Dispatch from the edgiest

Anderson Cooper's "Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival" (together with a couple of magazines about a favorite personality, Ms. Daphne Oseña Paez, and a favorite hobby, wristwatch collection)

DISPATCHES FROM The Edge:  A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper is one of my favorite books of all time.  I read it first in 2010 and I’ve been meaning to write about it in length here.  Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten around to doing it.

I got reminded of it when I saw on the news that Anderson Cooper and his crew had been attacked while covering the current crisis in Cairo – that’s 4 C’s! – something that the likes of Christiane Amanpour had denounced.  I think Anderson is alright, having seen his recent broadcast from an “undisclosed” location.

I think he’s not one to run away from where the action is.  But I hope he decides what’s in the best interest of his personal safety, taking into consideration the concern of his family and everybody who cares about him.

CBS’s Katie Couric and NBC’s Brian Williams have just gotten out of Cairo.  I hope to hear that Anderson Cooper follows suit.  Soon.

Anderson Cooper's book and a text from Friendship

 

Copyright © 2011 by eNTeNG  c”,)™©’s  MunchTime™©.  All rights reserved.

Back at the Northwest Building

Four campus journalists whose opinions matter, featured in the Philippine Star.

I READ an article in the Philippine Star a couple of weeks ago that brought me back to that small office at the Northwest Building where I sat at the biggest table at the back of the room.  Back when I was in college.  Yes, I studied where they named buildings after cardinal compass points.

Like the four twenty-somethings in the feature, I too served as the Editor-In-Chief of my school paper – both in college at The New Builder at the Mapúa Institute of Technology, and in high school at The New Beam at the Mapúa Pre-Engineering Technological High School.  I vividly recall being told to have topped a field of 125 aspirants for reportorial staff openings in college.  Of all that I wrote in the tryout, I hold the one about handling criticism, closest to my heart.

During my time I already felt like a rock star, writing my articles in Wordstar and laboring over the dummies a.k.a. mock-ups.  After classes, I’d take one of those beat-up buses to make it to our printing press somewhere on the way to the University of the Philippines.

There was always one issue I’d look forward to releasing every year.  And like most campus journalists, I had my share of being summoned to the president’s office over a controversial piece.  I was told that I was supposed to be let go by those uncomfortable with what we wrote – but they just couldn’t as I was at the top of my class.

Ah, memories.

I can’t wipe off this smile on my face as I read this write-up.  Gosh, the kids nowadays.  And all the gadgets and the power of the internet at their fingertips.  I feel so old.

Copyright © 2010 by eNTeNG  c”,)™©’s  MunchTime™©.  All rights reserved.

A thing that makes me happy

Part of my collection of Teodoro "Teddyboy" L. Locsin, Jr.'s "Free Fire" in TODAY

I AM A COMPLETE NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS junkie.  In this day and age when information travels through optical cables underground and underwater, beamed through satellites in dizzying speed, I still crave for the feel of paper between my fingers, not the click of a mouse, when I wake up in the morning.

So you see, I love newspapers.  I still belong to the old school – okay, ancient – people who prefer to pay for the content that they read.  Not that there’s anything wrong about totally relying on what’s made available free on the net.

For a couple of weekends now, I’ve devoted a huge chunk of my weekends to preserving my more-than-a-decade-old stash of newspaper clippings.  By preserving, I don’t really mean slipping each clipping in a polyester-film folder with a sheet of alkaline-buffered paper as the backing.  No.

I simply mean cutting each article to size – or cutting them into two to three parts – then pasting them on white bond paper.  My specifics are quite simply sourced – legal sized (8½” x 13”) “substance 24” bond paper, and a heavy-duty glue stick that glides on smooth.  Of course there’s the trusty cutter, and a lot of plastic rulers (I end up cutting their edges so I go through them quite fast).

My newspaper clippings run a gamut of feature subjects – wristwatches, wristwatch stores, restaurants, recipes, food, Teodoro “Teddyboy” L. Locsin, Jr., interviews, the “Playtime” features in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Margarita Araneta Fores, and Kris Aquino.  Yes, Kris Aquino.  But only her broadsheet interviews and stories about her advocacies – not the sleazy showbiz gossip people make up about her.

