may 2006 - working copyzbk.qxp - Filipino Star

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Page 14 Our Children, Our Lives, A Landscape Ever-changing COURSES Centre 2000 Professional Training Institute • Dental Assistant • Nursing Aide • Pharmacy Assistant • Security Officer • Daycare Provider • Accounting Technician • French Course Saturdays available Info: Call 514-342-1000 4950 Queen Mary Rd. Suite 351 (Front of Snowdon Metro) The North American Filipino Star May 2006 The North American Filipino Star Classified Ads ADVERTISING Specials for May Courses offered: Some years are seared in our memory Others are just a-fleeting The joyful laughter of our children at play Their raucous howls of gloom and glee. Years pass and we see ourselves Reflected in our children’s passing years The cries of pain when they are hurt Their beaming eyes when all is well. Like a butterly’s wings when a soft wind blows They flit, they flutter, and then they fly Away to a verdant meadow where fragrant flowers bloom Or to a dark, dense forest where sunlight seldom shone. But all these are just stages In our daily lives and theirs As transient as the seasons As changing as sunshine and rain. Then one day they will begin Another adventure so exciting Another journey filled with dread and doubts A journey where their future beckons Though with peril fraught. But this is what life is all about A constant dance with uncertainty Equipped with Experience, Knoowledge, Hope We smile bemused at is unpredictability. So onward to new terrain we go To landscapes, horizons ever-changing Seeking further life’s potential and promise Still searching for life’s higher dimension And once there, allow ourselves to soar To an unfathomed journey of the heart and soul. 9. Classified Advertising is the cheapest way to advertise! Call 514-485-7861 Ads must be prepaid. Send text via E-Mail to: filipinostar2@yahoo.com or Fax: 514-485-3076 99 First 3 lines $1.50 per extra line (maximum 4 words a line) ARTICLES FOR SALE Miscellaneous household furniture office desk/computer tables, books, kitchen table, chairs, etc. 514-485-7861 CATERING COURSE Learn a better way of serving your clients and make a name in the industry. Attend a seminar on the art and science of catering. Call 514-485-7861 DATING AGENCY DON’T STAY ALONE Many Canadian gentlemen (25 to 65 years old) looking for Asian women for friendship or long term relationship A2 Dating (514) 962-6004 DRIVING Quebec certified driving instructor with 11 years experience in giving driving lessons. Exam car available Toton 514-969-9622 DRIVING LESSONS Car available for EXAM 1 hour practice only $20 KHALIL 514-965-0903 DUPLEX FOR RENT Lachine, 5 1/2 upper floor duplex, with fridge and stove, bright, clean, unheated, close to all amenities $650, non-smoker, no pets, Buses 190, 195, 90, 110, 355 Call 514-639-9814, 514-585-7315 Sauteed Mung Beans Serves 2 to 4 INGREDIENTS 1 cup dried monggo (mung beans) (250 mL) 2 tablespoons cooking oil (36 mL) 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 small chopped onion 1/4 lbpork, cut into small cubs (113 g) 1/2 lb small shelled shrimps (227 g) 2 cups broth of water or shrimp juice (500 mL) Salt and pepper to taste 1 tablespoon of soy sauce (15 mL) 12 oz. fresh spinach (350 g) or fresh bitter melon leaves (available fresh frozen at Philippine or Chinese stores. PREPARATION Wash mung beans Add 3-4 cups 750-1000) of water LECHON BigD's Lechon, telephone number (514) 426-9088 or www.bigd-lechon.com. ROOM TO RENT Filipino lady tenant to occupy the biggest room in an upper duplex with 3 other ladies, quiet, bright, clean, equipped with washer/dryer, fridge, stove, heated, $300/month Call 514-485-7861 for appointment SEMINARS How to start and manage your own business Basic Video Production Writing Workshop Leadership Training Professional Catering Call 514-485-7861 Philippine Cuisine Bring to a boil. Lower heat and continue cooking until soft. Set aside. Sautee garlic, onion, tomatoes and pork in hot oil. Add cooked mung beans and 2 cups of broth or water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add shrimps. Continue cooking until shrimp is done. Add fresh spinach leaves or young leaves of bitter melon. Cook for another 3-5 minutes. Serve hot. Banana or Sweet Yam Chips INGREDIENTS: 1 cup sugar (250 mL) 1 teaspoon salt (5 mL) 1-2 plantain or sweet yam (sliced into pieces 1/2” thick oil for deep frying PREPARATION Combine sugar and salt. Mix well. Evely coat sliced plantain or sweet yam with sugar and salt mixture. Fry a ew chips at a time to prevent them fromsticking together. Remove when goldenbrown. Separate sticking pieces and cool. TAX SERVICE GAAVI TAX SERVICE • Experience • Lowest price • Excellence • More Refund Starts from $10 Call: Gaavi (514) 344-1128 6430 Victoria Ave., Suite 10, Montreal, QC H3W 2S7 TUTORIAL COURSES ENGLISH, FRENCH MATHEMATICS, SCIENCE All levels & other subjects on request 514-485-7861
