From Russia, France and Benguet

Sometime this month, White Russian refugees and their descendants, who temporarily settled in the Samar island of Tubabao from 1948-51 after the Communist takeover of China, will gather in the Philippines to celebrate the anniversary of their escape. The White Russians were the supporters of the czar who fled Russia after the Revolution of 1918 and settled in China. Their moving to the Philippines is an episode in our homeland's history that is not well known, but the noble humanitarian gesture of the Elpidio Quirino administration in accepting the refugees is something we can be proud of. Positively Filipino Correspondent Myles Garcia tells the compelling story in "When Russians Came to Tubabao," a timely one because coincidentally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, was supposed to attend the APEC Summit in Manila almost at the same time, until he cancelled.

As the tragedy in Paris makes our hearts bleed, let's join Positively Filipino Correspondent Criselda Yabes as she takes us on a virtual tour of the peaceful, soothing village of Haybes in France's Les Ardennes region which shares a border with Belgium (where the terrorists seemed to have originated). "My French Village" introduces us to another side of France, away from the chaos, grief and danger in Paris.

Meanwhile, in Manila, two lady entrepreneurs embark on an online venture selling Benguet coffee to the world. "Kalsada Coffee's Long and Winding Road" by first-time contributor Rexy Josh Dorado, relates how a Filipino American scholar, Carmel Laurino, unearthed a 1909 photo of Filipino coffee being sold in Seattle, which led to her partnering with coffee specialist Lacy Wood to set up Kalsada, an ambitious undertaking that aims to put Benguet on the world's coffee map.

It's 37 days before Christmas, and I'm sure many of you are already thinking about culinary gifts and special treats for the family. Thus, in the next weeks, we'll be posting recipes of goodies that you might want to bake. This week, we have Calamansi-Lemon Muffins from Positively Filipino Correspondent and food expert Elizabeth Ann Quirino.

Our Video of the Week focuses on artist Peter De Vera who built an art museum called Bale-Balayan for the underprivileged. Another feature from CNN Philippines: The Story of the Filipino.

I hope you enjoy my blog this week on Backyards.

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.