Some of my favorites

"What's respect got to do with newspapers?"

My all-time favorite from his "Free Fire" column... "Really something about Mary."

As for columnists, I’ve collected and continue to collect the works of Teodoro “Teddyboy” L. Locsin, Jr. (his “Free Fire” in TODAY), Kris Aquino (her “Kris & Tell” in the Philippine Daily Inquirer in the early 2000s), Celine R. Lopez (“From Coffee To Cocktails” – the one with the really nice essays), Winnie Collas Monsod, and Jessica Zafra (from “Twisted” in TODAY to “Emotional Weather Report” in the Philippine Star).  For a while, I followed Scott R. Garceau.  But not anymore.

"Kris and Tell" from a decade ago!

One clipping that made mention of the late former president's fresh corned beef. Just reading about it whets my appetite!

So far, I’ve finished working on Mr. Locsin’s.  I’m contemplating on starting Jessica Zafra’s.  But that’s quite a lot.  I’m daunted to say the least.

Jessica Zafra from over a decade ago!

That's the look of a writer who seriously means business.

Part of my Jessica Zafra collection is this thick! Though, I want to clarify that I still buy the books.

Working with newspaper clippings can be a dirty job. Hehehe.

Copyright © 2010 by eNTeNG  c”,)™©’s  MunchTime™©.  All rights reserved.

A feast that pleased the eyes and the belly

Kanin Club Turon a la mode

OUR VISITORS had ribs at Racks the night before.  So when they go home to Singapore, it would be quite hard to claim that they have had authentic Filipino cuisine.  Definitely, they couldn’t put a check mark yet by “eat local food” on their to-do list.

Our renowned Filipino hospitality would be all for naught if we were not to solve this seeming conundrum for our first-time visitors.

Fortunately, they were billeted at the best hotel south of Manila – also the house of my favorite ube ensaymada – that it was quite easy to decide where we’d host them for dinner.  And it didn’t hurt that our restaurant choice made it to the first ever edition of the Miele Guide, launched in Singapore in the 2008/2009 season – Kanin Club at Westgate in Alabang.  (Now on its third year, the Miele Guide has established itself, in its creator’s own words, to be the most credible, independent and respected system through which restaurants are evaluated across Asia.  Before a restaurant makes it to the list, it goes through four rounds of gruelling evaluation and voting.  More details are available at www.mieleguide.com.)

I didn’t have my trusty Canon IXUS 860IS with me that evening.  That explains the lack of food photos on this post.  My colleague Lester did have his Nikon D3000, but I didn’t want to impose my shoot-first-eat-later policy (hahaha!).  But by dessert time, I was able to oblige him to snap a couple of shots of the fabulous KC Turon a la Mode.  I found myself having to describe it on-the-spot to one of our guests.  I called it a dessert of banana slices stuffed with a strip of ripe jackfruit, purple yam jam, sweetened young coconut strips and red mung beans, dusted with dark brown sugar, rolled in rice paper and deep-fried.  The caramelization on the wrapper was achieved by adding more brown sugar while frying.  Kanin Club added a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds as a finishing touch.

Yet another Kanin Club Turon a la mode!

Kanin Club, while unmistakably a casual dining place, boasts interiors replete with the upper class, almost elitist air of Filipino houses during Spain’s 333-year occupation of the Philippines.  The walls intersperse modern glass and old stained glass windows.  The dining table has the shadow box treatment as the top glass protects underneath wood-and-capiz-shells window panels that appear to have actually been taken from old houses.  And save for the booth cushions and some of the chairs, there are a lot of the wrought iron chairs that my grandmother had at home when I was a kid.  A couple of those have survived to this day – one actually “sits” by my brother’s bed, doubling as the night table.

After the interiors had provided the initial feast for the eyes – and opening conversational pieces – it was the food that eventually had our guests and ourselves talking.  As we explained to our three guests, while there still remains very distinguishable and characteristic Filipino dishes, Filipino food has also evolved, imbibing the best influences of Chinese, Indian, American, and Spanish cuisine, among others.

