Abi Balingit Transcript
Kerry Diamond:
Hi everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host, Kerry Diamond, coming to you from Rockefeller Center in the heart of New York City. I'm the founder and editor of Cherry Bombe Magazine and each week I talk to the most interesting culinary folks around. Joining me in the studio today is Abi Balingit of The Dusky Kitchen blog and Instagram account. Abi's debut cookbook will be out tomorrow and it's titled Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed. This delightful book is filled with Abi's unique twists on Filipino classics, and I especially love Abi's essays about her upbringing and culinary awakenings that are sprinkled throughout. I hope you all pick up a copy of Mayumu and support Abi, because as you're about to learn, she is a unique talent.
The Cherry Bombe Jubilee Conference is taking place Saturday, April 15th at Center415 in Manhattan. Jubilee is the largest gathering of women in and around the world of food and drink, and this will be our 10th in-person Jubilee. It's also Cherry Bombe's 10th birthday. Can you believe? Jubilee Day is filled with great talks, networking, beautiful things to eat and drink, and lots of opportunities for connection, conversation, and community. Jubilee tickets are on sale right now, so visit cherrybombe.com for more, or click on the link in our show notes. We would love to see you there.
Also, thank you to everyone who joined us for our graduate hotel event in Tucson. I had the best time exploring the city. Next up is our stop at the Graduate Hotel in Palo Alto. That event is sold out. If you're coming, please say hi. Now let's check in with today's guest. Abi Balingit, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Abi Balingit:
Thank you, Kerry. It is a pleasure to be here.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh. Well, it's such a pleasure for me and such an honor because tomorrow's your pub day.
Abi Balingit:
It's wild. I cannot believe it. It's surreal.
Kerry Diamond:
I can imagine. It must feel very surreal. Because the book came together pretty quickly in terms of cookbooks, which our listeners might know sometimes take years to come together.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, yeah. Most of the writing and recipe development and also the cookbook shoot happened from January to May, 2022. Obviously, edits and stuff that takes months after the fact.
Kerry Diamond:
We will talk all about this book in just a little bit, but I want the readers to get to know you a little bit better. I was shocked, but not shocked to learn you still have your day job.
Abi Balingit:
Yes, I still work. I work remotely. It's like a nine to five, but I am making it work.
Kerry Diamond:
How is your employer with your side hustle?
Abi Balingit:
They are so supportive which is really rare I feel like to find. I was very nervous on my performance review and I was like, "Are they going to ding me for also writing a cookbook at the same time?" But no, I mean, I'm really grateful to be remote because I know everyone has kind of gone into hybrid or in-person fully, so it is a luxury to be able to write and recipe develop from home, but also do my job on the laptop and all that.
Kerry Diamond:
Did you bring baked goods to your performance review?
Abi Balingit:
That was all on Zoom, so I cannot unfortunately, but I used to bring cookies to the office so I didn't get a pass from that.
Kerry Diamond:
That does make you popular, but you're right. How do you do that now in a remote work situation? You grew up in the Bay Area.
Abi Balingit:
I did. So I was born in San Jose and I lived there for six years, and then we moved to Stockton, which is in the Central Valley. But I really claim both because my family, my extended family at least, is really still in San Jose on my mom's side for sure.
Kerry Diamond:
It sounds from the book you have a big, beautiful extended family.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah. So whenever I think of family, I never just think of my sisters, my mom, and my dad. I think of my cousins, my aunts, my uncles, and they're just everywhere, not just in California, but back in the Philippines, across the whole country basically, and outside. So it's a lot of people to love.
Kerry Diamond:
So one of my favorite things about Mayumu is you have so many great essays in this and they really let you combine a lot of memoir with the recipes. You talk about your experience in high school and how you did not have the awful experience that a lot of young students of color, children of immigrants have. Do you want to talk about that a little bit more?
Abi Balingit:
Yeah. So where I grew up, I'm really lucky that everyone around me was pretty diverse and a lot of Filipinos, friends, my family friends or all my parents' friends and all that. So it's interesting that so much of the narratives, which I think are totally valid of people growing up and scared to bring a stinky lunchbox to school was not really the case for me. I think tides are changing for sure. I can't speak on anyone younger than me yet because my nieces and nephews are still babies, but I really hope it's better for most people that are more excited about food than ever before and not really afraid of new and different things I think. So I guess I was always around Filipino foods. I never thought it was weird or othered. I just thought it was the best kind of food out there.
Kerry Diamond:
I was wondering when I read that, did the fact that you were able to have a strong sense of self even in high school contribute to who you are today?
Abi Balingit:
Yeah. I mean in terms of food especially, I think my parents taught me not to be picky. If I was scared of something, they're like, "You try it first once and then you can say if you don't like it after the fact." It's funny because growing up there's a really famous Filipino dish that's called dinuguan and it's a pork blood stew. Then my parents were like, "This is chocolate meat." We would just call it chocolate meat. Even with those euphemisms aside, I still think we knew what it was and I think it still tasted so good. So I really think that kind of attitude has carried with me to adulthood for sure.
Kerry Diamond:
You started baking when you were 13. How did that come about?
Abi Balingit:
Yeah. So I was a huge avid fan of watching the Food Network. I was always on cable. I was always DVRing [digital video recording] my favorite shows. I still really was relying on the internet for actual recipes and actually being taught how to bake. My mom was great about making a lot of Filipino dishes at home and also desserts, but I think that it wasn't necessarily the first thing I gravitated towards when I was 13. I was like, "I want to make cupcakes. Sprinkles Cupcakes is popping off right now." In that time it definitely was and it still is really great. That was my first entry point and really going into baking blogs and finding things on the internet was amazing because when you're 13, you have no money and you really are just searching things on the internet looking for help on how to learn DIY [do it yourself] everything, especially with the rise of YouTube. I'm really glad to discover that love just at an earlier age.
