MEDIUM RARE Lost. Lacking. Absent. The white light of Christmas also shines on those family members, friends and loved ones who are far away or have gone away, including those who will nevermore return, by choice or fate. Maybe that is why there are 12 days to Christmas, time to miss them,...
MEDIUM RARE For something like the past 45 years, Vic Sotto has been cracking jokes and handing out cash and other pleasant surprises on the noontime TV show Eat Bulaga with Tito Sotto and Joey de Leon. Suddenly he’s now on the wide screen, acting regal and serious in “The Kingdom,” and...
MEDIUM RARE Lechon. Queso de bola. Chinese ham. The three kings of the Christmas feast. A taste of the crosscultural nature of our cuisine. And yet, why is Filipino food not as widely, internationally popular as we think it should be? Sinigang and adobo are wellknown, the way the Japanese have...
Medium Rare Taking a trip to Baguio is like going to a foreign country – different weather, different temperature, a park-like environment of living trees and gardens – yet the traveler has no need to carry a passport with visa. This time of year, the lure and allure of “the city of...
MEDIUM RARE The saying “Give ‘til it hurts” applies not to your friends but the objects of your charity. Funny, though, churchmen have not been using that phrase, not even in their sermons, possibly because they do not want to emphasize that last word of five letters. Gifting, in fact, should...
MEDIUM RARE Traffic! EDSA! EDSA, trapik! Can one exist without the other, at this time of year? One day last week we were to meet for dinner in Greenhills. It was 5:45 p.m., and EDSA was the way – the shortest distance between two points is a straight line – but it was the long way. After...
MEDIUM RARE The 12 days of Christmas. Twelfth Night, eve of Three Kings (Jan. 6). The 12 apostles. Twelve months of the year. Twelve hours and another 12 to make it a day and a night. Twelfth grade, the end of high school before college. Twelve years old, the last year before a human being of...
MEDIUM RARE Quoting Jimmy Laya who was quoting Imelda Marcos, “The water will rise. The land will rise. The curtain will rise.” Sounds like a real haiku, except that Mrs. Marcos and Mr. Laya were not talking about nature and her quirks, but the Cultural Center of the Philippines...
MEDIUM RARE Of course Tarlac’s Belenismo is the logical first stop for an exhilarating Christmas tour, but as not everybody has the means or the wheels, Metro Manila is another good place to start. If London has their Harrods, we have Rustan’s, with branches in Makati, Quezon City...
MEDIUM RARE A cellist occupying center stage with a full orchestra supporting her – how often are we allowed to enjoy this kind of a show? The last time I attended a cello concert, about three years ago, the performer was 13 years old or thereabouts. After the show, I remember very clearly now, I...
MEDIUM RARE Standing at the entrance to the shopping mall, the tall and friendly-looking security guard seemed bored enough to start a conversation. So I asked him a few questions while waiting for my car. I began, “How many pregnant women have come into the mall today?” He was quick to...
MEDIUM RARE One takeaway from the pandemic of 2019 that benefitted many of us: We learned that we didn’t need to “see the doctor” face to face. Before Covid-19 there was only one way to consult a doctor, which was to make an appointment to see him or, in special cases, make him...
