Author: lordmychef

“Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories” are recipes for troubled hearts and lonely souls

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 20 November 2019

A chef is basically a person who loves people. And that is why for any chef, cooking is both a passion and an art. His menu are not only meant to feed the body but most especially enrich the heart and soul of every diner.

Welcome to Netflix original series “Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories”!

Each episode is exactly like every recipe the main character called “Master” dishes out to his patrons and customers who come from all walks of life with their unique burdens and story to share and eventually, resolve after tasting his fresh and easy to cook meals.

Midnight Diner is as Japanese as the ramen and sake the Master serves his guests. Everything is in Nihongo with English subtitles that demand one’s total attention to understand the conversations briefly interspersed with first person accounts by the Master.

At the opening, the Master gives us the warm and nice ambience of the series set at midnight until seven in the morning for people who do not wish to go home straight after their office hours.

It turns out that they are not only looking for good food but for warm company as well which the Master ably provides with his total attention and communion.

Very interesting to note that the Master is a celibate, reason why he can devote himself wholly to his diners, listening to their joys and sorrows, victories and defeats. So far, from what I have seen in its two seasons, he has no love interests although it won’t be surprising if in the third season he turns out to be a character from one of Murakami’s novels or short stories.

Though he is a fictional character, he is rightly called “Master” for his commanding presence that is not intimidating but so warm and gentle, so unlike the celebrity chefs we see on TV.

The Master can cook anything, including fancy corndogs and pancakes that are very American. He always has a “menu of the day” as title of each episode.

Should anyone ask for any kind of dish, he willingly prepares it subject to availability of ingredients that turns out he always has or sometimes, like a true chef, finds other alternatives just to fulfill a customer’s cravings. In one episode, a patron comes nightly with his own three pieces of bread so the Master can make him “yakisoba sandwiches” — exactly how we Filipinos eat pancit with another carbohydrate!

What makes the series so good is that the Master is more than a chef — he is the Tokyo counterpart of Paris’ Cafe Anglais famed lady chef “Babette” of the 1987 Danish film “Babette’s Feast” and James Taylor’s 1977 hit single “Handy Man” rolled into one.

More than the food he passionately serves, the Master delights and comforts every troubled heart and lonely soul longing for love and relationships, forgiveness and kindness they finally find in his Midnight Diner.

Most of all, neither the Master nor his food is the main focus of each episode but the story of every customer who comes to his diner at the most unholiest hours – between 12 midnight and seven in the morning – searching for food for their souls!

Mainstays of the Midnight Diner.

Helping the Master in processing every customer are his interesting mix of characters of regular patrons: LGBTQ members, career ladies mostly single, retirees, professional gamblers and of course, Yakuza gang members.

They are the Master’s “secret spices” who bring out all the flavors and aroma of every customer’s life story like a widowed lawyer searching for his lost step brother to a nightclub stripper sought and saved from miserable life by her high school teacher suffering the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Sometimes they act like the Master’s garnishings, adding taste and beauty with some sprinklings of life lessons to lost customers.

Though most stories are understandably peculiar to Japanese culture, they all touch a common chord within us for our basic need of acceptance which the Master warmly provides like his steaming hot dishes.

Unlike most TV series, Midnight Diner’s pacing is so fast and without any pretensions that prevent it from becoming dragging and boring. In less than 30 minutes, each episode is deftly resolved just as magically how the Master came out with a superb meal from his limited resources and tiny kitchen.

But the best attraction of the show is how the viewer eventually finds one’s self warmly welcomed into the diner, laughing or crying, sympathizing or objecting to whatever situation is presented by every guest.

It is a very lovely series that transcends language barriers and cultures because it nourishes and warms our soul that never rest nowadays due to the demands of modern living. Somehow, inside the little Midnight Diner, there is always a space welcoming everyone including us viewers to unwind and be fulfilled with good food, nice people, and meaningful conversations.

Hoping for the next season soon.

Irasshaimase!

Womanly heart, Manly courage

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Wednesday, Week XXXIII, Year I, 20 November 2019

2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31 ><)))*> <*(((>< Luke 19:11-28

Candle and ordo in our sacristy, 17 November 2019.

Today’s first reading is very interesting, Lord, especially that part describing the disposition of the mother of the seven Maccabean brothers facing execution:

Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage, she exhorted each of them in the language of their forefathers…

2 Maccabees 7:21

I really wonder the meaning of “womanly heart with manly courage” but something tells me it is exactly what we need these days.

