Sustainable Manila

I originally wrote this post during the aftermath of the massive flooding this year, as a guide for people stranded at home to due floods, or those without access to medicine. It's still pretty useful though, so I'm updating it and reposting it here for your reference.

This is useful for:
- people who have been exposed to flooding and other natural calamities
- people who are stranded at home or outdoors and have no access to medicine or pharmacies
- people who want to try natural remedies first before resorting to pharmaceutical drugs

The remedies suggested here may be able to help your body at least until you have access to a pharmacy or doctor. Hopefully you already have one or more of these items in your household, backpack, or nearby.

For those in crisis situations, remember that a positive attitude and good humor constitute a strong psychological defense and can also help your body through this stressful time. Stay safe, everyone!

Please let me know if you have any corrections/additions. Thanks! I’ll continue updating this post based on your feedback. Feel free to reblog/share!

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Leptospirosis and doxycycline have been getting a lot of press. Please use medicine wisely. Doxycycline is a PRESCRIPTION drug with risks to children, pregnant women, etc. Please read and share this informative blog entry about the proper use of doxycycline.

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Additional information:

The Claim: Gargling With Salt Water Can Ease Cold Symptoms
How Much Garlic Equals an Antibiotic?

Home remedies for dogs and cats

Safe Drinking Water Guidelines
Red Cross Emergency Kit Guidelines
Flood Safety Guidelines

Happy Holidays, everyone! I eschew Christmas shopping, but I adore how everyone is growing more conscious and sensitive about shopping sustainably. On my social media streams I see people talking about buying handmade and local Christmas gifts to support local creatives in their small-to-medium business enterprises. This is a great idea, and certainly more sustainable than buying from big corporations or imported brands. Suportahan ang sariling atin! :)

Here are nine local artisanal handmade gift ideas to help you with your sustainable holiday shopping:

Alunsina leather coptic-stitch journals, Lotus Bloom pure organic soaps, Adam's French cream ice cream, Aromateria organic solid perfume, Denise Castillo's homemade almond butter, Resurrection upcycled home furnishings, Cupcake Conspiracy bacon jam, Raab's terrariums, and OS bone replica accessories.

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1. Leather Coptic-Stitch Journals by Alunsina

These journals are bound together using coptic stitch binding, an ancient Egyptian method which allows the book to be opened flat-- a convenient feature especially for artists who want to be able to scan pages in their journals. Nadja Castillo and Enan Juniosa use acid-free paper, genuine cowhide leather, and they do everything by hand, from cutting and stitching to soldering and embellishing. Available by online order. Starting at P250 for small journals and P550 for regular journals. The design on the cover of the journal can be customized with your name, logo, or illustration.

Facebook: Alunsina Hardbound Books

Tumblr: Alunsina Hardbound Books

Reviews by: Strokes Of The Pen, One Wicked Soul, Wanderfull Girl

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2. Handmade Pure Organic Soaps by Lotus Bloom

Natural vegan ingredients such as distilled rainwater, virgin coconut oil, coconut cream, oatmeal, herbs,  and cocoa butter make these soaps a rich, healing, buttery, luxurious treat for the skin. Joanne Quintana uses the traditional soap-making process inspired by the Savon de Marseille and honed by her own research and experimentation. Available by online order. Starting at P150 each. Each soap is packaged in its own lovely little biodegradable box.

Website: Lotus Bloom Soaps

Review by: Sustainable Manila

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3. Adam's Seriously Good Ice Cream

Adam Lieber's Rose restaurant at Bonifacio Global City serves this decadent frozen delight-- handmade ice cream made from French cream and natural ingredients. Their unique range of flavors include Himalayan Salted Caramel, Ambassador's Butter Cream with Almond Brittle, and Dulcinea de Manila with Spanish Manchego cheese and red grapes. Available for dine-in and take-out. Starting at P125 per scoop. Custom flavors and large packs may also be ordered.

