Safe Skies

How often do you hear "everything happens for a reason" when something good happens? I never liked that phrase, because it was always used to tell you to accept something negative. But if it's truly "everything," then that means the good too. Landing that great job, enjoying a life-changing journey, meeting that special someone - anything that makes you feel luckier than you think you deserve - should also be something that is working not only in your favor, but according to divine predetermination.

When I fly, I have a bit of a routine. (Someday, it may include packing the day before, but what fun is that?) I tap the plane for good luck, have a special prayer for safe skies, check wings for defects, etc... if Top Gun is a movie option, that plays first during taxi and take-off (try it). But if everything happens for a reason, what's the point?

I heard a great piece of wisdom from a priest in the Philippines. He said, "we do not pray to change the mind of God; we pray to change ourselves." Or in secular terms, we do not act in a way so that the universe will return the favor somehow or that we can change things outside of our power. I think we act as we should and evolve as we can, and we should be mindful that we too are forces of nature. 

Perhaps when you land where you ought to be, be thankful for the safe skies, and remember you are there for a reason.

What World Travel Should Teach You

Life Lessons from Time Spent Circling the Globe

Physically making your way around the Earth these days obviously isn't the monumental accomplishment of centuries past, although for many, it is merely a fantasy. If you have the money and the passport, you could do it rather quickly. However, spending months out in multiple countries and continents on a tight budget is an experience that should teach or reinforce several powerful human qualities.
 
Humility
Being out in the world, if you're not an idiot, teaches one of travel's primary lessons - you are a very small part of a very big place that has a history and diversity that you may never fully comprehend. As a foreigner, you hopefully learn very quickly that life does not always go as you believe it should. There are barriers, injustices, and fundamental differences. Certainly this scares a lot of people out of never venturing out, but if you stick it out, you learn that there is a whole intricate world that will function with or without you.

Spontaneity
You can have the best travel plan, but if you are out in strange lands long enough, something will go wrong... or just not as you had intended. Travel is all about experiencing new things, and one of which is that you are not always in control. It could be that a storm cancelled your ferry or perhaps a restaurant closed for a private event; there are so many variables out there that you begin to learn that an unforeseen option is sometimes crucially better than what you had in mind in the first place.

Assertiveness
As a child you were likely taught to wait your turn and to be polite. There are a lot of places in this world where (unfortunately) those are seen as weeknesses or maybe just not as highly prized. People in some other places don't do lines (or queues, not the drug reference). I can't count the number of times someone stepped ahead of me to get a ticket or a sandwich. Not to advise one eschew all manners of polite society to look out for number one, but often in other countries you have to be a more active participant in securing your desired destiny. Just watch your pockets, and don't forget to smile.

Kindness
Remember how I told you things may go wrong? For every misfortune or bad actor out there, there is some local who will surprise you with a favor that you had no right to expect. I have had families in the Philippines feed and house me for a night, and I had a restaurant owner treat me to a multi-course meal and wine in Barolo, Italy. I could write a book on the kindnesses of strangers while traveling. You were probably also taught as a child that you should be kind, but world travel instills in you why you owe it.


Timeliness
Try showing up to the train station just one minute too late in some circumstances, and you may actually experience true regret. You are dependent on so much while traveling that being late can really, really ruin a day (or more). Of course, if you are in the Philippines, you may have more of a cushion (we'll discuss "Filipino time" another day), but in other places time is not so forgiving; tardiness can cost you a lot of money or some great opportunities.

Flexibility
More than the ability to change plans on the fly, being the foreigner requires the mental fortitude to accept different ways of approaching life. Immersing yourself in a culture, you will open your mind to realization that people have different traditions, expectations, values, and histories. The distinction between right and wrong or what is appropriate may have shifted, and you will have to adjust. In the end you don't have to betray your conscience, but rather gain an understanding and appreciation for disparate points of view.
  
Curiosity
One question I get asked a lot is, "where are you traveling next?" To the questioner, you may just be checking off boxes on your bucket list, but a true world traveler comes to realize that each new discovery brings answers, yet further questions emerge. Even revisiting the same destination can continue to be revealing if you have the curiosity to seek new truths. A journey with a curious mind is an exploration.
 
