FILIPINO FOOD MONTH – BAON KAINAN

The word “baon” can bring about countless memories for Filipinos from all backgrounds. For some, it could be the carefully prepared school lunches a family matriarch or caretaker would make. “Baon” could also be as ordinary as lunch money. During house parties and fiestas, one might pack up leftovers to take home as their “baon.” “Baon” is something you take along with you for your journey ahead, and Baon Kainan packages up creations that bring back delicious memories.

Speaking of packing up and journeys, Geri and Ethan of @baonkainan embarked in exactly that, from Seattle to Portland, after meeting and receiving encouragement from Richard and Sophia Le of @mattapdx. With Ethan’s impressive culinary background (he was named Seattle’s Next Hot Chef in 2019) and Geri’s established creative marketing foundation (clients have ranged from small businesses to Microsoft), the duo was more than ready to take the leap of faith by opening a food cart together in a new city. And did they make a splash!! Splash = @theoregonian Food Cart of the Year ‘21, @eaterpdx Best New Food Cart ‘21, @eater Local Pick for National Best Restaurants ‘21, and @pomomagazine Food Cart of the Year ‘21 🏆

All their hard work has not only won them acclaim, but also continues to solidify Filipino cuisine’s place in our culinary landscape. With their own unique experiences with and connections to Filipino food, they’re bringing us food that are both new and nostalgic. As Geri has said, “[their] food isn’t your tita’s cooking, but it will remind you.”

Visit @baonkainan to get your @FilipinoFoodMonth fix here in Portland. You can find them at the @concoursecoffee cart pod. Follow them on IG for their most current hours. Also, stay tuned for something special coming from BAON & TIKIM on Friday so you can have a little “Baon”with you at home.

#tikim #tikimpdx #filipinofood #filipinofoodmovement #filipinofoodmonth #filipinostories #baon #baonkainan #filipinofoodcart #kainnatayo #kainna #theeatguide #eaterpdx

FILIPINO FOOD MONTH - FAMILY GET TOGETHERS

Growing up Filipino, chances are you are raised Catholic (whether we all still practice or not is a varied spectrum). The colonization by the Spanish for a few hundred years brought this over making it the dominant religion in the country.

Many get togethers are centered around Catholic holidays where there are also traditional fiestas back home. Beyond Christmas, the Lenten season is another such holiday. From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, there are traditions that are observed and a lot of it also brings family together with food at the center.

This isn’t a post about religion but being Filipino is complex. So many of our customs revolve around religion and we all have to define what these celebration milestones mean for us now.

These days, we are all far away from our families so we celebrate with our chosen families instead. Coming together through food is really our religion.

#tikim #tikimpdx #filipinofoodstories #filipinofoodmovement #filipinofoodmonth #fiesta #gettogether #happyeaster

MAGNA KUSINA

Nothing could have prepared me for how lonely and homesick I felt after I first moved to Vancouver from the Bay Area. My personality is such that I don’t typically make friends easily so I tried finding solace by seeking out the best Filipino food I could find. While there were moments of delight, I was mostly disappointed in the sad, bland options that I was finding. I had mostly given up that anything inspiring would come along until I read a little blurb about this new restaurant called Magna that would be opening up in August of 2019.

I just had to go.

I brought my then 5-year-old as my date on the second day of opening week. We went back for my birthday, we went back for my child’s birthday, we would go as often as we could.

Fast forward through a couple years of pandemic and hardship, it now feels like a second home for me and a place of belonging for many.

On the surface, @magnapdx is a restaurant that serves some of the most inspiring Filipino food in the area, but to many people in the community, it is so much more. This tiny but mighty spot on Clinton St. has provided a safe haven and has served as an inclusive incubator for pop ups and collaborations such as @chelopdx @alliegspastries @sunricepdx @wepapdx @jem.supper.club @stabs_smokedmeats_asianeats. It has hosted @tikimpdx meetings and has become a spot to hang out and celebrate after hours because we’re alive and we’re together after a couple of extremely difficult years. I could go on about the food, but honestly the pictures can speak for themselves, the accolades can speak for themselves.

At it’s heart, Magna is about family. The food brought me here, but the people made me want to stay.

