!VIVA FILIPINAS!

The Philippines Embassy in Stockholm invited members of PROFOCA, as guests of honour, to celebrate the Philippines National Day on June 5, 2010, at the residence of H.E. Mrs. Maria Zeneida Angara Collinson, located in Lidingö.

Invitation to attend was e-mailed to the members of the organization by Vice Consul Lilibeth Paredes Almonte and distributed by Secretary of PROFOCA, Xuefei Chen. Five of them showed their interest: José Luis Belmar, Inam Jasas, Carlos Manuel Estefanía, Jelena Ivanisevic and Francesco S. Alonzo.

Arriving at the residence was quite an experience, because the “Filipinos” welcomed the group with their internationally known hospitality and Mrs. Collinson came directly to receive it. After thanking PROFOCA for the magnificent Memorial arranged on May 26, in which 40 journalists who died in the line of duty in Philippines were honoured, the group was taken into the centre of a magnificent garden, in which they could see almost everything that Philippines produce.

The festivity, entitled “Barrio Fiesta”, was extraordinary, with the Limtuaco bar opened to more than 200 guests, who witnessed the exhibition of the Filipino Martial Arts, performed by the Lameko Eskrima of Stockholm; a cultural show, the traditional game of Philippines, the Pinyata; a singing contest with a top class group of musicians playing during the whole festivity.

Prizes for the winners included a cruise to Finland for two, included pocket money courtesy of Amb. Collins and Silja Line; 2 nights stay at Gränna Hotel, courtesy of Mrs. Mila Dahl.

In the middle of all these, one of the best lunches ever offered by an embassy in Sweden: Filipino typical food and drinks were served continuously to the guests, who will never forget the generosity shown by the Embassy of Philippines.

This is the type of festivity all the embassies should have to commemorate their national days. "!Viva Filipinas!” Excellent!

The event was one more of the events in which the members of PROFOCA are guests of honour.

On January 12, sixteen of our distinguished members took their cars and went to the installations of Kraft Foods in Upplands Väsby.

There, we were met by a distinguished Italian, a real barisa, with the name of Giovanni Masturzo, who happens to be the Training Manager of Gevalia, who gave one of the most interesting, educating and outstanding study visits PROFOCA has done over the years.

Mr. Marturzo explained us that Coffee around the world, is consumed in different ways, in differing styles, with differing strengths, but the tendencies for certain areas of the planet may surprise us.

“It’s probably little surprise that the United States of America is the largest single market for coffee products, but it may surprise you to know that the second largest is Germany.

“They may live a far more relaxed life than those people in the US, but the nation of Finland consumes the most coffee per head of population in the world today” informed Giovanni.

All great things in this world come from a mistake, it seems. And coffee is no exception. But the history of coffee is one that is full of twists and turns, some political, some down to happenstance, but all of them have contributed to your double espresso being what it is today.

The popular theory is that coffee was really ‘discovered’ by a sheep herder from Caffa Ethiopia. The herder was known as Kaldi, and he happened to notice that his sheep would get hyperactive after eating red “cherries” from the plant we now know to be coffee. Intrigued as to what the plant was doing to his flock, Kaldi tried a couple himself, and was soon in a caffeine frenzy. Initially, the local monks scolded Kaldi for his new found drug, but they soon found that if they took some coffee themselves, the monks could stay up later for their prayers- or so the story goes.

As you probably know, coffee contains caffeine, which acts as a stimulant in the human body. Consciously or not, the human body craves more caffeine when it is exposed to it for a long period, and because people usually start drinking coffee either as a means of staying awake (studying for an exam, for example), a diversion from work, or in a social situation, those cravings don’t take long to form in most people.

Coffee dependence sometimes follows, and kicking the habit can be a real drag. Government authorities in the US say that two cups a day of coffee should be about the limit for people, with anything more than that being more harmful to the body than helpful. Many people drink decaf instead of their usual coffee as a means of reducing this negative impact. Decaf is coffee that has most of the caffeine removed through the use of either water or trichloroethylene on the beans.

Scientists hypothesize that an unknown chemical agent which stimulates the production of cortisone and adrenaline, two stimulating hormones in the human body, is present in coffee, however these two hormones aren’t particularly harmful in themselves, at least in coffee sized doses.

Coffee has a variety of helpful uses for humans; gardeners use the grounds as fertilizer to great success, while others say that coffee increases the effectiveness of pain killers, and can even help fight asthma, possibly due to the enhanced adrenal effect from the caffeine. In women, scientists have shown that coffee reduces suicidal tendencies, while it may also prevent gallstones and gallbladder disease in men, and reduce the incidence of diabetes by some 40%. Lastly, coffee’s stimulant effects and fat burning potential sees some quarters of the medical industry pushing it as a means of lowering the incidence of heart disease.

How much of this is real and how much is hokum stemming from wishful thinking in coffee drinkers remains to be seen. But one thing we can be sure of it tastes great!

Did you know that the most expensive coffee in the whole world enjoys the name of Kopi Luwak? Well, let us tell you that Kopi Luwak coffee comes from the Indonesian island of Sumatra, an area well known for its excellent coffee. Also native to the area is a small civet-like animal called a Paradoxurus. That's the scientific name, the locals call them luwaks. These little mammals live in the trees and one of their favourite foods is the red, ripe coffee cherry. They eat the cherries, bean and all. While the bean is in the little guy's stomach, it undergoes chemical treatments and fermentations. The bean finishes its journey through the digestive system, and exits. The still-intact beans are collected from the forest floor, and are cleaned, then roasted and ground just like any other coffee.

The resulting coffee is said to be like no other. It has a rich, heavy flavour with hints of caramel or chocolate. Other terms used to describe it are earthy, musty and exotic. The body is almost syrupy and it's very smooth.

And it is the most expensive too. One kilo is sold for around 150 dollars. In Sweden, you can enjoy a cup of Kopi Luwak for around 100 Swedish crowns if not more.

But lucky ones, like Francesco Alonzo, Miroslav Hoc, Fred Goldberg, Sara Jasas (Alfayhaa TV from Iraq), Gunilla Lundqvist, Xuefei Chen, Abdi Hossein, Carlos Palestro, Ewa Korolczuk, Arif Husseini, Lennart Hallén and José Luis Belmar had the opportunity of tasting a new blend of coffee that will be on the market in June. The new coffee will be named "GIOVANNIS BLEND". Believe us: it is out  of this world. Just wait and taste. 

Photos taken by Carlos Palestro and Miroslav Hoc.

With the purpose of understanding more about the culture and development in China, PROFOCA,(Professional Foreign Correspondent Association), and the Political Sector of the Chinese embassy organized this activity

Yes! To find out more about this icon in the Swedish film and theater history, PROFOCA was once more, guest of honour at the Royal Opera House. Our host was, as usual, Mr. Torbjörn Eriksson, Head of Public Relations of the Institution.

As Mr. Eriksson pointed out, the novelty this summer at the Royal Opera, is an exhibition focusing on Ingmar Bergman´s pasión for the opera and the mark this made on his art.

“It was here at The Royal Swedish Opera that he began his career as an unpaid assistant producer and it was here that he later produced his legendary production of Stravinsky´s The Rake´s Progress.”-Torbjörn Eriksson.