A womanly heart is a faithful heart, like a mother who would never forsake her child (Is. 49:15). It is a heart willing to bear all pains in life, suffering in silence, totally empty for the beloved and filled with God.

In this age of “instants” where lines are always moved to accommodate our whims and selfish desires, we need a womanly heart that is rooted and inclined to you O God.

Like the mother of the Maccabean brothers, she freely gave up her sons and exhorted them to look more intently to you, God, than to her herself, insisting that in the end, we are all answerable to you alone, O Lord.

Our sacristy table, 17 November 2019.

Manly courage, on the other hand, Lord is perhaps our ability to muster our strength to be truthful about our very selves.

It is something that still pertains to the heart because the word “courage” is from “cor” or heart.

A manly heart is a sincere heart that gallantly accepts one’s limitations than pretend to be somebody else.

In our suffocating world of social media where everybody is blowing out of proportion everything including one’s self, it is very ironic that while everybody claims to be the best, the more our lives are in a mess.

Like those servants in your parable, O Lord, grant us a manly heart so we may graciously accept our role and mission in this life to please you than pretend to be somebody else who really has nothing at all. Amen.

Kunwari lang?

Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-19 ng Nobyembre 2019

Larawan kuha ni G. Jim Marpa sa Carigara, Leyte, Setyembre 2019.
Kunwa-kunwari lang
mga salitang madalas mapakinggan 
nung tayo'y musmos pa lamang.
Walang katotohanan
sapagkat laru-laro lamang
kaya't huwag kabahan.
Sige-sige lang
parang Sputnik Gang
lahat ng kalokohan at harutan pinagbibigyan.
Ngunit hanggang sa pagtanda ba naman
tayo'y magkukunwa-kunwarian
na tila baga ang lahat ay laro lamang o biruan?
Larawan kuha pa rin ni G. Jim Marpa sa Carigara, Setyembre 2019.
Noong aking kabataan
ako'y natigilan sa aming inuman
sa paksa na di ko malimutan:
Sabi ba naman sa aming umpukan
ngayon ang buhay natin ay totohanan
at hindi na kunwa-kunwari lang.
Kampai! sabay taas ng kamay 
at tagay pero tila sablay
na totohanan lang ang buhay kapag naghahanap-buhay?
Paano mga pinagdaanan sa buhay
mga sakripisyong tiniis at inalay 
walang saysay dahil hindi tunay?
Larawan kuha ni G. Jim Marpa, 2017.
Hindi ba laging totohanan itong buhay
sa oras liwanag sa atin ay sumilay
kahit wala pa tayong ka-malay malay?
Kunwa-kunwarian ba ang buhay
gayong natikman hapdi ng masaktan o masugatan 
na tila di na huhupa pagluha?
Sabihin sa nagsusunog ng kilay
o maging sa istambay kunwari lang ang buhay
baka ikaw ay mapa-away!
Bawat saglit, totoo ang buhay
tigilan na malimit nating pagpipilit
ito'y kunwari upang mamuhay nang tunay.
Ang taong turing sa buhay
kunwa-kunwarian, dinadaan lahat sa biru-biruan
asahang walang pagpapahalaga sa buhay niya at ng iba.

The problem with “pretending”

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, Week XXXIII, Year I, 19 November 2019

2 Maccabees 6:18-31 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 19:1-10

Sunrise at Camp John Hay, Baguio City, November 2018.

While praying over today’s first reading, Lord, I wondered what if you were just pretending to be good? What if everything going on in our lives is a big act of pretending so as not to destroy the flow of life or throw everything off balance?

No, it cannot be, dear loving Father!

We are so sure you are real! And this life, our very selves are real.

The problem is with us when we always pretend, when we are afraid to show what is true, what is real, what we believe and what we feel.

So often we pretend you are not real, that you do not exist even if we are convinced of your love and presence.

The problem with pretending is that it is not true, it is a lie.

The problem with pretending is we never realize our true value.

Unfortunately, we still keep on pretending that pretending can work, that pretending is good.

Let us stop pretending, Lord, because we can never escape you, the Ultimate Truth.

Eleazar said: “Should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age. Even if, for the time being, I avoid the punishment of men, I shall never, whether alive or dead, escape the hands of the Almighty.”

