Tahong is a kind of seashell found in the Philippines. It has many ways of preparing and one of them is by baking. We just steam the tahong until the shell opens. In another bowl, we mix the butter, cheese, soy sauce and garlic. We have to beat it until it becomes creamy. Then we place a spoonful of the butter mixture in the opened tahong. We have to bake it till the meat is golden brown.

Ever since, I never knew how to cook, so I bought a Filipino dish cookbook with simple to follow instructions. From there, I learned the basics of cooking meat, fish and vegetables by just following the procedures. Since then I gained self-confidence and was able to cook like a "chef."...Thanks to my ever reliable Pinoy cookbook by Nora Daza.

This recipe is one of a kind that most Filipino prepare whenever there are special occasions. If you wish to know how to cook it then feel free to follow the procedure that I’m going to share with you.

The ingredients are:
1 k. chicken breast 3 pcs. carrots
¼ k. gizzard & liver (chicken) 1 pack taingang daga (wash & soak for 30 mins.)
1 pack hebi/small shrimps ½ k. sotanghon
1 cube chicken maggi bullion ½ k. pancit
200 g. chicharo ¼ k. pork
garlic, onions, onion rings, laurel, black pepper seeds

PROCEDURE:
First, boil chicken breast with laurel, paminta, salt, maggi (1/2) and a pinch of MSG. Set aside the soup.

Fry garlic until light brown, add onions, pork and shredded chicken breast; add gizzard and liver. Fry and mix well. Add water and boil (Ang sabaw sa nilat-an nga manok if needed). Add some water if needed. Add the remaining ½ maggi bullion, a little paminta and salt to taste. Add hebi and taingang daga.

Cook until tender then add sotanghon and pancit. Add carrots. Mix well. Put onion rings as toppings. Serve hot.

Filipinos are fond of eating pospas or rice porridge. Most kids love to eat this food. It’s easy to prepare. Below are the list of ingredients and procedure on how to make it.

Ingredients:
chicken/ fish (sliced) knorr chicken/fish cube
½ cup rice garlic pepper (optional)
garlic ( sliced finely) salt
ginger (sliced) hard boiled egg (optional)
green onions (fine) garlic minced

Procedure:
1. Fry all the ingredients
2. Boil ½ cup rice
3. Add sliced chicken/ fish
4. Knorr chicken cube
5. Put garlic pepper to taste

After I watched the episode of Andrew Zimmern in the Philippines, it made me miss all the foods there. Wow, when Andrew ate the “balut” it made my mouth watered. Balut is one of the delicacies in the Philippines. I would love to eat balut as well but I can't stand eating the little duckling inside. I could always feel the ducks' feather down my throat. But I like the juicy part.

Lately, I have been craving of macaroni salads in a Filipino style. There is no other than delicious foods in Filipino cuisine. Living away from your country is really hard especially the adaptation of foods. Sometimes, I cook macaroni salad with a simple ingredient only. For some reasons, the Asian store is far from where I live. So macaroni salad are made only with cooked elbow pasta, mayonnaise, pickles, mixed fruits, raisins and a little bit of condensed milk to add sweetness.

Anybody here likes to eat chips because I do. I pretty much like anything salty, sugary or even fattening, ha-ha, that is why I am getting fatter everyday. Yeah it’s true, been trying to lose weight but my weight it keeps adding up.

I like potato chips to the max. You know, when you take a bite and hear this loud crunching noise. Hmmm, I am drooling now, I wanna eat some chips now! I could even eat chips alone for three days. I just thought that this is kinda funny.

Lechon kawali is almost like a roasted pig. This is a very popular cuisine in the Philippines. The other day I was craving for this food. Since I can’t find in walmart a pork with fat, I went to flea market where yo can find Asian product. So how do you cook the lechon kawali? The procedure is pretty simple. What I did, I have to boil the pork to make it tender with ingredients in it. Such as, salt, onion, garlis and soy sauce. After boiling the meat, I let it dry in sunshine to drip the water and let it cool. After that I have to deep fry in a pan with cooking oil. You can tell if the meat is cook by looking at the color of the meat. Chop the meat in serving size then serve.

Halo-halo is one of the best dessert in the Philippines. I could say that the best halo-halo I have tasted is from Chowking.

Ingredients:

sweet beans: red or white beans, mongo, garbanzos etc.
sweetened fruit: langka, kaong, macapuno, etc.
prepared gelatin, cubed
ube jam
leche flan
Cornflakes
shaved ice
sugar, to taste
Evaporated Milk


Instructions:

1. Place three or more combinations of around a tablespoon each of the suggested ingredients in half buko, (complete with husk or in sherbet glasses).

2. Mix and enjoy scooping buko meat along with each spoonful. For special Halo-halo, top with a scoop of your favorite ice cream flavor.