MEDIUM RARE It’s a new year 11 days from now – going by the Chinese lunar calendar. Following the Gregorian calendar, the date would be Jan. 29, start of the Year of the Serpent, a sign of luxury more than of betrayal that Westerners fear. As Serpent is a wood sign, green is the color of...
MEDIUM RARE Long ago, long “before the Covid pandemic,” when I lived in Malate to be near the office, we had the habit of dining “after the concert at CCP.” Our trio was composed of Josie Darang (who has since become the late Josie Darang), Pablo Tariman, and myself. The fare was a full...
MEDIUM RARE Maybe it wasn’t the party of the century, but who needs a century when you’re only 79 years old? Bon vivant Benjie Yap, who “collects everything” from antique jars to contemporary jewelry, celebrated his birthday amid 50 shades of blue and an army of friends, including fellow...
MEDIUM RARE Is it possible, said my fellow traveler, to walk through Hong Kong without bumping into another Filipino? Neither of us has the statistics for a yes or no, but experience would say, “Not very likely.” More likely, they’d be standing with you in your elevator in the hotel, or...
MEDIUM RARE My calendar tells me there are 365 days in 2025, with February allotted its 28 days. No, there will be no Feb. 29 this year. According to conventional wisdom, 30 of those 365 days are national holidays, not counting those to be declared on the spot, as it were, by governors or mayors...
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...
