A Tuscan afternoon

The invitation to lunch was irresistible--the hostess was going to prepare American roast ribs (the better to lick our fingers with) and was going to give my husband Rolly a bag of tulip bulbs for planting when the temperature drops lower in December or January next year.

When we got to Mother's Garden in Barangay Fairview, Quezon Hill, Baguio, our hearty appetites were there to flatter the cook and hostess, Therese Jison. The salad plates were brought out, followed by the star of the afternoon, the ribs. Words fail to describe the crisp top and juicy middle. I had two heaping servings and was rubbing my belly for the rest of the day.

Straight from the oven

Perfect pairing of salad and roast

Therese called ours a Tuscan lunch because in Tuscany, Sunday lunches go on and on until dusk. Which was what happened on this particular Sunday as talk ran the gamut of raising children, raising pets, the life of endurance that Baguio exacts of its residents, the culture of impunity that is keeping the country's progress at a standstill.

But then dessert came: peach melba and whatever negative pronouncements vanished in the clear air! Therese's partner, retired hotel executive Heiner Maulbecker, told of the dessert's history. How a restaurant owner paid tribute to a then famed opera singer, Nellie Melba. He named the dish after her. Heiner said, "Who remembers the opera singer? But we know peach melba." Forthwith, he dug into his bowl con gusto!

If this dessert could only sing, what would it say?

Photos by Kimi Fernandez

Baguio garden-resto reopens with homegrown dishes

Therese Jison Photo by EV Espiritu

Baguio garden-resto reopens with homegrown dishes

Sunflower's pretty cousin

Our friend from Mother's Garden gifted my spouse a pot of this tall flower on Father's Day. I asked him today for its name. He said it's a relative of the sunflower. I found the filial relationship appealing so I didn't bother to go down and to go out anymore to check on the scientific name taped on the pot. Thank you, Therese Jison, for the horticultural beauty, and thanks, Rolly, for taking good care of it so it can stay as pink and white as it has for the past two weeks. Photos by Babeth Lolarga

How to stage a surprise party in less than 2 weeks

...which was all the time I needed to work my phone and find out if my friends in Manila and Baguio could help me spring another surprise (the last was in 2009 at our silver wedding anniversary) on 63-year-old Rolly Fernandez. Ninety-eight percent of those I texted were game, the rest had other commitments that they couldn't get out of. The odds were in the birthday boy's favor.

My fellow conspirators had a credible cover: a Sunday meeting of the Baguio Writers Group combined with a thanksgiving lunch after BWG was conferred the Gawad Pedro Bucaneg by the Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas (we did meet yesterday after the party spirit settled down over coffee to talk about future activities; the meeting wasn't just a clever diversion ploy).

The guests were game for the "roasting" of the diamond jubilarian. His quirks/habits, particularly the way he takes his job/s over-seriously (as journalism professor before he retired last year and as a working journalist), were uncovered by "grillers" Anna Leah Sarabia, former student Avigail Olarte (she said she and her female classmates from Batch 2000 were all sick with the Electra complex when they dealt with their teacher), Upsilon senior brod Des Bautista and Linc Drilon. Heckling from the sidelines was Rolly's UP Baguio colleague Del Tolentino. Maryland-based Baguio boy Benjie Abellera sent his message by email. Thank you again, fellow grand schemers, dreamers and heart-breakers. 

Well, for those who didn't make it, here are the photos from Anna's and my cameras that say, "Wish you were there!"

The yogurt-fed, organically raised roast suckling pig  was supposed to have been Rolly's offering to the BWG folks. He later realized it was also his gift to himself.

Our daughter Kimi picks Mario's key lime pie instead of a birthday cake. Good choice because everyone loves its lemon-y taste (pampaalis suya).

Early arrivals Oscar Pacis, who leads a Saturday Bible fellowship at his home with wife Toottee (seated rightmost), Anna Leah, who came all the way from Tagaytay, BWG vice president Jenny Cariño and Auring Bautista who made a lovely fish ceviche.

Linc Drilon with our youngest daughter, who also pulls her own surprise by coming home from abroad while awaiting a new work permit, and Kai of the tantalizing eyes

Scholars Del Tolentino and Ben Tapang bring in some booze. Therese Jison and Heiner Maulbecker bring up the rear, the apple pies and ice cream following them.

The girls at Green Valley (from left): Ida, Kai, Kimi, Luchie Maranan, BWG treasurer Merci Javier Dulawan and Anna Leah

Linc croons "Moon River" while Guido
Canero plays the violin.

Guido's solo of The Beatles' "Yesterday"

Mira Abaño accompanies herself in her cover of "Keep Breathing," her advice to many senior citizens in the audience.

Jenny Cariño heats up the afternoon with her "Volcano."

Avie Olarte speaks in behalf of UPB Journalism Batch Class 2000 whose members often wondered where Rolly got his perkiness for a 7 a.m. class. It must've been the beer from the night before.

Des Bautista (left) regales guests with anecdotes about how he, his family and circle of friends initiated younger fraternity brod Rolly into Baguio life. 

