Mónica

A Day of Books… and Roses

Yesterday was what I believe to be, the first time for the Philippines to celebrate Día del Libro, the International Day of the Books. Apparently, the International Day of the Books is an important event in several European countries and is a yearly event that is organized on the 23rd of April to promote reading. The celebration originated in Catalonia, Spain where on Diada de Sant Jordi (St. George’s Day), men and women traditionally exchanged a rose for the gift of a book. The 23rd of April was also the date of death of not only the Spanish author, Miguel de Cervanted but also of the English playwright William Shakespeare. Shakespeare died on the same day as his birthday. With three literary masters that died on the same day and in the same year 1616, Miguel de Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, this day is considered as a symbolical date in the world of literature.

Instituto Cervantes Manila aimed to establish this date as a tradition in the Manila cultural calendar… I think they were a brilliant success! It was wonderful to buy books that were 20% off the prices of regular book shops, and also be able to buy Spanish books that ranged from Php20 (£.20), Php100 (£1) and Php200 (£2) and receive a rose along with it. There were some areas which when you paid for your books and got your receipt, you could exchange your receipt for a glass of wine! Now that’s what I call a good bargain! The books I got were on Fil - Hispanic Architecture, Spanish Designers, and I decided to challenge myself to buy a book written in Spanish about Valencia and Madrid. We were also given a copy of Don Quijote de la Mancha, gratis! But, it is in Spanish of course.

There were other activities going on, but as I had to be in class, I missed out on quite a bit. None of us, including our teacher, could concentrate as we all wanted to be out there sampling more wines, cheeses, hams, looking at books, learning Salsa, or perhaps catching the films. I was keen on trying the Paella that was served in the buffet for lunch, but as my photographic evindence will show — they had run out. Madre mia! They had quite a bit of good wines to try and even more, my favorite — cava.

I hope you guys in Europe enjoy Dia del Libro wherever you may be… in Sweden in the Swedish bookshop in Stockholm, in Croatia in Algorithm, or in London cursing all the chavs who are waving their St George’s Day Flags on the way to Waterstone’s, shouting — Ennngggerrrllllaaand.

Enlaces de El Pais (Links from El Pais)
Aquí no hay Sant Jordi
23 de Abril

Hummus Bi Tahina

East meets Middle East! One of the many things I miss about living in London is the diversity of food. True, British food isn’t anything to write home about, but the people who have migrated there have at least brought their food along with them. I would have Hummus quite often when I was living there. Me and the guys at work would regularly go for lunch to Hummus Bros at Wardour Street, and have their Lamb with Hummus and Pita Bread. Extremely good. Occasionally, I would simply buy a tub of Hummus from the shops and drizzle some olive oil in and eat with a baguette. Something I learned from my Arabic friend. Well, if Mohammed won’t go to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed. So today, I made my own Hummus bi Tahina. I must say, I was rather proud that it came out quite good. Here is my “Idiot’s Guide to Hummus”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Día del Libro 2007

21 de Abril 2007 : Día del Libro (International Book Day 2007)

¿Qué vas a hacer en la próxima semana? El Instituto Cervantes de Manila, lo abrirá los puertas a la publica por una día. Todo el dia Feria del Libros, seguido por alguno de la tradición espanola.

What are you doing next weekend? Instituto Cervantes Manila, will open its doors to the public for the day. A whole day of the book fair, followed by some of the Spanish traditions.

My French/Spanish Connection

If Santi’s Deli is for my Swiss and German connection, then Terry Selection is now my solution to my French and Spanish connection. THANK GOD! This place has been here for a while now, but as it is tucked away in the far end of either Pasong Tamo or in Podium, it is not as well known as Santi’s Deli. I asked a friend of mine who is in the restaurant business, where I could find Paella rice or Tapas bowls (for my dinner party fetish), and she recommended Terry Selection. I didn’t know what to expect, but when I got there and saw their variety of wines (though pricey) and other foreign products, I was like in a candy store. They had French products such as Cassoulet, Foie Gras, Wild Boar Paté (all at extortionate prices!) to name a few. They had the usual Spanish products such as Sardines, Hot Chocolate, Chorizzo (Php500+), Cheeses (Php300-700) and some cooking equipments. I was rather tempted to get a Paella Pan, but held back ’till I perfect the art of “Paellarie”. However, the one thing I was ready to purchase were my tapas bowls, but they had run out of stock. Something very common in Manila. But they told me that they would contact me once they got more stock, hopefully by the end of the month. Something indeed to look forward to!

Apart from French and Spanish, they have a few Italian products as well which we purchased. Which were Passata di Pomodoro Fresco (Fresh Tomato Purée), Pomodoro Secchi (Sun dried tomatoes), Flat Parsely, Aceto di Vino (White Wine Vinegar), and a non Italian product but a treat — Raspberry Jam, Bonne Maman. All of these very common in Europe but quite tricky to source out, here in Manila.

I was really pleased to find a place where I can finally get French and Spanish products I miss, even though quite pricey, it is there if ever I feel like a rascal enough to pay those prices (which is bound to happen sooner or later).

Right next to Terry Selection (I keep feeling the need to add ’s, don’t you?!) is a Spanish Restaurant called Segundo Piso, in Spanish meaning Second Floor. The menu was quite interesting, so I am sure I will give it a go one of these days. Don’t worry, I will tell you all about it.

