Sampling Filipino Family Food with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Sampling Filipino Family Food with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Strip malls have many good ethnic restaurants in them.  They usually have lots of parking without time limits, modern plumbing in the restrooms and kitchens, and larger dining areas, so the tables do not have to be tightly wedged together.

As I drove my daughter Florence home from her charter Waldorf School in Pacific Grove one day, I looked for the Filipino Restaurant my Filipina co-worker told me about and queried the editor at the Monterey County Weekly  (Circulation: 200,000) to do a review.   This was the year 2000.  I am not quite sure they knew what that cuisine was, but wanted to find out. 

So, off I went with my family to try another Asian cuisine.  The following is the Weekly article I wrote:

Filipino Feast: Lola’s Kusina Serves up South Seas Island Charm

When my Filipina co-worker told me that she eats lunch at least once a week at the newly opened Lola’s Kitchen, I knew I would have to try it.

The restaurants hot table with 20 steaming entrées appears daunting at first, but the chef quickly explains the various delicacies.  Choosing among Lola’s many offerings is a first-class problem.

The owner of Lola’s was introduced to the cuisine of the Philippines was introduced to the cuisine of the Philippines by his Filipina wife.  He said they make all their dishes fresh every day at 11 am with new batches cooked up two hours after that.

We chose the two-item combination plate, which comes with rice or pancit, Filipino rice noodles.  My husband Laurent ordered coconut juice, and I ordered a chocolate energy drink called Milo.

We chose the two-item combination plate, which comes with either rice or pancit, Filipino rice noodles.

My husband Laurent ordered coconut juice, and I ordered a chocolate energy drink called Milo.

Florence ordered à la carte; two lumpia, Filipino egg rolls and one entrée of rice.  We used the Filipino “turo-turo” method loosely translated as “point-pint,” to order our food.

My two entrées were salted pork cooked with shrimp paste and kare-kare, beef-and-tripe in peanut butter sauce.  The shrimp paste called bagoong, made from salted and fermented shrimp, gave the pork a sweet taste.  I almost thought the dish contained coconut milk due to the salty-sweet flavor.

I liked the kare-kare a little less, but that is because I did not know how to season it.  I was expecting the peanut sauce to be hot and spicy like Thai peanut sauces.

I had forgotten that Filipino food, unlike its Southeast Asian cousins feature mild flavors.  A quick look in Reynaldo Alejandro’s The Philippine Cookbook reveals that diners usually add bagoong to this dish at the table.

That would no doubt add a sweet, salty tang to the spongy tripe and beef salad over green beans and boiled eggplant.

My husband and daughter both selected adobo, the national dish of the Philippines.  Adobo refers to a method of cooking with soy sauce, white wine vinegar, garlic, and peppercorns.

The vinegar mellows as it cooks and helps preserve food in a tropical climate.  The chicken and ingredients boil together, but then the chicken is usually broiled while the sauce gets reduced before being added back to the chicken.

In Lola’s version of this dish, there remains a slight tang of vinegar along with a sweet taste, when makes me suspect that some sugar goes into the preparation.

Diners skeptical about trying Filipino food would probably like the mechado, a beef stew, which Laurent ordered as his second entrée.  Basically, this is a dish of boiled beef with tomatoes, bell peppers, and potatoes that have been cooked with soy sauce and seasoned with garlic.  There is just enough salt in this dish to bring out the full flavors of the meat and the vegetables.

Diners new to Filipino cuisine would probably like the pancit (rice noodles) that Laurent chose instead of rice to accompany his order.  Boiled pork gets simmered with the noodles, along with shrimp, scallions, and whatever vegetable the chef might like to add that day.  The savory, slick noodles are like an entrée by themselves.

Florence’s dish was made up of long, thin lumpia egg rolls that came stuffed with ground beef, carrots, corn, and peas.  Since my daughter does not care for these vegetables, she did not like the lumpia even though she ate them to be polite.

The owner suggested that on her next visit, she might try the Shanghai lumpia made with ground pork as these contain no vegetables that a child might dislike.

Florence liked the homemade leche flan better than her vegetables.  Lola’s thick flan is homemade and exudes a delicious juice that tempts you to ask for a spoon to get every drop.

Laurent ordered this as well and declared it too rich to eat at one setting.  It went into a take-home container for midnight snacking.

I ordered maya blanca, which does not appear on the menu.  It certainly pays to ask, “What desserts do you have today?” in a place like Lola’s where things are being freshly made throughout the day.

Lola’s version of maya blanca turned out to be a thick, coconut pudding cake made with sweet corn.

