We Made Mess — And That’s The Story: We’re Back in the Kitchen

Hey all, Kuya Boy here.

If you’ve been checking in on this blog over the years (or you just found an old adobo recipe from 2018 and wondered what happened to this place) — yeah, it’s been quiet. We’re back, and there’s a good reason.

Life happened. After getting married, my wife and I spent a few years balancing day jobs, home, traveling when we could, and trying to grow our family. Then we had a son. Soon after, our son started climbing up onto a stool next to me while I cooked. Not to watch — to help. He wanted his own knife, so we found him a kid-safe one. He wanted to pour the soy sauce himself, so we started portioning it into a small bowl and letting him go for it, towels on standby. Dinner started taking twice as long and got about ten times messier. It also became the favorite part of our day.

Somewhere in those evenings, “Boy In The Kitchen” quietly turned into “BoyS In The Kitchen.” Same kitchen, just with more people in it now.

That story became Adobo and Rice Too — the first book in the BoyS In The Kitchen picture book series by K.B. Kusina (that’s me!). It’s a cozy read-aloud about a dad and his little chef making chicken adobo and rice together, mess and all, and asking “What does it make you think of, or make you feel, and why?”

This week we’re holding the first printed copies in our hands for the first time — seeing how it actually looks on paper, not just on a screen.

So what’s changing here?

This is still a Filipino food blog at heart — Family stories seasoned with Filipino heart. The archives aren’t going anywhere. You can still find them in Recipes — like how to cook Kare-Kare in an Electric Pressure Cooker, Adobo Lechon Kawali, and Ribeye Bistek Tagalog. But going forward, you’ll see two kinds of posts:

From the Archives (2013-2018) and The Next Chapter (2026+) — family cooking stories, behind-the-book art, and real recipes we cook together.

If you want to be first to know when Adobo and Rice Too is live on Amazon + Bookshop.org, join the list at the bottom of the home page. You’ll get behind-the-scenes art, the real family adobo + steamed rice recipe cards, and the preorder link the moment it’s live.

Salamat for sticking around from the old posts to this next chapter.

— K.B. Kusina

Family stories seasoned with Filipino heart — boyinthekitchen.com