Kerry Diamond:
Who were some of the folks you liked on the Food Network?
Abi Balingit:
Oh, okay. Yes. I loved the show Unwrapped with Marc Summers. That was randomly one of my favorite shows. Also Ted Allen had a food detective show at some point. I mean, I still love Guy Fieri today and I was just watching it constantly. I think it's just running in a loop in my head to watch Food Network Challenge where they made big cakes even if it wasn't necessarily personality making them, but everyone's creativity with fondant at the time was so cool to me.
Kerry Diamond:
You started coming up with ideas for your own TV shows.
Abi Balingit:
When I was 13, I really thought I was going to be like a CEO of something. I realized I was going to pitch to Food Network that they're going to have a kid's baking championship and they already did. So someone already took the idea from me. So I think all my fun ideas, especially I was super into Ace of Cakes with Duff Goldman, all those things are already cool to me. So I guess we might table that for another dream of mine. But it was fun when I was a kid to dream.
Kerry Diamond:
Then fast forward a few years, at the age of 17, you get your first KitchenAid mixer.
Abi Balingit:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
That changed a lot of things for you?
Abi Balingit:
Oh my God, yes. My mom was so nice. They went to Costco. They got a very standard white color, which is fine, but-
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, that's so not you.
Abi Balingit:
I know. It's not really me. I think I was really happy with literally anything. It really did change the game in terms of just... I think when you're 17, your arms are also not at the most strength. Especially for me, I wasn't working out that much. I was really grateful to have that kind of a big power tool because I think it really opened up a lot of gates for frosting, buttercream, meringue. I really was having the best time just experimenting in the kitchen with the KitchenAid mixer.
Kerry Diamond:
We have to note, you are wearing KitchenAid mixer earrings right now.
Abi Balingit:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
They are turquoise blue and they match your hair.
Abi Balingit:
Yes, I am. They're gifts from my boyfriend's brother and sister-in-law for Christmas. So they really know me. They really realize that I love earrings and I love baking, so I try to combine those things most of the time.
Kerry Diamond:
We need to find out where you got those from.
Abi Balingit:
They got them from Etsy for sure. So if you look up KitchenAid stand mixer earrings and they have different colors, so you can customize whichever ones you want.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, that's genius. What is your KitchenAid color today?
Abi Balingit:
It's still the white one.
Kerry Diamond:
You still have the white one?
Abi Balingit:
I do. It's lasted 10 years.
Kerry Diamond:
I love that.
Abi Balingit:
So I've kept it. It's come from California to New York.
Kerry Diamond:
They are work horses.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, yeah. I worry about them though sometimes, especially when you're making a pavlova. You're putting it on for almost 30 minutes sometimes and you can hear it just huffing and puffing.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay, so 17, you do that. Then you go to UC Berkeley, why did you want to go to UC Berkeley?
Abi Balingit:
So it's very embarrassing, but I think a lot of my dreams were built when I was really young and thought everything was so accessible. I watched Full House a lot growing up and DJ Tanner went to UC Berkeley, and I was like, "I too will go to UC Berkeley." But also they could coincidentally have a great business program. So I really want to do business. Luckily, I got in and I ended up also double majoring basically with media studies because I was already on that path, so why not? A lot of my life I feel like I just can't say no if I've already started, so I'm going to just keep doing it. So that's kind of how I ended up with two degrees.
Kerry Diamond:
Let me go back a sec. Who is DJ Tanner for those who are like, "I don't know what she's talking about"?
Abi Balingit:
Oh. Oh my gosh. Oh, she is like the eldest daughter in Full House. So if you think of Mary-Kate [Olsen] and Ashley [Olsen], that's their older sister.
Kerry Diamond:
Got it. I read that you worked for The Daily Clog.
Abi Balingit:
Yes, the Daily Californian was our newspaper and then they had a blog. So I really was used to blogging at that point.
Kerry Diamond:
The Daily Clog is very cute. It's not a blog about clogs.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, I think they're going to love the shout out. The alumni shout out is a great thing for them.
Kerry Diamond:
What did you do for The Daily Clog?
Abi Balingit:
Oh my gosh. I used to run the silliest stories sometimes. I would say if Gordo from Lizzie McGuire went to Berkeley, what would he be doing here? The actor who plays him actually went to UC Berkeley. So there was a lot of that. I got away with doing some dessert related stuff. I'd be like, "Where are the top five places to go in Berkeley for a great gelato?” Or some similar headlines like that.
Kerry Diamond:
You seem to really love the food scene there.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, yeah. I really think it was a luxury to also live so close in proximity to the rest of the Bay Area because you're basically a Bart train away from everything you want to check out. So Berkeley itself though was very famous. Chez Panisse is a big rite of passage. If you ever get to go then you've made it. But I was lucky to get to go at least twice in my time.
Kerry Diamond:
You graduate. You wind up in New York City. I'll leave out the part in the middle because I feel like people should discover that on their own when they read your book and you do need to read it. It's more than a cookbook, as we've discussed. Why did you come to New York?
Abi Balingit:
I really wanted just a big change. I loved California. I think my first dream out of college was going to be with my friends in SF, having an adult job, and doing that. But I think moving to New York was kind of the move for me just because I think a lot of business entertainment kind of opportunities, marketing opportunities were here. That's how I ended up moving here was because I already had a job in place. But it was funny because that year of summer 2017, my parents were already planning like a reunion with my family here in Jersey. Instead of packing for just two weeks, we ended up using everyone's carry-ons for my clothes, for my stuff. So I'm really grateful that life just worked out somehow.