Patience
There's a lot of waiting in travel, even from day one getting through the airport. You will be tested. If assertiveness gets you what you want, patience is the virtue that allows you to measure the value of what you want. There are only so many Instagrammable moments in travel; the rest is what is required to get you the opportunities.

Appreciation
My earliest international travel was to Mexico, and one of my first lessons seeing poverty for the first time was that not everybody has what I have. Driving through the city in India, I saw families sleeping on the center divider between traffic. In Manila, I have seen children picking through garbage for rotting foods. Unfortunately, this planet has millions of people who do not even have basic needs met. Many face loss and deprivation that is impossible to fathom. Seeing this as a traveler makes you appreciate what you have. Realizing there may be nothing you can do to change it makes you appreciate that life does have the capacity to endure. On the other hand, discovering you can actually act and participate in good in the world lets you truly appreciate the concept of hope.
 
Purpose
People find purpose in other people and some greater good. Certainly you can do that in your own neighborhood, and you don't need to commit to a year living out of your backpack to find it. However, in this seemingly ever-increasingly self-centered world, it is often difficult to hear your true calling amidst a routine that tends to take a life of its own. On my first international disaster response in Peru with what is now All Hands and Hearts - Smart Response, I used my last day to document the real devastation of the horrible earthquake that brought us there, and then I cooked an Italian dinner for my fellow volunteers back at base - about seventy very hungry young workers. I have fed people professionally since 1993, but this moment was an opening to the possibilities of feeding people as a means to recovery or development aid. Two years later, I urged my own chef Jose Andres to go feed people in Haiti after their earthquake, and he went on to found World Central Kitchen, that does primarily what I had imagined. I later volunteered with them briefly in Puerto Rico and Indonesia, but have turned my focus to reaching out in other ways, mainly in the Philippines. World travel helps bring the "how" to your "why."

Rafidi Dazzles Beirut with "Albi" Preview Benefit

Albi, to open in DC in this fall, practices in Lebanon

Chef Michael Lee Rafidi

Beirut is known for it's prolific night life, but what they may not have expected last Monday night was an American chef from Washington, DC boldly taking over a small local French restaurant with five courses of reimagined Levantine cuisine.

Michael Rafidi was on a research tour of Lebanon in preparation for opening his own first restaurant "Albi" later this year in the American capital city, and he decided to assemble a team of both local and DC talent to orchestrate a pop-up benefit dinner at Bergerac to benefit Al Majal - a local organization which works to better the lives of special needs adults.

Guests were treated to first course cherry tomato salad with charred wild cucumbers, fromage blanc, and fermented chile vinaigrette - accented with freshly foraged nasturtium flowers - to open the evening, along with Lebanese "Baal" white wine. Next was the arrival of steak tartare with crispy Compté and egg yolk custard as well as harissa-spiced bone marrow with beef cheek jam for the table. Local artisan bakery Roger Le Boulanger prepared fresh "mother dough" bread to pair.

Chef Rafidi preparing the giant marrow bones

Third course was a grilled loup de mer (European sea bass) with chermoula bouillon and spring pea fricassee with charred leeks, served with a French Cote de Provence rose. Following was a honey-lacquered quail with sour cherry and foie gras with black walnut preserve and lentils. Chef Rafidi brought a bit of home for dessert, making a strawberry buttermilk shortcake with candied orange and sumac whipped chantilly cream, paired with Michter's Sour Mash American whiskey and oat-crust "Crack Pie" with brown sugar custard and Lebanese "meghli" rice pudding.

"Mother Dough" freshly baked bread

As guests arrive, chefs prepare the salad course

A jovial full house for Bergerac on a Monday night for the affair!

Walking Amadeus S01:E03 "Leyte Arrival"

Episode 3 - Leyte Arrival

Tacloban, Philippines

One man's solo journey around the world - traveling through the
Philippines to a volunteer experience in disaster response with All
Hands Volunteers in Tacloban, Leyte after Typhoon Haiyan. What began as
simply hard labor became a lesson in resilience and sets the stage for
discoveries for years to come.

