It's Our Third Birthday!

This issue marks our third year of putting out Positively Filipino. We'd like to thank all of you -- our talented writers, our loyal readers and our advertisers -- for your unwavering support as we gather stories of Filipinos all over the world and share them with you. We hope this magazine has created a community of kindred spirits proud and happy to be Filipino wherever they may be,  whatever their circumstance and citizenship. Our staff of four is grateful for all the words of encouragement, the accolades and the prizes that have been sent our way. We are truly humbled and inspired. 

Have you ever wondered how you got your surname? If you go back several generations, chances are it was assigned to your ancestors through some random act or event when the Philippines was still under Spanish friar rule. Regular contributor Dr. Penelope V. Flores uses her obsession for onomastics (new word of the day - look it up!) to trace the origin of Filipino surnames and comes up with some pretty interesting insights. Read "How Filipinos Got Their Surnames" and learn.

Check out our delicious new masthead when you click on "Flour Power," the feature of Contributing Writer Rey E. de la Cruz on the Palasigue brothers of Morton Grove, Illinois. Jojo and Jing own and operate Cakes 'n Crumbs Gourmet Bakeshop, and graciously offered to come up with a cake with the Positively Filipino logo. It looked inviting and though we never tasted it, I'm sure it's as good as the brothers' reputation for gourmet cakes, pastries and other baked goods. Jing Palasigue's own Brazo de Mercedes recipe is our offering for the Happy Home Cook this week so even if you're not in Chicago, you can bake yourself one of their bestselling products. Let us know how it goes.

We've published almost 500 stories and we'd like to re-post some of them for you to Read Again. "The First Quarter Storm Was No Dinner Party," a two-parter by prominent Filipino writer Jose F. Lacaba, takes us back to Philippine history during the tumultuous early '70s.

"Love Baskets for Betty"  is a heartwarming backgrounder on some of the handmade collectible baskets created by Jose Formoso Reyes, and won for Contributing Writer Myles A. Garcia a Plaridel Award for feature writing.

Our Video of the Week: Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach shows that she's indeed worthy of the title in her first interview on ABC's Good Morning America.

Our Top Ten Stories of 2015

New This Week:

'The Month of December, 1872' : Dr. Jose Rizal's Rough Draft
       Dr. Penelope V. Flores digs up a little known satirical piece by our National Hero, whose 119th death anniversary is today.

Our Most-Read Stories 2015
       Read Again the stories that riveted our readers this year.

1) 10 Things You Need to Know About Kapampangans By Robby Tantingco
2) Op-Ed: Mr. President, Feel for the Fallen By Criselda Yabes
3) Please Stop Calling The Philippines PI By Michael Gonzalez
4) Watch Out World: Ryan D. Aguas, Urban Farmer Game-Changer By Elizabeth Ann Quirino
5) Leonor Rivera, A Hero's Sweetheart By Elizabeth Ann Quirino
6) This Is American History By Aimee Suzara
7) Watch Out World: Namee Jarolan, Author of the First Filipino Baby Food Cookbook By Elizabeth Ann Quirino
8) Thriving In The Dust Bowl By Agatha Verdadero
9) Bongbong Tries to Explain VP Run to Mom By Rene Ciria-Cruz
10) Growing Up in UP's Area 1, A Model Neighborhood By Nathaniel “Dinky” von Einsiedel 

The Happy Home Cook: Double Chocolate Cookies
     A perfect comfort dessert that can take the sting out of your New Year hangover.

Our Video of the Week: New Year in the Philippines

Happy Reading & Eating to All

From the Positively Filipino staff -- Mona Lisa Yuchengco, Rene Ciria Cruz, Raymond Virata and myself -- we'd like to wish all our readers a joyous holiday season. Another year is almost over and, already, this is our second to the last issue for 2015. How quickly time flies, really. We hope that in some small way, we have enhanced your lives with our carefully curated stories.

Did you know that Pope Francis so loved the Pope Mobile that he rode in during this Manila visit in January that he actually ordered another one for Rome? Nitz Almazora, whose family built that particular custom-made vehicle, tells us about how her family of seven flew to Rome for an audience with the beloved head of the Catholic Church and to deliver the ordered Pope Mobile. Surely an experience to be told to every generation of the Almazora clan.

From London, meanwhile, Sarri Tapales writes about her transformative experience "Dancing with Ligaya." That's Ligaya Amilbangsa, a recent recipient of the much-coveted Ramon Magsaysay Award for culture and dance, who teaches Pangalay, the traditional dance of our ethnic brothers and sisters in Mindanao. Sarri is a ballet dancer herself and she knows whereof she speaks when she describes how learning the Pangalay brought her home to her Asian roots.

A Christmas issue isn't complete without a Christmas story so we have a poignant one, "They're All We Shall Ever Want for Christmas" by esteemed Filipino writer Ed Maranan.

And we're not ignoring the Miss Universe brouhaha: our Art Director Raymond Virata has compiled some of the funniest tweets and reaction videos on that tragicomedy.

Our Happy Home Cook feature: Churros with Tsokolate from our resident foodie Elizabeth Ann Quirino. Perfect as a post-Noche Buena treat.