MEDIUM RARE Which television footage did you find more compelling? The airport worker who swallowed dollar bills to hide the theft? Or the baby-faced leader of the allegedly cult-like Socorro Bayanihan Services appearing before the Senate in a state of bewilderment for his 15 minutes of fame? Those...
MEDIUM RARE One fine day in Cubao, we three had lunch in a Chinese restaurant, being in a pre-celebratory mood for the Mid-Autumn Festival, otherwise known as the season for mooncakes. (The brightest full moon of the year will be on view starting at 5:58 p.m. tomorrow, Sept. 29, according to...
MEDIUM RARE In his usual booming voice – a voice as big as his heart, baritone-like – Tony Pastor announced, “I’ve invited an entire barangay,” or 40 persons to fill four tables at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan. Nothing new as far as Dr. Atty. Pastor, music lover and musician,...
MEDIUM RARE A man of peace such as Pope Francis sees dark clouds forecasting World War 3, which he said is now “being fought piecemeal.” Not only the kind fought as a show of military might between nations, but also the catastrophe that awaits humankind due to extreme climate and environmental...
MEDIUM RARE Bullies do their bullying because they’re bigger, bolder, better equipped. But when they go down to the bottom of the sea under cover of darkness and night to steal coral reefs, that’s outright thievery. Thieves and burglars steal at night because they’re afraid of getting...
MEDIUM RARE There was no rain, ergo no flooding, just as there were no collisions or ongoing roadworks. Yet it took me two hours and 40 minutes to travel 20 km from Mall of Asia to Quezon City on a day that was not a Friday, not a pay day. At that rate and at a cost of ₱67 per liter of gasoline...
MEDIUM RARE As a restaurateur who cooks and invents her own dishes, Sandee Masigan is also a food stylist who knows how the camera can glamourize a dish’s visual appeal; more importantly, she’s well aware of the urgent need to minimize food wastage. First on her list of to-do’s that have...
MEDIUM RARE Former DOT secretary Mina Gabor, who was used to going places as that designation once dictated, is now going to even more places. Besides Bohol – she likes going there, based on how many times the name of the province came up during our conversation – she’s currently...
MEDIUM RARE I’m usually cheap to feed – no steak, no lechon for me – but because it was the day before Grandparents’ Day, Cook served me a heavenly serving of salad flavored with cilantro. As I’ve been saying even before the start of what they described as “inflationary prices of...
MEDIUM RARE Funny, that funny girl Marissa Sanchez – comedian, actor, singer, all-around entertainer who cracks jokes at even the most inappropriate moments (and gets away with it) – should be the author of a slum book in which she asks impertinent questions like: At your funeral, whom do you...
MEDIUM RARE To those unfamiliar with the national language – is it Tagalog, Pilipino, or Filipino? – not that I’m an expert, but those of us who speak the street lingo know that “nakaka” is a prefix in the superlative degree. Hence, “nakakalokal” in translation would mean going...
MEDIUM RARE Back in Los Angeles, before she came home for good after more than 22 years, my cousin Ann had kept hearing about this Filipino restaurant with a “fantastic ambience and an equally fantastic menu” of authentic Filipino food. When she officially became a balikbayan, the first...
