#23: Cook a Filipino Meal Well: CHECK!

Let me just start by saying that I'm not completely new to cooking. Though serving up steak or a Thanksgiving turkey is out of the question for now (or probably for ever re: turkey), I've made my own alfredo sauce from scratch. I can make a mean veggie lasagna. And recently, I decided to make pies.

My  very first creation -- a lumpy apple pie. But a delicious lumpy apple pie.

My second pie was more aesthetically pleasing:  a sweet potato -- hand mashed, not the canned stuff -- pecan pie.

My cell phone camera doesn't do this justice.

Though for these pumpkin muffins I turned to the canned stuff.

But, aside from Italian food and seasonal baked goods, I haven't done anything ethnic. Sadly, the closest thing I've made that's Filipino is a cheesecake flan. (I'll take up a challenge if it means dessert.)

So that's why I needed to put #23 on this list. And finally...

It may look like it's swimming in oil, but there was 0 oil in this.

Filipino Cooking 101: Chicken Adobo -- recipe courtesy of the Food Network. (Their recipe was much simpler than Filipino cookbooks. Figures.) My very Filipino family loved it, so it passes the test. Next time I'll add those peppercorns because for an ethnic dish this wasn't at all spicy. But now, onto more complicated Filipino dishes!