All I want for Christmas...

Something Like Life
BusinessMirror
Dec. 19, 2008

ONCE a year, I usually try to get other people to do my job by asking them to contribute their thoughts for my Christmas column...hahaha. This time I’ve asked a number of friends here and abroad to tell me what they wish for this holiday season. Not that I’m in any position to grant any of them.

A few of them are new friends and familiar names you read in our “very interesting, award-winning paper” almost every day. Others, meanwhile, are friends from way back whom I’ve been able to reconnect with via Facebook. (Okay, here I go again, but as Pangs would say, “If you’re not on Facebook, you don’t exist!” And no, Connie, I am not spending too much time on it that you should look for a boyfriend for me. Then again, sige, look for a boyfriend for me, or at least a part-time lover, preferably 30 years young and below, nyahaha!)

So I asked if they had any wish, and barring any thought to the cost of the gift, what would they want to receive this Christmas? I told my friends it didn’t matter if it was something as simple as the new Apple iPhone 3G or as fantastic as a ride on the space shuttle, or perhaps an audience with the Pope or the Dalai Lama and, while we’re at it, how about a house in Alaska so you can see Russia from your backyard?! The thing was to just take the question and give me answers off the top of their heads.

I also strictly instructed them that they not give me any “let there be peace on Earth” answers, or any response that would be worthy of a contestant in the Miss Universe pageant (or worse, the Bb. Pilipinas...oops!). Of course, there are still those who persisted in gunning for the Miss Congeniality award, but most let it rip and thought out of the box.

(Chef Sau del Rosario)

So Merry Christmas everybody! Read on and find out what’s on everyone else’s wish list this Yuletide season.

• Sen. MAR Roxas II, Liberal Party presidential candidate for the 2010 elections

A few days rest in Baguio, a good book, a fireplace to read by and Korina beside me.

• Chef Sau del Rosario, culinary consultant and owner, Kingdom, a Thai restaurant in Angeles, Pampanga

Can I ask for a driver as a Christmas wish? Okay, somebody give me an iPhone since I cannot afford it anymore after paying all my staff and chefs their 13th-month pay and bonuses. I still own this old Sony Ericsson P910i which I lost in Cebu and was returned to me—maybe because it is too old to keep. Hahaha. Seriously, can I get a driver, Santa?

• Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Government Service, media darling

Get a job abroad with a good retirement plan; get off the fast track in my public career; my only grandkid will be driven by less demons than I have; my second grandkid coming next year will not suffer hang-ups over me; and that I shall die ahead of everybody else I love.

• Rowena “Weng” Orejana, ex-reporter of ABS-CBN News and recently landed migrant in Auckland, New Zealand, with husband Gene Orejana and their four children.

I wish for a job this Christmas. Hahaha. But seriously, I need one so I can get my permanent residency here. It would give us the stability we need.

• Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr., head of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

My Christmas wish is to be able to wake up and watch the sunrise with my wife, Elma, on Christmas Island in Kiribati, the first inhabited island where the rays of a new year strike, because I would always want to begin the day with her.


(Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. and wife Elma)
• Neric Acosta, former congressman of the First District of Bukidnon, now professor at the Asian Institute of Management and environment advocate

I’d wish for WATER, WATER, WATER...fresh, clean, gurgling, abundant, life-giving water...so concretely, I’d ask for a thousand indigenous tree seedlings for every village to plant in a watershed area. I saw this flourishing in the Greenbelt Movement of Kenya when I visited with Prof. Wagari Maathai in 2005, the year she won the Nobel Peace Prize. If each village planted hundreds of trees every Christmas, we’d be healing a battered Earth and reaping the bounties of a greener, cleaner country for years to come. Oh, and one more Christmas gift: a ticket to witness the Obama presidential inauguration.


More star-studded Christmas wish-lists next week...

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. Photos, except for Chef Sau's, are courtesy of the profiled interviewees.)

Restaurants to visit, revisit in the New Year

BusinessMirror
Jan. 11, 2008

First of three parts

THE new year is a good a time as any to sample the new restaurants in the market and revisit a couple of established ones for their new offerings.

Some of these restaurants are outside Metro Manila, such as Verbena in Tagaytay, as well as Al Andaluz and barLo on Boracay Island, Aklan, while two are in a new thriving mall in Quezon City. What they have in common are chefs or professional cooks who like to take chances in creating fabulous new dishes, or are just trying to break out of the usual mold of what a fine-dining chef and his restaurant are supposed to be.

MADISON GRILL, TriNoma, Quezon City

AFTER impressing diners with his Nori Crusted Black Cod with Soy Yuzu Glazed Sauce, one of his signature dishes at M Café, then a New York-style menu at Chelsea’s in Serendra, Chef Sau del Rosario is now at the helm of—my gosh!—a steak restaurant. And in Quezon City to boot!

“People living in Quezon City need a good restaurant. [TriNoma] is a good site as it’s a catchbasin for all sorts. So on my menu I have dishes that are affordable, such as the P450-Madison petit tender [275-gm certified Angus beef],” Del Rosario says in a recent interview with the BusinessMirror.