Thank you @twistedfilipino @bobbiedovar @jeepney_collective @whereiskev @icharlie888 @lestoiinks @j0yce_totheworld @_freefreako @timtakesphotos @buhnbee @stabs_smokedmeats_asianeats

🖤 Jane

FILIPINO FOOD MONTH

April is Filipino Food Month. It’s an initiative in the Philippines driven by the Philippine Heritage Movement to promote and preserve Filipino food and culinary traditions. They have worked hard for the Philippine government to officially recognize Filipino culinary traditions as part of our heritage, making it something that needs to be promoted and preserved and also reinforcing how it supports farmers, cottage industries and communities.

We know this may all seem logical but officiating it and making it a presidential decree (PD 469) gets all the Philippine government agencies behind this initiative.

Although this is an initiative that is going on in the Philippines, the promotion and recognition of Filipino cuisine needs to happen everywhere in the world Filipinos exist. It’s a good reason to dive into our food culture and share it with our family, friends and community or even just to learn more for ourselves.

Follow @filipinofoodmonth to learn more about specific programming that you can participate in and join us this month in cooking our childhood favorites.

We are kicking this off with an Adobo post. This is probably one of the most popular Filipino dishes. It is also one that varies regionally and also by family. The basic premise is cooking protein in vinegar. This helped preserve the meat before refrigeration. The most common version also adds soy sauce and garlic and proportions can vary significantly. Some variations add coconut milk and also proteins can differ from chicken to pork to seafood to vegetables.

TO ALL THE ATES

“With three female founders, TIKIM celebrates the centric role matriarchs play in Filipino food memories. Our palates may have been influenced by our ‘Lolas, Titas and Nanays’, but our Filipino American experiences inform where we want to take our food. Ultimately TIKIM is the place to taste ‘Ate’s’ cooking with your ‘barkada’.”

Ate (Ah-te) means older sister in Tagalog. We all play this role in someone’s life whether it be our blood related family or our chosen family.

We wanted to share our gratitude and thanks to all the Ates that have championed us, helped us and nurtured us along the way. You have a special place in our hearts.

Maraming Salamat & Happy International Women’s Day.

♥️ Jane, Nori & Tricia

NOCHE BUENA SERIES No. 3

I’ll be quite honest. I have been dreading to write and release my portion of the Noche Buena series. Not because I dislike writing or talking about food/tradition, but because of the grief I live with from the death of my parents. Noche Buena and Christmas were special to my family solely because of my mother, and a close second favorite of hers was New Year, with my father’s birthday in between on the 27th. My nuclear family did the whole midnight mass thing when I was a kid, but as the years passed, less and less of us went.

That’s the thing, though. Traditions evolve and traditions end or are placed on pause for a while. I learned this early on since my family hadn’t had a holiday all together, in one place, since I was a child. My parents very quietly executed anything we did as a family, so we hardly documented anything let alone take pictures or write down recipes. All of this has made me very self-conscious throughout the years because of the cultural and societal expectation to have holiday memories.

All this reflection has made me both regretful, that my family wasn’t sentimental enough to document our traditions nor hold on to them while my parents were alive, and appreciative of the creation of new traditions. My partner, now fiancé, and I have enjoyed Dim Sum on Christmas every year, for example. Before the pandemic, we were making a trip to Vancouver BC a winter holiday tradition. And now, new and old friends are sharing and creating new memories for me to reflect as I continue to take steps forward into the holidays of the future.

Everyone has their own experiences with the holidays, and cultural tradition doesn’t mean homogeneity. Togetherness during the holidays can mean with family, chosen family, and/or with oneself.

With Love and Hope,

Nori

NOCHE BUENA SERIES No. 2

Noche Buena is one of my favorite holidays because I have such fond memories of it growing up. When I was younger, it’s relevance was tied to the excitement around opening gifts and all the Catholic “duties” leading up to that probably fueled the anticipation. I remember the preparation that our household would be in — making food, ensuring we’ve covered all the gifts for family members, decorating the house — it seemed exhausting. It wasn’t always so fun because my mom would typically be stressed out, worrying, cooking up a storm to make sure it was perfect. I am sure many of you can relate.

