Human bonding

No, the season ain't over till it's over, to quote legendary Yankee catcher Yogi Berra. Just when I thought I could tighten my belt bit by bit by going on intermittent fasts and yes, dieting to take the weight off my aching knees, who should text to announce they were in town and would like a reunion of friends?

It was the Big J herself, as her husband and sports writer-editor Al Mendoza refers to Soly Ferro Juvida, our colleague in the Women Writers in Media Now, Marcosian years. It's always a pleasure to meet up with Al and Sol and their son Dayong Mendoza from whom I pick up painting tips.

Baguio art patrons Des Bautista and wife Auring hosted early dinner at Iggy's Inn: kilaweng kambing, goat caldereta, fish sinigang, nilasing na hipon, lechon kawali with kangkong, etc.

Before the evening was over, chess grandmaster Eugene Torre strode in with wife Marlene, she with the pixie salt and pepper haircut that we admired. Marlene has earned the nickname "My love" because of the endearment with which she calls Eugene, even in public.

The chess whiz brought out a black handsome box marked "Lakan"; it contained an elegantly packaged bottle of lambanog (coconut wine) which the men proceeded to drink apart from their red wine. Rolly Fernandez being the designated driver, he just sipped water and later, hot hibiscus tea.

Here we are, pausing from our merriment to preserve a different kind of family get-together for posterity.

Photo courtesy of Dayong Mendoza

Here's to the kitchen and the color purple

I met another purple lady at the recent Love Food Love Words cooking and writing workshop of the Baguio Writers Group (BWG) at Iggy's Inn.

Dr. Kristin Bagasin of Cavite earlier confessed that all she could do in the kitchen was toss a salad, but our resource persons in cooking, sisters-in-law Auring and Leonie Bautista, showed that anybody can if filled with the desire to learn how to feed oneself well. Lessons on so much on so little.

It was around the second day of the workshop when we noticed how Kristin always came outfitted in different shades of purple (scarf, blouse, pants, wristband) and wrote her compositions using a fountain pen with purple ink. She had heard about the workshop from the Foundation Pen Network. (Thank you, Joseph Uy, for plugging the BWG activity to your fellow fountain pen enthusiasts.)

Before we knew it, during breaks between cooking and writing, Kristin was holding an impromptu calligraphy sub-workshop and emailing us free PDFs of beginners' guide to calligraphy.

It did feel good to write with one's hand, to feel the words gushing out or sputtering when holding on to an elusive memory, all these amid a well-lit setting with orchids around us to pleasantly distract the eyes.

Here's to you, Kristin and the color purple.

Kristin recalls how peeling a chico while alone in a kitchen left her marked for life.

Air-dependent beauty hanging by a window

This first workshop on food and words proved how the kitchen is the home's heart and soul once early memories are stirred. Hope it gives rise to a series of similar workshops that will be possible with future sponsorships. First row, from left: Baboo Mondoñedo, Auring Bautista, Babeth. Standing: Regina Newport, Ben Tapang, Mark Manalang, Doc Kristin, Chris Flores, Jenny Cariño, Merci Javier Dulawan and Leilani Chavez.

"For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well."- Luke 12:23, 25, 26, 29, 31 NIV

Discovering how food and words feed each other

Love Food, Love Words

Julia Child it was who wrote, "No one is born a great cook, one learns by doing."

Whether it's cooking (for which I confess to be a 1.9 on a scale or 10) or writing (for which I would still rate myself that same 1.9--beginner's mind always--got you there!), one must keep doing it. No, I'm not plugging Nike but even that brand got it right.

That is why Baguio Writers Group enjoys doing workshops. Fun and learning fall in love while working with our hands, including taking down notes and doing exercises alone or together, whether chopping onions or chopping lines into stanzas.

So here we go. This e-vite is designed by BWG's VP Jenny Cariño.

While waiting

Just this Monday, I had about a half hour to kill while waiting for friends, two of them balikbayans from New Zealand, to join me for an all-Pinoy lunch (pinakbet, sinigang na malaga, nilasing na hipon, a goat dish, among the "reliables" on Iggy's Inn menu). Rather than open a newspaper, whose contents I was familiar with from scanning over breakfast, I brought out my trusty friend, the Canon Powershot, and trained its lens around me, above me, outside me.

Chandelier

Hem of lacy curtain

What's beyond?

Pine trees

Big mouth

From below

Photos by Babeth Lolarga