Night Activities at Chateau Du Mer

One of our Outdoor Christmas Trees


Watching Fireflies


The Bridge at Night-the focal point of the landscaping Design of the Beach House



My Angel Statuary-one of the dozens sculptures at Chateau Du Mer


Fishing, Camping or just Beach walking at Night

The Holiday Season is near! Tomorrow the "snow birds" are leaving the US to the dry, cool and perfect weather in the island of Marinduque-our island paradise. Among the activities, my wife and I enjoyed are night camping and building camp fires by the seashore, watching fireflies, enjoy the Christmas lights and decor and watching night fishermen from the balcony of the beach house (no picture) as well as just relaxing in our beach house. The nights are so quiet, all you will hear are the sound of the waves and your heart beat. These are moments, we will always remember.

My Favorite Filipino Dishes

Kare-tripe and ox tail in peanut butter Sauce ( photo from lakbay.com)


Lumpia Shanghai (photo from photobucket.com)


Halo-Halo for Merienda( photo from freeweb.com)

My wife and I have resided here in the US since 1960. We have adapted to hamburgers, hot dogs, salad, cottage cheese, yogurt and typical US cuisine, fast foods, as well as filipino dishes that we craved once in a while. Cooking filipino food here is no longer a problem, since you can purchase ingredients in the Filipino-American store or an Oriental store(Chinese, Korean or Japanese). In the 1960's there was only one Filipino store near our residence in Chicago. We oftentimes have to shop in China Town downtown. Today, there are Filipino grocery stores in most medium-sized and big cities in US to cater to the expanding population of Filipino Americans who had immigrated to US in the 1980's.

We have resided in several cities here in US ( Sacramento, Pinole, Modesto, CA, Chicago, Kansas City and Maryland). Every time we moved, my first job was to look at the telephone directory for the nearest oriental or filipino store to our house.

The above two main dishes and one dessert or merienda are some of the dishes that my wife loves to cook every now and then to satiate our longing for filipino dishes. Not pictured are pancit( a noodle dish), Chicken or pork adobo( cooked in water-vinegar mixture), chicken afritada,(a chicken dish cooked in tomato sauce with potatoes and green peppers) and deboned and stuffed chicken called relleno. The above dishes are also the favorites of our children who grew up here in US and does not really know the cuisine of the Philippines.

Our children are brown and looked very Filipino, but they are as American as apple pie. In their college years, some of their friends called them “coconuts”. Their friends would comment, “ you guys are brown outside but very white inside”. That indeed is the truth!

My wife is an excellent cook. The saying " the way to a man's heart is through his stomach", applies to our life. When we were student at the University of the Philippines our romance was on and off, since I was not really ready to get married.
One day before my 21st birthday (we have not talked or seen each other for almost a year), I was surprise to receive a birthday gift from her. Her gift was a chiffon orange cake that she baked from scratch. It was the most delicious cake I have ever eaten. It reignited our romance and we started dating again. The next year we got married. I was only 22 years old at that time. The next year, we had our oldest son and I was already in US doing graduate work at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Do you have a favorite filipino dish or an some other native dish of your country of origin? I will appreciate if you share it with me and my readers.

Things I will Always Remember at Chateau Du Mer, Boac, Marinduque, Philippines

1. The chirping songs and cacophony of sounds of the birds(Mayas)as they fly from tree to tree looking for worms



2. Native fishes and tilapias thriving well on my creek that meanders to the ocean



3. Sunset and coral reefs at low tide seen from the balcony of the beach house



4. A Reflection of an almost full moon as seen from the balcony of the beach house



5. Thousands of fireflies illuminating the firefly tree on a moonless night, just like a Chistmas tree with flickering miniature lights



6. Monitor Lizard ( bayawak) looking for chicken or duck eggs. He looks scary, but actually harmless,unlike the Komodo dragons of Indonesia



7. A native hawk (lawin) diving from the sky for young chicks. This lawin is on a cage to do no harm to your chickens for the moment



8. Coconut rats feasting on young coconuts ( one coconut almost hit me on the head). Watch out for your head, specially on a windy day



9. Blue starfish and corals seen only a few meters from my back yard



10. Bougainvillas and orchids blooming in my front yard ( see picture of orchids on previous posting)



11. A sunset that takes your breathe away ( notice the two swimmers also enjoying the sunset)




12. A papaya tree with ripe fruits ( not yet seen by the fruit bats)



13. Mangoes loaded with fruits almost touching the ground because of its weight



14. Bananas and avocado trees loaded with fruits( no picture of avocados-see in previous posting)



15. The scream of an alley cat on “Heat” at midnight ( photo taken from the web), and last, but not least


16. The crowing of the rooster at 4:00AM everyday morning before dawn, a reliable alarm clock if you want to wake up that early

Please visit my website, www.chateaudumer.com or my blog site, http://chateaudumer.blogspot.com for more pictures!