The corn gave the dessert texture.  I thought that putting vegetables in pudding form might get our daughter to eat some of them.  This was another dessert that I took home for midnight snacking.

Lola’s Kusina features a special “Seafood Day” on Fridays, but the owner is quick to point out that the restaurant serves seafood daily.

End of Article

Books you might want to look at for information on Filipino cuisine:

-7,000 Islands: A Food Portrait of the Philippines by Yasmin Newman

-The Philippine Cookbook by Reynaldo Alejandro

Note:  Lola’s Kusina is small, buy maybe they could do a reserve-ahead-and-pick up system for sandwiches.  I like fried bangus fish – maybe that could be turned into a sandwich with a pumpkin muffin with nuts and a gazpacho.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks, Teen in China, and Marrying France

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Exchange Student Food at Michi Cafe by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Exchange Student Food at Michi Cafe by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Since I had lived in Japan as an exchange student with Youth for Understanding in high school, I naturally wanted my daughter Florence to learn about this country when she was growing up.

My husband Laurent was subject to yakitori (sweet-flavored, chicken shish kebab) and tonkatsu (breaded pork fillet of Portuguese origin – the Portuguese had a trading post at Hirado, Japan), because he did not like sushi.  He did approve of teaching Florence about Japanese culture, so I had a “go-ahead” on teaching Florence how to eat udon soup with chopsticks.

I had Florence read an article I wrote for the Monterey Country Weekly (Circulation: 100,000) to give her background on how I learned to eat soup with chopsticks as a teen for the “Side Dish” column of the Weekly before we ventured out to Japanese restaurants in our neighborhood.

Slurping Sisters (Original Title Selected by the Editors)

As I changed my inside slippers for my outside shoes, my Japanese host sister said, “We will eat lunch now.”

She then led me out of the house, both of us ducking under all the doorframes as we went.  It was my first day as an exchange student in Japan.

We walked through narrow, winding streets without sidewalks, fighting for space with trucks, bikes, and cars.

We arrived at the restaurant, a dark wooden building.  Curved strips of blue-and-white checked fabric with large, red kanji (Chinese) characters written on them swayed in the open doorway.  There was a display case with plastic models of the foods served inside.

I pointed and asked, “Is that eel? Shark? Octopus? Sea urchin” Sea cucumber?”

I did not want to eat those things. I made my host sister look up all these words in her Japanese-English dictionary.

Finally, I chose what my host sister told me was nabeyaki udon soup, which was made with thick, flat, wheat noodles.  I chose this soup, because it had shrimp, onion, carrots, and shiitake mushrooms in it.  There was only one suspicious item in it.

“What’s the white stuff with the bright pink edges?” I asked my host sister.

“What is ‘stuff’?” my host sister replied not totally grasping colloquial English.

“Never mind,” I said.

“What’s that?” I said as I rephrased my question.

“That’s kamaboko,” she said.

“What’s kamaboko?” I asked

My host sister leafed through her dictionary some more.

“Fish cake,” she announced.  The kamaboko was a small oval.  I reasoned that if it tasted repulsive, I could choke it down in one swallow.

The other patrons discreetly looked at me when we entered the restaurant and sat down.  A foreigner, a gaijin, was a rare sight in the 1980s.

The waitress brought us noodle soups and a pair of chopsticks.  I knew I was supposed to eat first, because I was the guest.  I smiled and waited for the waitress to bring me a flat-bottomed spoon like they do in Chinese restaurants.  No spoon was forthcoming.

My host sister and I smiled at each other while our soup cooled.  I looked at the two people on the other side of the restaurant.  I saw that they were picking out their noodles and other ingredients with chopsticks.  I started doing the same.

I immediately noticed that Chinese and Japanese chopsticks are different.  Chinese chopsticks are about six inches long and have pointed tips, which you never use for stabbing your food.  I had to practice getting the right grip and distance on my Japanese chopsticks.

Pretty soon I was left with a bowl of broth.  I was stumped.  I discreetly glanced at the same diners, who had helped me out before.  They were drinking soup from their bowl.

So, I began to sip more quietly from my bowl.  My dainty host sister’s slurping surprised me.  In Japan, slurping can show your appreciation to the chef.  It is also hard to eat noodles without doing otherwise.

I liked the soup and made a mental note that udon was a good food choice.

Even that thick, fish paste patty with the bright, pink edges tasted good.

