Meet Mang Al, the fresh buko vendor near the gate of our subdivision. While taking photos of the buko, he turned around so that his face would be captured by my camera. Now that’s one confident vendor. He likes to joke around and tells me that he will choose the best photo, the most beautiful buko just like me. haha, funny now. I told him “You will be...

A lot of you have been asking for kakanin recipes. I’ve been slowly adding recipes to this site so watch out for it. In the meantime… You can find the kakanin recipes in this Kakanin Recipe Category. I ‘ve also found great tasting kakanin recipes from Pinoy Merienda Site. Here are a few Bibingka recipes. Just go over to their Kakanin...

We had a lot of leftovers of Lechon (Roasted Pig). What did we do with the leftovers? Well, we cut them up to small pieces and placed them in freezer bags for storage. The following day, I cooked Lechon Paksiw which is just as delicious. To cook Paksiw, follow this recipe: Ingredients 1 kilo of leftover lechon meat (with skin) 1/4 cup vinegar 1/2 cup water 1/2...

Suman makes a great dessert for a traditional Noche Buena meal, or they can even be meals on their own if you don’t want to eat anything too heavy at that late hour. This sticky-rice pastry is wrapped in a banana leaf and eaten dipped in sugar or in hot chocolate. There are as many different kinds of suman as there are provinces in the Philippines since...

If you’re inviting over a large number of family members and friends for Christmas dinner and have no time to prepare all that food for them, consider ordering an entire lechon paella. Lechon paella is a succulent, roasted, boneless young pig stuffed with hot, seafood paella, make the whole fare a meal in itself. The whole lechon can feed a group of about...

I also bake [tag]apple pie[/tag] every Christmas. The cinnamon smell reminds me so much of my childhood days when mom used to bake apple pie. There was one Christmas in the early seventies when Apple imports ceased. Mom innovated her apple pie by using sayote. No one knew it was a fake apple pie until she announced it after we all gobbled it up. But these days,...

Dolor’s Kakanin is probably known as the ultimate brand in kakanin. They are just as good as the homemade kakanin in the province. I was able to buy assorted kakanin at the SM Hypermarket in Libis, Quezon City just beside Tiendesitas. For 140 pesos, I got a variety of kakaning in an 8 inches diameter wide bilao. The larger bilao (11 inches in diameter) is 190...

You suddenly find that your holiday dishes are not enough for your guests. What do you do? Cooking can be stressful especially if one is faced with a lot of visitors. The thing to do is to order your Holiday dishes from reliable restaurants. Here are a few ideas of traditional Noche Buena dishes from Mario’s Restaurant: Embutido at 975 pesos Chicken Relleno...

Puto Bumbong from Via Mare This is the almost perfect puto bumbong you can ever eat in an urban center. And you can order two pieces at 67 pesos at any Via Mare Restaurant. After a stressful shopping spree at Landmark Makati, I chose to rest at the Via Mare on the second floor right beside the ladies bag section. I was thrilled that they offered Puto Bumbong. I...

The Gingerbread House is an impressive centerpiece in the noche buena table. The attractive candy colors will surely delight anyone of all ages and serve as a conversation piece. This particular Gingerbread house is made by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Christmas Tradition. The Gingerbread house is made with chocolate and royal icing. My friend, Reggie sells it at her...