Bubbly chicken

Since it opened in 1945, Max's Restaurant has been known for almost only one thing: its crispy, tender, juicy fried chicken. Drop the diet and forget about cholesterol because you just have to eat the skin of this one. Instead of regular potato, Max's fried chicken is served with kamote (sweet potato) fries. Sweet potato has a higher nutritional value than the common potato and is popular as an inexpensive snack food among Filipinos. My favorite accompaniment to their fried chicken is their pancit canton. Named for the southern Chinese province of Guangdong (Canton is the anglicized form) where the original egg noodle dish came from centuries ago, Max's pancit canton is topped with vegetables, pork, shrimp and chicken, including its lamang loob (innards), which makes it even tastier. Don't worry if you can't eat those—I can't either and just push them aside. And for a refreshing drink, a tall glass of buko pandan shake: fresh young coconut, milk, sugar and ice run through a blender and served over cubes of pandan gelatin.

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Max's Restaurant has always been popular in Metro Manila for large family parties, and I thought this would be an appropriate post because one year ago on this date, I posted my first photo in My Manila. Back then, I had no plans of making it a daily photo blog because I already had Happy at Home. I only joined City Daily Photo two months later, and silly me even registered the wrong email address so I couldn't get into the author forums until I emailed the Eric of Paris Daily Photo and he corrected my information. Thanks again, Eric! And thank you to all of you who have made blogging such a wonderful experience for me—for your comments, your appreciation, and more than anything else, for your own blogs. I truly enjoy all the blogs that I visit because of the fantastic photos and the wonderful information that I learn—about history, lifestyle, customs, architecture and nature. What some people assume as ordinary can be so fascinating to me because it's so different from my experience. When people write about their country's painful circumstances, I am always humbled and shamed, and reminded and challenged to see beyond myself and try to do some good. For all of these, and much, much more, thank you. Now dig in!