Qwek Qwek

(Chicago) – There’s always something Spanish in every Filipino. It is evident in the last names of most of us, in skin color of a few, in religious belief of the majority, in facial structure, in politics, in public festivities, in architecture, in our alphabet and in many other aspects of our lives. With the [...]

(Chicago) -  One of the major (major! ) effects of food blogging to me is that my appreciation of Filipino food has grown significantly. How many times I denounced my homeland cuisine whenever I was asked if Filipino food was my favorite cuisine. I gave bulls**t reasons such as Filipino dishes are oily, unhealthy or [...]

(Chicago) -  We, Pinoys, love our tocino.  I am personally addicted to this especially if it comes with a mound of fried rice and over-easy eggs. For the uninitiated, tocino is a highly sweet cured meat, either pork or chicken, which is usually bright red in color and very popular in the Philippines But as [...]

(Singapore) – During Vergel’s short stint as a cook in a famous Thai restaurant here in Singapore, he learned to cook most of the signature Thai dishes that they were serving. I was never a fan of Thai food, but when he took me for dinner at the restaurant he was working at, I instantly [...]

(Chicago) – Simplicity is beauty. As cliché as it may sound, I truly believe this saying. Over-adornment of anything: be it physical, house or clothing, can obstruct the real beauty of the object. And this does not only apply to tangible things.  It can be true to food as well; a dish with ingredients trimmed down [...]

(Los Angeles) – Being married to a Caucasian American for quite a while now and to be able to satisfy both our taste buds, I have come up with a recipe of the American-style Bistek. This is the result of years of my Mom’s cooking style with some twists to adjust to the American standards.

(Chicago) – Many years ago, I participated in a mission trip, organized by my church in Manila, to a province in the Bicol region which is eastern part of the Philippines. I was so young then that I couldn’t remember the details of this trip but 2 things I can clearly recall still: the team was able [...]

(Chicago) – Monday: pork adobo; Tuesday: chicken adobo; Wednesday: vegetable adobo; Thursday: fish adobo; Friday: school cafeteria lunch.  I am not exaggerating.  This was my typical weekly lunch pack menu that my lola prepared for me when I was in high school. How often? Hmmm… My estimate is around 1 or 2 weeks every month. [...]

(Singapore) – Ever since I learned that my husband – Chef Vergel – and I are having our first baby, I started to have all the food cravings on my first trimester.  I must admit that I am lucky enough when it comes to food as Vergel can cook almost everything I like!  I am [...]

(Singapore)  – Every once in a while (if not all the time), people like us working overseas, far away from home, and from home cooked delights, crave for dishes that are familiar to our taste buds.  One glorious day, our very own Chef Vergel, straight from Marikina, Philippines, decided to join his lovely wife here [...]

(Chicago) -  Every now and then, I crave for Filipino food.  The first thing that usually comes to my mind is sinigang especially when it gets really cold here in Chicago. Sinigang is Philippines version of sour soup. Tamarind is the most popular source of tartness for the soup but to extract its acidic juice from [...]