WEBVTT
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I wanted to share with everyone a very special guest that we had on the show a couple years back, and this is Isi Laureano, and I'm gonna quote from Traveling Spoon because I feel like she's part of this incredible organization called Traveling Spoon, and her bio really shares who she is.
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So Isi has been in the food business for over 10 years, creating recipes for dairy companies and restaurants, doing food styling and photography, and selling spices online.
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She has recently, actually, it's been a while now, started Chili Asylum, an institution dedicated to marketing fresh chilies and chili products sourced directly from Filipino farmers.
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Isi says she learned everything she knows about cooking from her Nanay, grandmother, who she watched cook fresh lunches and dinners every day Growing up, Isi loves cooking and serving the local regional food she grew up eating.
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Isi enjoys collaborating with other chefs and food lovers in the food business to create new and delicious foods.
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Please welcome Chef Isi Laureano.
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Hey, thank you.
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Thank you for having me again, Michael.
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Oh, I'm thrilled to start this episode.
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This is a chef check-in, and it's gonna be a very special episode, and I'm really excited that our listeners are gonna get to hear you and connect with you and let's get started.
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Okay.
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So how long have we known each other?
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I'm thinking back from clubhouse days.
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Yeah, it was pandemic, so
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Yeah, sure so 2022, something like that,
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I think.
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When did Clubhouse happen?
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I think so.
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I think 2021 or late 2020, I started checking out Clubhouse, I think it was 2021.
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'cause 2021 we were still locked down and we opened up again March of 2022.
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And when we opened during March, 2022, I had traveling, spoon booking.
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So I went back to work.
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gosh.
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Oh my gosh.
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I went back to work and it was surreal 'cause I did not expect people would be coming over.
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Right.
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'cause it was, we were locked down for almost two years.
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And I was just kind of surprised, like, hey, people from, they were from New York.
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I will never forget that because they were my first ever customers again after the pandemic.
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So it was surprIsing to have a booking right on the dot when we opened up for international travels again, you know, so the tourism was really nothing for two years over here, even for us locals.
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We can't even just go out and about to go to the other provinces, so it was really a lockdown.
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We were really stuck here at home and I was just doing whatever I need to do.
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Of course, there are days that I don't need to cook for somebody.
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But that was the time that my private chef career was really happening.
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And also for a traveling spoon.
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I was doing both at the same time.
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And then pandemic happened.
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So my client there, there were some clients who had to let me go.
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But there was one or two who kind of stayed.
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So I was just literally working from home 'cause I was cooking everything here and just delivering it to their house'cause I'm not, which is a good setup.
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Also, I don't need to be in the household of that client because I'm not really cooking for the whole entire family.
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I'm just cooking for one person.
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Right now, that's also what's happening.
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So
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Oh, cool
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he's on a pescatarian diet, so I'm also on a pescatarian diet too.
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Like whenever I'm cooking for the rest of the week for him, I'm kind of also that's also our food already.
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So it's more practical for me.
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And I'm here at home.
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I get to see my family, I get to see my dogs, I get to see my fun.
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It's not like.
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The previous jobs that, being in a restaurant or being in a hotel you
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Oh,
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can't even see your family, the demand
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Oh yeah.
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know for your
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The hours.
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The
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Yeah.
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It
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on your feet.
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that's why I got out of that, you know, after graduating from the hotels and restaurants life.
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I mean, I need to be at home.
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That's why I started all these things and I mean, this year, traveling Spoon, I've been with Traveling Spoon for 10 years.
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That was one question I was gonna ask you because, for our listeners.
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Mm-hmm.
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We interviewed, I think it was 2020 or 2021, somewhere around there.
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I met you on Clubhouse probably in 2020.
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And I waited over a year to interview you and I was so excited when you said yes and we made the time and it was crazy times during the pandemic and we had so much fun and I'll never forget it.
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And so if our listeners are hearing this check out episode 38, because that's the original episode with Isi and I, and it was raw and it was real and it was energetic and it was positive and it was deep during the pandemic and she was crazy.
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She was all over the place and we had so much fun.
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So it's like I normally create my own introductions, but this one I felt very strongly about.
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Tell us a little bit more about, when I'm reading this Chili Asylum, what is Chili Asylum?
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Well after I, I just said a while ago, after I stopped working for the restaurants and, being trained in some hotels before, after I graduate, culinary, I started doing a home-based business.
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So at first it was the spices, like I literally was just selling.
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'cause there's not like a really, like the delis here, or groceries, they don't really have a lot of spices.
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Like it would only be just the ordinary spices like salt, pepper, chili flakes, something like that.
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But it's not like the other spices that, that we normally have.
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And then there's an like an Indian grocery only to get like Indian spices.
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So I was kind of, oh, I can do this.
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'cause my aunt, she's from Egypt, she was working back then over there.
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So every time they go back home she would buy me some spices and I just started selling them.
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And then I also go to Thailand.
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And in Thailand there's so many other spices over too, so I started bringing some home.
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It's not like a bulk thing, it was more of like just a small packet.
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And then I was literally using, multiply,
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Oh,
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that Facebook was nothing yet Back then Instagram was
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whoa.
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What is multiply?
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Was it social media.
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yeah, it was like a MySpace kind of
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Mm-hmm.
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Page, you can make your own page, you can post photos.
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And then that's pretty much what I use as my selling platform online.
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And then fa when Facebook happened, that's when I, and then multiply, stop working just like MySpace.
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Wow.
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that was like a long time ago.
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That was maybe about, my son is already 20 years old.
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Oh my gosh.
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Oh my gosh.
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that's like about around 20 years ago when I started to really do more I mean around that time.
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And then come 2013, I started, oh, I can make spicy stuff because my grandmother and my uncle are the.
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They're very good cooks.
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They cook every day for the entire family.
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Wow.
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They pretty much make my grandmother would make, and my uncle would also make the same.
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They would have their own version of pickled papaya and the pickled chili peppers or the shrimp paste.
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Like we can literally smell how fermented the shrimp paste
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my gosh.
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happening.
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Outdoor.
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Like she would literally cook it outdoor because it would be smelling in the whole entire neighborhood.
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Oh my gosh.
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But that was the best shrimp paste and when we were growing up.
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And then of course the pickled papaya, we call it Atchara the pickled papaya.
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It's just, you know, shredded green papaya with carrots, garlic, ginger, onion, and then.
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Bell pepper.
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Sometimes some people would put raIsins in them, but we don't, that's not our version.
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So it's a condiment.
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So of course you have your pickling liquid, which is sugar and vinegar and salt, and then you would pretty much marinate the whole vegetables in there.
