Eat.

My uncle: "During Christmas Filipinos like to eat a lot."
My brother-in-law: "It seems to me that Filipinos like to eat a lot all the time."

One of our main activities was indeed filling our bellies. We kept eating until we felt we had enough, but actually were in such a phase that more food was needed to fill those empty moments between main suppers.

There's nothing wrong with that, especially when you know you're going to back to a place, where there's no such thing as fresh, and exotic merely being pineapple bits in a can.

i call them hairy strawberries

free food

lucy the goat

sweets on sticks

or not, you should have seen the ones which looked like brownies

I was excited during those mornings when we had our breakfast at the hotel. Something more western, I thought, but I should have known that of course they would be serving food, which looked more like lunch. They do love their rice and fish heads. All day long.

The idea was to taste all of the dishes, so I would know what to choose the next morning. The only problem was that it kept changing each morning.

One day someone discovered that you could order pancakes. God bless this person.

Naturally, we craved for something a bit more familiar every now and then. Like:

delighted white devil

jollibee- the filipino version of mcdonalds', they weigh their chip portions

Some names managed to bring a smile on my face.

Some other specialties worth mentioning about:

adidas= chicken feet, e.t.'s hand

halo halo= mix mix, basically many things mixed

New Year's Eve tops everything, when it comes to eating. You eat a lot, but then at midnight you eat even more. Spaghetti (really, Italian? add sausages and sweeten the sauce to make it Filipino) for long life, rice cake for closer relationships and this:

Just kidding, it's this:

Now, about the best beverage in the world. Don't go looking it from there, because it will remind you of the healthiest one.

let your beer do the foaming

But perhaps you might find the best beverage from The Philippines. Apparently a very luxurious one.

Cat poop coffee. Yes, I know what you're thinking- it looks more like a rat.

We have some of it at home, perhaps as a non-coffee drinker I might make myself a cuppa one day.