Kerry Diamond:
How did we win out over L.A.?
Abi Balingit:
Honestly, I just don't like driving, and so I'm really scared to drive. I can be honest about that because my boyfriend does shlep me around everywhere and I also take the subway a lot. But I think because I haven't driven since I was basically 18 and also living in New York doesn't help because you're really not driving that often, I'm very afraid. L.A. traffic would probably kill me. I don't think I could take it. I'm too weak for L.A. I think.
Kerry Diamond:
Because I was thinking, I was like, "Why didn't you just go to L.A.?" Because I bet your parents wanted you to stay close.
Abi Balingit:
Oh yeah. They're very much-
Kerry Diamond:
Just knowing about your parents from reading your book, I would imagine they wanted you as close as possible.
Abi Balingit:
Oh yeah, they're already like, "Are you tired of New York yet?" I'm always like, "No." They're always like, "No."
Kerry Diamond:
You actually dedicate the book to your parents, obviously.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Can you read this to me and tell me what this means in the inscription that you have there?
Abi Balingit:
Oh yes. I got it. “To my parents, you told me, ‘Bahala ka sa buhay mo,’ so I did.” So ‘bahala ka sa buhay mo’ basically means do whatever with your life. A lot of times the connotation is negative because it's like my parents or anyone's parents being like, "Okay, you're going to go out tonight. You're going to go to a party. Do whatever with your life then." So that's where that comes from. I kind of wanted to co-opt that again. A lot of people in my generation, I feel like, who are first gen children of immigrants who really literally have to twist those words and make them our own. I think it's a good thing. I don't think this is exactly what my parents expected from me, to write a cookbook and move to New York, but I'm really glad that life has panned out in a very fun, surreal way.
Kerry Diamond:
Absolutely. So then the pandemic happens.
Abi Balingit:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
You have to work from home. What happens in March of 2020?
Abi Balingit:
Oh yeah. So I basically went full remote for my job. Every day I was worried because the live music industry was super impacted. It was awful. Every day I thought I was going to lose my job.
Kerry Diamond:
But that was worse than restaurants. I mean, restaurants had to close, but people still had to eat. I mean, people didn't have to go to concerts.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, yeah. So it was tough. It is a joy kind of working in my job just because I get to interact with so many parts of the industry. There's artists, there's promoters, there's venues, but you could totally see that it was just a domino effect of everyone's lives being turned upside down. So it was a sad time for sure. I felt very depressed and spiraling. I was turning 25 in April and I had my first Zoom birthday party. It was cursed. But yeah, it was not fun. It was not a good time.
Kerry Diamond:
But you didn't get laid off.
Abi Balingit:
No. Luckily, I am still at this company, thank God. We made it through just with live streams. I know a lot of people really went to the virtual space to kind of try to figure out a way to continue a community. Yeah, somehow we weathered the storm and it's busier than ever before at this point in time.
Kerry Diamond:
But also The Dusky Kitchen was born.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah. So before the pandemic started, I really was, "My 2020 goal was to do my baking blog and really put it out there." I think I really made it happen when I bought the domain. When you buy a domain, it's over, you've committed. So I did that and I actually started really blogging and posting recipes. I think it was August, 2020.
Kerry Diamond:
Now you are the queen of the tiny kitchen.
Abi Balingit:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell everybody what Dusky Kitchen means.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, so Dusky, it was kind of a fun play on before, again, pre-pandemic, I was commuting from work and I was working in Midtown Manhattan and I live in Bed-Stuy. The only time I could bake was right after work. So around that time it's always around dusk when the sun is setting. I also only have one window in my kitchen and it's not ideal. The gray walls are really a killjoy. So I really tried to make the best of the situation, it's called The Dusky Kitchen. It's weird because you'll get the spam emails like, "Hi, Dusky." It's like, “That's not my name.”
Kerry Diamond:
That's funny.
Abi Balingit:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
So The Dusky Kitchen is born. Also, Bakers Against Racism happened.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
That inspired you. Also, during the whole Bakers Against Racism movement, you decided you were going to start making something to be part of this whole amazing thing that was happening. What did you start to make and where did you sell them? How did you get the word out?
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, yeah. So I was kind of inspired again by my own background. I was like, "I want to do a Filipino-American fusion kind of desserts." I remember in the first box there was a strawberry polvorón, a miso pork floss brownie, and then there was horchata bibingka.
Kerry Diamond:
All right, we have to go back to miso pork floss brownie.
Abi Balingit:
Yes, yes. It was a miso caramel on top of a standard brownie.
Kerry Diamond:
That sounds so good.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah. It was kind of fun to experiment. This is what I always wanted to do, but the urgency of the time was something that really drove me to actually do it and not be afraid. Because before this, I was only giving my desserts really to co-workers, to friends, to boyfriends, to roommates and all that. So it's a totally different ballgame when you're feeding people who've never met and you're really nervous. I really want them to like it and I don't want them to be scared.
Kerry Diamond:
But that they also have to pay for the baked goods.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, yeah. So I really was upfront about like, "This is a pre-order form, a Google form, pick it up at 4 p.m. Green Park or tell me." Because at the time it was very dicey. It was pre-vaccinations. My boyfriend was really nice to volunteer to drive certain boxes to Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens. That radius is much bigger than I thought. So we were really going from Sheepshead Bay to the Upper West Side. I was like, "My bad. I didn't realize directions like that. I do not drive." So I'm really grateful from that time of being able to actually meet people in real life for the first time in a long time because of the pandemic.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell us about the name of the treat boxes because they're very specific.
