In May of 2020, I created Lola’s Kitchen, a Filipino food catering business. It was during the pandemic here in Ottawa, Canada. My day job was on hold because of the pandemic and I was also going through a lot of personal problems in my life. Instead of dwelling, I decided to use my passion in cooking to make ends meet. I got inspired by my lola (grandmother in Filipino) who had her own “carinderia”, which is a market or roadside food stall with a small seating area. As a kid who grew up in the Philippines, I remembered I loved going to family gatherings. My lola would set up the banana leaves and lay out all the yummy homemade food on it. We would all gather and eat with our hands. No spoons, no forks, no knives, just “kamayan” style!