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And then we would put them in jars and that would be a condiment for anything really, for fried food or grilled seafood or fish, or grilled pork, you know, so it's a tiny condiment and that's like.
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Where I took my chance to make it spicy, because we love spicy.
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I remember when I was growing up, my grandfather would always have chili pepper, like fresh chili pepper in the vinegar or in the fish sauce, and that would be our condiment for anything, even for when we're eating something that's already flavorful, we would still have a sauce beside a condiment on the side to, that's why Filipinos love flavor.
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We don't, we're not shy about that.
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We're not shy about it,
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my gosh, I
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That's why we ha we eat rice with it all the time to pretty much balance everything that we're eating.
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'cause our dishes are very flavorful.
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So that's when I started to do chili asylum.
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I started making chili con carne, you know, like chili pork, beef, vegetarian, I was literally making chili con carne, all the versions of it.
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And then I started bottling my grandmother's.
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Atchara, the pickled papa, but I started putting chili peppers in it.
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So not only the main ingredients of green papaya, onion, garlic, carrots, bell pepper.
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I started putting chili peppers in it.
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So that's also being pickled with the Atchara.
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And that's when I started really to have this line of chili products.
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I started pickling just the peppers, and then I started making chili jams and chili chutney.
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So everything is just spicy.
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And then around after a few years of popping up doing baars, I ended up just, supplying some of my friends stores, like they have like deli stores or just.
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All local product stores.
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They started popping up during that time when I was doing bazaars.
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And then that's when I realized, you know, I'm done doing the bazaars, so I'll just supply these little deli stores or little local ingredient stores.
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And then Until now, that's what I'm doing.
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I'm still kind of doing most of my products, but it's not like the way it was before that.
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I have so many outlets where you can buy my products.
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Right now I think I only have like maybe three existing stores right now that I'm, 'cause most of the stores closed down during the pandemic.
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That's what I wanted to get to is like what's changed since
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Yeah.
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We talked.
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yeah.
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So
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There's a lot of things that have probably changed.
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yeah.
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And then from Chile Asylum, I got into the chili stuff.
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Really like, just got into that.
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People started to get to know me that, I started doing all these chili products and then I started the ketchups.
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Yeah.
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That's amazing.
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Oh, tell us more about that.
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Let's dive into that
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So, at first it was called Spicy Diwata and Spicy Bathala.
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When you say Diwata and Bathala, that's the god and goddess.
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Oh, okay.
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in Filipino, so Diwata is the goddess and Bathala is the God.
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So pretty much our maker, you know, God, Bathala is our maker.
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So I just started doing that.
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It was my friend Drew like a design for spicy Diwata and spicy Bathala ketchup.
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And
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Oh, wow.
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After a few years of making these all natural ketchups, but they're spicy also.
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I started selling them also during, when I was doing bazaar, so it's not just chili asylum.
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I also had spicy Diwata, spicy Bathala, and then I met this couple.
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They're very good with branding, so I asked them, this was my first time really having somebody to brand my products.
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So we eventually, I was part of the journey of branding.
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I was really, I learned so much from them and they really made sure that, we can just make it into one word.
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So I started checking out some Filipino words, like really old Filipino words, and stumbled upon haynayan,
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Okay.
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Haynayan means.
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The study of life, which is biology.
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So when we connected Diwata and Bathala, they're the maker of life, so
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I know too, this just reminds me of our previous episode where I believe you started the idea of becoming a marine biologist, right?
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yes.
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So
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that kind of connects a little
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yeah, so everything just kind of got into place when we saw Haynayan, I never knew , the Haynayan word.
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So when I looked it up, we were like, oh, it's the study of biology, it's the study of life.
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So it just all got connected.
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So now it's called Haynayan Ketchups, but I'm still using Spicy Diwata and then Haynayan ketchup, spicy Bathala.
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So I have different.
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Fruit flavored ketchups all natural ketchups from banana, pineapple, strawberries since we have strawberries from up north.
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So I just started making all of these things and then until eventually I got tired of doing bazaars and then I started to teach, that's when I started traveling Spoon also, and everything was just, going all over.
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People were noticing I am getting so much bookings from Traveling Spoon, because honestly, when 26, I started 2013, around that time, and then 2016 traveling Spoon happened in a span of three years of doing bazaars and doing the ketchups and the bottle, the chili stuff.
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Traveling Spoon was recommended to me by a good friend of mine.
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She said, Isi, I think you can do this.
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'cause they're searching for a host for the Philippines.
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And Traveling Spoon was just starting at that time.
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So I accepted, they went here.
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The owners of Traveling Spoon went here to assess me.
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And they asked me, why do you wanna do this?
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I mean, why not?
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I don't need to open up a restaurant.
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I just need to open my dining table.
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, But it was kind of skeptical for us, especially for my family who's gonna go here?
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It was a new idea.
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It's a new concept.
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People don't just, open their houses for strangers from all over the world.
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So at first it wasn't as popular yet, but during, around.
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After just two years, around 2018, I was getting bookings every
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Wow.
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Wow.
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There was even one month that every other day I had a booking and I was doing it twice.
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'cause I was offering lunch and dinner when I started traveling.
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Spoon.
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Oh my gosh.
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then now after the pandemic, I had to downgrade because my parents are senior.
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We didn't wanna open our house anymore to the public, so I had to transfer to another property, which is just a condominium.
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And before I can accommodate up to eight to 10 people here, I had to downgrade to four or five.
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So it's very intimate.
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Intimate cooking classes
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Yeah.
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It's since the condominium is not like.
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An outdoor space for me.
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'cause here in our house we had a, we have an outdoor kitchen here.
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Oh, okay.
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so we really do everything outside outdoor.
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But in the condo, it's an indoor thing.
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So everything is just, you know, I had to downgrade, but that's fine.
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I still get to continue what I've been doing for 10 years.
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I, that's amazing.
00:19:38.849 --> 00:19:40.619
So think about this, okay.
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'cause this is the chef check-in.
00:19:41.939 --> 00:19:48.569
So now we're fast forwarding to now, what key takeaways do you have from traveling Spoon?
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What is it that keeps you doing it?
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I mean, you're not doing it for the money, you're doing it for the purpose.
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Right?
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And is it the people?
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Is it the connection?
00:19:57.578 --> 00:20:01.499
Is it, what is it really that's getting you, keeping you going?
00:20:01.523 --> 00:20:04.933
It's a very, unique platform for me.
00:20:05.233 --> 00:20:07.513
I mean, back then.