Abi Balingit:
I called them pasalubong treat boxes. So pasalubong in Tagalog, basically, I always say short form word for it is souvenirs. But actually when you think about, it's more of just a tradition of when you're in a Filipino family is really if you're going to go travel, you're going to buy little treats, desserts, and candies and bring them back to friends and family as gifts because you want to give them a piece of your travels. So that's the inspiration from my boxes is in my head, I'm traveling to these places and my kitchen is a portal to everywhere else I've really missed. Yeah, that was how that name came to be.
Kerry Diamond:
What were some of the organizations you were raising money for?
Abi Balingit:
Initially it was like Bed-Stuy Strong, which is my local mutual aid network in my neighborhood and also Send Chinatown Love. I know we definitely donated to Sunnyside and Woodside Mutual Aid. Even at the time there was a huge typhoon that hit the Philippines. Definitely Kids for Kids and For the Future were different organizations helping victims of the typhoon. It branched to a lot of things that I was just really passionate about and luckily got to do some collaboration boxes with people I admire. So I think it was just organic in the way that it started, and it was just like, "Oh, I really want to do this and I'll try to bake at scale for the first time ever." That was hard. I never knew how to do that before. So it's really tested my limits of baking and I'm really glad, because otherwise I would've just thought I could never do it if I never tried.
Kerry Diamond:
You have such a unique baking style and you bring so much flair and fashion to your baked goods. I mean, you've really developed your own vocabulary when it comes to baked goods. How did that start to emerge?
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, I mean, it's funny because I think the Filipino food that I know is just inherently pretty colorful, especially desserts. I know people think first and foremost of ube, which is the purple yam. But I just always kind of subconsciously maybe think about the way that a recipe looks and is presented. I'm really glad that during the cookbook shoot, my food stylist, Katie Wayne, who's amazing, she really understood that. She got edible flowers that I really wanted and all these little touches that I think were super important to me, even though I noticed that it always make or break the recipe really if it had edible flowers or not. But it made me smile and it made me happy. That's what I kind of want to do with these recipes was just I want to be happy when I look at them. I want other people to be happy looking at them too and making them hopefully.
Kerry Diamond:
So you find an audience. You find an audience in two ways, you find an audience for your actual bakes and you find an audience for the blog and for your Instagram.
Abi Balingit:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
An agent got in touch with you.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, yeah. So just literally innocuously posting on Twitter, you just post, "I've made these cupcakes today." They were like Lao Gan Ma chili crisp cupcakes. My agent Emmy [Nordstrom Higdon] actually reached out to me over Twitter and said, "These look so good. If you're ever thinking of writing a cookbook, let me know." I was like, "Whoa. I didn't even think that was a possibility. I’ll let you know right now." At the time, maybe I wasn't even ready, but I was like that's such a cool opportunity that I would never... You put the thought in my head. So now I got to do it. They're so nice and they're based in Toronto. I'm signed to Westwood Creative Artists, and Emmy is based in Toronto, so we've never met, and yet they also have gotten me a book deal. So I'm very grateful for them.
Kerry Diamond:
So you never thought about having a cookbook?
Abi Balingit:
No, no. It never was really something that crossed my mind. Even when I was fantasy pitching to the Food Network for TV shows, I was more just, "Oh, that'd be me in a little suit and little briefcase and go to the studio and do that." Those kinds of things, they don't really have legs to them. They're just ideas. Cookbooks, I think they're definitely born out of bit more, I guess, inspiration, and you have to really be committed to do it. I guess I was committed at the time and I still am. I made it. It's done.
Kerry Diamond:
Were you not a fan of cookbooks before? Were you not seeing cookbooks that you thought you could fit into?
Abi Balingit:
No. It's interesting. As an adult and with disposable income, that definitely changed a lot of how I approach cookbooks because my parents never really had cookbooks lying around. They're very much of the camp of a little bit of this, a touch of that, until it tastes right. I'm like, "Oh God, that's really not helpful for me." Recently in the past few years, I've been able to grow my own cookbook collection and luckily buy a lot more Filipino cookbooks either from the Philippines or writers here in America. It's such a game changer to actually see more perspectives of Asian American, Korean American, Indian American perspectives that I really resonate with.
To be able to write a book that kind of fills this gap a little bit of Filipino American, not just to savory food but dessert, I'm really excited because I don't think I've seen a book about it either. I think it's one of the motivations to write a book. You want to serve the community that you're writing about. For me, it doesn't escape me that it's a blessing to be Filipino and to write a story about your life instead of a lot of times. Sometimes you see stories are like ghost written by white people and people that aren't even of the community that they're writing about. So I'm really happy to do this for me and for my family, for my community and all that.
Kerry Diamond:
It is nice to see Filipino cuisine, Filipino American cuisine get its due finally. We were talking earlier about some of the folks on the scene in addition to you. There's Nicole Ponseca who had her beautiful restaurants in New York City and who was such a trailblazer. Waldy.
Abi Balingit:
Waldy, yes, yes. I love Waldy.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah.
Abi Balingit:
Pilar.
Kerry Diamond:
Pilar Valdes from The Drew Barrymore Show who we love. She's been on this podcast and on our cover. Angela Dimayuga. So many folks.
