In this issue

It’s great to be back in Manila after a month away. As much as I was looking forward to our yearly summer vacation, there is still no place I’d rather live. If only our country had the cooler climate of those countries north and south of the tropics, I’d never leave. But seeing old friends, seeing new sights and tasting new food are the bonuses to the cold weather that are as much a part of going abroad as any.

Food plays a huge part in any culture, more so for immigrants. One of the quickest and easiest ways to alleviate homesickness is to prepare and/or partake of one’s native food. You see it all the time at gatherings and special occasions when overseas. From my experience, people tend to create parties with no real occasion and nothing to celebrate except to share native dishes that each family brings. On my recent trip to England, I together with good friends Margon and Jen Carreon even woke up at 2am and drove for 2 hours just to be able to buy seafood at Billingsgate Market in London. Why? Well, we were planning a boodle fight and we just had to have fresh seafood. You see, unlike here in the Philippines where fresh seafood is available at every grocery and community wet market, in the UK, fresh seafood that is widely available is limited to salmon, cod, haddock, headless prawns plus some mussels and if you’re lucky scallops. That’s all you’ll ever find in their supermarkets. And not every town has a specialty fishmonger.

Actually, of the numerous towns I’ve visited, very few have dedicated fish vendors, and those that do have basically the same stuff you’d find in the supermarkets.

So there we were, without any sleep, blasting down the M4 motorway to London at 2am all for some crabs, clams, some fresh prawns and fresh fish. Was it all worth it? Of course it was! I’ll share more of my vacation experiences next month. For this issue though, I’ve recreated a couple of my favorite dishes from my London trip. Enjoy!

COOK MAGAZINE Magazine Description:

Being the oldest monthly culinary magazine in the Philippines, Cook Magazine continues to evolve and adapt to the interests and demands of our readers and supporters. We at Cook Magazine pride ourselves with providing our readers and advertisers practical, kitchen-tested recipes from our country’s top chefs and food experts, local and international dining destinations and food-related features and event partnerships. We look forward to leading the way in sharing our love of food for years to come.