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We I think we're already celebrating Filipino cuIsine in our own way here.
00:20:13.438 --> 00:20:35.303
Like we would have the fiestas, we would be having all these food festivals in some provinces, you know, but they do not realize that something like that, that experience that we've been having ever since we were kids, we can actually share that to the world.
00:20:35.333 --> 00:20:44.813
And Traveling Spoon gave me that kind of platform to be able to share what I learned from my hometown.
00:20:44.843 --> 00:20:53.303
And during the pandemic we were already planning for our homecoming.
00:20:53.333 --> 00:20:58.343
'cause I graduated from an all girls school, Saint Three's College.
00:20:58.673 --> 00:21:01.134
And it was a Jubilee Homecoming.
00:21:01.193 --> 00:21:03.963
And decided to contribute.
00:21:04.178 --> 00:21:09.338
By having a fundraiser, by joining a Malabon Food tour.
00:21:09.668 --> 00:21:11.378
So in my hometown.
00:21:11.378 --> 00:21:20.048
So I started doing that and then I realized, hey, maybe I can sign this up as another profile, as another tour for Traveling Spoon.
00:21:20.048 --> 00:21:21.578
And they were so interested.
00:21:21.999 --> 00:21:25.388
So now it's part of Traveling Spoon.
00:21:25.388 --> 00:21:32.598
So after the pandemic, people started coming in, of course they wanted to support our homecoming.
00:21:32.898 --> 00:21:40.489
So a lot of the other batches in my school started doing their group tours and in my hometown.
00:21:40.489 --> 00:21:46.168
And that's really how I kind of continued the food tour in my hometown.
00:21:46.198 --> 00:21:46.918
'cause before.
00:21:48.058 --> 00:22:17.953
The pandemic, there was already an existing food tour by the local government of Malabon and they're actually very good at it because not all cities in the metro, or not a lot of provinces are doing food tours and the local government of Malabon and started to do a Malabon and Heritage tour, even like they were highlighting some of the old churches and old houses in Malabon.
00:22:17.973 --> 00:22:20.769
'cause Malabon is pretty much an old town.
00:22:20.828 --> 00:22:31.499
During the Spanish time the Spanish and old heroes of the Philippines, they've been going to our hometown back then as like a vacation place.
00:22:31.888 --> 00:22:38.249
So since, because we're sea level, we're by the river, so it's very windy.
00:22:38.249 --> 00:22:42.628
It's like this is vacation area back then during the Spanish period.
00:22:42.628 --> 00:22:43.048
And then.
00:22:44.323 --> 00:22:48.513
We're a fishing town, so I literally grew up with fish and seafood.
00:22:48.513 --> 00:22:49.384
That's like our everyday
00:22:49.453 --> 00:22:50.353
That's my heaven.
00:22:50.653 --> 00:22:50.894
Yeah.
00:22:51.433 --> 00:22:54.378
So that's pretty much our neighborhood over there.
00:22:54.378 --> 00:23:04.818
So I just started to do it and then when I signed it up to Traveling Spoon, people started to notice like, oh, she's really doing it.
00:23:05.388 --> 00:23:10.528
And just pretty much saving and keeping what we have in Malabon.
00:23:10.548 --> 00:23:22.278
'cause back then when I was growing up, people would ask where I live and every time I say Malabon, it's either flooded or it's too far away.
00:23:23.028 --> 00:23:27.499
Our town is way up north of the metro.
00:23:28.378 --> 00:23:30.239
So it's already bordering
00:23:30.288 --> 00:23:31.158
Where live now.
00:23:31.158 --> 00:23:31.828
Is North.
00:23:31.828 --> 00:23:32.728
That's what I remember.
00:23:32.759 --> 00:23:33.118
Yeah.
00:23:33.118 --> 00:23:33.178
So.
00:23:34.158 --> 00:23:41.114
Malabon is way up north and already bordering a province of Bulakan if you see it in the map.
00:23:41.203 --> 00:23:44.203
So it's going up north of the Philippines already.
00:23:44.683 --> 00:23:47.833
So I can literally take a tricycle to Bulakan.
00:23:48.448 --> 00:23:49.408
Oh my gosh.
00:23:49.553 --> 00:23:54.763
That's how close the border is to us of Bulakan and Malabon city.
00:23:55.243 --> 00:23:55.963
And
00:23:56.634 --> 00:24:00.413
you, okay, do you have a car or do you have a motorcycle, or how do you get around?
00:24:00.728 --> 00:24:05.528
So I ran an electronic tricycle now
00:24:05.739 --> 00:24:06.608
my gosh.
00:24:06.638 --> 00:24:08.078
That's what I was trying to understand.
00:24:08.078 --> 00:24:08.499
Okay.
00:24:09.038 --> 00:24:13.658
that's also what what the LGU, the local government started also.
00:24:13.658 --> 00:24:16.058
They were using the electronic tricycle and the
00:24:16.058 --> 00:24:17.168
more for conservation.
00:24:17.168 --> 00:24:17.318
Okay,
00:24:17.588 --> 00:24:21.278
And the electronic tricycle can handle.
00:24:22.343 --> 00:24:24.114
Six people at the time.
00:24:24.114 --> 00:24:34.283
So you know, I could easily have a nice group of five or group of six participants and we could all fit in the electronic tricycle.
00:24:34.644 --> 00:24:48.614
So it's, and Malabon is really so small, it's a small town, so we can literally go around just using the tricycle because we don't really have big, huge highways in Malabon.
00:24:49.073 --> 00:24:53.963
So we would go around maybe about three times.
00:24:53.963 --> 00:24:57.953
'cause literally it's just going around, like literally just going around.
00:24:57.953 --> 00:25:03.923
And all the restaurants and the carinderias are just all over the town.
00:25:03.923 --> 00:25:20.303
And one thing that really, I guess sets me apart is that I grew up in a foodie family and my grandfather's eldest sister opened up a bake shop.
00:25:21.128 --> 00:25:29.468
That bake shop has been there since the 1960s and we literally grew up in that cake shop.
00:25:29.828 --> 00:25:36.718
And that's really, what sets me apart, that's my gauge of how good food is.
00:25:36.898 --> 00:25:48.458
And that really became my gateway to learn more about, not just about Malabon, but also how Filipino cuIsine is so regional.
00:25:48.458 --> 00:25:49.749
It's so different.
00:25:49.868 --> 00:26:01.269
'cause when I was growing up, we already have this place that we get, lechon wasn't even a festive dish for us, it was a brunch.
00:26:02.228 --> 00:26:04.058
Oh, okay.