Abi Balingit:
Absolutely. Yeah. And seeing Filipinx, their cookbook, was really one of the big inspirations aesthetically too to see my book now and be like, "Wow, it's so beautiful next to it." I want to write this book, not just for me, but hopefully more people can write whatever they want in the Filipino diaspora because I think I really fought for this dessert book because some people were like, "Why do we need this? Why should we care?" People should care. I think desserts, they shouldn't be slighted just because they're the last course of the meal or whatever. But it's really a special thing that I think I have fond memories of and really foundational memories of. So I'm pro dessert.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, we see almost every cookbook that comes out. I have to say, when I flip through this, I just was really struck by how special it is, how colorful, and how it really reflects you so well. Congratulations.
Abi Balingit:
Thank you, Kerry. It means a lot to me, especially you've seen and read so many cookbooks, so I think you're an authority for sure to me.
Kerry Diamond:
We have a lot of cookbook collectors out there. You know I don't tell you to run out and buy every single cookbook, but I really do think not only does Abi deserve everybody's support, but I do think it's important if you're a cookbook collector to have this book in your collection.
Abi Balingit:
Thank you, Kerry.
Kerry Diamond:
So again, coming out tomorrow. So pre-order the book or call your local bookstore. Do whatever you have to do.
Abi Balingit:
Yes, please.
Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk more about this gorgeous book.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Why the title?
Abi Balingit:
So for me, my parents are from a province in the Philippines called Pampanga. They speak their own language there. So it's Kapampangan and mayumu means sweet in their language. It's funny because a lot of even fellow Filipino Americans that obviously see my book, they're like, "What does this even mean?" If they're not from there or their parents weren't from there, they wouldn't know. So in Tagalog, matamis means sweet. Just so that clarifies a little bit. But I really wanted to do that as an homage to them, even though my book is definitely me more so than my parents' perspective maybe on traditional Filipino food. So it's definitely the opposite for me, but I still think I want it to honor them that way.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm going to ask you a few questions about some of the recipes in this book. Because the recipes are fantastic. First, I'd love to know what is a great gateway recipe?
Abi Balingit:
So there's one recipe in the very first chapter of the book. There's like jam, syrups, and toppings. I think everyone should know how to make the ube halaya three ways, and not necessarily you have to do all three ways, especially in the case where if you're looking for that jam in the store, which a lot of people are baking with now, it can be really expensive slash it's hard to find if you're not at a Filipino or Southeast Asian grocery store. So to be able to make it either from the frozen ube or also from powdered ube, and also there's a fun quirky one that's made out of ube Pillow crackers. So I really wanted to show the diversity of how you can go about making it. It's a pretty foundational recipe for some of the other recipes in the book where it's a filling or part of a cookie dough. So I really like this as a gateway recipe.
Kerry Diamond:
For folks who've never cooked with that or experimented with it, it's a purple yam.
Abi Balingit:
Purple yam jam, basically.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, yeah. It's even on the cover.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah. I mean, basically it's on the cover. So I know the secret's out that I did not make that ice cream and the cover is a store bought ice cream. But again, I really talk about it in the book too to not be ashamed of also sometimes getting something store bought. It's my favorite Filipino brand, which is Magnolia. It's my go-to ice cream for any Filipino flavor. So they definitely, hopefully used ube halaya in it. It's definitely ube, for sure, on mine.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. So that's your gateway. Which recipe would you say is the most you?
Abi Balingit:
The most me, want to say, I know it's the cover, so it's a little redundant. But the halo-halo baked Alaska for sure is definitely me. It's very ambitious and it's really extra because it's definitely the lengthiest recipe in the book because there's so many components. So I didn't want to make everyone make the ice cream. So that is store bought. But the meringue on the top, the coconut sponge as the base. There's like an evaporated milk granita that is infused with jackfruit. So there's also the halo-halo toppings that are traditionally... A halo-halo is a shaved dessert that's very emblematic of Filipino cuisine. It literally means mix-mix. So it's just usually shaved ice and then evaporated milk and all the components I was just talking about basically just served together and you eat with a spoon on a hot day.
So that recipe really was something that I thought was the showstopper of the book, but also something I hope that people can have a new take on halo-halo. I love it. It has flowers. In the recipe section, it's in full without it being cut open. I had little cute toothpicks that had Filipino flags on them, so I put one on top. But yeah, this was definitely something that I envisioned from the start of writing the book and I love it so much. It's my favorite thing in whole-
Kerry Diamond:
It's a great cover. It's so eye-catching.
Abi Balingit:
Thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
Which recipe do you think will be the most popular?
Abi Balingit:
I think it has to be, I hope, because I really love this recipe too, it's the adobo chocolate chip cookies. Everyone needs a chocolate chip cookie recipe if you're doing any kind of dessert cookbook sometimes. This was inspired by a savory Filipino dish, adobo, which most people know is soy sauce and vinegar stew chicken or other protein. The salt in the cookie is soy. The butter is infused with bay leaf, so I would never forget bay leaf in adobo. Then also there's pink peppercorns on top. Adobo is known for black peppercorns, which are a little intense. So I wanted pink peppercorns, not just for their color, but the fruity notes of it to play with the dark chocolate. So I love that recipe. It is very much emblematic of me. Also, the American background, Filipino background, all of it into one cohesive recipe.
Kerry Diamond:
I loved how in this you blend a lot of different cuisines and cultures. I loved the Filipino flag cookies because they're obviously a nod to the New York black and white cookies. Tell us about that recipe.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah. I love the recipe. It's very beautiful. I love the colors. It's inspired by the black and white, but it's like red, blue, yellow, and white, the colors of the Filipino flag. The flavor is not chocolate. It's a hint of jasmine extract. So jasmine is one of basically the national flower of the Philippines, which is actually, sampaguita, which is a family of jasmine. But I think it just is emblematic of my experience. Obviously, living in New York, I go to every deli and there's a black and white cookie, and I love them. I know they're more like cake. Don't know why they're called cookies. I visually just love how much they marry both sides of my life into one recipe. Also, shout out again to my food stylist, Katie Wayne, who got the cutest flowers. I think they're actually jasmine on the actual cookies. So she really got the vision and I adore that recipe. I really do.
