"Any Filipino parent worth their fish sauce will point you to Phil-Am Mart in Woodside, where on the weekends lines of people stock up on pantry items that reflect the Philippines’ long history of colonization: canned Spam and Vienna sausages, Lady’s Choice mayonnaise and tuna spread, and instant noodles and soup mixes. The frozen section hides imported and hard-to-find kakanins - from suman sa ibus (suman steamed in palm leaves) to tupig (a grilled rice cake). Head to the back to find their array of homemade kakanins sitting aside their house-cured sausages and other meats - like kutsinta, pitsi-pitsi, and sapin-sapin, which all use different ingredients, but have the same smooth chewiness of mochi. Kutsinta uses rice flour and brown sugar while pitsi-pitsi has cassava as its main ingredient. My favorite is the sapin-sapin, which has an eye-catching tri-color of layered glutinous rice. I also make a point to add a few rolls of the tableas de cacao to my basket, for making thick Filipino hot chocolate at home - and you should too." - paolo espanola