00:26:04.118 --> 00:26:10.239
can literally buy half kilo or one foot kilo of that lechon being chopped.
00:26:10.733 --> 00:26:16.413
In the morning of Sunday, and that's like our brunch.
00:26:16.433 --> 00:26:21.953
'cause my grandmother would probably not cook so much on Sundays.
00:26:21.953 --> 00:26:30.683
She would just buy some other stuff that's being sold in the market in the palengke, which is so nearby to us.
00:26:30.683 --> 00:26:34.913
Like we can literally walk to the palengke every day.
00:26:34.913 --> 00:26:55.953
And our culture in our household, we don't stock food because my grandmother and my grandfather would always buy fresh ingredients and then go home by before lunch and she would cook lunch, freshly made food, and then in the afternoon it would be my grandfather who's gonna be doing dinner.
00:26:56.453 --> 00:26:57.053
And then.
00:26:57.578 --> 00:27:10.509
They also have a little store in the palengke in the market, so they would pretty much close that by lunchtime and then go back in the afternoon again to open it.
00:27:10.628 --> 00:27:12.158
'cause they still have Siesta.
00:27:12.578 --> 00:27:23.019
You know how the Spanish, during the Spanish time, they kind of got that culture of Siesta, like they close the store and then they rest, and then they open up again in the afternoon.
00:27:23.509 --> 00:27:24.249
That's European too, I
00:27:24.398 --> 00:27:25.868
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
00:27:26.163 --> 00:27:27.253
Italy is big on that.
00:27:27.253 --> 00:27:30.833
The gatherings in the afternoon with all the people.
00:27:30.894 --> 00:27:31.493
Oh my gosh.
00:27:31.553 --> 00:27:34.903
Like we work in Seattle, we work all day.
00:27:34.903 --> 00:27:37.003
We don't sometimes don't take a luncheon.
00:27:37.033 --> 00:27:40.063
People take a two hour lunch, you know, but then they work later.
00:27:40.243 --> 00:27:40.603
Right.
00:27:40.603 --> 00:27:41.983
So it's a trade off.
00:27:42.374 --> 00:27:44.353
So I have some core questions for you.
00:27:44.384 --> 00:27:53.114
So last time you were, last time you were on Voice for Chefs, what chapter of your life were you in back then, and what chapter are you in now?
00:27:54.733 --> 00:27:55.543
still the same,
00:27:56.114 --> 00:27:56.593
Same.
00:27:56.653 --> 00:27:59.173
still working in the kitchen, which I love.
00:27:59.833 --> 00:28:00.098
Good.
00:28:00.148 --> 00:28:08.323
I think that it's just really a matter of, finding where you're really place at.
00:28:08.473 --> 00:28:13.394
And right now I am so glad that I'm doing what I love still.
00:28:13.903 --> 00:28:16.573
I am in, I've been in the kitchen for 20 years.
00:28:17.009 --> 00:28:17.968
20 years.
00:28:18.028 --> 00:28:18.598
That's amazing.
00:28:18.598 --> 00:28:20.038
But see, you love it.
00:28:20.038 --> 00:28:24.749
So you're in the right, you're in the right space, You love it and you're in the right space.
00:29:20.033 --> 00:29:28.403
yeah, I'm not like a restaurateur or like, own a hotel, and I don't think that's really what I need to do.
00:29:28.453 --> 00:29:31.144
All I wanted is to just teach and.
00:29:31.728 --> 00:29:32.928
And you teach at school too?
00:29:33.048 --> 00:29:42.448
Yeah, and like just, maybe someday I might be able to open a Filipino deli, which all my products will be there.
00:29:42.448 --> 00:29:46.128
All my favorite Filipino products products will be there.
00:29:46.128 --> 00:29:52.558
And then probably like a small cooking school, just teaching all about Filipino cuIsine.
00:29:52.558 --> 00:29:57.228
I think that's really what I want eventually, but right now I'm okay.
00:29:57.228 --> 00:30:04.158
I'm a private chef for a very good client That's literally working from home set up.
00:30:04.158 --> 00:30:09.058
And then now I'm still doing Traveling Spoon and now Malabon.
00:30:09.078 --> 00:30:14.058
My Malabon tour is getting recognized even more so this year.
00:30:14.058 --> 00:30:26.563
So I'm really getting more, not just foreign bookings, it's also local bookings now because of that article that came out recently and that.
00:30:26.968 --> 00:30:27.478
Yeah.
00:30:27.478 --> 00:30:30.658
Chef Reggie is like a pioneer.
00:30:30.658 --> 00:30:34.438
I've looked up to her for the longest time and she
00:30:34.713 --> 00:30:41.363
Send me a link to the article and I'll put it in the show notes so people can click on it and maybe even reach out to Chef Reggie
00:30:41.438 --> 00:30:42.818
Yes, yes.
00:30:43.373 --> 00:30:44.243
that would be so cool
00:30:44.318 --> 00:30:49.098
and it flourished into, we're doing a cooking class about Malabon
00:30:49.163 --> 00:30:49.823
Oh.
00:30:50.003 --> 00:30:50.813
Oh, that's
00:30:50.888 --> 00:31:02.558
So she's opening up her house 'cause she does cooking lessons in her house and she has like a private, yeah, she does also private cooking lessons, but just on her own.
00:31:02.558 --> 00:31:10.838
And she literally started to offer Heritage cuIsine classes and I'm one of the first ones.
00:31:10.838 --> 00:31:12.738
And she really loved Malabon.
00:31:12.759 --> 00:31:16.269
She really loved my aunt who's running the cake shop now.
00:31:17.033 --> 00:31:18.863
You know, everyone knows Chef Reggie.
00:31:18.863 --> 00:31:27.823
That's why I'm so happy that she, recognized me and now I'm getting local bookings too because of her.
00:31:27.823 --> 00:31:37.993
So I think it's really a matter of just working your best at whichever you are really capable of.
00:31:38.053 --> 00:31:41.894
And this is really what I am capable of.
00:31:41.983 --> 00:31:48.783
This is really what I love and I'm not a millionaire, but I love what I do.
00:31:48.833 --> 00:31:49.433
And that's
00:31:49.503 --> 00:31:55.058
I have to say, Isi, you seemed more stressed before and
00:31:55.403 --> 00:31:59.873
That was a very demanding, that was a very demanding client.
00:32:00.053 --> 00:32:05.873
And also that was really my first time having that kind of client.
00:32:06.233 --> 00:32:13.103
So I was really, yeah I was getting sick and I don't really get sick
00:32:13.673 --> 00:32:13.894
Oh
00:32:14.453 --> 00:32:18.653
and I don't really get so stressed with kitchen work.
