one filipino dish a week

Tonight at 10pm EST chef/writer/tv show host Tony Bourdain goes to the Philippines in his show No Reservations on the Travel Channel. This looks to be an excellent show and I’m excited to see it. I am hoping that Tony does Filipino food justice and not the disaster that Andrew Zimmern showed in his show Bizarre Foods.

For a sneak preview and insider look on the show tonight check out these links:
No Reservations - Travel Channel site
Sneak Peak
Tony with MarketManila in Cebu

Can’t wait to see Tony Eat Filipino Food!

I have been MIA the last couple of weeks. I didn’t expect that I’d be this busy. Please bear with me. I have a few things down the pike that I’ll be posting shortly. In the meantime please go through older posts and as always… Eat Filipino Food!

In this episode: The Girl teaches us the how to eat with our hands the Filipino Way.

Some points on how to eat with your hands:
1. Wash your hands
2. Use the rice to make the food stick together
3. The ring, middle, and pointer finger act as the spoon to scoop up the food
4. Use your thumb to push the food into your mouth

If there is one fruit that I miss the most and is not available here where I live it’s lanzones (lansium domesticum or langsat in Malay). The sweet translucent meat is so good. Like most fruits the seed is very bitter. But if the fruit is small enough the seed will be soft and chewy and not bitter. So as a little kid I made a game of trying to find the right size where you can still eat the seeds and not have to spit it out but big enough that you have a lot of meat. I could eat several kilos of these. They’re so good and right about now i’m truly missing them. This is certainly one of my favorite fruits. I think it has an excellent flavor and texture. What fruit from your childhood that comes to mind right now?

Why can’t this be found here in NYC? is there some sort of ban? If anybody knows please let me know.

There are many things in life that we take for granted but when we look back on that particular thing we realize that it has such great importance in our lives that it really needs to be celebrated. Looking back at my childhood I am really grateful and thankful for the dinners that my family had. Everyday we sat at the table to share dinner, Saturday lunches and to celebrate birthdays and holidays. Looking back at those times it was definitely a bond that made my family close and probably attributes my close relationship with my parents. Granted that I’m the only child but I think the forum of the dinner table is when the family can just be themselves and share their joys and tackle their problems together. I may not have been privy to some of the issues that my parents spoke about when I was a young boy but I think that was a place for us to share that moment with each other. One thing that I’m glad was that there was no tv. It forced the family to really talk to each other and create conversation. It made my parents aware of how I was doing in school and who my friends were (what I told at least) . But the dinner table is a powerful place that is quite important in a home. There aren’t too many big events in our lives that we don’t share a meal with our family and friends. Take time this week to share a meal with your family/friends together.

I’m so glad that my mom brought that table with us when we moved. It’s definitely an important piece in our lives and makes my family what it is today whether we realize it or not.

Several birthdays, Christmases, anniversaries, joys, tears and heated debates have happened at this table. Lives have changed, people have moved on, kids have turned to adults but the table remains an integral centerpiece each step of the way.