, I don't believe these are in the horizon.

The year that was in Bahrain - retrospective

For several days now, Sara Horton is giving us a review of Bahrain in 2005. Today, she wrote about March and I can no longer keep my peace. I do not know how Ms. Horton came up with her restrospection but I feel it rediculous to actually include in the highlight even the most trivial and parochial of the incidents and accidents. I am very certain Bahrain had more "history-altering" events than the items she has enumerated.

She seemed to be taking most of her "highlights" from the police beat.

I can't help but chuckle as this reminded me of an acquaintance who once told me that GDN is actually "Garbage Disguised as News".

I know the comment was harsh and unfair considering the reportorial and editorial team of GDN might probably doing everything to give us news-worthy stories. However, year-enders such as what Ms. Horton is trying to give us requires more than just selecting the most horrifying, the most scandalous, the most nauseating news. It must be about things that years from now can be looked back to for better understanding of why things turned out to be.

I am not going to append her list here nor shall I include a link. That would be an overkill.

Arrogance.

So, who cares if everybody believed that Saddam Hussein stockpiled WMDs? Now that it has turned out that there was none of the sort in Iraq, you give us lame excuse for the invasion? You propped up peripheral issues to divert attention to the truth that it was not really about WMDs but about toppling the intransigent Saddam, who was a US creation, in the first place!

Funny, today, you are trying to make democracy a sentimental issue to cover up the arrogance of invading Iraq. Stick to your arguments.

Well, calm down, meandering shawarma. Here, read the GDN report instead:

'Stay on course for democracy'
By TARIQ KHONJI

MANAMA - The spread of democracy in the Arab world may be slow and painful, but countries should stay the course, says a US think tank scholar.

The toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and his replacement with an elected government may herald more changes across the Arab world, says American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Joshua Moravchik.

He said Arab countries should not expect an easy ride. But the long-term benefits of instituting successful democracies should outweigh the costs.

"On the whole, the birth and growth of democracy has usually been a process of struggle. Democracy will not come all at once," Mr Moravchik said yesterday.

There are currently relatively few 'free' countries in the world, he said, citing studies by non-partisan US think tank Freedom House.

"Freedom House finds that there are 89 'free' countries in the world, meaning countries that have democracy and also the full protection of citizens' rights," said Mr Moravchik.

"It also finds that there are another 33 countries that are "electoral democracies" and only 'partly free'.

"These are almost all new democracies, where rule of law is not fully reliable and where the citizens may not be fully educated about their rights.

"In all these places, progress will, of course, come one step at a time."

Mr Moravchik was speaking to Arab journalists via a live Web chat organised as part of a US State Department programme to strengthen dialogue with people from this part of the world.

It is par to a series of online talks being organised with various groups in the Arab world. The hope is that it will prove cheaper and more efficient than physically making speakers travel around the world.

During the chat, Mr Moravchik also defended US President George W Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq.

Journalists questioned the US government's motivation in invading Iraq, especially since no large stocks of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) were ever found.

"The Americans were not the only ones who believed Saddam had WMD. All of the major powers, including those who opposed the US action, believed it, too," he said.

"Moreover, investigations found that Saddam's own commanders also believed it! But the larger reason was that Saddam was the most violent defier of international law in the region and a life-long supporter of terrorism.

"He was the arch example of the kind of aggressive Middle Eastern tyrant whom the US was no longer willing to tolerate after 9/11.

"We take terrorism very seriously. 9/11 was the worst attack in America's history. We were no longer willing to tolerate regimes that supported terrorist groups, and we were particularly afraid of regimes that were developing WMD."

However, Mr Moravchik admitted that it was not yet clear how successful America's foray into Iraq will be.

"I think we do not know yet whether America has succeeded or failed in Iraq, and we will not know for a couple more years," he continued.

"If we leave Iraq with an elected government that is able to defend itself against terrorists and violent resistance, then we will have succeeded.

"If we leave Iraq in flames, then we will have failed. I think we will succeed. But the end is surely not certain."

What Privacy? What Price Privacy?

A new report on GDN today talked about the Bahraini parliament's proposal to clamp down on internet cafes which have been used by the youth for lewd activities. While I agree that that these shops are being used by some to surf for pornography and other anti-social materials and even worst, as meeting place for illicit and premarital sexual relations, blaming the privacy afforded by internet cafes for the deterioration of today's youth is simply absurd.

I feel the honorable gentlemen of the Parliament are barking at the wrong tree and are not addressing serious problems squarely.

I find it amusing to argue that these youth are using internet café to enjoy and abuse privacy. I still believe that privacy is only and will only be available in the home. Privacy is not about monitoring what you want your children to surf on the internet. Privacy is about trusting your children to make responsible decisions. Children will not demand nor look for privacy is they are afforded these “luxuries” in their homes. Parenthood is the precursor of privacy. Responsible parenthood breeds responsible children. And no amount of “private” internet cafes can destroy the moral fiber of a child who has received proper and responsible parenthood.

Internet cafes clamp on way
By MOHAMMED AL A'ALI

MANAMA - Tough new laws could soon be brought in to stop youngsters surfing for sex sites at Internet cafes. Children would be banned from Internet cafes under proposals backed unanimously by MPs at parliament's weekly session yesterday.

Separate male and female areas would be set up and private cubicles ripped out, to stop youngsters having sex in them or surfing for pornographic sites.

Internet cafes would be tightly monitored and their owners prosecuted if they broke the rules, under the proposals, put by Al Menbar Parliamentary Bloc.

