I was thinking the other day that my breakfasts now are different from what I grew up with. I remember on Saturdays my mom would take the time to make fried rice with garlic and since it was Saturday (we wouldn't have to smell like fish at school) she'd fry up some bulad (tuyo) and we'd have it with Chinese sausages or tocino (cured pork that's a little sweet) and of course sawsawan (dipping sauce). The sawsawan would add a nice extra salty/soury (soy sauce and kalamansi or vinegar) touch to it all.

Nowadays I refrain from buying and cooking bulad because I can't find it and because of my husband (but a girl can dream...) and although we don't eat pancakes for breakfast (too sweet) we have had it for a dessert and I love bacon.

Oh, when Tang was available, my brother and I would make batches of it.

Halo Squared

When Halo 3 came out I said to myself, 'self you need to blog about that in some way'. It was so simple because I love halo-halo and my blog name is even a play-on-words for it (mix-mix) so it came about naturally.

mmm... halo-halo.

By the way, I haven't had halo-halo in a very long time. When I was home in New York visiting my family, we'd go to this restaurant in Queens that had great bbq skewers (it's called Ihawan) and afterwards I'd always order halo-halo. I'd order it even when it was winter and my teeth would chatter as we walked back to the car, in the snow.

Oh almost forgot, halo-halo, for those not in the know, is sort of like an ice(e) with shaved ice, milk, sweet beans, custard (leche flan) tropical fruits, nata de coco and topped with ube ice cream. I will blog about the goodness known as ube someday.

Nata De Coco

You have to love nata de coco. For those who don't know, it is a jelly-like substance made from coconut gelatin, formed into cubes. It's transparent and chewy and comes in different colors, but I still prefer good ol' clear. There is a burst of sweetness once you bite in it and most Filipinos are familiar with it in fruit salads or halo-halo or taho.

My brother and I never needed any preamble to pop one open and pass it back and forth, eating away while we sat on the couch.

Who hates nata de coco? Nata me, nata you...

Filipino Spaghetti

The first time I learned that not everyone has hot dogs in their spaghetti was at school. My mom had packed me a tupperware container of her homemade spaghetti and I was wolfing it down when someone noticed that mine had strange red disks in it. When I told the rest of my table what it was they were a little weirded out but I just shrugged my shoulders and continued eating.

I still prefer the flavor of sweet (ketchup) meat sauce and the salty bites of hot dogs on my spaghetti to that of the classic, savory dish with tangy tomato sauce and meatballs. But I like them both.

Who can go wrong with spaghetti?

Messy Eater

Never-ending Fiesta

One thing I loved living near other Filipinos were the parties. It seemed that someone always had a 'fiesta' every weekend and we'd just go from one house to another. The best part was that line that went from the food table to the dance floor to the karaoke machine and back to the food table once again.

Steps For Making Lumpia

One of my favorite Filipino dishes is lumpia, but it can be a little tedious to make. My mom made it a little differently from the "Shanghai" style, preferring to cook the filling and making "chubby" lumpia instead. I always volunteered to be the one who set up the assembly line and roll it as well, not because I was the good child, but because I got to nibble on the filling while I made it. Funny enough, I would just take out the filling and give my brother the fried wrapper skins. It worked out well that way.

Ketchup and Rice

One ever-present condiment at the kitchen table was ketchup, and of course, it was Del Monte brand because my ninang worked there. Anything with a nice, steaming, kaldero of rice and ketchup ('ketsup' as my mom says) is delicious!