Lunch for 10
Published Dec 19, 2020 12:06 am
MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
One year and after two events were dropped by the lockdown, Benjie thought it was time to “show confidence” in the gradual opening up of the economy. Forthwith, he invited his comrades to a reunion lunch, “just to see how everybody is doing in challenging times.”
The first challenge was to see how many of the biennial eating club’s 20 members could make it. “Exactly 50 percent are coming,” Benjie announced. The other 50 percent were 1) so accustomed to staying home that going out was not an option; 2) so obedient to IATF, i.e., they’re beyond 65?; or 3) so lucky to be traveling, somewhere at the right place at the right time.
The cast, by table: Benjie, Olive, Joy, Putch, Annie, and J at one table; Rachy, Fermin, Cap, and Niwa at the other table. The two tables were perfect for the size of the room and keeping every other chair empty. If the other 50 percent had made it, our host would have had to reserve two function rooms.
As Manila Hotel’s stylist, Rachy did the tablescape. Tall jars wrapped in “Issey Miyake” gold accordion pleated paper were elegantly positioned along the length of each table. They repeated Rachy’s gold and red theme that warmed the hotel’s glowing lobby lounge. “Gold’s better than silver, which is cold,” he said. Leaves redder than autumn underscored the warmth, banishing snow and ice.
Table talk jumped from toilet paper to what happens to shoes when they’re not worn for nine months, to Red Cross and old movies. Yes, the girls chimed in, leather peels and cracks, the lining frays, new shoes lose their use. Annie volunteered to ask her son, who’s a Red Cross volunteer in Switzerland, for information about a P500 saliva test. Putch raved about a not-so-new movie starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, “The Irishman,” but even the Joy of his life had not heard about it. A man’s movie, I thought, and guessed Putch would not be a K-drama fan like Joy or her friend Olive.
When I stood up to get my pasta, the spicy surprise was the sight of so many Café Ilang Ilang habitues that life looked normal enough to be as colorful as a buffet.
Jullie Y. Daza
One year and after two events were dropped by the lockdown, Benjie thought it was time to “show confidence” in the gradual opening up of the economy. Forthwith, he invited his comrades to a reunion lunch, “just to see how everybody is doing in challenging times.”
The first challenge was to see how many of the biennial eating club’s 20 members could make it. “Exactly 50 percent are coming,” Benjie announced. The other 50 percent were 1) so accustomed to staying home that going out was not an option; 2) so obedient to IATF, i.e., they’re beyond 65?; or 3) so lucky to be traveling, somewhere at the right place at the right time.
The cast, by table: Benjie, Olive, Joy, Putch, Annie, and J at one table; Rachy, Fermin, Cap, and Niwa at the other table. The two tables were perfect for the size of the room and keeping every other chair empty. If the other 50 percent had made it, our host would have had to reserve two function rooms.
As Manila Hotel’s stylist, Rachy did the tablescape. Tall jars wrapped in “Issey Miyake” gold accordion pleated paper were elegantly positioned along the length of each table. They repeated Rachy’s gold and red theme that warmed the hotel’s glowing lobby lounge. “Gold’s better than silver, which is cold,” he said. Leaves redder than autumn underscored the warmth, banishing snow and ice.
Table talk jumped from toilet paper to what happens to shoes when they’re not worn for nine months, to Red Cross and old movies. Yes, the girls chimed in, leather peels and cracks, the lining frays, new shoes lose their use. Annie volunteered to ask her son, who’s a Red Cross volunteer in Switzerland, for information about a P500 saliva test. Putch raved about a not-so-new movie starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, “The Irishman,” but even the Joy of his life had not heard about it. A man’s movie, I thought, and guessed Putch would not be a K-drama fan like Joy or her friend Olive.
When I stood up to get my pasta, the spicy surprise was the sight of so many Café Ilang Ilang habitues that life looked normal enough to be as colorful as a buffet.