Ten Reasons Why You Should Never Travel the World for a Year (Part 2)

*For Part 1 of this list, please see:
http://www.walkingamadeus.com/2016/06/ten-reasons-why-you-should-never-travel.html

We all know there are a good list of reasons why you should travel the world and check off all those things on your bucket list. Of course, if your list requires some epic adventures, this may require some good chunks of time out seeking them. If you do care to invest a year of your life out traveling the globe, I've made a list of some things you may not have considered.

20. People Will Disappoint You
Sure, this happens at home, but at least there, people know they may have to deal with you for a lengthy period of time. Abroad, the downside of disappointing a foreigner is not so terrible, especially when you are operating on a tight budget. As opposed to short-term travel, it's hard to be disappointed in someone you don't know or just met. Be prepared to have people flake on you, not be the person you thought you knew, or just disappear from your life completely without warning or reason.

19. You Will Wear the Same Clothes
George Clooney's character in "Up in the Air" tells people to imagine putting everything they own into a backpack and feeling the weight of the straps on their shoulders. Of course, that's ridiculous, but the point is clear - you can't be mobile with too much stuff. Traveling for a long period of time in several places paints a stark reality of just how much you can take with you. Depending on what else you have to carry, I'd say you will have about a week's worth of clothing. And you get to wear these same clothes... again, and again, and again. 

18. It Becomes Too Comfortable Putting Your Life in Danger
Have you ever crossed a busy street in Southeast Asia? How about that street food from a vendor with questionable sanitation practices? Fond of riding on the backs of motorcycles with strangers and no helmets? Long-term travel - often in undeveloped countries - brings new normals to your brain about what dangers you are willing to accept and how often. Some of these things can certainly expand your view of the world. Some learned behaviors can take you backward on the evolutionary ladder of survival.

17. People Will Never Understand
Maybe you are a really good storyteller. Maybe you have photos and videos and souvenirs to explain your journey of a lifetime. Look in the eyes of your friends who feel compelled to ask you about the trip they will never attempt. At best, they are probably struggling to understand. Your story is your story, and most people either will not care or will not understand what this adventure truly meant.

16. People Become Temporary
My first trip abroad to Europe, I met a few people I thought could be good friends going forward. That didn't happen. Spent some time volunteering, and saw people come and go daily. You begin to learn that most of the people you meet out in the world - no matter how great a time you had together - will probably just be a memory in a few weeks. Even with social media now, you learn that humans are only built to accommodate a finite number of friends, and out-of-sight often leads to out-of-mind. Furthermore, even if you start to feel "at home" in an extended stay during your travels and start to make friends, there's a good chance they think of you as temporary also. 

15. So Much More of Your World Becomes Trivial
Look at all the things people get worked up about in your home country. Surely some things are legitimate concerns, but it's hard to care so much about gender-sensitive restrooms when you see children sifting through garbage for food.

14. The Reality of Why Problems Exist and Why They Will Never Get Solved
One of the things we do as world travelers is compare ways of life. I remember thinking China could just benefit from tissue paper, so people wouldn't blow their noses directly onto the street. Certainly, Kathmandu could clean up with some street sweepers. Why isn't Indonesia more welcoming to foreign volunteers? Sure, there are solutions out there to a lot of the world's problems, including in your home country. That doesn't mean governments and people have the resources, the will, or the genuine desire to solve these problems. Even nuns litter in the Philippines.

13. It's Difficult to Stay Healthy
I didn't say it was impossible. Great if you travel to surf, or perfect your yoga, or hike. These are great to keep your body in optimum condition. Unfortunately, air quality can be a problem. So can stress. So can a number of influences (or lack thereof) that can be more easily structured into or eliminated from our home lives. Unfortunately, long-term world travel can be hazardous to your nutritional, mental, and physical health if you don't have a steady dedication for indulging in the world with limits and precautions.

12. Water Becomes a Rationed Commodity
If you don't ever worry about getting enough drinkable water, you might not have thought of this. Sure, all over the world, if you have money and barring catastrophe, you can probably get water to drink. However, especially in hotter climates, water is something you have to think more about and grow to appreciate how important it really is for survival.