May 2006 The North American Filipino Star Page 15 Green Tea Anyone? It must have been during my first flight onboard Japan Air Lines on the way to the Philippines years ago when I began to like green tea. The flight attendants would offer either “English tea” or “green tea” to the passengers, an amusing distinction I thought at the time. I would choose green tea on the principle that “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” even though I was only riding an airplane run by a Japanese company, not in Japan itself. Since then, we would prepare ourselves some green tea at odd moments of the day, and enjoy it as much as we would enjoy black tea. Recently, we welcomed a Japanese student in our home. To our delight, we have been learning so much about Japanese culture from Yukiko, her name. One of the things we are discovering is that there is much more to green tea than we ever thought. It turns out that Yukiko comes from a region of Japan, the Shizuoka prefecture, which produces the best green tea of the country. It is a mountainous region with just the right combination of rainfall and temperature that results in good quality leaves from the evergreen Camellia sinensis, the source of all tea. Only the new leaves that shoot out in spring are suitable for tea production, and these are harvested in May. Our curiosity in tea varieties having been stimulated, we ventured into a specialty tea shop in the NDG area in Monkland. There we learned of “gyokuro” tea which at $50 per 20 grams is supposed to be the highest quality Japanese green tea there is. The storekeeper, perhaps noticing my very Advertise your new business in the Filipino Star Call 514-485-7861 surprised look, tried to lessen the price shock by pointing out that it comes to about a dollar a cup, certainly not so bad considering the price we pay for a good cup of coffee. Nevertheless, we didn’t have the heart to part with so much money for so little tea. Yukiko, however, had asked her parents to send some fine green tea from their region. I heard the “whoosh” when she opened that can – the tea was vacuum-packed! We passed it around and noticed right away that the tea leaves were a dark green, certainly different from the brownish-pale green of the locally available version. The reason for this, Yukiko explained, is that the cheaper tea has stems mixed in with the leaves. In addition, green tea must be prepared not in any haphazard way but according to precise conditions: The water must be ideally at 75°C and steeping must be from 2 to 4 min only. The result was an extremely smooth tea, definitely superior in aroma and flavour to that which I have become accustomed to. Some might be wondering how different green tea is from the more common black tea (or “English tea” according to the flight attendants of JAL). First the similarity: Both black and green tea, called “true” tea come from the Camellia sinensis plant. The difference: Black tea is produced by allowing the tea leaves to oxidize, a process similar to the natural browning of cut apples. Thus, black tea has a different chemical profile than green tea. For example, black tea, because of this oxidation step, contains more caffeine than green tea. Black tea has a longer shelf life, staying flavorful for years. On the other hand, green tea will not last for more than a year, in some cases for only a few months. And of course, green tea tastes totally different from black tea. It is generally said that green tea has beneficial health effects. This belief originated from putting two and two together, that is, that tea is a major beverage in the orient, perhaps even on par with water, and that the incidence of chronic disease in the orient is relatively low compared to that in western countries. Ergo, tea drinking might be responsible, at least in part, in protecting Asian people against heart disease, cancer and diabetes, the major chronic diseases. As with any sort of association, the supposed link is not necessarily true, hence the need to systematically test the claimed beneficial effects of tea, whether green or black. In this regard, many people believe that green tea is more potent than black tea, perhaps because the green variety is less modified with respect to the fresh leaves. Many have sought to prove and measure the claimed beneficial effects. A computerized survey of the scientific literature yielded about 600 articles published between 2004 and May 2006 on green tea alone. The main idea has been and still is that tea contains an abundance of antioxidants that protect against the destructive effects of oxygen. (I wrote an article on antioxidants for this paper in June 1999.) Thus, a number of articles report that green tea appear to be associated with a lower risk of breast cancer, lung cancer and prostrate cancer. Some even report that green tea results in a favourable blood lipid profile, and may even be useful in the fight against obesity. Some of the more clear-cut studies were done on experimental animals. The results of trials done on human beings are more controversial and difficult to interpret. This is mainly because the human diet is extremely variable and cannot be easily defined and controlled like one could do with laboratory diets given to experimental animals. I must therefore mention that the National Cancer Institute is very cautious when it comes to the effects of green tea on cancer in humans. It has not closed the door on the possibility that green tea might have beneficial effects, but it does not endorse green tea as useful in the fight against cancer. In fact, the National Cancer Institute is sponsoring scientific studies to evaluate the potential usefulness of green tea to fight skin cancer. We are still waiting for the official word. My recommendation? If you enjoy green or black tea, by all means continue to do so. Who knows, on top of its desirable aroma and taste, science might yet still prove the health benefits of this ancient beverage.
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