The Chowder or the Tank

One thing not so good about occupying a high post in an organization is that people tend to think you have a lot of money. As far as I’m concerned, however, I tell people right on the face that I don’t personally drive my own car. People believe chefs make big money but I still would be the first to admit that I am a commuter. I know my city. If you live in a city like Manila where you can get stuck in the traffic for hours (I mean, hours) and there’s a lot of corrupt road officials who earn more than you do from extorted money, you’d think twice about owning your vehicle. Then there’s Greenpeace. In addition, I don’t have an iPOD (I don’t know how to operate it), or laptop, and my personal phone is already a little ancient- messaging and calling, nothing more. Next, my waiting staff and my cooks have even more sophisticated cell phones than their executive chef. I never whined about not having my own gadgets though. I don’t know. Probably living in the Dark Ages? But I do freak out when there’s a lot of plastic things in the kitchen and, please, don’t serve my food on a plastic plate…

Anyway, the family has benefited from the vehicles we used over the years, my sister has bought her own car and now my brother is using it. I drove my sister’s car a few times, the experience a little laced with worries knowing that it wasn’t mine. What if I scratched it? Or bumped it?

While I still consider buying a car (primarily due to the nature of my job), the rising prices of fuel kicks in sixty percent of the time… Among the things in the news today is about the craze on biofuels. I don’t really have the expertise to go into the intricacies of biofuels, but what I notice is that coconut oil, originally used for food and cosmetics, is now feeding car tanks. There’s even a ‘gasoline’ station in our city where they sell this oil for fuel. And now, corn is no longer exclusive to taco shells, breakfast cereals, chips and chowders (or livestock feeds)… but… car tanks too! I am still wondering if the next time I make tempura, I would be reminded that the oil I use for frying is of the same nature that runs the car on the road.

Going home from the kitchen at night, tired, I get a little too sleepy. I confess to just give the driver the instructions to our street and… doze off in the cab. Going to work, the same thing happens. I leave to the driver all worries in the road- about getting overtaken, or getting tickets for whatever violation- while I powder my face on the passenger’s seat or think of recipes. Besides, it’s much better to think of nice coconut or corn recipes… than thinking about how much I’d spend for them when they work on the engine.