A taste for adventure brings the Louisian non-teaching employees together for an immersive cooking workshop through Saint Louis University’s (SLU) Talged Center’s 5th Matchstick Session: “Episode 2.2 Noche Buenang ‘di Php 500 pesos” on 16 December 2025 at the SLU Guest House Kitchen.
Food has a magical way of bringing people together and this Christmas season, SLU Talged Center’s 5th Matchstick Session welcomed the warmth of the festivity with a workshop that aimed to encourage the participants to explore a new hobby of cooking through the guidance of the session’s illuminator SLU Residence Halls Cook, Mr. Ramon S. Lemon Jr.
Noche Buena meals are one of the most important things to prepare for the Holidays, and with the help of today’s workshop, the participants unravelled staple Christmas recipes with twists. Utilizing the SLU Christmas packages to make a festive feast for the upcoming holidays, Mr. Lemon shared some twists to Filipino Christmas classic recipes that sparked inspiration through hearty and jolly meals.
‘Hardinera’
The first dish prepared was Hardinera, Lucban Quezon’s festive meatloaf usually cooked for special occasions. The ingredients for Hardinera are diced to create a consistency that all falls apart by the first spoonful. From sauteed meat to pineapples, carrots to raisins, boiled eggs to bell peppers, all bold and bright flavors packed into one llanera.
The process for cooking Hardinera started with Mr. Lemon’s supervision on dicing the ingredients such as onion, carrot, and bell pepper and while the aromatics are being diced the ground pork is then heated in a pan to render its fat for a meatier taste. Once cooked, the meat from the pan will be mixed with the aromatics. The rest of the ingredients will then be assembled at the bottom of the llanera to create a base for the oval shaped meatloaf.
Ham Macaroni Salad
A Filipino favorite dish staple, the Ham Macaroni Salad was cooked with an authentic approach. The smoked meaty taste of the ham complemented the thick consistency of the mayonnaise, cream, and condensada topped with the lingering taste of pepper. Onions crunched through each mouthful with the creaminess diced cheese adding richness to salad, leaving the tang of celery at the top of your tastebuds.
Macaroni salad is done by boiling the macaroni until al dente and letting it rest aside. As the macaroni rested the participants were given the chance to mix the cream, mayonnaise, and condensada all together in a bowl. Mr. Lemon then added the salt and pepper, onions, and diced cheese as a finishing touch.
Fruit Cocktail Turon
Turon, the ever beloved Filipino snack, meryenda, and dessert was introduced in a new way. Instead of ripe bananas, today’s turon was filled with a fruit cocktail enveloped with a light crunchy lumpia wrapper which combines texture and flavor and topped with a drizzle of chocolate. The sweetness of the chocolate meets the bursting flavors of the fruits into a light crunch from the golden wrapper.
In making the Fruit Cocktail Turon, the first step is to make a cornstarch slurry and mix it with the fruit cocktail can in a heated pan. Through the process, Mr. Lemon demonstrated how to keep the lumpia wrapper closed with the use of a flour and water mixture as a glue then the participants were then given the chance to wrap their turon to make it a more enriching experience.
This Matchstick activity also held an afternoon session at 1:30 – 3:30 pm.
This Talged initiative invites the Louisian community to come together and experience a wide variety of hobbies. Matchstick Sessions are avenues for personal growth and community well-being. This event aligns SLU to the United Nations Development Goals (UN SDGs) specifically SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being.(Article by Catherine Rose Bondoc, UIO Intern | Photos by Rennalyn Charmie Tajon, UIO Intern)