00:32:18.653 --> 00:32:20.063
I love my work, I love
00:32:20.123 --> 00:32:20.343
Wow.
00:32:21.144 --> 00:32:21.563
But then
00:32:21.668 --> 00:32:22.958
You're such an inspiration.
00:32:22.958 --> 00:32:26.019
You don't realize that people that are gonna listen, some of them get stressed.
00:32:26.019 --> 00:32:26.228
Right.
00:32:26.273 --> 00:32:26.723
Yeah.
00:32:26.818 --> 00:32:27.889
But it's like you provide hope.
00:32:28.048 --> 00:32:29.439
You provide hope,
00:32:29.784 --> 00:32:37.584
and it's like, I don't think I want to end up like having trauma with the kitchen work.
00:32:37.914 --> 00:32:42.464
'cause I've experienced friends who do not want to cook anymore.
00:32:43.259 --> 00:32:51.689
Because of the stress they had from working in a kitchen or for working for a really bad employer and they don't wanna cook anymore.
00:32:51.689 --> 00:32:53.789
I don't want that to happen to me.
00:32:54.044 --> 00:32:54.434
No,
00:32:54.524 --> 00:32:54.865
I don't think so
00:32:54.914 --> 00:32:56.534
You don't that way at all.
00:32:56.625 --> 00:32:58.094
You don't seem that way at all.
00:32:58.199 --> 00:33:02.579
and I was able to work there for almost three years.
00:33:02.829 --> 00:33:04.359
I worked hard.
00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:08.409
I really wanted this, I was recommended.
00:33:08.409 --> 00:33:24.289
It wasn't like I, you know, I look for this job and I just didn't want to, make my, the one who recommended me feel embarrassed of me, not working for at least for a whole year with them.
00:33:24.289 --> 00:33:28.039
But I was able to work for almost three years over there.
00:33:28.039 --> 00:33:35.524
And, but then again, eventually I.
00:33:28.039 --> 00:33:35.524
Wasn't seeing my family anymore.
00:33:35.855 --> 00:33:39.664
I'm literally tired 'cause I only have one day off.
00:33:40.115 --> 00:33:53.344
And during the day off, of course I have to do everything that I can do because I don't have time every day to do whatever I can do for, you know, for my personal stuff.
00:33:53.344 --> 00:33:56.014
But it was all work, work, work, work, work.
00:33:56.014 --> 00:33:58.024
And it was really very demanding.
00:33:58.414 --> 00:34:01.204
But then again, I strived it.
00:34:01.234 --> 00:34:07.294
I was able to do it for almost two years, but I was already feeling it.
00:34:07.789 --> 00:34:18.500
It wasn't like I, I'm not enjoying it anymore and I don't want to end up like my other friends who don't wanna do it anymore.
00:34:18.500 --> 00:34:23.360
So I had to stop it because I was already getting sick.
00:34:23.570 --> 00:34:25.490
I mean, I'm healthy.
00:34:25.579 --> 00:34:31.429
And then I started getting sick because of the stress, the kitchen stress stress that I'm I'm getting from that place.
00:34:31.429 --> 00:34:40.969
So I just stopped it and I realized this is not the end of my career for quitting that job.
00:34:41.639 --> 00:34:43.490
No way, You're doing a lot of things, Izzy.
00:34:43.490 --> 00:34:45.034
You're doing a lot of things right
00:34:45.079 --> 00:34:49.699
After I quit last year I started doing Traveling Spoon again.
00:34:49.699 --> 00:34:53.960
I opened up my calendar again'cause I had to block my calendar.
00:34:54.425 --> 00:34:54.775
Right?
00:34:55.610 --> 00:35:00.710
So for almost three years, traveling Spoon was not happening
00:35:00.965 --> 00:35:01.385
Mm-hmm.
00:35:01.849 --> 00:35:08.974
and I. Kind of felt so sad and bad for declining bookings.
00:35:09.275 --> 00:35:17.164
And I also felt bad to say to the owners of traveling, I'm sorry for not being able to do this for almost three years.
00:35:17.244 --> 00:35:21.534
'Cause the, my previous employer told me I cannot do it.
00:35:21.954 --> 00:35:24.684
I cannot have a double income job
00:35:25.014 --> 00:35:25.885
Wow.
00:35:26.275 --> 00:35:45.985
so they, I have to stop everything just so I, you know, I don't get, you know, anyways, so I just literally went back, opening up my calendar again, getting some bookings, and then another chef friend recommended me to this new client
00:35:46.255 --> 00:35:46.704
Oh boy.
00:35:46.704 --> 00:35:47.784
And that's when it happened.
00:35:47.784 --> 00:35:48.784
And that's that's when it happened,,
00:35:48.835 --> 00:35:50.005
that's where you're getting
00:35:50.304 --> 00:35:57.444
yeah, when, after meeting you guys and I literally just had the interview before I went to Washington.
00:35:57.775 --> 00:36:06.775
So meeting us, but that's where that, let's stop for a sec. But that's where you get your inspiration, I think, is from your new client, from the things you're doing now.
00:36:07.424 --> 00:36:11.985
So what advice would you have for someone if they're stuck in that rut, if they're.
00:36:12.434 --> 00:36:19.565
Going in the restaurant every day, if they're getting sick, if they're really stressed out, You give them to say it's gonna get better?
00:36:19.594 --> 00:36:24.424
Maybe think a little different because you did, you pivoted and you're happier.
00:36:24.860 --> 00:36:29.449
I think for me, I'm pretty lucky 'cause I have a fallback.
00:36:29.719 --> 00:36:51.099
I have traveling spoon, I have chili asylum, I have all these homemade brands So I think that's one thing that you need to have is that you would always think, there's still an opportunity for me to move away from this, or after moving away from something that I've been working on so hard.
00:36:51.099 --> 00:36:52.630
But then again, I'm not happy.
00:36:53.199 --> 00:36:54.639
At that job anymore.
00:36:55.210 --> 00:37:02.819
I think what you need to find is another opportunity or a fallback, just like what I have.
00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:05.009
'cause I have these things.
00:37:05.250 --> 00:37:09.989
I have traveling spoon, I have my homemade brand, so it's not a loss for me,
00:37:10.454 --> 00:37:10.904
Yeah.
00:37:11.009 --> 00:37:12.269
Quitting that job.
00:37:12.269 --> 00:37:14.639
That's, that I'm not happy anymore.
00:37:14.849 --> 00:37:23.650
So I think what they need to find is an opportunity for them to really, assess themself.
