Herbs harvested from the BBG Herb Garden: Thai basil, fennel, hyssop, lemon thyme, different chiles, bay leaves and Cuban oregano.  Outside the bowl: eggplant, okra, Malabar spinach leaves (alugbati to Filipinos) and Asian pears.
On Sunday, August 15, 2010, Purple Yam will be at the BBG to give out some Filipino home cooking using herbs harvested [...]

Brighton Beach guide NY Mag
My friend, Daisann McLane, former NYT Frugal Traveler, is in town for the summer and has enticed me to explore the world of Brighton Beach.  So next week,  we are going with a friend, Lilet Camara, who is also visiting NYC for the week.  Daisann has been living in HK for [...]

This hibiscus (gumamela in the Philippines) was given to us by  Stewart, Tabori & Chang, the publisher of our cookbook, Memories of Philippine Kitchens when Frank Bruni, then food critic of the New York Times gave us a 2-star review of Cendrillon on August 3, 2005.
This gumamela flowered and gave us so much pleasure for [...]

I distinctly remember the year when I was a teen-ager in Manila when crispy pata became the rage and Filipinos discovered one more way to enjoy an otherwise ignored part of the pig.  This dish, along with sisig (sizzling pig cheeks, snout & ears marinated in lime juice and spiked with chopped onions and chiles) [...]