Barkada’s ABQ – Albuquerque, New Mexico
As a self-confessed mama’s boy away from home for the first time, my transition to being on my own could have been much tougher. Thankfully I was “adopted” by Air Force veterans and the spouses they had married during tours of Vietnam, Korea and The Philippines. Those spouses were largely responsible for my introduction to Asian cuisine, none of which I had ever had as a sheltered bumpkin growing up in secluded Peñasco. I wanted to try it all. In some cases, I would try foods (such as rancid kimchi and stomach-turning balut) my friends (some of whom had seen combat) were afraid to try. My willingness to try virtually everything endeared me to my friends’ spouses though my friends complained I was making them look wimpy. Although all Asian food seemed exotic in comparison with the beans, tortillas, and chile diet of my youth, I did experience one cuisine which was more relatable because it had the qualities of home cooking, the type of which my mom’s prepared for her family. That cuisine was Filipino. Norma would greet me to the family home with a traditional Filipino greeting of “Kain tayo!”. That greeting doesn’t translate to “welcome to our…