11. You Get Too Used to Being a Target for Bad People 
Imagine a world, if you will, where your transportation charges you double what they charge a local, the money changer rips you off, your personal belongings are targets for thieves, and women are nice to you only to hit you up for money. It's bad enough that these things happen. Unfortunately, in your consequential quest to be a hard target, everybody is suspect, and that can be a very jaded way to live.

Now, as I said before, given all these warnings, if you still want to go out and see the world - actually live out in the world - I've done my part to admonish you. I can't be held responsible. And good for you.

Tacloban Dining - A Post-Disaster Restaurant Recovery

When Super-Typhoon Yolanda struck central Philippines in 2013, it decimated much of what lay in its path, but the city has fought back in the five years since to one thriving with construction projects, new hotels, and an ambitious growth in new dining establishments. As a restaurant professional of over two decades and someone who has seen this city rise up in recent years, here are my picks for where to visit, what to eat, and some advice for concepts navigating this growing landscape.

Giuseppe's Ristorante
 Italian (173 Avenida Veteranos)

Guiseppe's is one of Tacloban's oldest restaurants, serving authentic Italian specialties such as different pastas, meats, and fish, as well as some Filipino favorites to welcome those who cannot go a meal without rice (not risotto). The owners are often there keeping a watchful eye on the dining room and welcoming guests such as the Mayors Romualdez, to locals, to foreigners like me. Staff are always friendly and prompt; the servers even made me a welcome back sign for a group photo one arrival! Ambiance is warm and comfortable. Go for family-style dining or single dining. I'm told the pork chop is a local favorite, but I usually go for the pizza. My first critique was that I like a Margherita pizza that has a better balance of the red, white, and green (rather than a cheese pizza with a few slices of basil for pizazz), and they are happy to accommodate. The pastas are delightful, but sized appropriate for a coursed primo, so you may consider ordering a secondo or antipasto if you are fairly hungry. No Filipino spaghetti here (grazie!)

Dream Cafe
Filipino & Australian (222 MH Del Pilar St) 

www.dreamcafe.ph

Just around the corner from Giuseppe's is this casual restaurant and bakery. In my volunteer days in Tacloban, this was a favorite Sunday morning treat for us foreigners who wanted some eggs and hash browns in a pleasant air conditioned atmosphere. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week, Dream Cafe is an oasis of comfort food, whether you want their Dream Big Breakfast from their all-day breakfast menu, Chicken Cordon Bleu, or Crispy Pata. I'm actually a little ashamed that I only really go there for breakfast (even in the afternoon), because all the food is consistently quite tasty. 

Cafe Lucia
Coffee Shop (Rotary Center, Real St., Sagkahan) 

Self-labeled a "coffee shop," Cafe Lucia is another fixture in the city's culinary landscape, yet it is not a full-service restaurant. The draw here is the location - situated with lawn seating on the Concobato Bay with gorgeous views of coastal Tacloban and the airport in the distance. Come for the coffee or a beer and enjoy the sea breeze, come as I do for the Tonno Pasta from their limited menu and watch day turn to night, but don't come for the service - while fairly efficient if you don't mind going back to the counter to order what you need, you would be hard-pressed to see a smile or hear a "welcome" or a "thank you" at any time in this establishment. Ordinarily, that might be an issue, but like I said - location.

Fyzz by Hotel XyZ
Greek & Japanese (P Zamora St)

Speaking of ambiance, Hotel XyZ is one of the best hotels in the city, so you would expect a restaurant to match, the Fyzz dining room perched up on the 9th floor has views that are unparalleled in the city as well as a comfortable, hip, lounge-style feel that is rare on this island. This alone is worth the trip here, and they even have live music acts in the evenings and a cocktail program that seeks to impress. Unfortunately, I always feel this place should be better than what it is. For the price and location, I would want more memorable cuisine; I would want all the guests' entrees to come out at least relatively at the same time; I would not want to have to pay separately for both a gin and a tonic when ordering a cocktail, which can be a bit expensive and annoying. This of all places in the city, one might expect a service staff to be trained to make appropriate recommendations, yet that doesn't seem to be taught very many places in the country outside Manila and Cebu. All of that being said, Fyzz is a classy place that offers uncommon luxuries in a city not accustomed to such and can be a charming way to spend an evening.

