Missing Typical Filipino Food - Puto Maya with Sikwate, Ripe Mangoes, and Buko Juice

One of the many things that I miss in Cebu, Philippines is the food. Among the foods that I really miss eating are the following:

• Puto Maya or sticky rice

• Sikwate or hot tsokolate or hot chocolate from tableya

• Buko juice

• Ripe mangoes

Looking at this photo makes me drool!

Here in France, I don't have any access to glutinous rice to make sticky rice or puto maya. But I asked my sister to send me a tableya so that I can have a drink of sikwate or hot chocolate from Cebu.

Gosh, we don't have coconut trees here in the countryside. I miss drinking buko juice as well.

The ripe mangoes of the Philippines from Cebu and Guimaras are just very sweet. The tastiest mangoes in the world are found in the Philippines.

The best mangoes in the world are found in the Philippines, for real!

Craving all of these when I was pregnant

When I was pregnant with Alexandre. I went back to Cebu from Palawan and spent my days there preparing all my documents. I was craving puto and sikwate early in the morning so I had to wake up at 5 in the morning. I was so hungry at that time.

Good thing that the market is just very near. It is just a walking distance. So I go to the "putohan" for a "pamainit" every day.

Buko juice vendor is also a walking distance. I bring this water jug with me just to buy 40 Pesos worth of buko juice. His station is very accessible to elementary students and market-goers. Every day, there are lots of students buying his buko juice with condensed milk.

Buko juice for the pregnant woman back in 2019

What a beautiful sight to see early in the morning? Yes, I was very lucky that my cravings were just near me. But these are just my cravings in the early morning. My other cravings were not included in this blog.

Can I just do a quick teleport to Cebu just to eat this? Miam, miam, miam!

Maybe for 3 to 4 months, I was eating this early in the morning. My sister and my other relative were surprised that I woke up that early.

What can you do when you're pregnant? Well, it's very difficult to sleep at night with that hourly trip to the toilet room. So I took advantage to do my early walk going to the 'putohan' and satisfy my cravings.

After my quick pamainit, I could go back to sleep anyway. So, I was happy to have my cravings satisfied in the morning and got a morning sleep.

This putohan was just very near to our house in my hometown

This was my life in Cebu. It was very simple. During lunchtime, since I never cook a lot, I just go to the nearest 'carinderia' or a local restaurant.

They have Cebuano Humba. Omg, I miss this a lot. It was really nice to eat that pork and pork fat with soy sauce. And I could eat more than two cups of rice. I also buy a bottle of soft drink, Sprite. Yes, I craved Sprite every lunchtime. I know, I was not allowed to drink Sprite but I was so thirsty. Drinking Sprite can quench my thirst.

Damn, writing this makes me hungry. I really want to cook Filipino food here in France. So far, I have cooked Pork Adobo here, but not Cebuano Humba.

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