Dining in LA: Food from 102 countries

[momopi]

http://manbitesworld.com/Archives/76/Archives

Very interesting entry on Day 81, Philippines:

http://manbitesworld.com/articles/94/day-81-philippines

A desire for loneliness is a strange phenomenon. It can stem from any number of conditions; social discomfort, general mistrust or plain old self loathing. But alone is not a terrible thing to be. Ive wanted it, even craved it ever since I was a kid. You go to functions and immediately realize that youd rather be at home, by yourself, doing just about anything else. You dont want to get pulled out of it and think everybody else is an idiot and in many cases they are. But things can change. The right people, the right setting, the right reason and you slowly find yourself turning into someone that actually likes company. Not any company, mind you. But you start finding scenarios that you do enjoy and then start trying to surround yourself with the people that make you feel better as opposed to worse. Its not something that I saw coming, but its something thats managed to happen all by itself anyway. That, for me, has been one of the most dynamic and mindset-altering developments of this entire Personal Food Project in Blog Form. The sense of community that food has created, the number of people that have happily welcomed me into their circles and even become my friends is staggering. When you enter a place with that sense of community, you can tell right away. Its comforting. So when Yuri Shimoda, the managing editor of Campus Circle magazine, wanted to do a story on these edible escapades and invited me into her home to cook me Filipino food, I agreed, but didnt really know what I was getting myself into. It turned out to be one of those gatherings that regardless of the fact that youve never been there before, never eaten the food, and dont know a single other person involvedmakes you feel like you genuinely belong.