Website: Adam's Ice Cream

Facebook: Adam's Ice Cream

Reviews by: Our Awesome Planet, Business World

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4. Organic Solid Perfume by Aromateria

These cute little sticks of solid perfume come in a range of delicious fragrances for men and women. All-natural ingredients, free of alcohol, parabens, and phalates make it a safe alternative compared to commercial perfumes. The fragrance lasts for approximately 3 hours-- varying depending on the scent and the user's body chemistry-- and reapplication is super easy. Available by online order or at AC+632 store at Greenbelt 5. Priced at P250 each. Custom aromatherapy products may also be ordered.

Website: Aromateria

Facebook: Aromateria

Reviews by: Krysty, Tina

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5. Homemade Almond Butter by Denise Castillo

Paleo-friendly homemade almond butter by Denise Castillo contains roasted almonds, sea salt, and extra virgin olive oil, for a smooth blend comparable in consistency to local peanut butter like Lily's. Safe for diabetics, while others can simply add their sweetener of choice (such as raw honey, coconut sugar, stevia, raw maple syrup, and muscovado sugar). Priced at P480 per 300ml bottle.

Email thenutbutt@gmail.com for orders.

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6. Upcycled Home Furnishings by Resurrection Gallery

Innovative architect and designer Leah Sanchez creates these beautiful home furniture and decor using parts from vintage pieces, salvaged wood, and scrap materials. Old computer monitors-- the fat kind-- become glittering lampshades. Wine bottles and scrap wood are transformed into enchanting candelabras. Leftover wood pieces are assembled into one-of-a-kind tables. Electric fan grills become mirror frames. Each functional and whimsical piece is a work of art made of unexpected parts, leading one to exclaim: "Wow, I wish I'd thought of that!"

Facebook: Resurrection Gallery

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7. Bacon Jam, Bacon Butter, & Bacon Parmesan Cream Cheese by Cupcake Conspiracy

Slow-cooked sweet and salty jam with chunky bacon bits. Parmesan cream cheese with bacon bits. Butter with bacon bits. Available by online order. Need I say more?

Facebook: Cupcake Conspiracy bacon line

Review by: Manila Reviews

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8. Terrariums by Raab

Bespoke terrariums by Raab Bustamante, housed in exquisite apothecary glass vessels, using carefully selected plants, moss, rocks, and soil material. These living works of art bring fresh air and oxygen into the home, and are perfect for those of us who don't have the luxury of space for outdoor gardens. Available by online order.

Facebook: Terrariums by Raab

Tumblr: Terrariums by Raab

Review by: Daphne

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9. Bone Replica Accessories by OS

These "bones", sculpted out of high-quality polyurethane, blend ancient aesthetics with postmodern, edgy fashion. OS Accessories offers a line of necklaces, bracelets, harnesses, and headwear that promise to "give your personal style some teeth". Each piece is carefully handcrafted by multi-disciplinary creatives AJ Omandac and Paul Jatayna. Available by online order, and in some stores.

Website: OS Accessories

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That's it! Of course, there are plenty of other local handmade brands I wasn't able to cover in my blog post. What are some of your favourites?

I'm in love with this lemon-tinged coconut cream curry sauce! My sister approves too, in fact, she was disappointed that we cooked it today without her.

So I'm posting this recipe in detail, exactly as our brilliant cook Ate Shirley does it. Do take note that she just estimates ingredients, and I like my curry with very mild spice and plenty of cream. You'll probably want to adjust the recipe to your own taste.


lemon slices (optional)
spring onion, chopped, for garnishing











10. When the curry sauce is thick enough for your liking (this should only take a few more minutes or less), it's done! Serve with lemon slices and garnish with spring onions if you like. I really love the zesty twang added by the lemon, since I love citrus flavors, though the curry by itself is already great.

Since I like my curry sauce with a lot of cream, I can leave some of the sauce in the pan, add rice, and make curry fried rice too. Omnomnomnom!







