Sunday, June 8, 2014

"No work, no boiled chicken"--kung walang tiyaga, walang nilaga

"Kung walang tiyaga, walang nilaga"--which literally translates to "No work, no boiled chicken". One of my friends from nursing school gave me that quote because he couldn't find any other quotes that conveyed "take it easy" "chill and relax".

I'm very grateful that the hard work of nursing school should end in one more year! :) This hard work should help to find me a job that would allow me to eat all the boiled chicken that I want.

I remember my dad's stories of hard times, when chicken was so difficult to come by. Kids would not be allowed in the dining room because guests would be served first. And the kids would stare wistfully at the chicken disappearing.

Nowadays, chicken is jammed packed full of antibiotics and hormones that I find the thought of chicken unappetizing...unless of course it's range-free, shredded into pieces, cooked with rice, ginger and green onions in a traditional Filipino dish called Arroz caldo, then I'll gulp down a bowl faster than you can say "chicken".

My point in this blog, and in the pictures below, is to encourage my kababayans in the Philippines to grow a vegetable garden. I still sing "Bahay Kubo" despite living away from the Philippines and hold true to the lyrics of that song, living in small cottage surrounded by assorted veggies.

Lately, I'm disappointed to find that my younger cousins are decorating their photos with flowers using an app, rather than be surrounded by flowers they grew from seed. I don't accept the excuse that "I'm too busy to plant".

I was so busy this past year with nursing school and a baby, that I thought it was impossible for me to have a garden. But somehow, one step at a time, little by little, I was able to put the seeds to the ground, weed here and there, transplanted the seedlings to the garden. Let the plants grow wild.

Today, I made a squash casserole for my family and I'm happy to say this is the squash I grew from seed. It's so beautiful to be greeted by green and yellow squash, and to eagerly anticipate the fruits from other plants I planted a few years ago--grapes, blackberries. To have my mom greeted by a blooming rose bush for mother's day because I planted one for her.

It's a beautiful feeling and I'd like to share it. Maybe it will inspire someone to get out there and plant something beautiful/useful today.

This is the yummy squash we ate today. Organic. Noah poked a hole in the squash in the middle because he really wanted the yellow one which he called "nana" or "banana"


This is the wild garden--squash, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, green onions, peppers in the mix, unsorted. It will be a surprise what bears fruit this summer.

This is the young grapes. There's a lot of young bunches that I can't wait to taste.

This is the green beans crawling upwards. And behind the photo is the "bahay kubo"


This is a picture of the flowering blackberries that I'm looking forward to eating this summer.


This is the rose bush I planted for my mom, that bloomed on Mother's Day







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