End of article –

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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Southeastern US Cookbooks Recommended by Ruth Paget

Cookbooks about the Southeastern US Recommended by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Charleston, South Carolina

-Heritage by Seth Brock

-The Charleston Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes from the Heart of the Old South by Holly Herrick

-Gullah Recipes: Charleston’s Gullah Recipes by Darren M. Campbell

-Faithfully Charleston: St. Michael’s Celebrates 250 Years of Meals and Memories by St. Michael’s Episcopal Church

-The Fat Hen: Celebrating French Lowcountry Cuisine by Frederick Neuville

-Food Lover’s Guide to Charleston and Savannah: The Best Restaurants, Markets, and Local Country Offerings by Holly Herrick

-Cooking in the Low Country from the Old Post Office Restaurant: Spanish Moss Warm Nights and Fabulous Southern Food by Jane Stern and Michael Stern

-Doin’ the Charleston: A Restaurant Guide and Cookbook by Molly Healy Sillers

-Tested by Time: A Collection of Charleston Recipes by Porter-Garard Porats Guild

-Signature Tastes of Charleston: Favorite Recipes from our Local Restaurants by Steven Siler

-Charleston Entertains: Season by Season by Ann Copenhaower Cotton

-Charleston Academy of Domestic Pursuits: A Handbook of Etiquette with Recipes by Suzanne Pollak

Louisville, Kentucky

-Secrets of Louisville Chefs Cookbook: Series 1 – 4

-Bluegrass Gatherings Entertaining through Kentucky’s Seasons by the Junior League of Louisville

-Splendor in the Bluegrass: A Cookbook by the Junior League of Louisville

-Cordonbluegrass: Blue Ribbon Recipes from Kentucky by the Junior League of Louisville

-Courier-Journal Kentucky Cookbook published by the Courier-Journal

-Favorite Fare compiled by the Women’s Club of Louisville, Kentucky

-Appalachian Home Cooking: History, Culture, and Recipes by Mark F. Sohn

-Mountain Country Cooking:  A Gathering of the Best Recipes from the Smokies to the Blue Ridge by Mark F. Sohn

-The Soup Bean War (Eastern Kentucky Girl Book 1) by Tina Collins

Savannah, Georgia

-Savannah Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes from the Historic Southern City by Down Fowler

-Mrs. Wilkes Boarding-House Cookbook: Recipes and Collections from the Savannah Taste by Sema Williams

-A Real Southern Cook: In her Savannah Kitchen by Dara Charles

-The Savannah Cookbook by Dawn Lee Fowler

-Dining in the Garden of Good Eats: Cooking with the book that Made Savannah Famous by Deborah Sullivan

-The Lady and Sons Savannah Country Cookbook by Paula H. Dean

-Savannah Classic Seafood by Janice Shay

-The Pirates’ House Cook Book – Savannah, Georgia by Sarah Gaede

-Uncle Bubba’s Savannah Seafood: More than 100 Down-Home Southern Recipes for Good Food and Good Times by Earl Hiers, Paula Deen, and Polly Powers Stramm

New Orleans, Louisiana

-New Orleans: Authentic Recipes Celebrating the Foods of the World published by Williams-Sonoma

-The New Orleans Cookbook by Deidre Stanforth

-Food and Reminiscences of New Orleans published by the Ursuline Order

Saint Augustine, Florida

-Flavors of St. Augustine: An Historic Cookbook by Maggi Smith Hall

-The Saint Augustine Book of Ancient Cooking: Recipes and Libations from America’s Oldest City by Greg Jenkins
Cookbook Writing Book Suggestions

-Writing Cookbooks by Judith Comfort

-The Recipe Writer's Handbook by Barbara Gibbs and Jane L. Baker

-Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Restaurant Reviews, Articles, Memoir, Fiction,  and More ... by Dianne Jacob

The following books deal with Home, Entertaining, and Baking Topics:

-Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson

-Martha White Southern Baking Book
For general information on French culture in all of the United States and Canada, the following book might be interesting:

French America with text by Ron Katz

Compiled by Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Recounting PRC-Chinese Food Story to Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Recounting PRC-Chinese Food Story to Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

I was introduced to Chinese food at an early age thanks to my older sister.  She worked as a waitress and later as a hostess at a Chinese restaurant while going to college, because she found out about staff meals.

My sister loved Chinese food, especially the food of Guangzhou (the area around Hong Kong, where most of America’s Chinese population came from to build the railroads in the US).  I think she ate something with shrimp, calamari, and mussels everyday.  She wanted me to like this nutritious food and learn how to make it, too.  The Chinese owners of the restaurant said they would take care of me on one of her shifts, so I could learn about Chinese food.

The food was “Chinese-American,” but this ersatz Chinese cuisine made Chinese railroad workers strong enough to connect the West Coast with the East Coast of the United States, so I eat my beef-broccoli with relish. 

