Merienda Cena.

My favorite time of the day is merienda.  

I'm like a kid whose favorite subject in school is recess.

I crave for Pinoy merienda now that I'm home.  At the mall earlier this evening, I ordered puto with cheese and a cup of coffee. 

Later in the evening at home, I had guinatan complete with ube bilo bilo, sweet langka and pandan.  The other day in Bulacan, I had the 

special neighbourhood halo halo and putong puti. 

I love pastillas de leche, pulvoron, chicharon, chocnut, an assortment of local chichiria, and fried peanuts.  

My mid morning merienda usually consists of taho and buko juice, and of course, my all time favorite afternoon merienda is turon. 

Once in a while, I crave for goto or arroz caldo with lumpiang prito. 

Back in Toronto, I cook my own pancit palabok, pancit guisado and pancit canton. I also cook guinatan, puto, bibingka, palitaw, suman sa lihiya, and cassava.

My Saturday morning breakfast in Toronto usually consists of fried rice with meat or fish, and pancakes or waffle with fruits (kiwi, strawberry, banana) and Activia yogurt.

Back when I was growing up, my aunt used to prepare hotcakes for merienda.  And my old man (father) cooked champorado with tuyo, boiled sweet corn or putong malagkit on Sunday afternoons, after his siesta. 

My mother ordered nilugaw and fried lumpia or tokwa from the neighbourhood carinderia for our morning merienda. 

And during the month of December, we had puto bumbong or bibingka as afternoon merienda back in Mandaluyong in the 60's.  In the late 70's, hot pandesal made its debut in corner bakeries, and became a part of midnight snack of many. 

During my college years in U.P,  I snacked on Milo and Skyflakes with Chiz Wiz while studying late evenings at the dorm.