Kerry Diamond:
It sounds like you two had a really nice working relationship.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, I was really nervous because I think this was the first time I truly was like, "Okay, passing on the reins to someone," and be like, "Okay, you can I guess figure out the schedule and all this stuff and trust." But Katie is such a professional. She has done countless amounts of work for literally all the publications. So she's truly professional. I'm also, again, coming from a self-taught background, I'm so nervous about people who have gone and done pastry school. So her and also Joy Cho, who was her assistant food stylist, they were amazing in the kitchen. I baked alongside them to finish the recipes because it is a challenge, all hands on deck to finish 10 recipes a day.
Kerry Diamond:
A cookbook takes a village.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Who was your photographer?
Abi Balingit:
Nico Schinco. Yes. He's amazing. Highly recommend his work as well. But yeah, he was so gracious because when you're doing the shoot, you have all these, again, boards. You have every single cake stand on a giant, giant table. I was like, "I truly don't have that kind of space sharing my apartment with my roommates." So he was so nice. His apartment, he basically opened up and he lives with his fiancé. I was like, "I am so sorry." There were literally cake stands in his bedroom. I felt awful. I hate to be a hindrance to anybody, but no, he was so nice. To see the V flap, which is basically, you see all the pictures printed out, it was surreal. I think it's one of those things that outside of holding the book, pictures make it feel so real. Even if they weren't edited, they just look so good and everyone is a professional. So I'm really glad I got to work with him.
Kerry Diamond:
Can you walk me through your bibingka recipe?
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
I love bibingka.
Abi Balingit:
Oh, you love it. Oh my gosh. So basically, you have to start with… I like to cut up the banana leaf squares. So banana leaf is what these cakes are baked in. It really imparts a nice floral, I don't even know, it has a flavor to it, you can't miss it. So it's a little bit different than using standard cupcake liners. The actual rice cake recipe is a single bowl mixed kind of situation, so you don't need a KitchenAid mixer for it. So it's coconut milk, both types of rice flour, glutenous rice flour, regular rice flour for a combination of a chewy bite and then a little hint of cinnamon. Then so that gets baked into the banana leaf-lined cupcake tins.
Then on top is an actual horchata glaze. So if you make your horchata the night before, and then you cook it down and then you combine it with a little bit more of… Sometimes if you need a little splash more of horchata, you can put that in. Add sugar and then you put on toasted coconut flakes. So it is definitely a sweeter bibingka than I think traditional bibingka has a salted duck egg and also cheese on top. But I love how horchata already has rice in it, so it makes sense to me to use a coconut bibingka horchata kind of combination. I love that recipe a lot and I make it often.
Kerry Diamond:
I can't wait to make it. You have such a fun section in the beginning. You titled it “Tiny Kitchen Essentials” and it is such a delightful read. Tell us about the pantry section.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah. So I developed the whole book in my tiny Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn apartment kitchen. I share the apartment with, at the time, three other roommates. So I really wanted to tell readers that I too am struggling out here and these recipes can be done somehow in your kitchen. So I definitely have tips about how to share your space and how to maximize your space. But I really want to include a big Filipino pantry essential section because there's some recipes that are very reliant on different extracts and jams that you can have store bought. But I also was really proud of the section because my good friend from UC Berkeley, Charisse Celestial, is the illustrator for my book as well. I asked her to do a beautiful spread for this and Kerry's looking at it right now, but it's all the little pantry essentials that I love. She painstakingly drew all that. I think it goes beautifully with the section. I love the beginning. I think it's a great start to the book.
Kerry Diamond:
It really is. I mean, this whole book is so joyous, but it's just really, really fun. I just love the little section you have, “Sharing baked goods is caring, patience is underrated.” And this is a good one, “Cutting cake into slices.”
Abi Balingit:
I am always personally nervous whenever a cake is not cut yet and I'm like, "Ugh." I want the cake really badly and no one is touching it. So I think it's off limits for some reason, so I will not touch the cake. Whenever I see something already pre cut at a party and it's already there for you, I'm always like, "Oh, it is open to the public. I guess we can have a little taste." If I have things out, I'll put a post-it note too. I'm like, "These are okay to eat. These are not for a photo shoot. These are not for anything. You can have them." But I do love having it pre cut so people don't be afraid. Also, I think the scariest part is the last slice. I think everyone's a little embarrassed to take it, but I hope some people have less shame about that because it sucks when the last slice is left and it's wasted. So yeah, hopefully people will eat more of your goods by cutting it up for them in portions.
Kerry Diamond:
Have you gotten better at recipe developing?
Abi Balingit:
From this book, a hundred percent. I think it was definitely a different endeavor. My blog was more like I was definitely ripping off of preexisting recipes for the most part. To actually write things from scratch, I was definitely, especially not having a professional pastry background, I think my struggle was that I was coming at it from also imposter syndrome, also fear, even though I was baking since I was 13. The science of baking is also sometimes really intimidating for a lot of people to get into baking. Even to the best of us, we have bad days. The kitchen is not cooperating, something goes wrong. That happened a lot during the development of 75 recipes. After trial and error, it's throwing darts at a board and if finally it lands in the center, then it's good. You learn next time that whatever it was happening before, it was not the right arm movement.
