Another Day, Another Blog Thief *Sigh*

I was alerted by a long-time reader that there is another blog thief who stole parts of one of my posts, Machang.

Simply Marilyn's Machang was published on September 2010, almost four years after I posted mine on January 2007. I can tell she is capable of thinking and writing on her own and she did a good job of using pandan leaves to substitute for banana leaves.

I can't understand why she had to lift paragraphs and phrases from my post. Again this blog thief just like the first one didn't acknowledge my blog nor the author of the recipe I adapted it from, Martin Yan. Is it a disease among Filipino food bloggers? Or are they just shameless people who want to impress their friends with their culinary ability?

And she has the temerity to ignore the Copyright notice on all texts and photos indicated at the bottom of all my posts when she has the same Copyright sign on her blog. Isn't that incredible? Practice what you preach, you shameless plagiarist! I wonder how many more of my posts are on her blog. I will reluctantly check her other posts, then. I had left a comment on her post asking for acknowledgment both to me and Martin Yan, or removal of her post.

Update: April 10, 2011

Marilyn finally responds on her blog comment

Oggie! Sorry for this late reply, i was so busy with my culinary classes. why are you angry at this posts? I f you are a fan of Martin Yan,then it works the same with me too. We got different versions of trying it out, if you can only read my Phil. version of it which makes it so different from yours. You have to admit that. and please stop pestering my buss. page because of this . My business page has nothing to do with this. you just have to act professionally. you are talking about plagi…I don’t know that we got the same cookbooks.Mine was long time cookbooks from my late mom. This is the first time that i discovered we have same Martin’s Yan recipe. What thought are you talking about? this is Martins. if you can read my own version of explanation indicated on the first part. I was about to update it for sources in it, thus delayed a little while. I don’t like this either. i don’t want us both to do the same of Martin’s, i will only remove this if you ‘ll remove your posts, about my name indicated in your website., cause i can also do the same with you. I will remove my posts not because of about plagi,..it is for the reason of –i don’t want us to have the same recipe. I can make my own kind, im a chinese anyway

My response
First of all, Marilyn, I haven’t been pestering your business page, wherever that is. That is not my style. Read my post comment saying I have already gotten over your plagiarism. However, I got an email late last night informing me that he/she has been leaving comments on your facebook pages just to tick you off. If you are so concerned about professionalism, you should examine yourself. You obviously are in denial of your theft. Overseaspinoycooking commented on my post that you lifted several of his posts also and passed as your own, and that he asked you to remove them. Professionalism? You have got to be kidding me! You won’t recognize the word if it hits you on the face.

May I remind you
These are directly lifted from my blog post Machang without Martin Yan's name.
“I know, this is not authentic machang, The rice is a bit soggy, the seasoning was not thoroughly absorbed by the rice and maybe was washed away by the boiling method. The thing is, the machang was still good, regardless. So I searched in all my Chinese cookbooks for something similar, found one.. His recipe has too many ingredients and the rice bundles are wrapped in lotus leaves”

And these are directly lifted from Machang For Real
“It’s like our native suman, except that it is prepared with pork and chicken filling. It’s more like Chinese adobo in taste.”

You added some of your words, but I have my doubts and now suspect you lifted them also from a book or other blogs, who knows; and I don’t really care. I’ve done my job in exposing your kind, yes the plagiarist kind, to the the food blogging community. I am not interested in your business as long as my blog posts don’t appear in any of yours word for word, thought for thought. As I said on my previous comment, I work hard to write a good description of my experiences with regard to a particular recipe and I NEVER forget to acknowledge the book, author, or blog that inspired me to cook and blog about the food. You have no “right” to be upset because you are the offending party, not me nor overseaspinoycooking. You stole from us and we have every right to be angry at you.

She wrote a follow-up comment

i will remove the posts of Martin Yan procedure and i will do completely a different thing. , just gonna change the whole of it. Did you ever think about the pics. that i have posted?, that was an effort..gonna update it the different way following my own version. you can have Martin. and please, remove about what you have written about my name-if not, i will do the same too. If you are entittled to Martin’s ? why others can’t? it was a reference recipes for everyone. i hope this is clear to you..

