TBK cooks Filipino food

I bought these two recipe books in Thailand in 2012! Yes I am my fathers son and write in the front of every book when and where I got it! Back in 2015 when I was in Bahrain I tried a few dishes suggested by my Pinoy friends there like Menudo and Guinataan ( remember that Corleen and Joshua??!!) . On my last vacation in Palawan before I moved here Beth at LVF ,where I was staying in Santa Lourdes, recommended Gracie at Poochie's Kitchen, for my annual cookery lesson. I went with Jhoanna and we made Torta Talong, Shanghai Lumpia, Leche Flan and other goodies.

I display this very proudly on my wall in my kitchen here in Palawan

After that I kept practicing my Pinoy cooking in Bahrain and Dubai and learnt more new dishes from my OFW friends there. MK taught me his Kare Kare and Jeboy taught me his Cheesy cakes! We regularly served the food we had made to the hotel staff ( hello to Roselyn, Jovie, Bazz and everyone at Adagio by Accor in Dubai if you are reading this!). You can read more about my 44 nights at Adagio in Dubai by clicking the link below

https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2022/02/tbk-travels-farewell-adagio-my-home-for.html

There are also Vlogs of my Pinoy cookery lessons in Dubai with MK and Jeboy here:

Kare Kare with MK in Dubai

Jeboy's Cheesey cake- part one

Jeboy's Cheesey cake- part two

Once I finally moved to Palawan and unpacked all my belongings I could not wait to show off what I had learnt in the kitchen before I retired! I invited many people for lunch and had several guests stay ( Mark, Rhoda, Matilda, Jovan, Johann and Julios) and so cooked them all Adobo, Sinigang, Kare Kare, Shanghai Lumpia etc.

Jhoanna's Shanghai Lumpia

By July I was getting more confident and so I gave my recipe books to Alvin and Julios and had them select their favourite dishes which I prepared for them. Jovan and Jhoann asked for fish dishes and my shopping assistant, Jhoanna found me fresh Hipon ( prawns), Mud crabs ( still alive!) , Bangus and Calamari ( squid). I will admit I am not good with fish or live crabs so thanks to Jhoanna for killing and cooking the crabs. Thanks also to Bebe, Elay and Jhoanna for peeling the Hipon ( I think we have been through 10 kg of Hipon in the last month!) .

Bebe and Jhoanna peeling fresh Hipon

TJ took on the Bangus and the squid but afterwards I had a bad stomach for 3 weeks from eating the squid adobo ( second time!) . I am afraid Calamari is now off the menu at the Blue House permanently!

TJ preparing the Adobong Pusit, Squid cooked in Vinegar

Daing na Bangus- beheaded by TJ, cooked by me!

For Jhoanna's 22nd Birthday I cooked Beef Caldaretta, Menudo and Frittata for 40 people and made 20 Halo Halo! By the way, you can see TBK making 20 Halo Halo for the guests at his housewarming party by clicking the link below:

Jhoanna's 22 nd Birthday Vlog

Cooking the Menudo for Jhoanna's surprise 22nd Birthday party

My next big challenge is my first Christmas in Palawan where I have 10 people for lunch and they have all chosen their favourite dish. Only one is easy ( thanks Elay for choosing Ube Ice cream!) . The rest is a secret until the big day!

Father Christmas and his 10 Elf guests for his first Christmas in Palawan

It has certainly kept me busy in my retirement turning out 3 hot meals a day ( my spare room has been occupied more or less every night since I arrived and some nights we had people sleeping in my bed and on the sofa as well! Now Jhoanna has found me the cheaper places to get food from ( The Market as opposed to SM Mall and Robinsons!) I am nearly within my cash flow forecast for food purchases ( version 4!) . If truth be told I had to reduce my eating out expenditure ( we had a few meals at Kinnabuch and Badjao seafront when I arrived and Max's and Gerry's in Robinsons when meeting friends ) but mostly we cook and eat at home now.

TBK's legendary Halo Halo with Jhoanna, Julios and our next door neighbour

They say that teachers don't retire, they carry on teaching at home and that is certainly true in my case as I have taught Alvin, Bebe, Frythy, Julios, Jhoanna and even the little boy next door how to make various dishes.

Alvin cooking some vegetables

Frythy looking very smart in his French Chef's hat ( thanks Phil)

Teaching the boy next door knife drill

Just when I had cooked many of the recipes in my Pinoy recipe books I received another through the post from Mama Jam in Austria.

It was put together by a group of OFW Chefs working in Austria and arrived juts before I left Bahrain for Palawan. As my suitcase was full I asked Corleen to send it to me in a Babikayan box which arrived recently. It had a lovely inscription inside:

I have already been through the recipe book and selected the Pinoy dishes I want to try in September. This includes starters, main courses and some lovely cakes including this one from Mama Jam:

Special thanks to Jam for this lovely gift. I will let you know how I get on in a future blog! The book raised funds for the charity that Mama Jam and I support, FRIENDS for HOPE . It was good to see the one page advert inside.

As usual my thanks to Chef Jam for the lovely recipe book and for all the hard work he and his family do for FRIENDS of HOPE every year.

I started sponsoring a student, Aimae , through FRIENDS of HOPE back in 2017 and she just turned 13 and completed her time at Elementary school. ASs usual her school report is glowing with outstanding grades throughout- well done Aimae!