2 Maccabees 6:25-26

Give us the courage to be truthful like the 90 year-old Eleazar and chief tax collector Zacchaeus of Jericho who never pretended about who they really were, of the truth about you, O God, that eventually they experienced your saving power in Christ. Amen.

Prayer to take away our fears

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul, 18 November 2019

Acts of the Apostles 28:11-16, 30-31 ><)))*> Matthew 14:22-33

High Altar of St. Peter’s Basilica

My dearest Lord Jesus:

It is again the start of work and studies.

How I pity Monday!

It is perhaps the most hated day of the week primarily because of the many fears it brings upon us.

Inner and outer fears that lead us to doubt our selves, our talents and abilities, even people around us.

And worst, of doubting YOU.

There are times we are like the Apostles who could hardly see you coming to us in times of darkness and storms in life.

Though you keep on calling us, assuring us of your presence, to be not afraid, we still choose to be afraid that we sink deeper into sin and evil.

Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Matthew 14:31

Hardly a day passes in our lives, Lord, without our experience of so many fears, doubts, apprehensions, and anxieties that drain us of so much energies to do more good things for you through others.

Some of us have long been held captive by this dark power of fear within and without that we hardly experience true freedom!

As we celebrate the dedication of the two Major Basilicas in honor of your two great Saints and Apostles, Peter and Paul, teach us to come home to your dwelling place of love and freedom, not of fear and doubts.

Teach us to be at home with you, to always find you even in the midst of darkness and giant waves of uncertainties. Amen.

St. Paul with a sword in front of the Basilica in his honor in Rome. From Google.

“When It Was Done” by Hugo Montenegro (1970)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 17 November 2019

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com

Today’s gospel speaks about the end of time, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ when he predicted the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of its Temple in 70 A.D.

Every coming of Jesus Christ is a day of judgment and salvation, a call to love, love, and love.

When Jesus comes again at the end of time, he won’t be asking us how much money we have but how much do we share?

He won’t be asking us what car do we drive but how we move people with our kindness and warmth?

Jesus will not ask us those questions we are so preoccupied in this life but instead ask us the basic question we have always avoided answering, “how much do you love”?

Everything follows from that question because only those who truly love are the ones willing to suffer and sacrifice, even give life so others may live.

And that is why we have chosen this very poetic song, When It Was Done by the famed American composer Jimmy Webb in 1969 and first recorded by Winter Wanderley that same year.

There are other artists who have covered this beautiful song but Hugo Montenegro’s version is the best, giving it a more ethereal quality despite its poignant character.

It is a story of a man’s love presumably to a very lovely woman he never had the chance to express his feelings because she had been taken by somebody else.

If I could bind your mind to mine in
time, to keep you from that world of his
If I could change the strangers in
your kind, then I’d know where your soul is
Then I’d know what song I’d have to
sing, to touch that chord within you
Then I would weave such wondrous
songs, and when it was done, I’d win you
If I could stand with the stars on
either hand, and say girl this ain’t the answer
If I had been where you’re going, but then I’ll never be no dancer
If I was I’d know what step to take, and laugh at what had freed me
And smash the great wall down girl,
and when it was done, you’d need me

Too late… but the gentleman pins his hopes to the end of time when probably on judgment day he could have the chance to finally have that lovely woman.

If I can face the fate that waits to cast me into shambles
And sit across the velvet boards from God then I would gamble
And if I could,
I’d know what chance to take and before the devil sold you
I’d bet my soul against the stars, and when it as done, I’d hold you

Of course, it is all wishful thinking. And that is why – “when all was done” – there’s no more going back because it is judgement day. So let’s do whatever good we can in the here and now where Christ comes again.

Meanwhile, enjoy this lovely piece and shower your loved ones with all the love you now have.

How much do you love?

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul

Week XXXIII-C, 17 November 2019

Malaci 3:19-20 ><}}}*> 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 ><}}}*> Luke 21:5-19

The Wailing Wall of Jerusalem Temple, May 2019.

We are now at the penultimate Sunday of the year as Jesus continues to summarize his teachings today at the Temple area in Jerusalem about his final coming at the end of time.

