Genuine Ilocano Cooking

Ilocano cuisine has been hailed as both healthy and exotic, chock-full of fresh vegetables and some "strange" ingredients such as bile and blood. Food expert and columnist Micky Fenix writes about her encounters with the food of the Ilocos and provides us a primer from her book, Country Cooking: Philippine Regional Cuisines. A fascinating, mouth-watering read that Ilocanos will love and non-Ilocanos will savor.

Another Filipino dish that's taking center stage is dinuguan, which takes a star turn in the November 16 episode of "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," the romantic comedy that stars a Filipino hunk named Vincent Rodriguez III playing the lead character, Josh Chan. Positively Filipino Correspondent Anthony Maddela gives us a sneak peak in "'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend' Goes Gaga for a Filipino." What's dinuguan doing in a rom-com? Mark your viewing calendar for 8 p.m. on Monday at CW Television Network and find out.

Our featured young achiever in our regular section, Watch Out World This Is A Filipino is Mikey Ilagan, who runs the highly successful website for geeks in Philadelphia, aptly called Geekadelphia. Positively Filipino Correspondent Elizabeth Ann Quirino reports.

We have another Pinoyspotting feature, this time from Fiji and New Caledonia where Positively Filipino Correspondent Rey de la Cruz traveled last year and met some interesting Filipinos.

Our Happy Home Cook recipe this week is for "Igado," the Ilocano version of menudo from Micky Fenix's article mentioned above.  

In our Video of the Week, CNN Philippines' The Story of the Filipino features graphic designer Dan Matutina, who developed a game to inform people about disaster preparedness in the wake of Typhoon Sendong back in 2011.

Political Postures

As November brings in the cold, the political circus in the Philippines heats up. Positively Filipino editor Rene Ciria Cruz takes a first jab at the behind-the-scenes posturings with a satirical piece on the mother-son team of Imelda and Bongbong, The imagined conversation would be hysterically funny if it doesn't have a ring of truth in it. And then it becomes....well, read it and see for yourself.

Another funny story that our resident cybersleuth Myles A. Garcia dug up: the tiff between former Russian prime minister Nikita Khrushchev and a Filipino statesman at the United Nations General Assembly. Who was that Filipino? No one would have remembered except for a question in the TV show Jeopardy that led to Myles' scouring the web for the true story. Enjoy "The Filipino Who Ticked Off the Big, Bad Russian Bear."

This month is the 125th birth anniversary of the Philippines' sixth president, Elpidio Quirino, and his great grandnephew Constante G. Quirino introduces him to readers who may not have known of the man's accomplishments. "Quirino at 125: A Statesman and A Survivor" is a necessary read for history buffs and Filipinos everywhere.

Meanwhile, regular contributor Cherie Querol-Moreno visited Greece as it was undergoing its economic pains, and witnessed the Greeks' resiliency as well as the endurance of Filipino expats there. "Greece Endures as It Sustains Filipino Expatriates" is an inspiring eye-opener.

For our Happy Home Cook feature this week: Jojo Sabalvaro-Tan shares her aunt's personal recipe for Estofadong Pata.

For our Video of the Week, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg shares a video about how a Filipina used Internet.org to start a business.

And finally, I blog about an unexpected milestone in our family.

Halloween and History

It's Todos los Santos time once again. For Filipinos, it means remembering the dead; for our offspring, it means Halloween.

For Filipino Americans, this week ends the annual Filipino American History Month commemoration for 2015. As usual it’s been a frenzied month filled with festivals, exhibitions and activities that make sure we give due honor to the ones who came before us.

One of those Filipino Americans who should never be forgotten is Vicki Manalo Draves, the Olympic gold medalist in diving, who endured painful discrimination during her time but prevailed, to go down in US sports history for winning five Olympic championships and being the first Asian American to win a gold medal. Ed Diokno writes about this amazing woman in "Fil-Am Olympic Great, Vicki Manalo Draves."

Our Halloween story from artist/author Alex G. Paman tells of a popular urban legend, the White Lady, who turns out to be present in other cultures as well. "The Vanishing Hitchhiker, The White Lady and Hauntings Across the Seas" may keep you awake and alert when you're driving at night and you think you're alone.

In Los Angeles, the acclaimed FASO, the only Filipino symphony orchestra outside of the Philippines, is up for another concert on November 14 in Glendale. Following up on its highly successful "FASO Goes Broadway," this time it’s "FASO Goes Pop." Entertainment writer Ruben Nepales, writing for the first time for Positively Filipino, gives us the story behind FASO in "A Trailblazing Orchestra of Filipino Expats," and its members’ amazing commitment and dedication.

Before we indulge once again in holiday food, let's make a healthy regional favorite dish. G. B. Korten contributes this week's The Happy Home Cook recipe: Pinacbet, genuinely Ilocano style. Try it and see why the dish (and even its many variations) is a staple in Filipino homes.

For our Video of the Week: We just love Mikey Bustos, and this time, appropriate for the season, he gives a tutorial on Filipino superstitions and beliefs.