A Christmas Feast

With the growing popularity of Philippine regional cuisine, Ilocano dishes are taking center stage as foodies praise its health benefits (heavy on fresh vegetables), cooking methods (mostly boiled) and also its taste. Of course, there's the other side to the healthy aspect -- a lot of salty fermented fish and lard (think bagnet)  -- which makes the dishes good enough to crave for. Positively Filipino Correspondent and food expert Elizabeth Ann Quirino writes about her recent feast in Vigan and the Ilocano treats she enjoyed, which included the poqui poqui, the traditional Ilocano Christmas dish, which is featured in our Happy Home Cook section this week.

Lotis Key-Kabigting won the Plaridel Award for First Person Essay three years in a row and she's back this week with her latest piece, "A Traveling Fool." If you're a chess enthusiast and/or a Lotis fan, you'll enjoy knowing what she's been up to all year.

And more about traveling, Filipino business executive Jose Eduardo Delgado, better known as Jed, talked to Positively Filipino contributor Serina Aidasani, about what drives him to travel the world and take great risks to satisfy his passion for adventure. Read "Wandering Jed" if you're up for some vicarious thrills.

For our Partner post this week, Positively Filipino Correspondent Myles A. Garcia writes about the annual Philippine International Aid (PIA) fundraiser, the biggest social event in the Filipino community of the San Francisco Bay Area. Now 29 years old, PIA has enabled over 43,000 poor Filipino children to go to school with scholarships and grants.

For our Video of the Week, Broadway superstar Lea Salonga introduces her daughter Nicole Chien at a concert at the PICC Plenary Hall in Manila.

At the Top of Their Game

Two exceptional Filipinos who are outstanding in their respective fields headline our issue this week.

Maria Ronson (nee Nimfa Fallarme) is the Associated Press' (AP) vice president for sales in Asia and was just awarded the Oliver S. Gramling Achievement Award, AP's highest honor, for professional excellence. Cherie Querol Moreno writes about her.

Our other headliner is Officer Angel Lozano of the San Francisco Police Department who was also a US Marine. Manzel Delacruz recounts his exploits and achievements in "This Cop Is an Angel."

Architect and environmental planner Nathaniel "Dinky" von Einsiedel waxes nostalgic over the neighborhood where he grew up -- Area One in the University of the Philippines campus of the '50s and '60s. It was a safe, integrated, kid-friendly community, which should be a model for all newly sprung suburban communities, he contends in "Growing Up in UP's Area 1, A Model Neighborhood."

A different kind of community -- the farm workers community in Delano, California -- is the setting of Patty Enrado's compelling first novel, A Village in the Fields. Elaine Elinson reviews this book which, she says, picks up where America Is In the Heart by Carlos Bulosan leaves off. Quite a strong endorsement since Bulosan's masterpiece is a classic. Enrado focuses on the lives of Filipino manongs who initiated and sustained the Grape Strike that started in 1965 and lasted for several years.

Our Happy Home Cook recipe as we move closer to Christmas: Lenguas De Gato by Positively Filipino Correspondent Elizabeth Ann Quirino.

Our Video of the Week: 11 Signs You're At A Filipino Party from BuzzFeedYellow

Heroes

We celebrate Bonifacio Day on November 30 this year in the wake of the market success of "Heneral Luna," the movie. We'd like to think there is a resurgence of interest in the lives of the men and women who helped shape our nation and heritage, so how about reading again "Andres Bonifacio, the Other National Hero," Dr. Penelope V. Flores' timeless tribute to the man whose 152nd birth anniversary we celebrate this year.

We join the Philippine American Press Club in urging justice for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre (aka Ampatuan massacre). It has been six years yet there have been no convictions. We are publishing a joint editorial with other Filipino American media to press the point.

Moving to the present, Filipino American artist Lewanda Lim wowed the audience at the Columbus (Ohio) Arts Festival with her exhibit called Intersection. Positively Filipino Correspondent Rey E. de la Cruz profiles Lim, known for her socially conscious paintings and collages, in "Lewanda Lim's Socially Conscious Art."

In sports, Los Angeles Lakers' Jordan Clarkson visited the Philippines recently in his capacity as part of the NBA All-Rookie First Team. It was an eye-opening visit for this grandson of a Pampanguena, as Positively Filipino Correspondent Anthony Maddela reports.

For those who are intending to visit Australia, regular contributor Larry Ng tells us about Uluru, Australia's crimson mountain which is really a rock, the largest in the world. "Climbing Uluru" is a fascinating story about an unconquerable natural wonder right smack in the continent's Red Centre.

Working on your Christmas menu? Try out Positively Filipino Correspondent Elizabeth Ann Quirino's recipe for "Suman sa Ibus" or Rice Logs. No Filipino Christmas is complete without a kakanin, and this easy-to-make recipe fits the bill.

Our Video of the Week is a feature by CNN Philippines on an inspiring organization that is making waves in education: Teach for the Philippines.