Busy but happy

Say hello to Jollibee, the mascot of the Philippines' largest fast-food chain of the same name. Back in July, I posted a photo of its interior, which looks just like any other fast-food restaurant in any part of the world. It serves burgers, of course—it started as a copy-cat McDonald's before McDonald's came to the country. But if you look at the poster behind it, you'll see one of its most popular dishes, which also identifies the chain as being very Filipino: pansit palabok. Palabok is made of rice noodles, a seafood-based sauce, and topped with more seafood, hard-boiled eggs, green onions and crunchy tsitsaron (fried pork rind). The orange color of the sauce comes from atsuete (annatto) from the shrub Bixa orellana. And in case you're wondering about the title of this post, it's the reason why Tony Tan Caktiong and his family chose the name Jollibee for the small ice cream parlor they opened in 1975. With more than 1600 stores worldwide in the entire chain, I'm sure they're all very busy and very happy.