Mommyo's Grand Tour of Chicago

I don't know how it always happens, but mommyo always ends up visiting us just when we've moved to a new place. When we moved the South Korea, she was there two months after we arrived. This time she came three weeks later with my older brother Chris. I left my car in Florida and my brother kindly drove it up to Chicago. My mom needed to go to the Philippine Consulate, so in the end it all worked out quite well. It was quite lovely having them so soon after we moved. There's nothing like having a bit of family in a new place.

The first morning she was here, Markus and I took her to the Philippine Consulate so that she could be sworn in as a citizen again. About the same time Markus and I moved to Korea, she retired in the Philippines. When we were at the consulate, everyone was speaking in Tagalog and I had no idea what they were saying. I kept asking Markus to translate and that surprised a lot of people. Tita' are always telling me that it's a shame I don't understand the mother tongue. Trust me, I regret it too. If I had my way, I would be fluent in French, Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese and Korean. Sadly, I don't have a knack for languages, which totally stinks. 

After she was finally sworn in, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the city. We visited a few sites and ate way too much food. The highlight of the day was when we went to Magnolia Bakery and had red velvet cupcakes. I live for those cupcakes. I still remember when we went to NYC in 2008 and ate them for the first time. Of course my mother defied convention and ordered a cheesecake. She always does what she wants, which makes sense because I do too. I'm glad that I was able to have this one day with her in Chicago. I missed the times when it was just me and her, so it was nice being able to explore a new place with her!

PAO Truck | Tampa, Florida

When Markus and I were in Korea, my cousin Jonjie started running the PAO truck, a Filipino fusion food truck in the Tampa Bay area. Every time I saw pictures of his food, my mouth would water. Jonjie has always been a great chef and has been in the business since he was 14. He's put his experience to good use and is always coming up with his own recipes and different ways to play on different flavors and staple dishes. It's been his lifelong dream to cook his own food and I'm overjoyed that he's been able to start his own business.

Even though he's been able to get things started on his dream, there is still a lot that he has to overcome. In order for him to compete with the other food trucks in the area, he needs a new generator and a body wrap for the truck. He recently started a Kickstarter in order to try and fund these needs. Please check out his Kickstarter and help fund the lifelong dream of someone who truly deserves it. If you're in the Tampa Bay area, get your butt out to the PAO truck. It's seriously delicious and worth it.

Back in August, we were way too busy with packing up our lives and moving to Chicago and weren't able to go to the PAO truck. When we visited again for the Christmas holidays, nothing was going to keep from getting my hands on some delicious Filipino food. We even invited our dear friend Ryan to join us. He also generously contributed all photos of the PAO truck for this blog post. Ryan is a huge fan of Asian food and he never had Filipino food before, so what better way than the PAO truck?

Tosilog, Sisig Nachos, Lumpia, Boom Boom PAO burger and Filipino Nachos

I may have gone a bit overboard for three people, but I couldn't help myself. I saw that menu and I wanted to try everything. We ordered the Tosilog, Sisig Nachos, Lumpia, Boom Boom PAO Burger and the Filipino Nachos. If you aren't familiar with Filipino cuisine, it's like a mix of Asian and Spanish food. We like to cook a lot of pork and we're pretty great at it.

I really liked everything I ate, but my favorites were the Tosilog and Boom Boom PAO burger. Tosilog is a traditional Filipino breakfast dish that is comprised of tocino, sweet cured pork, fried rice and egg. It's one of my favorite meals and this was amazing. The garlic fried rice is addicting. For the burgers, he uses a PAO bun instead of a traditional bun. It's very similar to the bread that is used for steamed buns and we know how much I love steamed buns. The Boom Boom PAO is unlike any burger I've ever had. It begins with a 6 oz hamburger patty, topped with cheese, tocino, a fried egg and lettuce and tomato and sandwiched between the PAO bun. You would think it would be too much, but it's not. Everything goes together perfectly and it's something that everyone should at least try once. 

I'm not lying when I say that it was all freaking amazing. Jonjie really has a gift and it would be sad to see it go to waste. He makes everything from scratch, no pre-packaged stuff. He really pours his heart and soul into his food. If you want to support someone's lifelong dream and help spread Filipino cuisine, please support the PAO Truck!