So that was kind of the metaphor for baking for me was like, "Well, now I know the hard way that this is not working out. This is how I should be doing it." It's funny, the first food photo shoot I've ever done was my cookbook shoot. It was a six day shoot, which was super, super grueling. It was like 60 recipes, 10 recipes a day on average. My team was amazing, but I truly never had a huge photo shoot before for food at all. So it was a big learning experience. Even after the fact, getting to go on actual food shoots for smaller things like an article or a piece or a story, it was not super easy, but it was definitely easier than when I first started with my cookbook for sure.
Kerry Diamond:
How did working on this book change you?
Abi Balingit:
I feel more confident for sure as a person. I think in your twenties, I'm currently in the latter stage of it, I think a huge focus for me was always like, "Well, what am I doing with my life? Am I doing it right? Am I supposed to be doing this? Am I supposed to be doing that?" I still ask these questions every day. To write a book was something that wasn't even on my radar when I was 23. So it's kind of interesting that I'm allowing myself to be open to new things, different opportunities, the things I would never have thought of possible before and meeting new people. For the time before the pandemic, I thought I was stuck in a rut. All my friends are the only friends I would ever have at this point, from college, from work, that's it.
It's like, "No." There's so many people to me and so many people to connect with. Through baking, I've done that and it's really exciting. So I am very happy about the outcome of this book, at least for me now. It's not over and you write a book and it's on a shelf forever and ever, but your relationship with it will change. I'm kind of excited to see how I look at this when I'm 37 and not 27, and I hope I still love it in the same way or maybe more ways than one.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm happy that you're part of this beautiful food community that we have here in New York City.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah. It's great. New York is, I think, the biggest piece of my success, I feel like. Because everyone is so accessible. I'm literally sitting with you right now, Kerry, because of the internet, I feel like. Sometimes growing up my parents would be like, "Be a little nervous about... Don't talk to strangers." Obviously, I mean, you've got to be a little careful, but I think that overall meeting people who are similarly passionate about food, it comes from a good place. That's why I always feel very trusting with people. I hope that even after this book is over, this run, whatever, it's not actually over, it's just a new stage of just promotion and being able to see people make the recipes, which it's so insular in the beginning of making the book that I'm just amazed seeing people hold it even and not even make anything yet. It's so exciting. Everything is so new and so bright right now.
Kerry Diamond:
How involved were you in the design of the book?
Abi Balingit:
I'm really lucky because my publisher Harvest, the team there is so trusting of me. I did not know what I was doing, to be honest. When they're asking you all these things, you had your proposal ready and all this stuff, when it came time to it to actually do the design, which is actually the most fun part, I feel like, they asked me like, "What kind of style are you looking for? What colors do you like?" So they really were attuned to me. Obviously we talked about how much I love color. So they were always a hundred percent asking me, "Is this good? Is this good?" We talked about the font, the tight face of the cover incessantly. I was always like, "Hmm, it has to be funkier. It has to be a little extra." They got it. They got it. They definitely did. It took a little trial and error, but everyone was very on board with kind of the vision I had. So I'm really happy that everyone trusted me enough to do it because I think that's not everyone's experience of writing a cookbook.
Kerry Diamond:
Who are some folks you admire in the industry?
Abi Balingit:
Oh my God, there's so many people I admire. I feel like one of the trailblazers for especially this genre, Priya Krishna. Indian-Ish was a huge inspiration for me. She's so kind and supportive online and I really appreciate her. I also feel like Samin Nosrat, I too am from the Bay Area, and so everyone I know adores Samin. It's hard to say how much impact she's done for the community of food lovers. She's done so much.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh my gosh, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. It's just like a Bible now.
Abi Balingit:
It was definitely on the mood board, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. I kind of want this vibe for ingredients and all that stuff. Yeah. There's so many more. I mean, even in Filipino food space, I feel like my friend and food writer, eater Bettina Makalintal is also one of my favorite people and was always kind of just open to helping me with this book, with writing a blurb for my book too. So I'm very grateful for her and her amazing expertise on Filipino food and food in general. Just talking about it, she's so well versed. Also, I really love Deb [Perelman] from Smitten Kitchen, definitely one of the trailblazers of the people I admired from the vlog space, so she really taught me a lot of how to bake actually just reading her blog.
Kerry Diamond:
So folks are listening to this and they're like, "Oh my gosh, I'm drooling. I can't wait to get the cookbook." But they ask, "How can I get Abi's desserts in person?" Are you doing any pop-ups connected to the book?
Abi Balingit:
I actually first of all have an event the day of the launch tomorrow at Yu & Me Books. It starts at 5:30 until 7, so please come and get your book signed.
Kerry Diamond:
Are you selling tickets in advance?
Abi Balingit:
No, so it's free. Okay. Anyone can come in. But also the actual popup, I have one Sunday, March 5th at Archestratus Bookstore in Greenpoint. So I am from Brooklyn. I'm excited to do a Brooklyn event. That's where I'll actually be selling desserts and donating proceeds to the HarperCollins Strike Fund.
Kerry Diamond:
We're hoping that you'll be a Jubilee.
Abi Balingit:
Oh, I would love that, yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Signing some books, so stay tuned about that. For folks who live in the New York area, what's your go-to for Filipino ingredients?
Abi Balingit:
Oh, there's specifically one place, Johnny Air Mart in the East Village. Basically, they also have prepared food. So if you're craving like fried fish, if you're craving your own little bit of turon, which is banana and jackfruit wrapped in a lumpia wrapper and fried, you can get it there. Also, a lot of the ingredients that are in the pantry essentials in my book, you can also get them there without trekking to Queens, which can be hard depending if you don't live near Queens or on a train accessible. So I love going there.