For Noche Buena, we’d have extended family members come over for dinner with the centerpiece often being surf and turf — Roasted Prime Rib and Roasted Garlic Crab with Garlic Noodles (adapted from one of our favorite San Francisco restaurants since the 80’s, Thanh Long). After dinner, we would all head out to Midnight Mass (a very long and tedious affair) and then come back to the house, open gifts and eat some of my favorite snacks like Jamon, Queso de Bola, Baked Macaroni, Russian Salad, Pandesal, Embutido and my favorite — Tsokolate.

A favorite memory from my teenage years was when my sister and I would pretend to go to mass (I drove separately in my car), then come back and have the house to ourselves. We would use this quiet time to wrap gifts we had for our family because we procrastinated and also get a head start on snacking. At the time, we thought we were being sneaky but I am sure our parents knew what we were up to.

As I got older and moved away, living in different cities for work, there were times we could not make it home to the Bay Area. My partner, Brandon, and I had to make our own traditions. There were times when we traveled, or had friends over and we celebrated by going out to dinner and out to our favorite bar. However, during the last few years, we have both pulled heavily from our childhood food memories. I would make some dishes from my Filipino childhood and Brandon would make tamales he learned how to make from his Mexican grandmother. We’d have our favorites which helped when we were away from home last year.

Over the next week, I am going to share some of my family recipes that I’ve had to learn how to make. Hope you find some inspiration for your own Noche Buena.

❤️Tricia

NOCHE BUENA SERIES No. 1

Growing up in the States, Noche Buena meant staying up till midnight with the family before gathering to open up the mountain of presents and then feasting afterwards. Right before I graduated from high school, I was fortunate enough to be able to celebrate the holiday season in the Philippines. There, Noche Buena meant attending Simbang Gabi (Night Mass), a 9-day series of masses leading up to Christmas. I remember attending the Christmas Eve service before heading over to a relative’s home and being welcomed with enough food to feed a battalion.

For Noche Buena, some traditional dishes include lechon, ham, keso de bola, some kind of pancit, crema de fruta, fruit salad, and various kinds of kakanin, predominately bibingka and puto bumbong. Every family has their own take on what they like to include. The majority of our family gatherings in the States included a pretty varied menu—the dishes differed depending on what people wanted to make at the time and how much time they had to prepare. If someone was short on time, they could always bring something from Goldilocks or Red Ribbon, Filipino chain restaurants that were easily accessible in the Bay Area. Desserts were always the first to be outsourced since they could be the most time-consuming to make so there was often an ube roll cake or sansrival from Goldilocks tempting me from the table.

The one aspect of the meal we did not take shortcuts on was the display of various meats. The responsibility of this would usually fall on the person hosting to ensure that the meat would be freshly made and eaten straight from the grill or oven. Sometimes, there would be roast chicken or maybe a ham, but there was usually always inihaw na liempo and galbi, a latter addition. I have no idea how or why galbi was added on, but it’s delicious and easy to prep so I can understand why it has become a mainstay.

Over the next week, I’ll elaborate more on some of my food memories and my spin on these dishes. Can’t wait to share with you, and I hope that you in turn will also share some of your memories with us!

🖤Jane

A LOOK BACK TO LOOK FORWARD

As we take a look at this year, we have so many reasons to be grateful. Despite all the obstacles and losses, we have made and continue to make some of the deepest connections with the folks of this very resilient community. And amazingly, the community has shown up and continues to show up!

As we learn to balance our own personal and professional lives to be in harmony with our personal efforts to support our community and move Tikim forward, it was important for us to take a step back and see what we’ve accomplished so far. It was also important to extend grace to ourselves and ensure we don’t push aggressive timelines. We are working on a Filipino service industry community-focused event to wrap up the year, and our next tasting menu event will be planned for Q1 2022. So please stay tuned for details, and thank you for understanding that we’re focusing on quality of events, not quantity.

In the spirit of gratitude and looking back at the journey so far, here’s a gorgeous video that @hunnyham and @dana_delaski of @filmsnacks shot to document our first supper club pop-up at @mestizo.pdx

That event will forever be in our books as one of the most impressive examples of what this community can do. We are eternally grateful for everyone who helped us make it all happen, who snagged a ticket impossibly quick (selling us out in just over 2 minutes), and who continue to support us as we continue to build on Tikim.

