Wag Your Tongue, inspired…
On one fine day…
I started this blog out of an immense passion for travel, stories, food, photography, writing, and contemplating life in general. As a seasoned traveler and an unconventional foodie, this has been an outlet for extraordinary thoughts and pearls of wisdom that are largely unbiased by formalities.
I write with a dash of dry humor and sarcastic honesty that may or may not be well received by some. Thoughts are complex beings that require serious exploration, reasoning, and deducting. I found the results are best when you are given a carte blanche to be yourself.
Throughout these years I often travel dangerously, mostly due to an uncontrollable curiosity. To live a worthwhile life, don’t we all need to experiment our experience? I crossed path numerous times with inspirational individuals during my adventure across borders. They lent me such rich materials for my penmanship, complete with priceless anecdotes and telltales.
I was raised to eat well since my childhood, where every meal was the time to share stories. Naturally I pay attention to details in culinary art. I spent hours on the kitchen stool watching my grandmother peeling ginger, grating cheese, and steaming banana leaves while nibbling my afternoon snack – usually a plate of breadfruit frieten with a glass of schokomelk. Food nourishes your mind and satisfies your soul, and at times, patches your broken heart. Since those humble afternoons I have traveled to over 50 countries in every continent.
I picked up unique dishes and recipes from various corners of the world. They remind me of the people I met who have left the strongest strokes of first impression in my mind. Such memories tend to live forever in our grey cells, as Hercule Poirot said.
The potential combination of mixing and matching elements of ethnic cuisines from these places is beyond infinity, not to mention the endless stories attached to them.
I started writing at a young age when I was a shy introvert. I received encouragements and accolades from a few individuals who opened the next chapter for me. It’s a powerful tool of self-expression for the recluse.
Fast forward many years later, I’m still a shy introvert, but now with a plethora of stories I’m passionately wanting to share. Words are powerful and effective, and in my own account, they rewrote my life and took me to where I am today.
My Philosophy
1,000 Places To See Before I Die
On my 25th birthday, I bought myself a book called 1,000 Places To See Before You Die. I thought, how many of these I haven’t seen? I made a commitment to myself then, that I will travel to as many countries as possible before I die. Being in a different land, smelling a different rain, and hypnotizing myself by staring at foreign license plates from passing cars make me relax and arrived in my zen zone.
The origin and the original cross-cultural cuisine
I drew my culinary interest and inspiration from social dogmas of cultures with whom I’ve had an opportunity to interact. I observed whether a communal value runs thick and the cuisine plates or doesn’t, whether gender distinction is marked by what dishes and which cuts of chicken served on the table, whether a meal is eaten sitting down or standing up or even squatting down. I’ve been following the spice route on my travel map and I have discovered how much more similar we are across borders than different. I am interested in why a cuisine was created the way it is and I am curious about the purpose of a dish and the history behind it. Was it scarcity of ingredients due to famine? Or was it an accidental creation intended to make something else? By passing on that knowledge to others, I hope to pass on my passion as well.
The health and the healing quality
Eating tasty food doesn’t have to be a cardinal sin and it doesn’t have to ruin our health. On the contrary, eating tasty food should complement what we lack of, rejuvenate what we’ve grown old into, enlighten what we disconcert about, and inspire what we deter from. I’m learning everyday of the amazing healing qualities from herbs, spices, plants, fruits, and edible flowers. I’ve discovered the secret of the Maasai’s medicinal plants, the mystery of Chinese herbal roots and the romance of Moroccan fragrant roses. It’s an interesting study that deserves to be preserved.
The safe and the saved
It feels good to do the right thing. I care about what I put into my body, and I should be equally concerned about what I suggest to others. What we eat should be safe for us and should save the biological ecosystem. Besides not killing each other with a spear or a machine gun, there is another way to be able to coexist in our natural habitat, and that is by not taking over.
On “Social Network” Society
We live in a complex individualized society that has been epitomized by severe social insecurity. We maintain a distance of more than three arm’s length from other people. We suspect others as guilty and culpable until proven not, although our justice system rules otherwise. We are warm and friendly acquaintances but we are putting up a bulletproof heat-resistant defense mechanism once another person might have gotten a tad too intimate and wants to get to know us better as another fellow human being.
It’s hard to get past that and I’m still learning every day. When I moved locales to other countries, I had to adjust my social comprehension in many different dimensions. How to draw the line between an acquaintance and a friend or how far in advance I should call before dropping by. These things are particularly confusing because there is no science to it. It’s a pure art form and it’s acquired through social intelligence. Social network is important, but it’s equally important not to lose yourself in it. From my network I have found a new hobby, a wealth of knowledge, many friends, a few annoying people, some enemies, earned praise, attained criticism, earned respect, lost respect. All in all, it’s a fun and enjoyable process that keeps me alive and human, and most importantly, intrigued.