When I talked to the editor at the Monterey County Weekly (Circulation: 200,000), she said she would love an article on Chinese food and asked me to write one.  She gave me the article word number, and away I went.

I have always taught my daughter Florence about China.  I knew she wanted to work in theatre and film when she grew up.  I told her that knowing about China is important, because they have a large film industry and a theatre tradition that she should study.

So, my article for the Monterey County Weekly is below.  Florence read my articles in addition to her schoolwork, so learned quite a bit about social studies due to my comments over dinner, too.  I wanted her to be a well-informed actress, singer, director, and or/or screenwriter – no matter what she chose to do.  My article on Chinese food follows.  Please note that editors choose headlines not the writers:

Egg Foo Yuck

My sister worked as a waitress at the Ho-Ho Inn, a Chinese restaurant, on Cass Street in Detroit, Michigan.  She sat a plate of Egg Foo Yung in front of five-year-old me.

I had a way with words and quickly renamed this, “Egg Foo Yuck.”  Tears ran down my cheeks as I thought about eating this worm-like mess of food.  The Chinese waiter came in and looked at me.

He took the Egg Foo Yuck and threw it in the garbage.  He went to the freezer and gave me one of those ice cream treats that Chinese restaurants serve – a coconut and mango combination.

My sister came in and glared at me.  George said, “She ate everything, so I gave her an ice cream.”  I smiled sweetly at George. My love for the Chinese people, if not their food began at that instant.

When I was fifteen, I raised money with 21 other young people to visit the Peoples’ Republic of China in 1979.  We wanted to see how a “developing” country was able to provide a stellar education for its students in addition to visiting the Great Wall and Forbidden City.

I dreaded the culinary side of the trip, though.  I did not like pork, which is China’s staple meat.  I was suspicious of all seafood except shrimp.

I impolitely took half of the serving plate full of sweet and sour shrimp when that appeared on the table.  My tour mates curbed this behavior by telling me that the shrimp were really cat, rat, and dog.

I subsisted on rice and soup broth for two weeks. I left unknown soup ingredients in my bowl.  I cringe now when I think of wasting food in a country that still had a collective memory of famine. (The Great Leap Forward)

At lunch on a commune outside Shanghai, the tour guide I sat with asked me if I would like some pork.

“No, thank you,” I politely responded.

She smiled and put a large spoonful of pork on my plate.

“Would you like some soup?” she asked.

She smiled and put a large spoonful of pork on my plate.

“Would you like some soup?” she asked.

“No, thank you,” I politely responded again.

She smiled and ladled some wonton soup into a bowl, which she placed in front of me.

I, “the foreign devil” recognized a lost battle.

“I’ll try a little of everything,” I said.

Our tour guide placed something hot, white and topped off with pork got placed in front of me.  The white stuff was bean curd – dou fu – tofu, in Japanese.

I tried the bean curd with pork and loved it.  I asked our tour guide, “Please tell the farm workers that Chinese food is delicious.”

In college, I began working for a “translation” company that was really a boutique public relations firm specializing in international trade.  Everyone at the firm knew how to do deal with Japanese and Chinese marketing work or learned to quickly.  (These were the most profitable accounts at the time.)  I had many opportunities to go out for “Chinese lunch” there, including dim sum and banquets at the restaurants downtown and in Chinatown.

I bought a wok when Florence was little and seasoned it.  I used a cookbook called The Encyclopedia of Chinese Food that listed forty different cooking techniques and said this was “just an abbreviated list” of techniques.

I had to relearn how to chop vegetables for these different cooking techniques.  (I used Tropp’s China Moon Cookbook to do this.)

One chopping pattern resembles a trapezoid.  I never thought I would see one of those again after taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test to get into the University of Chicago.

To cook Chinese food you have to supply your kitchen with things like oyster sauce, soy sauce, transparent noodles, rice wine, ginger root, garlic, and dehydrated shrimp.

I tried several dishes, but my family had its favorites: Cantonese rice (fried rice, eggs, chopped pork, shrimp, carrots, peas, and scallions – a kind of Chinese hash), egg drop soup (stirring the egg in is the hardest part), and stir-fried beef in oyster sauce.

When my daughter was little, I would show her China on the map and say, “Rice grows in southern China, where it is hot and rainy in summer.”

I would then point to northern China and say, “The Chinese grow wheat there for noodles and dumplings.”

I showed Florence how to fry bok choy and hoped she would visit China one day.

End of Article

By Ruth Paget, Author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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