This was how our check looked like (all descriptions, mine).  For our appetizers – Squid in Salt & Pepper (fresh tender squid dredged in a light batter and deep-fried, served with a sweet spicy sauce), Kinilaw na Blue Marlin (chunks of fresh blue marlin “cooked” in vinegar and citrus juices, with minced shallots, ginger and chilies), Tokwa’t Baboy (cubes of deep-fried tofu with slivers of tender pork in a dressing of vinegar, soy sauce and chopped onions), and Gambas con Kabute (fresh jumbo shrimps and mushrooms sautéed in a spicy sauce).

For our salad – Ensaladang Talong (grilled eggplant, peeled and chopped, served with tomatoes and onions in a vinegar sauce).  For our main dishes – Tapa ni Ana (cured and air-dried stips of beef, deep-fried), Chicken Curry, Sinigang na Hipon (fresh jumbo shrimps in a tamarind-soured broth with lots of vegetables), Binukadkad na Tilapia (a whole tilapia, filleted, and deep-fried to a crisp), and Pinakbet (a stew of local vegetables, flavored with fermented shrimp paste, and served with crispy-fried pork).  We enjoyed all these together with Tinapa Rice (garlic fried rice flavored with smoked fish).  Drinks were either the Iced Lemon Tea or Iced Green Tea.

Only the best restaurant's in Asia make it to the Miele Guide! (From the Sunday Inquirer Magazine, 16 November 2008. This is from my personal collection of newspaper clippings.)

 

Kanin Club makes it to the first edition of the Miele Guide.

 

Filipino culinary icon, and my favorite, Margarita Araneta Fores said, "At least we have one restaurant in the Top 20!" I say, not bad at all!

 

What I wore to dinner

 

Copyright © 2010 by eNTeNG  c”,)™©’s  MunchTime™©.  All rights reserved.

An icon’s 24-year food journey

Margarita A. Fores and her 24-year food journey

LECHON (ROASTED pig) in sinigang (meat in a usually tamarind-soured broth with fresh vegetables) with sweet watermelon wedges – unlike flowers for spring in “The Devil Wears Prada” – is groundbreaking.  The first time I had it at Café Bola in Greenbelt 3, I knew all the more just how very special its innovative creator was.  And still is.

I ended up frequenting the place, and the first time I saw her walk in to her restaurant seated to full capacity, I was starstruck.  Her Balenciaga motorcycle handbag and her signature wristwatch gleamed against her dusky skin.  She went straight to the kitchen and I remember catching snippets of her animated speech, punctuated by the hearty cracking and chuckling of her plesantly raspy voice.  I thought to myself, she was more like a friend to her staff, a far cry from how mass media had portrayed the privileged to be snobs – stuck-up, and uppity, and snooty.

She walked out of the kitchen, a small dip dish in her hand – the one free from the dangling leather handbag – and joined a big group at the center of the dining area.  It was her family, I figured.  My sight was still transfixed at her when I realized a lot of the other diners were as well.  That was when it occurred to me!  We were in the presence of real beauty – one capable enough not only to demand our attention but also to hold it captive in its ethereal glow reminiscent of leading ladies in Renaissance paintings.

Right there and then, I knew I had become a fan.

Margarita Araneta Fores, arguably one of the culinary icons of our time, looks back to her 24 years in the food business through her essay “My 24-Year Food Journey” in last Sunday’s The Philippine Star.  A score and four years that gave birth to Cibo, Café Bola, Pepato, Lusso, The Commissary, and soon, Gastroteca di M.

I once wrote here, after having seen her on Secrets of the Masters, that hers is a personality that transcends the barrier and the limitation imposed by the TV screen.  Now, add to it the written word.  I devoured her writing the very same way I would approach her gastronomic innovations – allowing myself to be teased with the first quick taste, the first small bite, only to yield unbridledly in yet another work of (edible) art and heart.

 

 

 

Copyright © 2010 by eNTeNG  c”,)™©’s  MunchTime™©.  All rights reserved.

Of icons and heroes

Twenty-four years of The Philippine Star

THINKING OF what-might-have-beens is a bitch.  And it doesn’t help that I have Lou Pardini on heavy rotation in my head, provoking me with the line that says I could very well be the “fool wondering what might have been.”

