The Halo Halo Podcast

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!

On this warm up Sigi and Jezzie take some ideas and make it Filipino. Sigi ventures down the fast food lanes to makes them more pinoy and Jezzie finds ways to nourish not only our stomachs but our minds and style. Listen in and find out what condiment Sigi wants to be available for his Costco hot dog and what Jezzie would add to the Canadian staple Timmie’s!

During this month of April and in honour of Filipino Food Month, we at the Halo Halo Podcast will be re-releasing some of our favourite Meryenda episodes, but first in their pop culture catch up Sigi talks about the Hallmark movie based in his hometown Niagara Falls and the recent limited series Apples Never Fall. Jezzie share his thoughts on the latest Rebel Moon and newly crowned Drag Superstar. Further, Jezzie discusses his rediscovered love and ventures back into Lobby Bars in his neighbourhood and revelling in Happy Hour---the perfect segue into revisting Mereyenda Epsiode 406.75 San Miguel Beer from Season Four! Cheers!

On this taste test, Sigi takes his daughter Delaney to Jollibee in Toronto right before the Olivia Rodrigo concert. As Sigi revels in CHICKENJOY with his daughter, he and Jezzie dive deep into the pairing of crispy salty chicken skin paired with warm white rice. Is it possible that it is buried deep in the Filipino DNA? And to even add more to his CHICKENJOY, the presence of ube pie served as the piece de resistance on this adventure. Listen in and this ep will have you craving for fast food giant from the Philippines.

On this warm up Jezzie and Sigi venture into some special Filipino Food Connections and revisit memories of adobo, chicharon, pandesal and ice cream. Join us for a visit down memory lane which will have you craving for more!

For the month of April and in honor of Filipino Food Month, we at The Halo Halo Podcast will be rereleasing some of our favourite Meryenda Episodes. On this ep, Jezzie and Sigi catch up and Sigi shares his Filipino filled Easter which included Olivia Rodrigo, a Jollibee jaunt and an amazing Easter Sunday Kamayan. This serves the perfect segue into the rerelease of our Meryenda Epsiode from season 3-Boodle Fight/Kamayan! Get out those banana leaves and dig in for a big serving of lumpia and bangus!

On this taste test Sigi samples Mr. and Mrs. Smith now streaming on Amazon Prime. Get some Korean BBQ wings to pair with the spy dramedy starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine. This limited series boast some great locales and amazing cameos as it documents the evolution of this arranged marriage of operatives as they not only tackle some challenging missions but the trials and tribulations of married life.

Our main episode has us going into a debate about someone who I deemed so cool, in the early aughts when he broke out into his own. . . but now if I we had to be on a mission to define cool, who would fit the bill?

On this episode of The Halo Halo Podcast, Jezzie and Sigi dive deep and figure out where they stand with Justin Timberlake. They revisit the *NSYNC boy band craze; Justified, and Sexyback albums; the Janet Jackson Superbowl controversy, his foray into acting and comedy and his latest album–Everything I Thought It Was. Further Jezzie pivots the convo to discuss the Filipino cultural value of pakikisama. This cultural value really informs the collectivistic attitudes and mentality that we as a culture possess and the influence of being family-oriented. Although this value can be weaponized, Jezzie encourages us to determine its value by asking ourselves if it benefits all of the community and that there is a feeling of inclusion.

On this very special Taste Test, Jezzie takes us on his very VIP experience in Las Vegas seeing the Madonna Celebration Tour. Get out a flight of sparking wines as Jezzie recounts his journey behind the velvet rope. Get ready Halo Halo Listeners, he goes deep into the superfan experience. And if you are interested leave a comment in this week’s episode post and we will share some pics of Jezzie’s limited edition swag for your viewing pleasure.

Join Jezzie and Sigi in this warm up and they chart out an alternate universe where they achieve their EGOT status. Find out who plans to win their Emmy hosting a show and who will win their Oscar in the ensemble piece, “Puzzle”. Suspend your disbelief and follow their trails to acquire their EGOT status.

The Halo Halo Podcast is back for this month of March in fine pop culture form breaking down the 2024 Oscars. From observing shimmering dresses and shiny male brooches on the red carpet to adjusting to the early start time, Jezzie and Sigi share their hot takes on one of their fave events. Meaningful speeches and flowers from previous Oscar winners got the podcast hosts elated and vibrating from a crowd pleasing Gosling/Slash performance.