My response
Marilyn, do you have a reading comprehension problem. I NEVER said you cannot use Martin Yan’s recipe. You simply removed his name from my original paragraph and I wonder why. You should remove this post entirely or re-write it USING YOUR OWN WORDS AND EXPERIENCES. Is that so hard to understand? Sheesh. And what do you mean “I WILL DO THE SAME TOO”. How so? I didn’t do any thieving, you did!

Why couldn't she just admit her mistake, apologize, re-write her post, and move on. I already did.

A warning to future thieves: Do not lift paragraphs, photos, or entire copyrighted blog posts from this blog; otherwise, your blog and name will appea permanently on BLOG THIEVES HALL OF SHAME.

April Fools

Indian gooseberry fool and marionberry (blackberry) fool

Sorry, but there aren't any April Fools Day pranks or jokes on this post, just berry fools, Indian gooseberry and marionberry fools. I bought a packet of frozen Indian gooseberries and didn't know what to do with them. They are not the same as the sweetish American gooseberries. They have a single stone and the meat is sour and has a tannic or astringent tongue feel which strangely I really like. But that's just me. I love sour fruits and I don't mind that they taste like unripe fruits.

Gooseberry or Marionberry Fool
1 cup tart gooseberries or marionberries
sugar, to taste
1½ cups chilled heavy cream

• In a small pan, heat gooseberries or marionberries with sugar. Cook gooseberries until very soft, mash with a fork. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Whip heavy cream with 3 tablespoons sugar or to taste to soft peaks. Gently fold in the prepared fruits. Spoon into dessert cups.

Banana-cue

Banana-cue is a favorite Filipino street food made with cooking bananas called saba. Despite its name, banana-cue is not grilled; they are deep-fried with brown sugar and skewered in bamboo sticks for portability. I prefer banana-cue cooked until the sugar caramelizes and becomes hard and brittle.

Banana-cue
6 ripe firm saba bananas, or ripe plantains
2 cups light olive or grapeseed oil
¼ cup dark brown sugar
small skewers

• Heat oil in a medium pan or wok and fry bananas for 2 minutes. Add brown sugar and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 more minutes or until sugar has caramelized and bananas are evenly coated. Skewer each banana and serve immediately while still warm and crunchy.

Cherry Blossom Friendship Cake

cherry flavored 2-layer sponge cake decorated with fresh yoshino cherry blossoms and the word friendship written in Kanji

The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C is now on since March 26 until April 10. There are several events but the most popular activity is walking along the tidal basin to ooh and aah at the cherry blossoms. I've seen the spectacular blooms just once in 1992 but never went back to avoid the huge crowd that descends on the district the entire 2 weeks. Besides getting pushed and stepped on by tourists and tripping on exposed roots, finding a parking space is nearly impossible unless you drive there at 6 in the morning.

photo: National Parks Services, Washington, D.C

Instead of going to Washington, D.C. to join the festivities, I am celebrating at home by watching my favorite Japanese and anime movies (Seven Samurai, Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Gojoe, etc.) and making sushi and onigiri. And to thank the Japanese people for this beautiful gift to the U S of A, I baked a cherry flavored sponge layer cake decorated with cherry blossoms from my tree. The buds aren't in full bloom yet as it is still early; they will be on the second week of April. I cut some of the lower branches and forced the buds to open indoors. I wrote "friendship" in Kanji, the design and idea I got from A WORLD OF CAKE although I did not follow the cake recipe in the book. You can use your favorite layer cake recipe and words of your choice written in Kanji.

Cherry Blossom Friendship Cake
sponge cake
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons milk
a few drops of natural cherry flavor
a few drops of red or pink food dye
1½ cups cake flour, sifted

frosting
creamy cherry frosting

garnish
fresh or candy flowers
brown and black writing icing tubes

• Line two 8-inch round pans with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350°F. In the bowl of a standing mixer with paddle attachment, beat eggs on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add sugar and beat on high until pale yellow in color and mixture has thickened. Add milk, cherry flavor, and food dye and mix well. Continue beating on low while slowly adding flour. Mix until smooth and creamy. Pour into the prepared pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until cake test is done. Remove from pans and let cool on wire rack. For the frosting, omit vanilla and add a few drops of pink food dye and cherry flavor to the Creamy Vanilla Frosting. Remove parchment paper, fill, and frost the cake. Decorate with fresh edible or candy flowers.

I think there are too many flowers growing on the cake (^_^)

These are old photos of my cherry tree in full bloom