Kerry Diamond:
Do you have a favorite place in Queens since you are the subway gal?
Abi Balingit:
Oh, no. I do love the subway. Okay. I am pro subway. I was just in Elmhurst and there was a whole block of Filipino restaurants, and I was really, really amazed because, again, I've lived here for six years, but every day I'm discovering something new about the city. There's one place was Kape't Torta basically was the name of it, and had great sponge cakes, mamon, which is what they're called, and the best halo-halo I've had, in the city, which I was like-
Kerry Diamond:
Whoa. Stop. Tell us again where to go, because that's a big statement.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah, yeah. It's Kape't Torta I think is the name of it. It was just a quintessential halo-halo with really yummy ice cream and all the layers of red bean and nata de coco, the jellies. It was just good. I think that's hard to come by sometimes when you're just really craving. Really, my book is not traditional whatsoever, but sometimes you are craving the things that you had growing up exactly the way that they were. So I do appreciate that about, especially all the restaurants at Elmhurst, but that one in particular.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay, Abi. Speed round time.
Abi Balingit:
Okay.
Kerry Diamond:
One of your favorite books on food.
Abi Balingit:
I want to say Taste of Control, but-
Kerry Diamond:
I don't know that book. What is that?
Abi Balingit:
Basically, it's about the influence of American occupation in the Philippines on food and society. The author I think is René Alexander D. Orquiza. But it's an incredible book, and I think it should be taught in history classes because there is so much of an influence, again, of just if you think about the prevalence of Spam and different canned products in countries like the Philippines and even Hawaii, it is in large part because of military occupation and those kinds of things are very real and need to be talked about.
Kerry Diamond:
What is your favorite food movie?
Abi Balingit:
I love Matilda. I was just thinking about the chocolate cake because I had an amazing chocolate cake in Key West, and I love that movie.
Kerry Diamond:
Favorite kitchen tool?
Abi Balingit:
Oh, okay, the KitchenAid mixer. I feel like I talked about it enough. It has to be.
Kerry Diamond:
Since you work in music, who's an artist we should all be listening to right now?
Abi Balingit:
You should all be listening to Beabadoobee if you aren't already. She's a great Filipino indie artist.
Kerry Diamond:
One thing that's always in your fridge.
Abi Balingit:
I always have bagoong, which is like a fermented shrimp condiment.
Kerry Diamond:
Favorite childhood food.
Abi Balingit:
I love those strawberry shortcake bars, the frozen ones. I also buy them to this day.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, the Good Humor ones.
Abi Balingit:
Yes, yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, yeah. I love those. Snack food of choice.
Abi Balingit:
Oh, I also love Gushers. I know I have the palette of a seven year old, but really I do get them occasionally. I put them in the fridge and I eat them cold, which is weird, but I love them.
Kerry Diamond:
You're so funny. Footwear of choice in the kitchen?
Abi Balingit:
Oh, I wear-
Kerry Diamond:
Barefoot? I mean, you're at home.
Abi Balingit:
That's true. When I'm at home, I do go barefoot a bit more, but if I'm working in a kitchen, Crocs or clogs, or also more specifically, I feel like I go for Crocs a lot.
Kerry Diamond:
Any motto or mantra you live by?
Abi Balingit:
Okay, this is from the dedication, but I would say bahala ka sa buhay mo, so do whatever with your life, and I mean that earnestly.
Kerry Diamond:
If you were to be stuck on a desert island with one food celebrity, who would it be and why?
Abi Balingit:
Oh my God. I would have really a lot of fun with Guy Fieri for the most part, because we could bleach each other's hair and we would be fine.
Kerry Diamond:
You know what is so funny, I knew you were going to say Guy Fieri.
Abi Balingit:
Really?
Kerry Diamond:
I don't know how, but after asking that question to so many people over the years, I can usually guess who they're going to say.
Abi Balingit:
I know. I really love him, and he's also in California, so I always like have a soft spot for Guy, and we watch him all the time on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
Kerry Diamond:
I feel like the guy has done so much for the food world. He loves the mom and pop places.
Abi Balingit:
Yeah. Those are my favorite places too. So I love all aspects of food, but he's great.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, Abi, you are great too. Congratulations on this gorgeous book. Like I said, I hope everybody runs out and gets it. I can't wait to cook from it and bake from it. You're a treasure. Will you ever have a bakery one day?
Abi Balingit:
I never say never, so I really hope maybe one day. Who knows?
Kerry Diamond:
Okay, okay. Well, fingers crossed. But in the meantime, you told us ways people can get your food. It was great to see you.
Abi Balingit:
I'm really glad to be here, and thank you so much, Kerry, again, for your time. I don't know, it's such a joy to talk about it. I felt like I was keeping a secret for so long, but now it's real and it's here. So thank you for the opportunity to spread the word about it.
Kerry Diamond:
Aw. Well, Abi, you're the Bombe. Thank you.
Abi Balingit:
Thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
That's it for today's show. If you enjoyed today's episode, I would love for you to subscribe to our podcast. If you're already a subscriber to Radio Cherry Bombe, leave us a rating and review. Let me know about a potential topic or guest you'd like featured on a future show. Also, sign up for the Cherry Bombe newsletter over at cherrybombe.com so you can stay on top of all Cherry Bombe happenings, podcast episodes, and events. Radio Cherry Bombe is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Our theme song is by the band Tralala. Thank you to Joseph Hazan, studio engineer for Newsstand Studios. Our producer is Catherine Baker and our associate producer is Jenna Sadhu. And thanks to you for listening. You are the Bombe.