For celebrated actress and TV host Dimples Romana, feeding a family of five means addressing five different appetites—and finding ways to bring them all together at the table.
“Big yes!” she says when asked whether everyone at home has different cravings. Her husband Boyet favors Chinese food and “all things noodles,” while her daughter, who has been based in Australia for four years, remains loyal to Filipino food. “She still cooks and eats everything with rice,” Romana shares. Her son Alonzo, meanwhile, is a student-athlete and has the appetite to match, while youngest Elio is the easiest diner to please as “he would try anything.”
Rather than forcing everyone to agree on what’s for dinner, the family takes turns indulging one another’s cravings. Romana herself happily eats what everyone else is having, though Filipino and Japanese food are among her personal favorites.
“We do our best to pick days of giving in to each other’s cravings,” she says. It helps that cooking isn’t her sole responsibility. Everyone in the family knows their way around the kitchen, which means individual cravings can sometimes become something for the entire household to enjoy. “We all cook as well, so we literally just cook our own food to share with everyone else just to enjoy the salu-salo.”
Grocery Shopping Is Dimples Romana’s Me Time
For the actress, wife, and mother of three, wandering supermarket aisles has unexpectedly become a source of solace. “We do grocery once a week, or twice when I want to relax my mind,” she says. “It has become a place for me to have my precious me time.”
It might sound contradicting that a daily household chore doubles as an escape from the demands of work and family life, but Romana sincerely relishes the ritual. “A hundred percent,” she says of her love for grocery shopping. “Being a wife, a mom of three multigenerational kids, and working at the same time, I enjoy the solitude I get in grocery stores.”
There is pleasure in the process itself: walking through orderly aisles, considering what the family needs for the week, and discovering a few things they simply want. “Picking out what we need and sometimes want, just having options presented in such organized beauty makes me almost giddy each time,” she says.
Dimples Romana Reveals the Grocery Staples She Always Keeps at Home
Q: Favorite junk food?
DR: Choco Mallows and Takis. My childhood faves. Well, the Takis are for Kuya Alonzo.
Q: Favorite supermarket shortcut?
DR: I’m Kapampangan and Bicolana and Boyet is Bisaya so we enjoy a multitude of different sauces. I love all things sarsa, red and creamy and even gata; our kids love pizza, bread and pancakes for sure.
Q: Biggest supermarket splurge?
DR: Specialty sauces and steak rubs. Being a working mom gives me little to almost no time to prep for cooking. Everything has to be done fast and conveniently. The ready-made sauces and rubs make cooking happily possible and enjoyable for me even with limited time.
Q: Favorite checkout line treat?
DR: Batteries, toothbrush and M&M’s—something about these things make me want to get them every time I see them at the counter. The sweets, the batteries in case of emergency, and the toothbrushes for visitors we constantly get at home.
Q: Most surprising thing in my cart?
DR: Nori. I find that it works for all meals, especially the spicy ones. Like a food hack of some sort.
Q: One item that’s always on my list?
DR: Seafood and meat. Can’t have too much at home. We like to cook on a whim. We have to have meat and seafood all the time.
Q: Ingredient I’d drive the farthest for?
DR: Curry cubes/powder. A good curry seasoning will always be worth any drive.
Q: What I’d stock up on in the event of an apocalypse?
DR: Sinigang mix and Coke Zero. We cook sinigang daily (almost) we have to have soup always and all of us at home enjoy all kinds of sinigang. A sure hit always. More so in case of an apocalypse. And Coke Zero, well, for energy
Frequently Asked Questions
Dimples Romana is a celebrated Filipino actress and television host known for her work in Philippine film and television. She is also a wife and mother of three, and often shares glimpses of her family life, food, and everyday routines with her audience.
Dimples Romana says her childhood favorites are Choco Mallows and Takis, although the Takis are mainly for her son Alonzo.
She says seafood and meat are always on her grocery list because her family likes to cook on a whim.
She relies on ready-made sauces and steak rubs to make cooking easier and faster as a busy working mom.
A good curry cube or curry powder is worth the extra trip for Romana.