🙏🏽Maraming Salamat

#tikimpdx #pomomagazine #eaterpdx #travelportland #traveloregon #filipinoculture #fililpinofood #filipinx #kaintayo #filipinofoodmovement #maramingsalamat #supperclub #popup #filipinocommunity

A LITTLE PIECE OF TIKIM

So when we set out to do this project, little did we know that we would get to work with some amazing partners and designers.

As part of our first supper club, @natedy designed and @e_gotosan produced some amazing product in partnership with @jordan.champ.mendez.

Scroll through the photos to check them out and get yours before they are gone. It’s a limited run.

KARE KARE TEE

This tee was inspired by one of the dishes we featured in our Supper Club. We love this tee as much as we love the dish. In fact, if you look closely, the front tee image is our Kare Kare. The back is an awesome breakdown of the iconic ingredients of the dish. The tee blank is Gildan (think your typical concert tee) and is 100% cotton.

Size: Unisex SM, MED, LG, XL

Price: $30

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SALAMAT TOTE

This tote is a riff on the iconic THANK YOU bag. It is printed on a canvas tote and great for everyday use.

Size: 14.75 in x 15.5 in (One Size)

Price: $20

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Purchase details:

_PORTLAND ONLY PICK UP, No shipping.

Sunday & Monday 10-3 @magnapdx (During @alliegspastries pop up)

_DM us to purchase. We will verify that we have your size before sending you a Venmo link.

Give a little gift of TIKIM. It’s the perfect gift for the holidays. ♥️

#tikimpdx #filipinofood #filipinocuisine #filipinoculture #filipinostories #portland #manila #supperclub #popup #maramingsalamat #pdxfood #eater #eaterpdx

MARAMING SALAMAT!

“A crazy idea from three women who have zero formal culinary training became a beautiful success thanks to the community coming together.” That could be our long headline after the TIKIM Supper Club pop-up at @mestizo.pdx

The pandemic amplified the longing we didn’t know we had for the food and the community we knew before moving to Portland. This longing brought us together, and our collective community got behind us to make our crazy idea a reality.

Sunday was a greater success than we could have ever imagined. Our first event as TIKIM was impossibly beautiful. When there was a need to be fulfilled as we planned, people stepped up without hesitation and even without being asked, helping us during their days off and “free” time. This. This is community. This is belonging. We’re still reeling in the best way possible from all the love.

Tickets sold in less than 5 minutes for this event. We’re continually encouraged by the demand and engagement. Sunday night’s dining room was filled with warm smiling diverse guests. 9 out of 20 were Filipino, 16 out of 20 were BIPOC, over half were service industry/independent business owners, and 11 were female. THIS was Portland showing up.

The sincerest gratitude to everyone who has and continues to help us push our vision forward. We couldn’t and can’t do this without all of you. We are so excited about what’s next (already in the planning phase), and we hope you will join us.

Stay with us. Keep talking about Filipino cuisine and culture. Share your stories. Inspire us and one another. Your Ates welcome you.

Maraming Salamat!

Special shout outs to the folks that made this happen with us:

@mestizo.pdx @devilsfoodcatering @erigbystudios @heydaypdx @sibeihosibeiho @onlyhollyo @jackknak @eerieluna @brandon13 @thesandwedgechef @kat.bites @filmsnacks

Design: @abaik @natedy @e_gotosan @brianbantog

Food 📸 from our amazing guests: @baonkainan @brrraaady @tjcooksinthe503

#tikimpdx #filipinofood #filipinocuisine #filipinoculture #filipinostories #portland #manila #supperclub #popup #maramingsalamat #pdxfood #eater #eaterpdx

MATAMIS

It’s safe to say that at TIKIM we love the savory spectrum of food so when it comes to sweets, ‘matamis’ in Tagalog, we lean toward desserts that balance both sweet and savory. For the supper club on Sunday, we made sure the desserts on our menu do just that. We will be featuring Avocado Sorbetes, Cassava Cake and Ginataang Bilo Bilo.

AVOCADO SORBETES is definitely a childhood favorite. Growing up in the Philippines, avocados are generally used in sweet applications so after moving to the US, we had to adjust to avocados being on the savory side. We have memories mashing avocados, adding some sugar and milk and putting it in the freezer to enjoy cold. There was also avocado ice candy and of course, sorbetes which is Filipino ice cream (sometimes also known as dirty ice cream). Ice cream was introduced by the US right after ice and refrigeration. Our version of Avocado Sorbetes is served with Lengua de Gato, a buttery cookie.