Jose Karlo's / Rovinare
 Coffee Shops (Real St - Downtown & San Jose)

Recent years have seen the growth of several in the coffee shop category, but few offer what Jose Karlo's and their newer sister restaurant Rovinare do so well. Both offer unique and cozy atmospheres for a cappucino or a nice lunch. They offer couches and different tables perfect for a business meeting or getting some work done in some peace and quiet secluded from dusty and noisy Tacloban. You can get lasagna or french toast paired with your choice of traditional coffees or sweeter coffeehouse concoctions. You can always find something sweet and delicious for dessert if you choose to linger; I like the apple pie a la mode. All day breakfast is much appreciated as are the smiles!

Kuya J Restaurant

Filipino (Robinson's Mall - Marasbaras)

Despite my best efforts to exclude large chain restaurants, Kuya J has consistent delicious Filipino food, and locals love it. With many offerings as family-style portions, it's great to go as a group and share traditional foods such as beef caldereta, pork sisig, or halo-halo. I went back by myself and had a delicious bulalo soup. The mall setting is a bit bright and not such an escape, but the food quality is sure to please the traveler and the local alike!

Brews + Breakfast: Fusion Coffee

Coffee Shop (832 Brgy 83-A Burayan, San Jose)

Walking in the door, you can tell this place is serious about its coffee - with a pour-over station adjacent to the counter that has also the giant espresso machine and a chalkboard that lists the origins of the available coffee beans. You might conclude by now I am a big fan of breakfast throughout the day - this is yet another - and they do the best scrambled eggs I have had in a really long time, maybe ever. Bonus points for including some salad with the foods; veggies are often overlooked in this city. Service is very friendly and welcoming.

Chew Love

Diner/Filipino/Asian Fusion (P Gomez St)

Home to thousands of cellphone-addicted, selfie-obsessed college students, Chew Love is an Instagram and Facebook haven, with everything in sight just as cute as a heart-shaped button. The food is just that too - cute - although some portions a bit small for my taste and the mac-n-cheese not at all for my taste. You can find classic beef, fish, and chicken Filipino dishes fit for a Barbie tea party and fun takes on refreshing non-alcoholic beverages. While the cuisine may not be the top draw here, the place is just so damn cute that you kind of overlook that little fact, and the clientele are probably more interested in what's going on in the virtual world anyway. I recommend the fish.

Sean's BBQ Pit

Barbecue (Brgy Tigbao Diit)

Outside of downtown on the way to San Juanico Bridge along the highway is a sign for barbecue - "smoked low and slow." I instantly knew they weren't selling the same innards and pig fat on-a-stick that are at EVERY SINGLE BBQ STALL IN THE CITY. I found this place on accident while walking by, and it may be unlike anything I've been able to find in the city, with it's long entrance past a manicured lawn and newly planted trees, bamboo huts for semi-private dining, and an outdoor dining room that feels a bit like a biergarten in Munich. However, few actual barbecue items exist on the menu from this American's perspective (and fewer when they are sold out of pulled pork), but I think that's fine for a new restaurant, as long as they do what they do well. The burger was a good choice - with fried egg and onion rings. I really must go back for the brisket, although it was a bit more than I wanted to spend at lunch. Grab a few friends and take the multicab out here and enjoy the day.

Otabeya

Japanese (Esperas Ave) 

Just across the street from the playground at Astrodome and the Typhoon Yolanda Memorial in the wedge of buildings that begin to separate Esperas Avenue from Real Street, on the second floor, is one of my new favorite eating destinations. On a personal quest to find the world's best ramen, this is not it (I swear these are places I recommend), but it is well-made and tasty. However, you are greeted in gleeful Japanese upon opening the sliding door to enter. Friendly smiles welcome you immediately and make you feel at home, commensurate with the claim of "home cooking." Aside from the two ramen choices on the menu (I prefer the spicy, and in the photo they added an extra half egg), most of the rest of the menu is more izakaya in style, and everything is tasty and very well done. Try the seared and delicately moist gyoza, the unbelievably tender chicken karaage with sesame sauce (I add some of the hot chile oil), and the steamed spicy edamame. Yes, try those, but the highlight for me is the takoyaki. Someone brought the idea of takoyaki to the Philippines, yet outside of Otabeya they don't seem to get it right. Here the takoyaki is perfect - hot and creamy center, tender chunks of octopus, and bonito flakes dancing as a garnish atop the hot deliciousness. Go.