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here — the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” He answered, “See that you not be deceived… “

Luke 21:5-8

On the surface, Jesus seemed like to be a “kill joy” in making those bold assertions about the coming destruction of the Temple while everybody was admiring it. But notice how the people reacted: instead of being worried, they asked when it would happen and what would be the warning signs before it takes place as if it is just an ordinary thing!

“Wala lang…” as the young would say these days. Nothing, duh…?

View of Jerusalem from the Church of Dominus Flevit where Jesus wept upon seeing the city from the Mount of Olives.

St. Luke tells us that before Jesus entered Jerusalem, “he wept over it” at the thought that it would be destroyed and that its enemies would not “leave one stone upon another” (Lk.19: 41-44).

If there is anyone deeply hurt and saddened with the Temple’s destruction, it is not other than Jesus Christ our Lord. He certainly shared the people’s admiration for the Temple which he had also claimed as “my Father’s house” (Lk.2:49) when he was accidentally left behind there by Mary and Joseph when he was 12 years old.

Imagine what Jesus must have felt when he spoke of the destruction of the Temple which is the heart of Jerusalem, the jewel of the city, and most of all, the sign of God’s presence among his chosen people!

There must be something deeper with his warning words of the Temple’s destruction that pertains not only to his people at that time but also to us today.

Wailing Wall of Jerusalem, may 2019.

For the Jews at that time, the destruction of the Temple is the end of the world, the signal of the apocalypse. More than a catastrophe involving the destruction of buildings and almost everything including life, it is judgment day that must not be taken lightly.

It is a day calling for conversion as the prophet Malachi in the first reading reminds us that every coming of God is a day of judgment and salvation.

Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire… But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.

Malachi 3:19-20

Christ had already come and will come again.

This was his promise and this is what he meant at the cleansing of the temple, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn.2:19). At his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, Jesus Christ had replaced the old Temple worship with himself!

This is what we celebrate in every Holy Mass, God’s coming to us in Jesus Christ his Son.

Jesus comes in every here and now, and his every coming is a process of destroying our old temple of self to give rise to a new temple in Christ. Our concern need not be about a future date of his Second Coming or specific signs of its fulfillment.

Every day Jesus comes again and the challenge is for us to live authentically as Christians daily and not be bothered about the future. He warns us not to be deceived by all of these apocalyptic predictions and statements.

The key word is conversion, of living in the present. Jesus tells us so many things that can be very frightening and scary because what he wants us to do in preparation for his Second Coming is to love, love, and love.

And to love is to always suffer in Christ, with Christ.

He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in in my name… Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you… You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair of on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

Luke 21:8-19
From I.REDD.IT.

Yes, Jesus will definitely come again at the end of time. Like last Sunday, definitely, there is a resurrection of the dead and life everlasting. But both must be seen in the context of the present time, of the here and now.

When Jesus comes again to judge us at the end of time, he won’t be asking us about the things we have been so preoccupied with in this life like how much money we earn, what car do you drive, or how big is your house?

When Jesus comes again, he will be asking us questions we have always refused to answer in our daily lives like how much have you loved, how much have you sacrificed and suffered for a loved one, or how much have you shared to a stranger?

These are the questions we must be asking ourselves as we near towards the end of the year: how close have I followed Jesus Christ in his Passion and Death so I may be with him in his Resurrection?

May we imitate St. Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians today to faithfully and calmly fulfill our daily tasks in this life, avoiding being idle for each day is the day of the Lord. Amen.

Why old friends are the best

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 16 November 2019

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

A friend from the mid-80’s recently invited me for lunch when in the midst of our conversation she asked me how I unwind and take breaks as a priest considering my toxic schedules.

Suddenly, I just felt so light inside being filled with joy when I answered, “good old friends like you”!

We had a hearty laugh together as we remembered those good old days and nights with our other friends, wondering together how far we have all come in life, hurdling all those many struggles of our younger years.

When I was ordained priest in 1998, I promised to “leave behind” my family and relatives as well as friends to give myself totally in serving Jesus Christ among those people entrusted to my care.

I am so glad when I recently found out that I have not really turned away from them when I embraced a lifetime service to God because they have continued to keep me too as friend!

Old friends are always special because they have stood the test of time, standing by our side, believing in us during those many dark nights we have gone through even without us knowing it!

True friends are indeed a treasure especially those we have known and kept over the years because even if we no longer see each other so often or even communicate with them despite the suffocating social media around us, we have remained good friends deep in our hearts.