CASSAVA CAKE falls in the category of Filipino desserts called kakanin. They are generally made from rice or other starchy ingredients like cassava or taro and usually include coconut milk. This dessert category spans many textures from puto which is more cake-like to more dense varieties like bibingka. Our Cassava Cake falls in the latter category and is topped with a sweet coconut cream and Beemster Gouda.

GINATAANG BILO BILO is a sweet coconut soup with glutinous rice dumplings or ‘bilo bilo’. There are versions of this in other Southeast Asian countries and is similar to the Chinese Tangyuan with the addition of coconut milk. Our version includes sweet yam, saba banana, jackfruit, tapioca pearls and ube bilo bilo which gives it a lavender hue.

To round out the dessert course, we will be serving Salabat, a soothing ginger tea.

If you are one of the few that snagged tickets to TIKIM’s upcoming dinner on Sunday @mestizopdx, you will get to taste these dishes. We are so excited to be able to share some of our Filipino favorites with you.

#tikimpdx #filipinofood #filipinocuisine #filipinoculture #filipinostories #portland #manila #matamis #dessert #avocadosorbetes #cassavacake #ginataangbilobilo #pdxfood #eater #eaterpdx

HAPUNAN

If you’ve been following our last few posts, you know where this is going. Our menu’s concept is A Day in Our Life and we are now heading into dinner, ‘hapunan’ in Tagalog. In a day where we’ve had a substantial merienda, this tends to be a little later than what we are used to in the States.

Determining what dish to feature was a subject of debate. Should we do an adobo course – pork, chicken or squid? Hubad? With coconut milk? – we can go deep. So much so that it seems like that is a supper club topic all by itself. Adobo has typically been most people’s introduction to Filipino food so instead, we wanted to highlight another one of our favorites. It is certainly popular but not often the star in the Filipino American repertoire and that is Kare Kare. This dish is probably not as celebrated in the US because it is eaten with Bagoong, an umami heavy and very pungent shrimp paste. In our humble opinion, you can’t eat Kare Kare without it. It’s so good together because it cuts through the richness of the dish.

KARE KARE is typically an oxtail and tripe stew, thickened with toasted rice and peanuts crushed in a mortar and pestle. It’s got a bit of an orange color due the the addition of atsuete or annatto seeds. Our version uses a collagen heavy oxtail broth, supercharged by beef shank with marrow. We also use both cashews and peanuts. We love this dish with tons of veggies too. Our favorites are long beans, eggplant 🍆 and bok choy 🥬. We are serving this with Bagoong and steamed rice 🍚.

If you are one of the few that snagged tickets to TIKIM’s upcoming dinner on Sunday @mestizo.pdx, you will get to taste this dish. Stay tuned as we highlight some of the other dishes we are making.

#tikimpdx #filipinofood #filipinocuisine #filipinoculture #filipinostories #portland #manila #hapunan #karekare #bagoong #pdxfood #eater #eaterpdx #pomomagazine #portlandmonthly

MERIENDA

Merienda, generally translates to a light snack in Spanish speaking countries, is a concept that was adopted by Filipino people from the colonization of the Philippines by Spain. It’s typically a meal enjoyed between the hours of 3-5PM since many Filipinos don’t eat dinner until 8PM or later. So, if ‘tanghalian’ is the meal that holds the day together, ‘merienda’ keeps it going. And merienda is the wild card! Merienda can feature sweet or savory fare, and they can range from small bites to something as filling as a main meal.

A popular stop for merienda is the famed Filipino fast food chain, @jollibee, where one could order an individual portion of the party favorites: Filipino Spaghetti and Pancit Palabok.

PANCIT PALABOK is a dish comprised of rice or cornstarch noodles topped with a rich shrimp stock based sauce that is reminiscent of a ragu. Classic garnishes include boiled eggs, chicharron, tinapa (dried fish) flakes, scallions, and fried garlic. We take it up a notch by subbing the fried tofu with fried calamares.

FILIPINO SPAGHETTI is a sweet style spaghetti that is a product of western colonization and the introduction to processed & canned foods in the Philippines. It’s prepared like a bolognese sauce, but with additions like banana ketchup and/or a little sugar to give the sauce a savory sweetness. Hot dogs are mixed into the sauce, and the dish is topped with shredded cheese (processed or cheddar to get the full effect).