If you are from Marinduque, do you have things that you will always remember about Marinduque. Please submit this to http://marinduqueonmymind.blogspot.com
Thanking you in advance for sharing and contributing to this literary project.

Marinduque Cuisine- Have you Tasted One?

Dinugu-an or Kari-Kari (Marinduque Style)(Top Photo)
A blog about Marinduque, without discussing its cuisine would be incomplete. There are four dishes that the Marinduquenos are proud to call their very own. First, they have the ADOBO SA GATA. This is usually a native chicken cooked in coconut milk with green papaya and pepper leaves, spices and dilaw ( a yellow spice) also known as tumeric, (a cheap imitation of saffron). The native chicken is sometimes tough but has a more sweet-tasty feel compared to the regular chicken. The native recipe do not call for green, yellow or red peppers fruit, but my wife always instruct our cook to add this three kind of peppers for color/texture. This is my #1 favorite. I could eat this every week with gusto.

The second dish is the dinugu-an or Kari-kari. The Marinduqueno kari-kari has ox blood but a dryer sauce(compared to other regional blood pudding dish) and very spicy. This is a different dish from Kare, made of tripe and ox tail in peanut butter sauce with green beans. I do not know the details of how it is cook, but when Macrine's aunt give us her Kari-kari, it taste like heaven with rice cake (puto) or just steam rice (I am salivating now, just thinking about it). If you hate spicy dishes, this is not the dish for you .

The third and most delicious of the native dishes is ulang-ulang. It is made from the coconut lobster and young coconut ( shredded buko), coconut milk and a sprinkling of garlic pepper, unions and kalamansi juice( similar to lemon juice). It taste heavenly with steamed rice and noodles.

The fourth dish native to the island is "laing". It is made from taro(gabi) roots and leaves with garlic, ginger and coconut milk. Sometimes, dried fish ( dilis) or tulingan is added to the dish and a tint of shrimp paste( bagoong) . Bon Appetit!

A good reference on Marinduque Cuisine and a must read cookbook is:

Potluck ( Hidalgo Bonding), A Family Heritage Cookbook

Jaime C. Laya & Adelaida Lim, Editors,
Anvil Publishing, Inc., 2006

Flowers and Fruit Trees in my Garden

1. Mango Fruit starts to ripen on the tree


2. Lanzones Fruits


3. Papaya Tree loaded with ripe and green Fruits


4. Green Mangoes almost touching the Ground


5. Young Guava Fruits


6. Avocados Galore


7. Orchids in a Rainbow of Colors


8. A Purple One( not as dark as my Princess Mikasa variety)


9. An ordinary terrestial orchid


10. Heleconias


11. White and Purple Bougainvillas


12. Bird of Paradise on my Side Yard


In my website www.chateaudumer.com, I described in detail the orchids, bougainvillas, bird of paradise, hibiscus and tropical shrubs that highlighted the 5 acres of landscape property of the Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center in Amoingon, Boac, Marinduque, Philippines. Besides the ornamentals, evergreens and blooming shrubs, I also planted mango, papaya, guava, rambutan, avocado , santol, duhat, cashew, jackfruit and lanzones fruit trees. I also planted several varieties of citrus trees, pomelo, kalamansi , native oranges and lemon trees.

When typhoon Reming hit Marinduque Island in 2006, ten coconut trees, two mango trees as well as a dozen papayas were uprooted. I replaced them by the dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties. Today, the dwarf coconuts and fruit trees are doing well under the full time care of our gardener, Edwin Laririt and wife Cecille. The above pictures are some of the photographs I have in my collection. Enjoy the photographs. My mouth is salivating now just looking at the mango, papaya and lanzones fruits. Drop by Chateau Du Mer to enjoy my flower garden and fruit orchard when you visit Marinduque- my island paradise and heaven on earth.

I love Sunsets! How About You?

