THE SUNDAY DRILL

To Gaggan-trained Rhea Rizzo, the chef behind the dining destination Mrs. Saldo’s, tucked away on a hilly, forested terrain in Silang, Cavite, Sundays are sacred. It’s as still as the surface of a pond in a garden on a gentle day, as relaxing as a glass of Saint-Estèphe, sipped slow and with no rush, and as soothing to the spirit as a copy of Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist on her lap. 

What is your idea of a perfect Sunday?

Usually I work on a Sunday, but maybe if I weren’t working, maybe I would attend mass, listen to the homily, and then after I’d like to start with a glass of Chenin Blanc or champagne followed by a bottle of Saint-Estèphe, one of Bordeaux’s Left Bank red wine appellations made mostly with cabernet sauvignon and merlot or both, to go with my slow, leisurely lunch. I’m both responsible and an organized chaos.

I’m also a musicophile, so I can get Sunday start with jazz or rhythms and blues, which can evolve later on into something more upbeat. This and a meaningful conversation with someone I love, then we can later on watch a movie with popcorn or go outside to look at the stars and listen to crickets or watch the sunset, and have more wine. 

Best words to describe Sunday

Respite. Rearrange. Recharge. Rhea.

Book you recommend as a Sunday read

Something beautiful and inspiring and gets you energized before another week begins, something like The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand or The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Life of Pi by Yann Martel or Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

Best Sunday companion

Someone I love. Also, if I could, if we’re talking about wishes, I would spend the day Lee Kwan Yew or Queen Elizabeth the First, I find them both most intriguing. Lee Kwan Yew was one of those who had a vision and made it all happen, and was such a person of influence and duty all throughout his life. Queen Elizabeth I because I would love to know how she navigated through the politics, the men in court, and other kings and queens who tried to influence or manipulate her or kill her. I’d like to know the hard decisions she had to make for the sake of the country she so loved she once proclaimed, early on in her reign from 1558 to 1603, “I am married to England.” She was 27 when this responsibility fell on her shoulders.

What is the most extravagant thing you could think of having or doing on a Sunday?

Maybe fly to San Sebastián or coastal France and have a bottle of champagne and a bunch of fresh oysters, some Cantabrian anchovies, and those out-of-this-world green olives before watching an orchestra or a dance performance. I’d end the day in the hot tub at a beautiful hotel with a glass of red.

What would be the perfect topic for Sunday brunch conversation? 

Goals, fantasies, life, travel plans. I feel like the rest of the week is work, which entails a lot of work discussions. Sundays should be for dreaming.

Best movie or series that once made your Sunday

Oh there’s so many—Meet Joe Black, Pride & Prejudice, the one of Keira Knightly and Matthew MacFayden. I also love Lalaland, 50 First Dates, The Fault in Our Stars, Indiana Jones, Romancing the Stone. I can go on and on, but everything about 50 First Dates is the epitome of a Sunday, especially the last scene on the boat. When Matthew MacFayden professed his love to Keira Knightley in the rain in Pride & Prejudice and that walk in the morning mist are a whole Sunday on their own. In Meet Joe Black, that father and daughter dance, the exquisite dress on the flawless Claire Forlani, the love scene, the farewell walk of Anthony Hopkins with Brad Pitt beyond the hill are forever etched on my mind.

A quotable quote about Sunday that’s made for you

“Poetry is truth in its Sunday clothes” by Philibert Joseph Roux or “Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week” by Joseph Addison or “I once spent a year in Philadelphia, I think it was on a Sunday” by W. C. Fields.

What does “wear your Sunday Best” mean to you?

I’m really a “dress” girl. It’s the easiest. You just put it on and go. A nice garden dress and wedges during the day, and maybe a red or black number with stilettos at night. 

If you were to write a book about the Sundays of your life, what would be the title? 

She left with Sunday and never looked back

Best Sunday ever in your life

On the beach with my family when the kids were little and they were having the time of their lives, smiling like they were never going to get old. I wanted to freeze that memory and fold it to put in my pocket. When it was perfect and you felt so much love that it overflowed into the ocean.

Worst Sunday in your life

I close my doors to anything bad on a Sunday.

If Sunday were a flavor, what would this flavor be?

Sunday is beautiful Cantabrian dried olives drenched in heavy, a tad acidic, extra virgin olive oil washed down with a beautiful glass of maybe an Australian or South African sauvignon blanc or a Puligny Montrachet. Or the most amazing O-toro, just lightly torched with the crispest nori and Edo-style sushi rice with a summer sake. Or fresh Brittany oysters or Hokkaido oysters or those oysters faintly grilled with a bagna cauda from San Francisco with a glass of a Ruinart Blanc de Blanc. 

Where in the world would you like to be next Sunday, if you can just go there by magic

Tokyo, Kyoto, Honolulu or Maui, or Kawaii, San Sebastian, San Francisco, Napa, Paris, New York, Arcachon, Sorrento, Ubud, Bangkok, Shanghai, Morocco, or New Orleans—in this order

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