Just opened last November 21, Madison Grill is not your usual steak house with a log-cabin look. The interiors are pleasant, with walls painted in a pale yellow, and tables and chairs in dark chocolate brown. Cylindrical lamps hang across the center of main dining area, giving off an inviting glow to diners. It’s definitely a place where one can bring a date, or the entire family.

In the middle of the kitchen with see-through glass windows is a wood-fire oven to bake thin-crust pizzas to a crisp. Right in front of it is a long table laden with all the ingredients possible you can choose for your pizza. Your best bet is the five cheese, arugula, granny apple shreds and walnuts pizza, or the Lucban longganisa, salted egg and quesong puti pizza. You may also create your own from the available toppings.

The prepared pizza selections are reasonably priced (P295 to P360) for a 10-inch size, but for P420, you can choose two toppings, vegetables and mozzarella cheese; and P595 for four toppings, plus the veggies and cheese. The pizzas also come in a 16-inch size.

While there are other selections available on the menu (pasta and house signature dishes), I would go to Madison Grill primarily for the salads, steaks and desserts. The crab Caesar salad with baby romaine hearts, bacon and boiled egg is just divine, with the dressing just enough to tie all the flavors of the different ingredients. It doesn’t overwhelm, unlike commercial Caesar salads where the dressing just suffocates the vegetables.

My food buddies and I were served an American-style Kobe rib-eye (P2,180 for 275 gm), which was cooked medium-well and just deliciously tender to the core. The fat was quite adequate to give the meat some heart-stopping goodness. I enjoyed it, considering I’m not really a steak eater. Other steaks offered include Australian and US Wagyu cuts, pork ribs and kurobota pork belly, and certified Angus beef choices. Some of the cuts are available in 400 gm and 800 gm (US Wagyu black tenderloin, P9,280). All grilled items are served with a choice of starch (potatoes or rice), vegetable sidings and sauce.

For dessert, I raved quite a bit over the strawberry trifle, amaretto crumble and mascarpone (P280). The fresh strawberries just lent it a burst of color and tartness to balance the overall sweetness of the creamy dessert.


AL ANDALUZ, Fairways and Boracay Golf Resort and Country Club,Boracay Island, Aklan

IF you’ve enjoyed the Filipino-Spanish cuisine at Dos Mestizos in this beach playground, you will likely relish the Spanish-Moroccan offerings at Al Andaluz.

Also owned by professional cook Binggoy Remedios, Al Andaluz serves interesting Mediterranean fare with a touch of spice and some color in a delightful setting.

The walls are washed in beige, with the deep brown shade of the wooden furniture giving the interiors a stark but pleasing contrast. The walls are accented by large framed portrait prints and decorative ceramic plates, which Binggoy purchased during a recent trip to Andalusia in the southern tip of Spain. These Spanish ceramic tiles best represent the fusion of flavors in Al Andaluz’s dishes, as the plate designs show the remarkable influence of Arab culture on Spanish products.

Binggoy’s young nephew Andre Malarky whipped up a few dishes exemplifying Spanish-Moroccan cuisine and I came away with a newfound respect for it. The cuisine makes use of a lot of seafood, Morocco being bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. So the dishes are quite light but titillating from the gamut of spices used.

For appetizers, my gang of foodies were served a delightful tapas of peppery Gambas Al Pil Pil (sizzling chili shrimp) sans the sizzle, and tender Beef Salpicao served with a long curly string of potato.

For the main course, we had a slice of Charmoula Fish. The charmoula is a Moroccan sauce or marinade made of lemon, garlic, spiced with some cumin and cilantro. Andre also added some paprika, parsley and a touch of tomato to the marinade for extra kick. The fish, a lapu-lapu, was served on a bed of couscous, with dates and nuts. It was flaky and flavorful with the couscous blend quite splendid.

Langostinos Al Ajillo (marinated tiger prawns in garlic) with pesto couscous

Also on the plate was Langostinos Al Ajillo (marinated tiger prawns in garlic) with pesto couscous, which turned out to be my favorite. The prawns was just succulent with the couscous providing a good complement with its intense basil garlic flavor.

Under the watchful eye of his uncle, Andre—who grew up in Canada and only moved back to the Philippines two years ago—has been able to please the discriminating palates of his guests in Boracay. He grew up in a family that loves to cook, and was heavily influenced by his mother whom he used to watch often in the kitchen. “While living in Toronto, I was exposed to many different people and cultures. I have been working in kitchens since my co-op program in high school, and have learned under great chefs since I was 17. Their influence has really helped me along my way.”

Encouraged by his mom, Andre enrolled and completed a culinary management course at George Brown College and earned a diploma from the George Brown Chef School, whose graduates include the top chefs of Canada like Mark McEwan, Jamie Kennedy, Chris Boland and Bonnie Stern.

More delicious entries in the BusinessMirror, this Friday, Jan. 18, 2007.