In early April, I seriously considered joining The Philippine Star’s “Star Lifestyle Journalism Contest 2010” with the theme:  My Icon, My Hero.  It was a no-brainer who I wanted to write about – Mr. Teodoro “Teddyboy” L. Locsin, Jr.

Mechanics to the Star Lifestyle Journalism Contest 2010

 

Not only have I admired the man for so many years now.  Not only did his then column “Free Fire” serve as a formative influence to my own principles.  Not only do I unequivocally declare his “Assignment” to have given us some of the finest hours on Philippine television.

I have actually written about him here already, that I felt I had a good start for a contest piece.  But I had a swamped schedule (right now, I’m culling from memory a defining moment that happened to me last June 12.  It was punctuated by the line, “But Tim, he has a full-time job!”).  And I eventually yielded to self-doubt.

Finally, the 10 winning pieces were published in yesterday’s 24^th anniversary edition, easily The Philippine Star’s thickest ever, together with features on 24 luminaries from diverse fields of specialization or calling.  I believe it’s going to be a collector’s item so my propensity for contingencies kicked in – I asked my brother to get me another copy.  Besides, I’m so looking forward to the weekend to work on clipping my favorites and putting them in an album.  (I have a modest collection of clippings of Mr. Locsin, Jr.’s “Free Fire” from over a decade ago.)

From the 24 icons and heroes written about by 24 of the paper’s columnists, I have two favorites – Erwin Romulo’s piece on Kris Aquino, and Jessica Zafra’s on the Roger Federer.

Erwin Romulo wrote about Kris Aquino.

 

Jessica Zafra on Roger Federer.

 

Copyright © 2010 by eNTeNG  c”,)™©’s  MunchTime™©.  All rights reserved.

From yesterday’s Sunday papers

Presidential Stylist Liz Uy, a certified force in fashion.

I READ both the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Philippine Star from cover to cover.  And in yesterday’s editions, I found a couple of interesting reads.

I loved the interview of presidential stylist Liz Uy in the Philippine Star.  It was quite interesting to read about the stuff that her refrigerator will yield in a raid.  I’m having lusty thoughts of amazing pasta dishes that I could whip up with her stock of truffle-infused sauce and butter.  But most of all, I found her to be quite down-to-earth, carrying on her role with such grace and composure, with just a hint of an endearing girlish giggly nature thrown in for good measure.

Liz Uy!

And it was nice to find out in the Philippine Daily Inquirer about the complete Inaugural Cocktail Reception menu that Via Mare catered.  I’m so loving the pritchon (fried roasted suckling pig served in pita wedges with a special assortment of sauces) and the corned beef!

The sumptuous Via Mare menu!

 

Copyright © 2010 by eNTeNG  c”,)™©’s  MunchTime™©.  All rights reserved.

Wonderful newspaper read

THIS POST is about breaking my ultimate blog rule.  Eversince this page’s inception, I’ve resolved to only post my own writing.  However – for the first time – an outgoing link deserves mention on this page.  Thanks Sagewin for sharing this most wonderful read.  You are such a “wonderland.”  Hahaha! 

One of my favorite guitar men, the John Mayer, is a wristwatch afficionado!  Read David Colman’s “The Time Keeper” in The New York Times.

“Even a brief brush with Mayer’s wrist will tell you that the man has done his homework. He got through childhood and adolescence with two watches — a “Star Wars” -themed Armitron, followed by a Casio Databank. (There was also a Swatch or two in the mix, but nothing memorable.) In college, before he dropped out to pursue music full time, he had a Timex Ironman. It wasn’t until 2000, when Mayer was 23 and making it big, that the collecting bug really bit.

“When I started to make a little bit of scratch, I thought it was time to get a Rolex,” he said, recalling the swagger with which he picked the Explorer II, with a white face. Although buying it was a marker of success — like his first Grammy, which he’d won for “Wonderland” — it wasn’t long before it was not enough. “I get very into something. I want to research it and check it out,” he said. “The Rolex was just kind of the first rung on the ladder. I remember people saying, ‘Oh, Rolex is all right, but IWC makes a great watch. Audemars Piguet makes a great watch.’ So I go, ‘What’s IWC?’ ””

Copyright © 2009 by eNTeNG  c”,)™©’s  MuchTime™©.  All rights reserved.