00:37:23.739 --> 00:37:35.059
If they can really quit this job and have another, thing to do that you also, that you're gonna love and you're not going to get so stressed.
00:37:35.059 --> 00:37:42.949
I mean, there stress is everywhere, but right now I'm very lucky to finally, you know.
00:37:44.630 --> 00:37:56.869
Find this new client and working for this new client and doing traveling Spoon at the same time is not demanding me to stop doing that.
00:37:57.235 --> 00:37:59.724
You can do whatever you are doing.
00:37:59.724 --> 00:38:06.714
As long as I have my food delivered, that's the priority that I have to do every week, you know?
00:38:06.714 --> 00:38:08.634
So it's not stressful.
00:38:08.634 --> 00:38:10.704
I get to do my Malabon Tours.
00:38:10.704 --> 00:38:12.505
I get to do Traveling Spoon.
00:38:13.344 --> 00:38:16.855
This is really what I was doing before the pandemic.
00:38:17.724 --> 00:38:23.364
I was at the highlight of my career before Pandemic happened.
00:38:23.815 --> 00:38:31.269
I was getting so much opportunities during that time, and then look at it now, 2021.
00:38:31.464 --> 00:38:33.804
2020 pandemic happened.
00:38:34.164 --> 00:38:41.304
2022. We opened up 2026, so it took almost four years.
00:38:41.730 --> 00:38:45.900
Finally recover and to find my grounding again.
00:38:45.900 --> 00:38:46.710
Like, this is
00:38:46.844 --> 00:38:47.324
you did.
00:38:47.880 --> 00:38:49.559
this is really what I wanted to do.
00:38:49.559 --> 00:38:52.839
And going to Washington was really our vacation.
00:38:52.839 --> 00:38:53.690
Like, you need a vacation
00:38:53.880 --> 00:38:54.929
Well tell us.
00:38:54.929 --> 00:38:59.639
Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna wrap up and we have to talk about this because you told me you were coming to Seattle.
00:38:59.639 --> 00:39:00.690
I'm like, oh my gosh.
00:39:00.750 --> 00:39:02.049
I get to meet Isi.
00:39:02.069 --> 00:39:03.420
I get to introduce her to Carrie.
00:39:03.420 --> 00:39:06.029
'cause you're always like, Carrie, how's Carrie doing?
00:39:06.659 --> 00:39:09.659
And Carrie is my wife for everyone that's listening or watching.
00:39:10.150 --> 00:39:13.659
But I've wanted to make that connection for so long.
00:39:13.659 --> 00:39:17.469
And I knew that Isi would be an amazing human being.
00:39:17.469 --> 00:39:21.969
And I got to meet her and her boyfriend, Eric, and some of Eric's family.
00:39:21.969 --> 00:39:23.159
And it was incredible.
00:39:23.219 --> 00:39:25.259
And so, can you tell us a little bit about that trip?
00:39:25.289 --> 00:39:27.000
Maybe in two, three minutes?
00:39:27.375 --> 00:39:39.824
I mean it was surreal for me going to Washington 'cause I've been in the States, but this was my first time going to Washington State and in the Pacific Northwest.
00:39:39.824 --> 00:39:47.884
Like I, I've been to Vancouver the year before I last year and I was just like, this is the life.
00:39:47.884 --> 00:39:49.264
This is what I wanted.
00:39:49.264 --> 00:39:52.565
This is real vacation that I wanted to see.
00:39:52.614 --> 00:40:01.125
And then now I, we went it was Eric's first time also and to see what his older brother's family is doing over there.
00:40:01.125 --> 00:40:04.335
So it was really like a first for us.
00:40:04.394 --> 00:40:08.924
And I remember that you are from Seattle.
00:40:09.150 --> 00:40:10.409
Yeah, I know.
00:40:10.409 --> 00:40:11.429
It's crazy.
00:40:12.045 --> 00:40:19.224
and then I literally looked at our past conversations and asked, I know Michael is from Seattle.
00:40:19.224 --> 00:40:21.144
I know somebody from Seattle.
00:40:21.909 --> 00:40:22.299
I know.
00:40:22.299 --> 00:40:23.589
It's just crazy, but I
00:40:23.860 --> 00:40:28.449
I messaged you guys and then I said, Hey, I'm coming over.
00:40:28.449 --> 00:40:30.880
It would be lovely to meet you guys.
00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:33.130
Finally in person.
00:40:33.130 --> 00:40:35.309
So that was really something.
00:40:35.309 --> 00:40:39.119
And I mean, that was, there were so many highlights of that
00:40:39.194 --> 00:40:39.795
I know.
00:40:39.795 --> 00:40:40.335
I know.
00:40:40.424 --> 00:40:41.304
But Musang.
00:40:41.339 --> 00:40:43.019
We needed that trip.
00:40:43.230 --> 00:40:46.289
We needed that vacation after, you know,
00:40:47.054 --> 00:40:47.295
All the
00:40:47.519 --> 00:40:50.569
so much work, even for Eric, at his workplace.
00:40:50.569 --> 00:40:54.019
So yeah, everything was just amazing.
00:40:54.019 --> 00:40:58.644
And I, I love that we met, I love that we ate at
00:40:59.654 --> 00:41:00.235
Musang.
00:41:00.339 --> 00:41:00.815
Yeah.
00:41:00.875 --> 00:41:01.684
Oh my gosh.
00:41:02.389 --> 00:41:07.250
And then all my cousins from Vancouver went down to meet us.
00:41:07.250 --> 00:41:14.119
Like, that was just a really good one month vacation over there in Pacific Northwest.
00:41:14.170 --> 00:41:25.014
I still love the picture of Melissa Miranda and, um, and you and me and like that whole experience was really special to share with Carrie and Eric.
00:41:25.014 --> 00:41:27.924
And it was just a lot of fun.
00:41:28.214 --> 00:41:28.974
Just a lot of fun
00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:32.069
I have a backlog of posts I haven't even
00:41:32.355 --> 00:41:36.704
I'm sure you were all over the place, all over the Pacific Northwest in a week.
00:41:36.900 --> 00:41:38.039
about that.
00:41:38.039 --> 00:41:39.900
I haven't posted about everything.
00:41:39.900 --> 00:41:47.400
But I was just so lucky to be able to do that and to be able to experience America again.
00:41:47.400 --> 00:41:56.610
I mean, I haven't gone to the States since 2017 and you know, because of the pandemic.
00:41:56.610 --> 00:41:59.279
And also we don't really go to the States because of work.
00:41:59.279 --> 00:42:00.929
I can't really go all the time.