Those who will be joining us for our first Tikim Supper Club pop up at @mestizo.pdx this Sunday will get a taste of our takes on these cult classics. We’ll continue to give you all sneak peeks of the “A Day in Our Life” menu in store for Sunday, and we hope you stay tuned!

#tikimpdx #filipinofood #filipinocuisine #filipinoculture #manila #manilafood #jollibee #kaintayo #palabok #pancit #filipinospaghetti #pomomagazine #portlandmonthly #eaterpdx #pdxfood #supperclub

TANGHALIAN

To Filipinos, no meal is necessarily more important than the other but lunch, ‘tanghalian’ in Tagalog, is the meal that holds the day together. A typical lunch could consist of a main (or two), soup, and of course, rice. In Manila, one could be looking forward to finally having their baon (packed lunch, or in some cases, lunch money) at school or work, finding the best lunch promos at restaurants found in malls and strip malls, strolling to a neighborhood carenderia, or gathering in their home’s dining room, usually right at noon on the dot.

We’re excited to share two of our shared childhood favorites, Sinigang and Inihaw na Liempo.

SINIGANG is a soup or stew that has a boldly savory and sour flavor. Most commonly, the broth is soured using tamarind, but other preparations include using green guava, unripe mango, vinegar, and/or citrus as souring agents. The version we will be preparing is with hipon (shrimp), and one could use any protein or extra veggies.

INIHAW NA LIEMPO is a form of grilled pork barbecue, typically using pork belly. The meat is prepared with a liquid marinade, but every household and vendor have their own methods. The aggressive char from coals give the dish its signature flavor. It’s dipped in a bit of Sinamak or spiced vinegar – it’s a hit of acidity to cut through the richness of the pork belly.

ENSALADANG KAMATIS is an ubiquitous accompaniment for anything grilled. It’s a simple preparation of fresh tomatoes and onions, sometimes on their own and sometimes dressed simply with vinegar and salt or fish sauce.

If you are one of a few that snagged tickets to TIKIM’s upcoming dinner, you will get to experience dishes that make up A Day In Our Life and will get to taste these dishes. Stay tuned as we highlight some of the other dishes we are making.

#tikimpdx #filipinofood #filipinocuisine #filipinoculture #manila #manilafood #tanghalian #kaintayo #eatallyoukanin #pomomagazine #portlandmonthly #eaterpdx #pdxfood #supperclub

TIKIM SUPPER CLUB

When you say, "I'm feeling like Asian food tonight," we'd be willing to bet you typically flip through several Asian regional cuisines before you (if you even do) get to Filipino food. Now, if you live in the Greater Portland area, unless you have Filipino family here, this hasn't been a viable option until very recently. But what's taken so long? It's been considered the "up and coming" cuisine for years in the US, but when will it finally arrive?

Well, this is where we pull up a chair, and make space at the table. This is where we invite you to the very first TIKIM Supper Club pop-up at @mestizo.pdx

TIKIM is a concept inspired by three friends and their vision to further the Filipino American narrative by sharing the stories of their collective cultural experiences and to foster personal connections through Filipino food. TIKIM means “to taste” in Tagalog. It is an invitation to taste Filipino food and culture and to have a conversation about the PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

With three female founders, TIKIM also celebrates the centric role matriarchs play in Filipino food memories. Jane (@janiep00), Nori (@nomnom_nori) and Tricia’s (@triciasanmateo) palates may have been influenced by their ‘Lola and Nanay’, but their Filipino American experiences inform where they want to take their food. Ultimately TIKIM is the place to taste ‘Ate’s’ cooking with your ‘barkada’.

The first TIKIM Supper Club Pop-up is on Sunday, October 17 at 5:30PM PST, and the cost is $75 per person for a 5 course tasting menu with a welcome drink. We will be opening ticket sales tomorrow, Thursday October 7 at 5PM PST. We will only be seating 20 guests, so act fast. We will post how to snag your ticket(s) in our stories, so set a reminder now!

*NOTE: We will not be able to accommodate dietary restrictions and substitutions at this time. Dishes may have: shellfish, meat, nuts, dairy, and wheat

#tikimpdx