Lessons with Lola

(YouTube video + recipe illustrations)

I spent a week with my Lola (grandmother) learning how to cook the Filipino foods I grew up eating—and some new favorites.

Lessons with Lola video

I spent a week in California with my grandma learning to cook Filipino family recipes. I loved getting to help her in the kitchen while learning how to make recipes that I've had throughout my life (plus some new ones!).

Here are the recipes (with timestamps) my Lola taught me during this week-long crash course:

00:00 Intro

00:15 Bistek (marinated steak with onions)

01:17 Lumpia Shanghai (fried pork eggrolls)

04:37 Sweet and Sour Sauce

05:12 Pork Barbecue Sticks

06:46 Pancit Sotanghon (glass noodles with chicken and veggies)

08:55 Leche Flan

11:05 Ube Jam (purple potato dessert)

13:16 Pastel (chicken pot pie)

Thank you so much to my Lola for teaching me these recipes and for letting me document the process. It means a lot to me that I will be able to re-create these dishes for the rest of my life.