It is something we mutually feel deep inside for each other because despite our separation from college and from work or residence, we have never grown apart from each other as if there is an invisible thread that links us together.

Photo by Negative Space on Pexels.com

I used to tell young people in my recollections that friends are always a gift from God. Each friend is unique, each with his/her own strengths and limitations. There are no perfect friends but if we can allow our friendships to have spaces for love and kindness, respect and understanding, mercy and forgiveness, friends can truly be the best gifts we can have in life.

Friends are a gift because they are always wrapped in mystery: the moment we receive them, we really do not know what is in store for us. In a similar manner like the lyrics of a song we loved singing in our daily Masses in the Minor Seminary (high school), friends are “gifts of God to me, who come all wrapped so differently: others so tightly, others so loosely, but wrappings are not the gift.”

Our task in every friendship is to uncover a friend’s “giftedness” to us, something which we cannot change. We can nurture and cultivate our friendships but we cannot force our friends into becoming someone they are not meant to be.

Every friend’s giftedness is from God because every friend is a signpost for us to be closer with God: some eventually become partners in life as husband and wife while others become the bestest of friends as “emotional shock absorbers” or a inspirations to another.

That, my friend, is something we cannot and must not dare alter because as the saying goes, people come to our lives for a reason, for a season, and for love.

Photo by Roberto Nickson on Pexels.com

Lately I have been seeing – “catching up” – some good old friends. What I like best when we are together is the ability and gift to laugh our hearts out like never before. There is something so deep with old friends laughing together not only with old jokes and anecdotes we cannot forget but also with some new realizations that come with our age.

And we laugh together, we realize we are not alone after all. There is still somebody very much like us, somebody we continue to grow up with, somebody who understands our fears and anxieties because he/she is also going through the same phase in life or have just gone through something similar.

That is why good old friends are the best because despite our long separation, we still find each other traveling, walking through the same path albeit for sometime in parallel manner.

They are the best because good old friends eventually teach us to be more appreciative and grateful with life and with friends who continue to journey with us no matter how slow and cranky we have become.

Cheers to all our old friends! Make time to reach out to them. Your message or text or call could mean so much to them!

All that glitters is not gold

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Friday, Memorial of St. Albert the Great, 15 November 2019

Wisdom 13:1-9 <*(((>< ><)))*> Luke 17:26-37

A street performer in Tamsui, Taiwan delights tourists and residents alike, January 2019.

How true are these words by Shakespeare and other men of letters: we have all to be careful because not all that is shiny and impressive is valuable.

Looks can always be deceiving that we must always probe deeper until we find the Ultimate Good, God.

For they search busily among his works, but are distracted by what they see, because the things seen are fair. But again, not even these are pardonable. For if they so far succeeded in knowledge that they could speculate about the world how did they not more quickly find its Lord?

Wisdom 13:7-9
From Google.

May the Universal Doctor, St. Albert the Great, guide us and enlighten our minds and our hearts to seek first Jesus Christ in the most Holy Eucharist “because it bestows the fullness of grace on us in this life” (Breviary, November 15, commentary by St. Albert the Great on the gospel of St. Luke).

I also thank you Most Sweet Jesus on this day as we celebrate our 22nd anniversary of ordination as Deacons. I still remember the great fear and fright I felt thinking of the immense responsibilities as a Deacon in preparation to our ordination to the Priesthood.

And yes, Lord Jesus, there were many occasions since then until now when we are blinded by so many shining things in the ministry that are not really you nor the Father.

Send us your Holy Spirit that we may seek you always and follow you by lovingly serving others in your name. Amen.

True mobility is in Christ Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Thursday, Week XXXII, Year I, 14 November 2019

Wisdom 7:22-8:1 ><)))*> <*(((>< Luke 17:20-25

Photo by Mr. Chester Ocampo, 2019.

Praise and glory to you, O Lord our mighty God!

We keep on searching for so many things in this life to make us more “upwardly mobile” in life: knowledgeable and affluent, healthy and everything.

Nice.

But in our pursuits, we miserably fail becoming better persons for eventually, everything ends up with about money and material things, prestige and fame.

We forget you, O God who is Wisdom beyond compare.

For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion, and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity.

Wisdom 7:24

Let us find you right here in our hearts, in Christ Jesus who had come to dwell within us. Amen.