00:42:00.929 --> 00:42:01.079
So that.
00:42:02.235 --> 00:42:10.404
It was something, it was really, really happy vacation for us and to really not think about anything really.
00:42:10.509 --> 00:42:22.480
I mean, I was supposed to be thinking about the adoption of my new dog, but yeah, before I left, my friend already told me, Isi, when you come back, you're going to get the dog.
00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:24.400
I'm gonna give you one dog.
00:42:24.400 --> 00:42:29.529
And then it did not sink into me when we were having a vacation.
00:42:29.994 --> 00:42:30.985
And your dog is?
00:42:31.194 --> 00:42:32.514
Your dog is Poppy.
00:42:32.514 --> 00:42:32.875
Right?
00:42:32.889 --> 00:42:33.909
Yeah, poppy.
00:42:33.964 --> 00:42:38.134
And then when we came back, she message Isi, are you back?
00:42:38.134 --> 00:42:39.244
I'm like, yes, I'm back.
00:42:39.244 --> 00:42:41.494
And then she's like, you can get the dog.
00:42:41.494 --> 00:42:41.855
And I'm like, what?
00:42:42.980 --> 00:42:43.429
Oh my
00:42:43.559 --> 00:42:48.309
So I was so, so happy adopting Poppy.
00:42:48.339 --> 00:42:56.259
And we have this new dog at home and I get to see him every day here here while I'm cooking.
00:42:56.259 --> 00:42:57.230
He's there.
00:42:57.954 --> 00:42:58.944
Wow.
00:42:59.514 --> 00:43:04.284
So as we carry out, is there any final, well, actually, let's pause for a sec.
00:43:04.284 --> 00:43:10.954
But I have a friend, really good friend from Clubhouse that really got me started in Clubhouse, and that's Chef Mimi Lan.
00:43:11.005 --> 00:43:12.744
And she asks, why?
00:43:13.284 --> 00:43:18.864
Why is the, or sorry, not why, but what is the Philippines national dish?
00:43:21.519 --> 00:43:23.170
That's a very hard question.
00:43:23.454 --> 00:43:24.474
That's what she said.
00:43:24.474 --> 00:43:25.315
She was researching.
00:43:25.315 --> 00:43:27.714
She's a researcher and she's like, I can't figure it out.
00:43:27.730 --> 00:43:35.529
no, there's no, there's not one dish that would equate to Philippine cuIsine.
00:43:35.529 --> 00:43:41.440
But I would tell you something that I learned from one of my good friends, Ige Ramos.
00:43:41.920 --> 00:43:45.069
He would always say, it's not adobo,
00:43:46.179 --> 00:43:46.400
Ah.
00:43:46.960 --> 00:43:47.719
our kakanin.
00:43:47.739 --> 00:43:52.299
The kakanin are the rice cakes of the Philippines, and.
00:43:52.500 --> 00:43:52.789
okay.
00:43:54.464 --> 00:43:57.835
kakanin is like everywhere.
00:43:59.574 --> 00:44:09.394
Every place in the Philippines would have their own, not just one version of kakanin, but a variety of kakanin.
00:44:09.414 --> 00:44:31.835
In my hometown, we have the sapin sapin, we have another type of kakanin, we have our cassava tarts, we have black kochinda, and these are all made with rice, sticky glutenous rice and made out of coconut milk or other root crops like cassava or taro.
00:44:32.214 --> 00:44:38.844
Of course, like these are all types of rice cakes everywhere.
00:44:38.844 --> 00:44:43.045
So I think we just forget about our.
00:44:43.815 --> 00:45:11.454
you know, old and indigenous cooking, and I think right now that's what really, what we're really protecting and what we're really highlighting, because these are the things that has been done for the longest time, ever since pre-colonial times we've been harvesting rice, we've been doing so much with rice, and I think it overcomes boundaries even in our religion.
00:45:11.904 --> 00:45:23.674
You know, of course there's Christianity and Muslim and over here in the country and even in Mindanao, in the Muslim areas, they make kakanin.
00:45:23.934 --> 00:45:31.585
So I think kakanin is the most universal thing that people don't talk much about.
00:45:31.585 --> 00:45:35.605
But every time I'm getting asked, what's the national dish of the Philippines?
00:45:35.634 --> 00:45:41.409
I think it's supposed to be this, not adobo, not sinigang, not our.
00:45:41.440 --> 00:45:42.139
Oh, not sinigang.
00:45:42.159 --> 00:45:42.250
Okay.
00:45:43.295 --> 00:45:48.654
Not, not our pancit, pancit is of influence from the Chinese culture.
00:45:48.654 --> 00:45:55.614
So if you're really going to think back about indigenous cooking, it would be our rice cakes.
00:45:55.614 --> 00:45:57.114
Since we love rice.
00:45:57.429 --> 00:45:57.849
great.
00:45:58.299 --> 00:46:01.239
And then another question from my friend Baxter.
00:46:01.650 --> 00:46:05.154
He, his nephew, says or asks.
00:46:07.764 --> 00:46:20.485
What's the difference in cooking styles or techniques between different areas of the Philippines, and also is there a difference in the way that people source spices in the Philippines to the us?
00:46:21.489 --> 00:46:35.804
Well, for regional, I mean, if you look at the regional cooking all over, it would probably only differ not just by the cooking method, but.
00:46:36.674 --> 00:46:40.125
It'll be very different on what ingredients they're using
00:46:40.815 --> 00:46:40.934
Okay.
00:46:41.534 --> 00:46:49.994
because when we say adobo, which is the name of the dish, you are already cooking something in vinegar.
00:46:50.204 --> 00:46:53.384
That's pretty much the meaning of adobo for us.
00:46:53.529 --> 00:46:53.819
Okay.
00:46:54.525 --> 00:46:58.244
That's why we named our dishes in how we cook it.
00:46:58.364 --> 00:46:59.605
Like sinigang.
00:46:59.625 --> 00:47:02.414
When you say sinigang, that's the sour soup.
00:47:02.864 --> 00:47:08.954
But then again, in other areas, their sour soup, the sinigang would be using tamarind.
00:47:09.585 --> 00:47:12.824
Others would be using unripe pineapples.
00:47:12.855 --> 00:47:17.514
'cause pineapple farms are very, popular over there in that area.
00:47:17.875 --> 00:47:26.045
Some would be using another type of sour agent for making a sinigang, but it's still sinigang.
00:47:26.574 --> 00:47:27.174
Okay.
00:47:27.295 --> 00:47:34.125
And then, you know, just, and then of course when you say ginataang, you, it's either a savory dish.