I think lemongrass or cilantro would be great in this recipe too. If you try this recipe, let me know how it goes and how you've tweaked it to suit your taste.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the dish!

We at Sustainable Manila are proud and honored to present our very first guest blog post by Denise Castillo, sharing with us her yummy recipe for cinnamon apple banana fritters with coconut flour. Enjoy!

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Denise writes:

In 2009 I got into a major accident that stopped me from longboard skating competitively. Months after that I found myself out of shape and really wanting to get strong again. I had never tried any diet nor followed a healthy way of eating at that point. My first meal out of the hospital was instant noodles and a Jollibee meal. So I started working out, signed up at a gym, and tried to watch what I ate. My typical breakfast then was a bowl of high fiber cereal, some yoghurt and maybe a boiled egg. Months later I started taking protein shakes and only ate half the amount of rice I would normally eat. But when the weekends came, I would eat any thing and everything. And I do have a legendary appetite. So the vicious cycle went on of trying to make up for the calories during the week by endless hours on the treadmill then bingeing on the weekends. I lost some weight but I hit a plateau early on and started to miss being challenged.

A good friend of mine introduced me to my Crossfit coach late last year. Over ten months, my paradigm regarding health, exercise and nutrition has changed dramatically. What I thought was "healthy" before was totally challenged. During our Foundation Class, our coach taught us about the Paleo Diet. He told us to try experimenting with it. See if it works for us and take it one meal at a time. So I tried it, for one month, slowly wean off grains, processed food and sugar. I lost six pounds.

After that I took Crossfit and the Paleo Diet head on. The only way I could train as hard as I wanted was if I fueled my body with the right food and slept properly. It wasn't anything complicated. Eat real food.

Now I'm not perfect, I do slip up sometimes. And there are times when I do miss things like pancakes and dessert. But I did enjoy cooking and preparing my meals. So I started getting creative and looked for recipes online. I would modify them based on what was available locally. I would document my meals so I could keep track of what I ate and also because the food just looked so darn good.

And this brings me to the recipe Feanne asked me to blog about. It's Cinnamon Apple Banana Fritters With Coconut Flour. I usually cook it for breakfast, but it could work as dessert. It's easy to bring to school or work for a quick snack. It is a complete meal in itself with the protein from the free-range eggs, carbohydrates from the apple and banana, and fat from the coconut.

Ingredients:
4 granny smith apples
5 eggs
1 ripe banana (or 2 tbsp honey)
1/4 cup flax meal
2 tbsp coconut flour
1/4 cup shredded coconut (or desiccated coconut)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmegvirgin coconut oil for frying

Instructions:
Shred apples (or chop finely), then dry with paper towels. Mash banana. Combine with other ingredients. Add batter to hot pan with oil. I scoop the batter with a 1/4 cup measuring spoon to make things easier. Fry 2-3 minutes then flip.

Serve with nutbutter or in my case, BACON! This is also delicious served with some Paleo Icecream (maybe for another next blogpost?).

EAT!







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Denise Castillo is a Motion Graphics Designer by day, Crossfit Athelete by night, Cavewoman cook in between. Follow her at http://followgram.me/iganding.

Thank you so much Denise for sharing your recipe and pictures on our blog! And we are definitely looking forward to that paleo ice cream blog post.

For anyone else who'd like to share something on our blog as a guest author, do get in touch with us, we'd love to hear from you.

"In 2004, I had a second child who was diagnosed with a rare condition. That was the last straw. I studied and researched. It became crystal clear that we had to take control of what we eat and how we medicate ourselves. Once I got a glimpse of the truth, it was impossible to do nothing. So, there was about a 25-year build-up -- which may have taken even longer had Life not said, 'Enough.' ... Soon, we decided that if we were going to plant vegetables for ourselves, we might as well plant for friends and family."

"How we treat the staff, how we package our produce and heck, even how we treat the earthworms will reflect on the quality of our harvest... Being in sync with the cosmos and working with nature are so crucial to the life force in all living beings. The farm doesn’t begin and end with its fences. It belongs to the land, which belongs to the country, which in turn belongs to the planet."