1. Sunset from Balcony of the Beach House, Amoingon, Boac, Marinduque



2. Sunset, Eagle Beach, Aruba



3. Sunset, San Juan, Puerto Rico



4. Sunset, Hanalei Bay, Kauai



5. Sunset, Kaanapali, Maui



6. Sunset, Kona Village, Big Island, Hawaii



7. Sunset, Marbella, Spain



8. Sunset, Cancun, Mexico



9. Sunset, on Manila Bay, Philippines



10. Sunset, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Over the years, I have seen and photographed several dozens of sunsets in several countries that my wife and I have visited. We have been to Marbella, Spain, Rome, Italy, London,England, Vancouver, B.C., Cancun, Mexico, Aruba, Hawaii( Maui, Kawaii, Big Island), Puerto Rico and most of the US big cities, New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago, Kansas City, St Louis, Miami, New Orleans, Washington, D.C. and other small cities . But the two most beautiful sunsets that stirs my emotion are the one at Amoingon Bay ( taken at the balcony of our Chateau Du Mer Beach house-top photo) and the one over Manila Bay(# 9 photo). You will probably say, I am partial since I am a Filipino-American, but judge it yourself. Above are ten of my favorite sunset pictures for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy! Comments, anyone?

Elephant Island, Marinduque

I have been trying to reach someone in Marinduque regarding the status of the 6-star resort, known as Elephant Island. I heard last year that construction was stopped. Is this true? I know that management had started interviewing future employees since last year, such as cooks, guards, gardeners etc.

I will appreciate if anybody could give me an update. In addition, I have a few friends interested in the status of the golf course.

Where the Heck is Marinduque?

Downtown Boac (top picture)
MAP OF THE PHILIPPINES

I have resided in the US since the 1960's and oftentimes, I have been ask where Marinduque* is, not only by US residents but also by Filipinos residing here in the US. Are you, as a Marinduqueno slighted or insulted by the question? I am not!

So, how do I answer it without being patronizing or hinting that the questioner is an ignoramus.? My typical answer: First I ask, do you know where Lucena, Quezon is?
If the answer is yes, then I have no problem. I will say, it is just south of Lucena about 2 to 3 hours by ferry boat. This answer usually satisfies the questioner. However, It is normally followed by, do they speak tagalog or visaya there? Then I will explain that Marinduque is considered part of the southern Tagalog region, so tagalog is the language, but it has a local dialect (and accent) that only a native Marinduqueno can understand. Typical response " I did not know that!"

If the questioner do not know where Lucena is, I will inform him, it is about 3 to 4 hours drive from Manila via the Southern Express Way on the way to Bicolandia. All filipinos know where Manila is. But, if the questioner is non-Filipino and do not knew where Manila is , then I have a longer explanation to do.

Often times my filipino friends are too embarrassed to admit that they have no idea where Marinduque is. But I admired one member of our PAASE (Philippine-American Academy of Science & Engineering) group of her honesty. One time after our meeting, she pulled me aside and whisper, David I am sorry I do not know where Marinduque is. I patiently answered her question. Later, I asked her where in the Philippines did she grew up. She said in the Bicol Region. I will not specify the province for fear she could be identified as the questioner. Incidentally, the lady has a Ph.D in biochemistry, so she is not an ordinary filipina by intelligence, still she did not know where Marinduque is in the Philippine map. The above map shows Marinduque is the heart of the Philippine archipelago.

Just yesterday, LBC(a freight company) picked up from our house two balikbayan boxes for the Philippines. The driver of the LBC van was very courteous and started a conversation with my wife. He asked my wife where Marinduque is and what is the language spoken by the natives. My wife patiently answered him. My wife then asked him where he is from the Philippines. He said, I am from Jolo**. No wonder he has no idea where Marinduque is.

So Fellow Marinduquenos if you are asked where Marinduque is, do you feel insulted? I hope not, because our province is only a small island in the Philippines. That is the reason why, every opportunity I had, I always bragged about Marinduque, not only in conversations with others but also in the seven blog sites that I have created since July, 2008. One of my blog site is: http://marinduqueonmymind.blogspot.com

If you have similar experience please let me know!

* Marinduque is a heartshaped island about 170 Km southeast of Manila. It is geographically located in the center of the Philippine archipelago, so oftentimes, it is called the "Heart of the Philippines". It is the only province with a custom called Putong ot Tubong. Putong is a song and dance ceremony of welcome. Marinduque is part of the MIMAROPA region, consisting of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan Islands. The capital of Marinduque is Boac( top photo id downtown)

** Jolo is the capital city of the province of Sulu, the southern part of Mindanao.