Last week I got to make bagels with my coworkers over Zoom. We were supposed to get together in person for our annual meetup, but we opted to do everything online instead because of the pandemic. That bagel-making class was honestly one of the highlights of my week! I feel like it’s such a treat to see people in their own kitchens.

I rarely bake, so bagels were a bit of a mystery to me. I heard that bagels are boiled and then baked, so I assumed that it would be difficult to make them at home. It turns out to be pretty straightforward, and you can check out the whole recipe here. The hardest part for me was probably kneading the dough for ten straight minutes.

I think learning how a particular dish comes together is what I find enjoyable in cooking. And that I get to eat it if it all goes well! Even though bagels can be found in just about any grocery store, I feel I have a better appreciation of it now that I know how to make it.

Last week, I also got to make Bibingka for the first time. It’s a rice cake that’s usually sold as street food during Christmas in the Philippines. Andrea thought that since we had just made salted duck eggs, we should use it to make Bibingka, too. You can find the recipe that we followed here.

Bibingka and salted duck eggs were things that my family never made back in the Philippines because there was really no need for it—you could easily get them from a street vendor or at the store. But now that I don’t have easy access to Filipino food, I feel like it’s become a bit of a necessity for me. I’m feeling proud of myself for learning the dishes that I ate growing up, and that I’m seeing them in a new light now that I’m making them as an adult.