Children and teenagers use the cafes to surf websites for pornography, or even for sites about terrorism and illegal drugs, MPs heard.

Internet cafes allow children and teenagers access to banned sites in private stalls or rooms, by logging into the network through alternative proxies, said bloc member Dr Saadi Ali.

He said that some were using the private stalls to meet their boyfriends or girlfriends and engage in sexual activities, without being stopped by workers at cafes.

MPs want the government to intervene by creating strict laws and by monitoring the cafes.

"Children from the primary to secondary stages go to these shops immediately after the school day is over," said Dr Ali, who drafted the proposal.

"Even though many have computers and Internet access at home, children prefer the café because it is more private and they can view websites without family supervision.

"Many of them lie to their parents, claiming they are studying with friends and some parents don't really care where their children spend their time."

Dr Ali said Internet use in the country was not properly regulated under specific rules and regulations.

"If a café in a Western country allowed children and teenagers access to these websites, the owner would be severely punished," he said.

"Other countries have rules and regulations, except us."

Dr Ali said technology was there to be used wisely.

"Technology should be used to get information, acquire knowledge and communicate with others around the world and not to watch immoral or terrorist sites," he said.

"The problem is those working in these cafes supply the children and teenagers with a list of the websites which contain such content.

"I know that youngsters in this age want to explore things, but that's not the right way to do it."

Dr Ali said children should be educated about right and wrong in an appealing and scientific manner.

"Allowing them complete privacy isn't a solution, because privacy is one of the main reasons the morals of our children are going down," he said.

"Everyone has the right to do what they want, but not children or teenagers, who are inexperienced."

He said children and teenagers were being fed wrong information from other sources.

"Satellite channels and mobile phones when used badly prove destructive, but both are being used under the partial supervision of parents," said Dr Ali.

"It is unlike Internet cafes, which allow complete privacy and encourage children and teenagers to browse indecent and immoral websites.

"This is why a curb on these cafes should be implemented, if we really care about children."

He said Internet shops should also be also banned from opening round-the-clock, since youngsters were sneaking out at night to use them.

Stooping so low!

This news report from Reuters caught my attention. Now, this story is really about stooping so low!

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Armed men dug up and tried to steal the corpse of the mother of one of war-torn Ivory Coast's opposition party leaders Monday but were stopped when guards intervened, the party said.

Hadja Nabintou Cisse, mother of the leader of the opposition Rally of Republicans party (RDR) and former prime minister Alassane Dramane Ouattara, was buried in the cemetery in Williamsville, a suburb of Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abidjan, on December 8.

Her son, a hated figure among many supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo who accuse him of starting the 2002 civil war that left the country divided in two, had returned from exile in Paris for the funeral.

RDR spokesman Cisse Bacongo said around 10 armed men dressed in security forces uniforms exhumed the body from the grave early Monday and carried it to the cemetery entrance before security guards raised the alarm and local youths gave chase.

The men fled in a four-wheel drive jeep without license plates, leaving the undamaged body of the Muslim woman behind. It was later reburied by several Imams, Bacongo said.

He added the RDR did not know who was behind the attack on the grave but that Ouattara did not want to politicize the issue.

"It is an ignominious act and we must condemn it," Bacongo told Reuters.

The country's new prime minister, economist Charles Konan Banny, made a brief stop at the cemetery to pay his respects at the grave Monday, where several hundred RDR supporters had gathered, some helping to tidy the tomb.

Bahrain signs free trade pact with US

It is official. Bahrain has signed a free trade pact with the United States. Bahrain is the first GCC country to sign a free trade with the US.

The historic Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Bahrain was ratified by the US Senate by voice vote—without objection — paving the way for a new era of cooperation for the two countries who have shared a close friendship for over a century.

The agreement seem to be fair and equal. If the great American nation can sign one with Bahrain, why can't/haven't they with the Philippines where all agreements between our nations has always put our country to the disadvantage. for example, the Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the US requires us to join the US in its wars and conflicts while it is quiet when it is the Philippines that will be needing its might. Just recently, the Visiting Forces Agreement's one sided bias to the US was exposed when it was brought to fore that US military personnel violating Philippine laws are said to be immune from our laws! Talk about fairness.

Well, the free trade agreement between Bahrain and the US seem to be fair on the surface but... Good luck anyway!

Christmas in Our Hearts

This song was written and composed by prolific Filipino musician Jose Mari Chan sometime in the 90's. It has now become one of the most loved Christmas songs in the Philippines. This song, together with the other songs from the album of the same title, is a Filipino best seller and a classic!

In Bahrain, where there is freedom of religion, the song brings cherished memories of my Christmases in the Philippines...

Whenever I see girls and boys
Selling lanterns on the streets,
I remember the Child
In the manger as He sleeps.

Wherever there are people
Giving gifts, exchanging cards,
I believe that Christmas
Is truly in their hearts.

Let's light our Christmas trees
For a bright tomorrow
Where nations are at peace
And all are one in God

Let's sing Merry Christmas
And a happy holiday,
This season may we never forget
The love we have for Jesus
Let Him be the One to guide us
As another new year starts
And may the spirit of Christmas
Be always in our hearts.

In every prayer and every song
The community unites,
Celebrating the birth
Of our Savior, Jesus Christ

Let love, like that starlight
On that first Christmas morn,
Lead us back to the manger
Where Christ the Child was born

So, come let us rejoice
Come and sing a Christmas carol
With one big joyful voice
Proclaim the name of the Lord!