Vegan Dinuguan One of my grandmother’s specialties is dinuguan and I grew up eating so much of it that I have plenty of great memories surrounding this dish. When I lived abroad, most Filipinos call it “chocolate soup” or “chocolate stew” to trick others to give it a try. Traditionally, it is a stew of  pig innards cooked in pig’s blood with vinegar. It is beyond me how Nanay (my maternal grandmother) can make a pot of magic with pig carcass and its body liquids. Naturally, becoming vegan is not an impediment to enjoying this dish I loved eating growing up so I made my guilt-free pot last night. Replicating looks, taste and texture is front and center of every successful veganized dish and in this case, I needed a lot of  chew and substance. Taking the pig out of the picture and pulling out my vegan swaps, I used black beans for blood, reconstituted dried oyster mushrooms, fried tofu and pig-free pork belly (vegchon) for innards and dense vegetables for substance. Software: 2.5 cups dried black beans (soaked overnight and slowly cooked in 2 liters of water without salt until tender–I used a slow cooker for this as I cannot be bothered with tending a...

For several years, I secretly longed for kittens as I missed the days that Castor, Pollux and Fuma were tiny and cute. My boys are still pretty cute but evolved into their own respective beings with very distinct personalities and specific demands, including predilections–they were less demanding when they were tiny is really all I want to say. Little did I know I would take in more than 3 cats, in fact, stumbled upon six newborns found in the trash. Today we woke up with the sound of multiple cries and we found out that an unnamed stranger put 6 little kittens in a plastic bag, right next to our community garbage bins and kept them hidden under a piece of plywood. Knowing they will never survive and no one will take them in, we made an irrevocable decision to take them in without any plans if we are keeping them all or fostering them until we can find new human slaves parents for all of them later. We didn’t even bother telling and preparing our über territorial cats of five to six-ish years. May the one who threw these babies be held accountable for his actions (I dare say kidnap and frustrated murder) and may...

I suppose the hearts who used to read my blog wonder what happened to me during my nearly 1.5 year hiatus. To put it simply, I was “growing”–both literally and figuratively. My last post is essentially telling everyone we are moving to a new house and how unpacking drove me a little insane–I changed my domain twice and lost two years worth of blog entries, focused on hugging my cats most of my time, to say the least. Little did I know that the last two years is about reevaluating my path, and deepening and growing vigorous roots in veganism. People who know me are well aware that I started this journey in late 2010 (perhaps even earlier), with so much focus on reclaiming my health through raw vegan food. At the time and for some time, it was just that, food–there is absolutely nothing wrong with it–until I discovered that food is a single part of the entire picture. Like Yoga, asana is only one of its 8 limbs. There is more to it than I thought. I experimented tirelessly with the aim to find what kind of vegan diet works best for me and this is where I found 80-10-10, a fully raw lifestyle based on fruits and vegetables. Since I am known for being an...

photo from Home Fries It has been two weeks since we moved to our new home and we’re only halfway done with all the unpacking–not to mention organizing everything to fit our new casa. Relocating two adults, three cats, one kitchen and whittled-down stuff can be nerve-wracking and energy taxing. Before I go on a long tirade how it has been for my family of five, let me tell you that I took my sweet time oscillating between the state of whelm and gratitude for fresh starts in the last three weeks. Boy, it’s so much easier to be whelmed than be enthusiastic as you grow older. Making the decision to move was definitely not penciled in for this year. The mere fact that we have been dealing with a slippery wet floor each time it rains hard which lead us to shut down our kitchen operations and caused ceaseless whining and annoyance from our cats each time are enough reasons to jump ship. Time to chuck the idea of moving later and move ASAP. After hours of being on all fours, armed with a wet rag and a bucket. KK and I just said it out loud, “We have to move. I hope...

Laing is one of the regional Filipino dishes I “dread” cooking but is extremely fond of–I’d pick it over anything except for sinigang. Traditionally, I will always eat it but not make it. In fact, I never made it before until yesterday. I love it with hot steaming unpolished rice or rice noodles–laing pasta anyone? Armed by accounts of KK watching his Bicolana grandmother cook this time and time again, Tinkerbelle’s Bicolana mom’s instructions and a YouTube video of Bugnay (see below) as my guides, I set out the make the best meat-free laing my kitchen can produce. SOFTWARE: 1/8 kilo of dried taro leaves (give or take) Coconut cream (kakang gata) from 4 coconuts 4-6 cups of water 4 medium red onion, chopped 4 inch ginger cut into short julienned sticks 1 head of native garlic, chopped 5 siling pansigang or siling labuyo to taste (I happen to have only siling pansigang so that’s what I used but for a more authentic laing, labuyo is a must) 1/2 cup KNL’s Bagoong How did I make it? Just watch this video. I did not include any meat and that green packet of everything but good. How did it turn out? The kid who grew...

The scorching hot summer sun makes the average citizen long for the beach, jump in cold water, take frequent showers, turn on the a/c to full blast, sweat like a pig, develop migraines and during unfortunate times, suffer from heat stroke. These days, any excuse to open the fridge, down cold treats are welcome, especially if we’re talking about my husband–when under the hot sun, is no different than the average citizen. KK LOVES ice cream and this love goes straight back to more than 30 years of beautiful and poignant memories. He can eat a pint in less than 10 minutes, I kid you not. When the temperature rises to as hot as 38 to even 40 degrees,  I do not have the heart to raise my hand and stop KK from grabbing the closest half-gallon tub of ice cream to cool himself down. My husband doing this almost daily made me uncomfortable because I know there are a lot of hormones (because of the cow milk), artificial flavors, refined sugar, stabilizers and other things I cannot even pronounce in ice cream so I started making the kind of ice cream our bodies will thank us for eating: Raw (hardly processed, 100% nutrition)...