Ode to a cupcake

And not just any cupcake--it has to be red velvet. I'm a very late convert to it. My daughters have been into red velvets, oh, since five years ago, maybe more. I guess I was put off by the color and the cloying richness. It made me think of a vamp actress. Can't explain the association.

That was until Martin Masadao introduced me to his friend Odette Mills, fellow Baguio resident who also played a cameo role (but with spoken lines) in Martin's short film "Kitoman (Red Rice)." You see, the word "red" makes an appearance again. Odette brought a sample of her red velvet cheesecake in a neat box that seemed to have been folded by an origami master. I was hooked.

The taste was never replicated, and I refused to touch any other red velvet cookie, cake or cupcake. Not until I could save up for a dozen of Odette's babies. I raved about it to my husband and my granddaughter; the latter was the most excited. Rolly thought it was a frivolous expense because for a lesser price, we could get a box of assorted JCo Donuts (we both like the Alcapone).

The little vamps come in this dainty box with Odette's contact details. Photos by Babeth Lolarga

Odette delivered the goods at Rolly's office two afternoons ago. It was an interminable wait for Kai and myself as we counted the hours until Rolly arrived in time for dinner. Well, the rest is, as they say, history and satisfied cravings.

P.S. If I use Cupcakes by Sonja as my standard, Odette's CakeBaby products are up to par.

We had one with the cream cheese butter frosting. Odette's red velvet cupcakes come also with lemon buttercream frosting. She deliberately makes the cake part not too sweet so the consumer doesn't get umay (hard to translate that Filipino term). Or the consumer doesn't easily tire of it.

One rugrat in the background about to demolish a cupcake.

Masadao's 'Red Rice' and my screen debut

By opening oneself to newness, there are such things as a screen debut in one's dotage when a double chin is prominent, when stains on the cheeks are not freckles but just that--stains from exposing oneself unprotected to the sun.

Baguio's Martin Masadao's short film (seven minutes exactly) "Red Rice" made it to the semi-finals at the Tropfest Southeast Asia early this year. To me it is still a winner in both form and content. But as the Abbess in The Sound of Music said, when God closes a door, He opens another window.

Since February, Martin has updated me by SMS on the road show that "Red Rice" has become as it took part in the exhibition portion of Cinema Rehiyon in Cagayan de Oro. He described his high with the good reception at its first screening at an SM Cinema there and how a Tropfest finalist said, "Dapat nakapasok tayo sa Tropfest. Maganda daw yung entry natin, better pa nga raw than the other finalists."

What followed were invitations to screen "Red Rice" in Bacolod City and at a short film festival at De La Salle University-College of St. Benilde early this month with a request from students to meet the cast, particularly stage-screen pro Banaue Miclat, who played the mother, and her "son" Deuel Raynon Ladia (the same kid who won best actor honors in the 2012 Sineng Pambansa for his starring role in Masadao's Anac Ti Pating). In all of Martin's films (may his filmography grow longer), our city of affection plays a major role; it is more than a setting. May its writers and directors continue to mine these materials. It's the kind of material that goes to its very heart--the diverse people.

My role was a non-speaking part--I played Banaue's mom who must be pillar of strength and comfort as the mother deals with...no, I won't give the plot away. Let's wait until "Red Rice" makes it up to Baguio for a public screening.

Banaue, whose lines were in Iluko, wrote of her role in a note to Direk Martin: "Your story is so beautiful kasi, kaya madaling buhayin at buuin three-dimensionally."

Ladia as a hard-working son in his last scene with his screen lola and mother

When the short film was done (it was filmed in one whole day, plus a few night hours), Martin "premiered" it among friends, including British expats and their spouses, to get feedback from a "foreign" perspective. He wrote, "They were all one in saying that we have a good film. Ang galing-galing ng scene ninyo! Kudos were given to both of you, the lola and mom! Naiyak, in fairness, ang mga puti. Pati ako, nung napanood ko uli sa big screen after how many weeks of not viewing the film, naiyak din ako!"

As Banaue built up her emotions for the final scene, I felt her arm and upper body tremble and I had to contain my own swell of empathy by biting my lower lip. Mabuhay, "Red Rice" team!