German Cuisine

Many people in other countries think German food is mostly about red meat, roasted or otherwise simply cooked. While it is true that Germany cuisine does include many beef, pork and game (wild board, rabbit and venison) dishes, as well as a vast variety of different sausages, there is also more to German food than red meat.

Some popular German dishes and recipes include:

* Schwenker - Pork steaks, grilled with onions and spices.

* Blood sausage (German: Blutwurst) - A sausage made from meat, blood and barley (similar to English "black pudding"). In the Rhineland it is traditionally made using horse meat. Pickled pig's tongue may also be added (this is known as "zungenwurst")

* Frankfurter sausage - A smoked pork sausage, similar but not identical to the American "frankfurter".

* Sauerkraut - Cabbage finely sliced and then fermented. It can be eaten hot or cold, and is also used as a relish and as an ingredient in other dishes.

* Spatzle - German noodles made from flour, eggs and salt. It is eaten as a side dish, and used as an ingredient in other dishes, such "Linsen, spätzle und saitenw¨rstle" (with lentils and frankfurter sausages), "Kässpätzle" (fried or baked with grated cheese and onions), or "Krautspätzle" (with sauerkraut, onions and butter).

* Gaisburger marsch - Beef and potato stew, containing spätzle, and topped with fried onions in butter.

* Hasenpfeffer - A rabbit stew flavored with vinegar or wine.

* Labskaus - Corned beef boiled in broth with potatoes, onions, beetroot and herring or ham, and then fried in lard. Labskaus is traditionally served with rollmaps (pickled herring fillets).

* Saumagen - Spiced beef or pork with carrots and onions, cooked in a pig's stomach (similar to Scottish haggis).

Korean Recipes and Cuisine

Korean food is based on noodles, rices, meat, vegetables and tofu (known in Korea as "dubu"). Meals are usually served with many side dishes ("banchan"), as well as steamed rice, soup and kimchi (fermented vegetables, most often cabbage but sometimes cucumber or radish). Spices and seasonings are widely used, including doenjang (fermented soybean paste), garlic, ginger, gochujang (red chili paste), salt and soy sauce.

Some popular Korean dishes include:

- Gamjatang - A spicy soup made using pork spine, potatoes and other vegetables, and green onions, hot peppers and sesame seeds.

- Kimchi jjigae - A soup made using kimchi, pork and tofu.

- Kongnamul-guk - A soup made from soybean sprouts.

- Jeongol - A stew made using seafood and vegetables.

- Maeuntang - Hot and spicy fish soup.

- Bulgogi - Literally translated from Korean, Bulgogi means "fire meat". The dish consists of beef, shredded or thinly sliced, then cooked on a grill. Other meats may be substitued to create variations: chicken ("dak bulgogi"), pork ("dweji bulgogi"), or squid ("ojingeo bulgogi").

- Galbi (or Kalbi) - Beef or pork ribs cooked on charcoal.

- Dakgalbi - Similar to galbi, but using seasoned chicken.

- Jokbal - Pig's trotters cooked in soy sauce and spices, deboned, and served with a shrimp sauce.

- Samgyeopsal - Pork belly (similar to bacon), flavored and seasoned with garlic, sesame oil and salt, cooked on a grill. Slices of meat are placed inside lettuce or another leafy vegetable, along with cooked rice and ssamjang (a spicy paste). Green chillies, slices of raw garlic dipped in ssamjang and spring onion salad, are common accompaniments.

- Makchang - Grilled pork intestines, somewhat similar to chitterlings.

- Hoe - Thinly sliced raw fish, similar to Japanese cuisine's sashimi. The fish is usually dipped in a sauce, either chogochujang which is a sauce made from gochujang (red chili paste), or wasabi sauce, then wrapped in green leaves, and served on a bed of dangmyeon (cellophane noodles).

- Yukhoe - Raw beef, topped with a raw egg yolk, and seasoned with black pepper, garlic, gochujang (red chili paste), green onion, nashi pear, sesame seed and sesame oil, soy sauce and sugar.

- Sannakji - A small octopus, cut in pieces, lightly seasoned and served. The octopus pieces are usually still moving on the plate when the dish is served!

- Japchae - Boiled potato noodles with spinach, beef, onion and carrots.

- Kalguksu - Boiled flat noodles, usually in a broth containing anchovies and zucchini (courgettes).

- Kongnamul-bap - Soybean sprouts served over rice.

- Ramyeon - The Korean version of Japanese ramen noodles. Spicy and cooked with meat and vegetables.

- Gujeolpan - Literally translated from Korean, Guljoelpan means "dish of nine dishes". This is a very elaborate meal, traditionally eaten by Korean nobility, which is served on a special plate divided into eight octagonal side sections, each containing meats and vegetables of a different type and color, and a ninth center section containing small pancakes.

- Tteok - A sweet dessert made from glutinous rice flour - there are hundreds of different variations.

A Filipina's Favorite Cuisine

She may have lived for a decade or more in your country, adopted your food and eating habits and fallen in love with steak, pizzas, burgers, fries and international cuisines but these changes in her tastes could not erase her innate love and craving for native food from the Philippines. She may be influenced by the foreign culture, but she is still a Filipina at heart.

Filipinos love to eat and majority of them, even the ladies partake of a heavy breakfast very early in the morning. A complete breakfast is typically composed of steamed rice (the country's staple food), fried fish with soy sauce, and an abundance of fruits.

Do not be surprised though if you see your Filipina girlfriend dipping pieces of pan de sal (salt bread) on her cup of coffee, drink the remaining coffee and eat a hearty breakfast a few minutes after. It is a common practice.

Philippine foods are delicious, creatively prepared and popular in other parts of the world. Among the all-time original favorite foods that Filipina ladies would not exchange for anything includes native chicken barbecue (popularly known as "inasal"), the adobo, which is stewed chicken, pork or beef fried to a golden brown, and relished with spices, the Kare-kareng Baka, (beef chunks and tripe stewed in a rich peanut butter sauce, native vegetables and served with bagoong ), Bulalo soup, (tender beef shank in tasty broth and served with native vegetables); tinola (fish soup with vegetables) and sinigang, a delicious hot soup made from pork, shrimp or fish; seafoods and an endless list of Filipino favorites that is distinctively Filipino in taste. Not to be forgotten is the piniritong isda (fried fish) served with soy sauce, vinegar dip and pepper.

A Filipina is used to seeing food in abundance as Filipinos love to splurge especially during gatherings, fiestas or festivals, birthdays, anniversaries and even for no-occasion celebrations.

One thing she could not resist, especially if she comes from the provinces, is the lure of street food that is a part of the Filipino cuisine. When you visit the Philippines, you can see stalls in town or city sidewalks displaying all kinds of food like fried bananas, grilled chicken parts like intestines, gizzard and feet served on sticks.

Filipina ladies also have a weakness for "sweet bits". Most popular especially during the hot summer months is the "halo-halo", a mixture of different fruits topped with milk and a scoop of ice cream and grated ice. She also loves fruit juices, shakes, and native delicacies cooked Filipino style like the turon, a sweet crispy fried snack consisting of saba bananas coated in brown sugar, wrapped in springroll wrapper; the local puto rice cakes, bico (sweetened glutenous rice), suman (steamed glutenous rice wrapped in banana leaves) and other mouth-watering native delicacies which has been a part of a Filipina's culinary upbringing.

Bet on it, when Filipina ladies get together, food is one of the inevitable topics.