 The Halo Halo Podcast brings back its suite of four Social Justice centered episodes for this month of February. In this fourth and final episode, Jezzie reviews the framework we shared with our listeners to aid them to decipher the value of a social movement. This framework can also serve as a basis to help us engage in a more meaningful fashion as opposed to just superficial engagement. It also means that it takes time, commitment and being a good ally. Good allyship involves: Being actionable— does what we say match our behaviour ?; Using your privilege to support those that we are joining in a social movement; Being okay with being criticized and sometimes embracing the discomfort; Not expecting the social movement or others to educate you and Not equating your own struggles with those of the social movement.

The Halo Halo Podcast brings back its suite of four Social Justice centered episodes for this month of February. In this third episode, Jezzie guides us in our continued discussion that cultural humility and discernment in joining social movements means not only learning about other cultures, but also learning about ourselves and social systems. This learning is continual and encourages us to be teachable and learn more about the deeper parts of one’s culture. There is a need for us to move away from being ethnocentric to ethnorelative. Striving to do this and being willing to learn about ourselves in an honest fashion and debunking social systems that we are in can help us understand other cultures and histories in an authentic and respectful way, thus make us ultimately teachable.

The Halo Halo Podcast brings back its suite of four Social Justice centered episodes for this month of February. In this second episode, the focus is on Cultural Humility. It is first described by Melanie Tervalon, as a mindset which requires us to: learn from others–while honoring those that we learn from; understand and accept the differences we have with others; and be self-reflective and engage in critical self-reflection. Jezzie discusses further that when we adopt a culturally humble stance, we are in a position to then discern.

The Halo Halo Podcast brings back its Social Justice centered episodes for this month of February. In this episode the focus is on Discernment on Movements and Counter-movements. Discernment is key to understanding social movements and counter-movements. Jezzie guides a discussion on the meaning of discernment and the need to understanding the arguments behind a movement; not getting swept up in the urgency; questioning information sources and being critical of our own motivations.

Write Up-On this  Taste Test, Sigi goes into the 1999 Pop Culture Movie vault an rewatches The Talented Mr. Ripley. Find out why he would pair this flick with a duo cocktail of gin and sin and a rye and tonic. From the classic direction of  Minghella, the beauty of Italy and the talented cast, you will find yourself immersed in this psychological thriller that may have inspired shows like You and movies like Saltburn.

On this warm up, Sigi and Jezzie dust off old issues of Vanity Fair and revisit the famous Hollywood Issue where ingenues and popular stars graced the cover to promote their movies/shows for the year.  They face the imaginary task of being the guest editors and cast the Hollywood 2024 Vanity Fair cover shoot. Find out who is one the list and will land on the cover!

On this week’s episode, Sigi and Jezzie remain in the 1999 movie vault and focus on two movies—American Beauty and Cruel Intentions. Later they discuss the “Implications of ‘Bahala Na’”.  The pop culture recap gets down to latest with Jezzie and his attendance at two shows of Madonna’s current tour. Find out firsthand about his experience and that this marks the beginning of his own “Madonna tour”—definitely tune in to hear more about various legs of this tour as our dear co-host travels across North America in awe and fandom for his dear Madge. Join the two co-hosts as they revisit two movies that turn 25 this year.  The first being an Academy award winning and ensemble cast that covers themes that haven’t aged well since 1999—American Beauty.The second, inspired by the book and movie, Dangerous Liaisons, set in the upper class neighbourhoods of Manhattan and being a predecessor for shows like Gossip Girl and Euphoria--Cruel Intentions.  The conversation laters shifts into the cultural capital topic of “Bahala Na” which has a deterministic idea that things will work out in the end and not to worry—more precisely, don’t care too much about the situation and circumstance. Jezzie discusses where this term originates and where it is well rooted and what kind of difficulties can be encountered when this stance is skewed. Our fixing of the week challenges our listeners to be resourceful when active acceptance of choices are unavailable.

On this Taste Test Episode, Jezzie open up the pop culture movie vault of 1999 and re-samples "The Sixth Sense". Serve yourself up with a matcha latté as Jezzie takes us through M. Night Shyamalan’s breakthrough hit “The Sixth Sense” –a psychological thriller starring Bruce Willis, playing child psychologist, Dr. Malcolm Crowe and Hayley Joel Osment,  as his troubled patient Cole Seer who apparently talks to dead people. Find out how Jezzie’s revisit to this timeless, unique movie with a well documented twist brought up current themes in 2024.