This warm up has both co-hosts share their top 3 pop culture moms. Jezzie also gives Sigi a vocabulary lesson about the ballroom origin of the term “mother.” Find out who tops their lists of sitcom, musical and reality tv moms.

For this month, The Halo Halo Podcast tailored the set of upcoming eps to a Maternal May. Jezzie and Sigi go into the pop culture vault to revisit Mamma Mia the musical, movie and the sequel. Listen in as Jezzie suspends his disbelief and revels in the jukebox musical while Sigi litters the convo with consistent “WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” After much discussion on the Meryl Streep of it all, Amanda Seyfried’s dewy face, the classiness of Christine Baranski and Cher wandering into the movie, the convo shifts to mothers and motherhood. Jezzie references Wilfred Galila’s essay on the “Power of Pinays” where he discusses how pre-colonial and before the arrival of the Spanish, Philippine Society was seen as Matriarchal. Further, Jezzie discusses the power shared by Filipina Women in the diaspora is a quiet power.

The fixing of the week encourages Halo Halo Listeners to celebrate the Filipina Women in our lives and happy mothers’ day to our mothers!

On this Taste Test and to close out our Filipino Food Themed episodes, Sigi samples the novel, Lessons In Fusion by Primrose Madayag Knazan. This novel set in Winnipeg during the pandemic focuses on Sarah who applies to compete in a reality show called Cyber Chef Next Gen. Her participation in the competition puts her on a journey on finding out more about her identity and her family. Pair this novel with the many recipes especially the matzo ball sopas because it is a warm nourishing read. This book is a love letter on how recipes when passed on through generations tells a tale about connections and love in families. This isn’t just a young adult novel, it is a cookbook that fuses together different cultures and encourages the reader to embrace all facets of their identity. Listen in on this ep and go get your copy of Lessons in Fusion!