Images from the Holy Carabao press kit.

Why Hunt And Eat Sea Urchins?

1. They're delicious!
Sea urchin roe or "uni" has a strong, briny, ocean taste like caviar, and a rich, creamy, delicate consistency like foie gras.

2. And nutritious!
Full of vitamin A, D, zinc, and long-chain fatty acids. This is why roe is prized as a superfood in many cultures, especially for pregnant women.

3. Preemptive strike.
Hunt and eat them before they sting you with their spines while you frolic about at the beach. The best defense is a good offense!

Sea urchins are the bane of surfers and other beachgoers everywhere!

Making sand art was fun but I wanted to frolic in the water too! Time for a preemptive strike against the sea urchins...

How To Hunt Sea Urchins

1. Go to a beach where sea urchins dwell.
You will know because the locals (or your beach trip companions who've had previous painful encounters) will warn you to avoid stepping on them. These are usually beaches with lots of rocks and pebbles, where sea urchins like to hide.

We went to Calico-An, Samar, for the Surfing Competition October 2012. Check out Surf To Live To Surf and JM Quiblat's Facebook page for more gnarly photos from that surf trip!

If the sea urchins look unfamiliar to you, verify with the locals first.

We found small sea urchins in various hues-- dark brown, reddish brown, yellow green, and pale pink.

3. Prepare your weapon and basket.
Your weapon should be a sturdy pointy object with which to poke the sea urchins, and your basket should be a convenient receptacle in which to place captured sea urchins. Be creative, and remember that the sea often provides! The waves brought us a nicely sharpened bamboo stick, and a Stoked cap that probably belonged to one of the surfers (we cleaned and returned it after using it). If you are especially crafty, you may be able to weave a basket from drifting seaweed.

You'll need something to pry the sea urchin out of its hiding nook.

3. Wait for low tide.
Hopefully this is during early morning, when waters are calm and the sun is bright enough to illuminate your hunting expedition. Ideal hunting grounds for beginners are calm, clear, shallow waters, up to knee-deep.

Enjoy the sunrise while waiting for low tide.

4. Charge!
Wear protective footwear (slippers will do) and remain vigilant. Sea urchins typically hide in nooks and crannies between rocks and inside holes. Be careful not to step in these areas. Use your weapon to pry the creatures loose, and nudge them carefully into your basket. Expect stubborn resistance from the quarry. Be persistent and strategic in utilizing your weapon. Soon, you should be able to fill your basket.

5. Carry your captives back to the shore.
Triumphantly raise your weapon above your head and be praised by your fellows for your successful hunt.



How To Eat Sea Urchins

1. Smash away the spines.
Again, be creative and remember that the sea provides. We used some beach stones for this purpose. A large flat stone served as a smashing surface, another stone served as the bludgeoning device, and yet another stone or stick served to hold the sea urchin in place. Rinse in clean fresh or saltwater.

The Altar Of Sacrifice!

This is a tedious and time-consuming activity, so it's more fun to do in a group.

Even after its spines have been smashed away, the sea urchin's mouth-- a circular orifice crowned with sharp little teeth-- is still strong enough to grip!

The edible part is the roe and it's usually orange or yellow. Remove the "poison" glands-- these aren't really poisonous, just bitter. Rinse in clean fresh or saltwater. If you are rinsing in freshwater, just one quick rinse is enough-- you just want to clean it quickly, and you don't want to wash away too much of that nice briny ocean flavor.

3. Eat with gusto!
No need to cook, and if you're already familiar with Japanese cuisine, no need to worry about pathogens in raw seafood. It's great as is. You can also try it with various condiments such as toyo (soy sauce), calamansi (Philippine lemon), wasabi, or vinegar. You can also sprinkle it on steamed rice. Savor the utter freshness of your meal, and the fact that you hunted it yourself-- a rather rare treat in modern civilization.

Modern-day hunter-gatherer.