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1. UBE!
Ube, often confused with Taro, is a sweet root local to the Philippines that is used in many traditional desserts, such as Halo-Halo. Oh, it's also BRIGHT purple.
2. Halo-Halo
Halo-Halo is a Filipino dessert that is similar to an American shaved ice. Evaporated milk, sugar, sweeten beans and other canned fruit are added to the ice, and it is typically topped with a piece of flan and a spoonful of ube ice cream. Halo-Halo translates to "mix-mix" in English, so before you can properly eat the dessert the consumer must mix all the ingredients together.
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines and is located at the center of the "big island" as the local's say.
The Mall of Asia
If you didn't know the Mall of Asia is located in the Philippines, along with several other GIANT malls.
Long Life
This one might be a more generic Asian tradition, but whenever it's someone's birthday everyone is supposed to eat long noodles to represent wishing a long life to the birthday person. Most often the Filipino noodle dish of choice is pancit.
Lumpia
An instant frown turned upside down dish. Lumpia is the Filipino version of an egg roll and often is filled with shrimp, beef, potato, carrots and other yummy stuffings.
Jollibee
Aside from its adorable name, Jollibee is a Filipino fast food chain that is prevalent all over the Philippines and can be found in Jersey City as well as areas of California in the US.
Taglish
Filipino (Tagalog) is the official language of the Philippines, but if you forget a word here and there it's easy to slip in an English word and people will most likely understand you. This mix of Tagalog and English is sometimes referred to by the slang term "Taglish".
Karaoke
We all really love Karaoke.
Jeepneys
A Jeepney similar to a bus in the Philippines, however there aren't set stops. The rider just kind of jumps on and jumps off whenever they are finished riding. And to this day I have no idea how far price works. I just know its cheap.