Taho

The photos above are reminiscent of my childhood. Every morning or afternoon you would either hear the Taho man’s clown hooter sound off or him simply calling out “Taaahhhhhooooo”. My nanny would make sure she would catch him in time to buy me my favorite “street food”, Taho. Most Taho vendors walk with two buckets balanced by a wooden plank on their shoulders, some (like my Taho vendor) rides a bike, which makes it quite tricky to catch him! I used to love watching the Taho man prepare taho with his two aluminum buckets with its compartmentalised ingredients. One bucket just for the Tokwa or Tufo (Bean Curd), another bucket divided into two sections for the Sago or Tapioca Pearls and the last compartment is for brown sugar syrup known as Arnibal. It is usually served to you quite warm, but some people do like eating Taho cold. The Taho could have possibly come from Chinese influences, as they have something identical, if not similar, called Douhua.

Ever since I arrived here, I have been craving for Taho and have been quite vocal about it too! Yesterday morning, when I woke up I heard his clown horn go off and my mom rushing to tell me that he was outside our house and asked me if I wanted some Taho. My immediate reaction reminded me times of my childhood, grabbing 20 pesos (£0.20) and a glass, (plus, this time, my camera) and rushing out the house giving it to the Taho man. I think he must have thought I was crazy for photographing him but it was hard not to. It tasted as good as I remembered it to be, and it will always remind me of happy memories of my childhood.

Art & Wine

I am rather behind on stories to share on this blog. Mostly restaurant reviews. But I thought I would blog about today’s events, for reviews can wait for another day. Right.

So today, I decided to spend it on two of my vices, Art & Wine. I went to check out the Ayala Museum in Makati. I was keen on seeing the Chinese Diaspora exhibit. Tickets were Php 150 for Adult Residents, and Php 350 for Adult Non-residents. I actually had to show them an I.D. to prove I was a resident! “How, very, dare they.” I found the museum to have improved tremendously, since I last visited when I was art workshop goer, in my teens. They have very much followed the European layout of museums. However, the content in the museum could have been better, I must admit. Perhaps this is unfair of me to say as I have been surrounded by Asian art growing up, hence the loss of novelty for me. Having said that, I did quite like two paintings of Juan Luna that were exhibited there. I was even more impressed by some of Fernando Zobel’s work and background. They had copies of his correspondence with his friends from when he returned from his travels. His sentiments on how bored he was to be back in Manila and his constant search for culture here, echoed those of my own. There are many ways I could see the museum being improved, or perhaps the right term would be maximised. But then again, what percentage of this city actually visits the museum? It felt rather odd going to a museum and it being practically empty, when in Europe, it was the complete contrast.

After visiting the museum, and running a few errands. A visit to Santi’s Deli was the last stop. I was in the mood for some wine experimentation. I had been hearing about a Spanish grape called Tempranillo, and was quite curious to try it. I honestly am not a huge fan of Spanish wines. I tried one Spanish white wine once, which I was quite happy with, other than that, I normally lean towards French wines. You can’t really go wrong with them!

But today, I took a Php486 peso gamble on this bottle (not bad for U.K. prices, but a tad bit too steep for Manila). I came home a borrowed my Dad’s wine book to check how I fared in my wine purchase. I was quite pleased to find out, that the Tempranillo from the Rioja region is quite good. What pleased me even more was that the producers of this bottle, Marqués De La Concordia, was mentioned in the book deeming it one of the best producers on it’s list! This wine is aged in oak barrells and you can really smell it in it’s aroma as well berries. It is said that this grape is linked to be related to Pinot Noir grape! Scandal even in the vineyards! They must have heard it through the grape vine! haha! Verdict: I would definitely give this a go, if even just to try.

Foul Play

When I was a child, my parents would take us to the Repertory Philippines. It was one of my fondest memories as a child. I was one of those annoying kids in school was in the Drama Club, and had little shame what so ever to be up on stage. How times have changed! I now cringe at the thought! The old Rep used to be at the Insular Life Building in Makati, then moved to The Shangri-la mall and then back to Makati, in the old Greenbelt 1. There was something about the vibe at the old Insular Life building, that felt classier than the latter two. I don’t know why, since it was just very simple, but somehow felt rather exclusive.

Anyway, after having seen Nunsense with Monique Wilson, Little Shops of Horrors and many other plays in the old Rep, and remember loving it, I decided — why not start going again?! I checked out the prices of the tickets and found it very reasonable, specially compared to London prices! They were showing Gay Birds an adaptation of Jean Poiret’s La Cage Aux Folles. I had seen the hollywood version, Bird Cage, many years ago. Although I thought the movie was just okay, I decided perhaps the play would be a lot better. Let me just say, that the play was not really adapted, but murdered! The play started and I was rather shocked to hear the performer’s dialog in Tag-lish (Tagalog English). A play, in Tag-lish? You have got to be kidding me right?! If I was watching a playwright by a Filipino, I wouldn’t blink an eyelid, but for them to do this to a French one, sacre bleu! I think what bugged me more was that, while queuing for the play and reading their brochure, it said in the fine print : All plays in English. I was indeed terribly disappointed. How about other foreign tourists? Didn’t they take that into consideration? Okay, taking the tag-lish out of the issue for a moment. The whole play was set in Martial Law Manila in Ermita! I think the term adaptation was used rather loosely!

While I was sitting through the play, I couldn’t help think that this is the same rubbish I would have gotten on TV, so why did I bother. For once, I didn’t take it against my dad who had fallen asleep next to me! haha! Oh what has the Rep become? I am sure the late Zenaida Amador would have never tolerated such a thing. It was a complete disaster, it had to be the complete opposite of what the Repertory used to be.

After the play, my mom was curious to find out if all the plays for the rest of the season would again, be in Tag-lish. They said that, it was just for this particular play to give it a twist. Hmmm. Anyhoo, will I give the Rep one more shot? Yes, but two strikes, and they’re out! Let’s see if Glorious changes my impression of the new Rep.