00:47:34.574 --> 00:47:36.704
Or a sweet dessert.
00:47:37.094 --> 00:47:40.784
When you say ginataang, it means it's cooked in coconut milk.
00:47:41.204 --> 00:47:44.324
But then again, everything would be different.
00:47:44.594 --> 00:47:51.384
You can have ginataang vegetables, can have, rice cooked in coconut milk.
00:47:52.194 --> 00:47:57.625
That would be a sweet dessert, versus having a savory coconut based dish.
00:47:57.864 --> 00:48:06.775
But then again, we're still using ginataang when you say that, when you see that on the menu, means that dish is cooked in coconut milk.
00:48:06.775 --> 00:48:14.454
So that's pretty much how we identify the dish and also how the dish was being made.
00:48:14.904 --> 00:48:19.884
But then again, there's no standards of like, when are you gonna put the vinegar?
00:48:19.884 --> 00:48:26.184
When are you gonna put the souring agent, you know, every household would have their own version of sinigang.
00:48:26.514 --> 00:48:32.275
Every household have their own version of adobo, so we really cannot just.
00:48:32.664 --> 00:48:34.674
Make it into one recipe.
00:48:35.125 --> 00:48:35.724
I'm sorry.
00:48:36.025 --> 00:48:52.404
That's just not how Filipino cuIsine is because every time you go to a different province, like for me for example, when we were kids, we know this is our lechon in Malabon, but when I went to Cebu it's different.
00:48:53.034 --> 00:48:59.125
They stuff their pigs with this fruit called batuan and lemon grass.
00:48:59.634 --> 00:49:01.824
In Luzon we don't do that.
00:49:02.154 --> 00:49:03.654
We don't stuff our pigs.
00:49:03.864 --> 00:49:05.485
In my hometown, we don't do that.
00:49:05.784 --> 00:49:11.319
And in Luzon this area up north, we have a liver sauce,
00:49:11.934 --> 00:49:12.355
Okay.
00:49:12.460 --> 00:49:15.009
a very peppery liver gravy.
00:49:15.775 --> 00:49:23.364
So that's what we use as a condiment for our lechon, in Cebu, they don't have that.
00:49:23.605 --> 00:49:46.134
When I went to Cebu for the first time when we were kids, we were searching for the liver sauce and they told us, and they told us, no, we only use vinegar over here as a condiment for lechon,'cause their Cebu lechon is so flavorful already because of the stuffing, you don't need the liver sauce anymore.
00:49:46.134 --> 00:50:02.074
So I was blown away when I was a kid, like, wow, that, that took me, you know, I guess from a different perspective, like, oh, it's lechon in every province.
00:50:02.144 --> 00:50:08.094
It's actually made differently also, or adobo is made differently over in this province.
00:50:08.094 --> 00:50:11.934
It's much more sweeter in this province or much more savory in this province.
00:50:11.934 --> 00:50:12.025
Some
00:50:12.335 --> 00:50:12.414
Hmm.
00:50:13.224 --> 00:50:22.005
adobo would have ginger in them, so it's that's not my, my, you know, the way we cook adobo in our household.
00:50:22.005 --> 00:50:27.404
So that really gave me that perspective that everything is different here.
00:50:27.944 --> 00:50:30.224
People just have to embrace that, that our
00:50:30.684 --> 00:50:32.164
Yeah, yeah yeah for sure,
00:50:32.414 --> 00:50:35.174
cuIsine is, you know, very regional.
00:50:35.414 --> 00:50:40.875
There's so many ingredients here in the Philippines that a lot of people, I don't think know.
00:50:40.875 --> 00:50:48.384
So That's That's why every time you go to a different province, oh, they have this, oh, that doesn't exist in our area.
00:50:48.594 --> 00:50:55.824
When you go down in Mindanao, there's so many ingredients there that don't even go up north here.
00:50:56.429 --> 00:50:56.719
Okay.
00:50:56.914 --> 00:51:07.074
Like that's only being grown over there, and that's what they use for making sinigang or, you know, other coconut based dishes and they love their spice there.
00:51:07.464 --> 00:51:12.565
But here, up north, we don't really like spicy so much.
00:51:12.565 --> 00:51:28.164
You know, we're not, we were so influenced by Spain and Chinese cuIsine, and that really was the mixture and the fusion of Filipino cuIsine right now that you're experiencing.
00:51:28.759 --> 00:51:28.980
Wow.
00:51:30.025 --> 00:51:30.384
So
00:51:30.920 --> 00:51:34.469
So, so as we wrap up first of all, thank you so much my friend
00:51:34.625 --> 00:51:34.894
thank
00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:36.170
For For doing this.
00:51:36.269 --> 00:51:37.429
I miss you.
00:51:37.489 --> 00:51:40.789
I really miss you the best to Eric.
00:51:40.940 --> 00:51:42.559
A big hug to your dog.
00:51:42.630 --> 00:51:44.339
You know, there's just so much.
00:51:44.639 --> 00:51:47.309
I want you to come back to Seattle and vIsit again.
00:51:47.829 --> 00:51:49.449
For sure, Eric.
00:51:49.599 --> 00:51:51.630
It would be really cool.
00:51:51.929 --> 00:51:52.509
Good.
00:51:53.049 --> 00:52:06.509
Well, you know, you are very special and of the 90 episodes that I've done, you're one of the most memorable, and I'm gonna put it out there to the universe because of your energy, your positivity, your willingness to help.
00:52:07.139 --> 00:52:17.940
Just, there's so many things, you know, Isi, that I can't even begin to say how much I appreciate you as a human being, as a friend, as a chef.
00:52:18.279 --> 00:52:20.949
But anyway, leave you with that.
00:52:21.400 --> 00:52:27.219
This was a, supposed to be a shorter chef check-in, but I'm like, I love this so much.
00:52:27.369 --> 00:52:28.659
And I'm so grateful.
00:52:29.049 --> 00:52:35.000
But the last thing, very last thing is how do people find you two places that they can find you online?
00:52:35.315 --> 00:52:58.654
Oh, you can just follow me on Instagram at Eat Matters pH, and then from there you can just look and then also you can just vIsit traveling spoon.com and click on Philippines and you would see us all the other hosts that do this cooking classes for Filipino food.
00:52:58.954 --> 00:52:59.944
So yeah,
00:53:00.319 --> 00:53:01.099
Amazing.
00:53:01.204 --> 00:53:07.235
just let me know when you guys are over here and when you can finally vIsit me with
00:53:07.400 --> 00:53:10.279
Oh that would be incredible.