Scholars Ben and Del listen by the foot of the stairs. Ben tells Rolly that his made-to-order bulol buffet table is too Caucasian-looking with its tall nose and pointed chin.

Baboo Mondoñedo arrives in time for the BWG meeting with a box of Cafe by the Ruins ensaymada to go with the coffee. By quiet consensus no liquor allowed during said meeting. 

After his roasting, Rolly responds with the story of how 1992, the year our family moved to Baguio, remains the best year of his life. Born to parents from Cavite, he now calls himself a Baguio boy through and though.

They all laugh at what Rolly is saying.

Víspera del cumpleaños

I really don't know if I'm correct in my elementary translation, or transliteration, of the phrase "eve of birthday." When you are turning 57, it's best to let the persons closest to and younger than you to make certain decisions like should we have cake or not? Of course, we should--kailangan pa ba pag-usapan 'yan?

Having tasted Jayjay's chocolate cake at his 42nd birthday party at Mother's Garden, there was no doubt where we would source the cake. I asked Chiqui Torres, Ph.D., one of the party organizers and good friend of Jayjay's mom, Therese Jison, where the cake came from. She directed me to Marie whose bakery/cafe, Cottage Gi, is near the Caltex gas station on Legarda road and City Camp with telephone number 442-4864.

My resourceful daughter did the calls and requested for extra flowers. Those flowers are not shaped icing that taste like sugar cubes. These particular cake flowers taste like genuine pastillas de leche. I kid you not.

When the cake was ready for pick-up, my daughter was surprised at how colorful the whole thing was. We were supposed to wake up at midnight to finally try it, but we just let the cake cool in the fridge for less than hour, then unanimously decided, "Okay, let's have it!" which is Lolarga code for "Let's eat." 

Even Butones, from whose "trust funds" the money for the cake came from, couldn't resist touching and tasting and having spoonful after another until she was sticky all over. I call her by the flavor "ChocoKai."

What truly sold me to this cake with no preservatives is the receipt handwritten by the baker itself. After she had written out the amount paid to her, she scribbled in "Thanks!" Now, will you ever read that in other pastry shops? I doubt it, but it made the eve of my 57th spin extra special.  To Chiqui, Therese and, indirectly, Jayjay, thank you for leading us chocoholics to Marie.

Photos by Kimi Fernandez

To the tall man in the argyle pullover

Yes, he's the big guy in our lives, practically the only one because we're a houseful of women and girls, except for my youngest daughter who lives and works overseas like many OFWs seeking the proverbial green pasture.

Yesterday afternoon we all got ready to dress up in colorful attire for a friend's birthday out in Panorama Cafe at Mother's Garden in Upper Fairview, Quezon Hill. We knew how Mr. Big Guy turns wimpy when it comes to parking on slanted roads or maneuvering narrow curved roads when the weather is uncooperative so he decided early on that we would cab it to the venue.

But there was wee Ms. Kai, all of 14 months old, and who we couldn't expose to the rain and cold, no matter how warmly she was dressed. So Tats, as she calls her Grumpa, conceded and agreed to drive us to town, park his car at the office, then we all hailed and rode a fairly new-and-clean-looking cab for the ride to Quezon Hill as the fog turned milky thick.

We sat at one end of the long table. He sat at the other end with his guy friends. Every now and then, Kai would catch a of glimpse of him, smile her entrancing smile with her eyes turning smaller and her charm turned on a notch higher, and Mr. Big Guy would push back his chair and walk towards us to pick up the baby now turned toddler and take her around so she could get a better vantage point in viewing The View.

My friends in Baguio, Toottee Pacis and Therese Jison, always like to tell me something I have long accepted as a given in our family life today--that Kai has the only guy in our lives 'round her little pinky. Here's the evidence. And so we wish him our loving and lovable best on Father's Day!

Photos by Babeth Lolarga

Where the view is fair

Getting to Mother's Garden on Upper Fairview Road in Quezon Hill is a bit of a challenge for my partner, a longtime resident of Baguio who is still not used to maneuvering the city's slanting roads and steep inclines. Just mention a trip to Mother's Garden, and his terse instruction is: "Mag taxi na lang kayo."

And taxi we did one late morning last week for a scheduled interview with Therese Jison who runs the garden with a light touch. We lingered over what she called fusion tea concocted from the herbs in the garden. This was followed by a very continental lunch of grilled veal bratwurst with a flavorful gravy of caramelized onions and mushroom with French bread and a sunny side up fried egg on the side.

Our little Butones loved the bread. Her mom, our designated photographer Kimi, loved the salad that had an edible flower on top, all freshly harvested from the garden. We enjoyed all this at the panoramic open-air Panorama Cafe that looks out to the neighbor's tree of African tulips and farther on to Aurora Hill and Busol watershed.

While waiting for the ride home, I enjoyed feeding an insatiable pig that lives in harmony in a pen with a family of rabbits.

Therese said while carrying Butones around, "These are my two loves: babies and animals." And gardens, of course.