The Racism Wolf You Love to Cry

Let’s not pretend you care about racism. Sadly, many of my fellow Americans do not even seem that concerned with truth. We care more about what supports our version of the truth, and we can all see (if we try) that is having devastating consequences.

When I first watched the video from the National Mall this past weekend featuring the now famous encounter, I was saddened and angry like most people. So, I watched it again, and it seemed so heartless. Furthermore, I personally identified with everyone present – someone of white heritage, a conservative, a Catholic, a proponent of the right to life… and a Native American. It didn’t make sense. Surely, a trained progressive would tell me that is because I am privileged not to see racism. However, a correction should be made - I choose first to see truth.

The primary account of the story was that the high school boys surrounded Nathan Phillips – a Native American Man – and ridiculed him as he peacefully played his drum. According to Phillips, he was responding to the boys who were chanting, “Build That Wall” and were acting angrily toward him and others. Of all the cameras recording this situation that day, not one seems to have recorded the purported chant. Of all video footage available, the boys do not appear to be angry. They were in effect having an impromptu pep rally, as claimed by a participant to counter or drown out the real hate – from a small group of extremely vocal “Black Hebrew Israelites.” 

If this is the same group of men who gather to preach their intolerance at Metro stops in Washington, D.C., then I am somewhat familiar with their rants, and locals usually just walk by in attempts to ignore them. On the National Mall that day, these “preachers” are recorded calling these high school students from Kentucky “dusty ass crackers,” “incest babies,” “school shooters,” and more. In addition, they made hateful references to women, Catholics, homosexuals, and even Native Americans as “Uncle Tomahawks.” Yet, no one in this national knee-jerk outcry have a tenth of the interest in denouncing this pure, blatant hate speech in their quest to confront racism. Why is that? After riding public transportation in Washington, D.C. for years, this kind of black-on-nonblack vitriol is not unheard of, and nobody raises an eyebrow. I have been threatened with gun violence, called an Anglo-Saxon, told my mother must be a whore to have a son like me - all within the Metro system and once by a Metro employee. No one stopped a bus or stepped in to protect me on the train, and certainly no one started a viral campaign to counter or promote violence against my verbal attackers. People just look the other way.

Why? Because that’s not the way racism is supposed to work. White people are racist. Republicans are racist. “Make America Great Again” caps are inherently racist. Confronting someone who is from a traditionally oppressed group is racist. So, you have a Native American with cameras rolling behind him walk up and get in the face of a white boy with a MAGA hat – who doesn’t budge - and you have liberal internet gold! Never mind, these boys were not recorded saying anything hateful. Never mind, these boys seemed to be chanting along with Mr. Phillips happily. Never mind that the boys were audibly uncomfortable with one of their own African-American classmates being called the N-word or with homosexuals being openly disparaged. Never mind that one of the other Native American instigators told the boys to “go back to Europe, where you came from; this is not your land!” No, that’s not the way racism is supposed to work.

People like to tell other people how racism works, and to some extent, I appreciate the enlightenment. However, it’s gone too far, and people have overplayed their hands. Too many people rely too heavily on this too soon, that they do the actual cause of seeking racial harmony (wait, what?) harm in the attempt to appear in the moral majority. If you rushed to judgment, you don’t care about racism, and you don’t care about the truth. You care about yourself - whether you are a news outlet trying to get clicks, a member of Congress trying to score political points, or just a regular person trying to be woke. You want to be a part of this Indian’s peace prayer chant? Calm down and see people and situations for who and what they are, regardless of what that can do for you.