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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Hopia like it

Hopia like it

Published Oct 18, 2025 12:05 am  |  Updated Oct 17, 2025 04:33 pm
MEDIUM RARE
Mooncake, anyone?
Under the lunar calendar, the August Moon Festival happened last Oct. 6, a Monday. But as long as there’s a moon and mooncakes to share, you may still enjoy your mooncake, whenever and wherever.
Maya was five years old when she discovered the moon in the mooncake. “It’s the yolk, that’s the moon!” she exclaimed, sounding like Galileo when he discovered that the earth is round.
Maya, now 19, is on a $100,000 scholarship grant in one of her five “dream universities” and I cannot wait to ask if she misses bibingka, especially with Christmas approaching, or if she can remember the look and taste of hopia. Hopia, the least glamorous, I think, of Chinatown’s delicatessens.
Hopia, a very large one, was the prize I won at a dice game played after lunch at Manila Hotel with the bon vivant Benjie Yap and friends a few days ago. I would have preferred to win the jackpot, which was in cash, but as I consoled myself, be happy with hopia, even if it was a consolation prize. That’s right, there’s hope in hopia, next year.
I was happy with my hopia, and proudly posed with it for pictures with my tablemates and co-celebrators: Benjie, Fermin, Evelyn, Joy (without Putch), Renie, Niwa (without Olive), Annie and Cap, Manny, Michelle and Mio.
Rachy Cuna, Manila Hotel’s decorator and stylist, chose green and gold silk for his color theme this Christmas. “Peace and prosperity, true,” he said, “but it’s too early for the tree. Come back in a week or two!”
Traffic should be picking up in the city by then. I was mildly surprised that last Wednesday, at 10:30 a.m., the drive from Diliman, Quezon City, to Luneta took only 50 minutes. Going home after 2:30 p.m. was the same. Have car owners learned to be paranoid or are they just being forced to plan their trips more assiduously, or was I just lucky?
Gasoline and diesel prices may go up, but since when have they mattered when happy events are the reasons driving us to get in the car for a ride? As I was leaving the hotel lobby, a bride and her groom were arriving to start their honeymoon.
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