The Retro Housewife

I wonder how many women these days can handle life as a 1950's housewife? I understand that at present women wear far more hats, but check out what housewives over 50 years ago had to go through to make the grade! I think that many guidelines on this Housekeeping Monthly article still hold true (and hubby agrees as well--and why wouldn't he?!) but most are rather amusing. I'll be the first to admit that I fail miserably under "Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice." And hair ribbons and I don't get along famously either. What now?!

Perhaps if most husbands looked like Cary Grant at the end of the day (as in the picture) , then more wives would be willing to wear their three-inch heels at home right? Anyhow, enjoy your long weekend friends!

Note: Please click on the image to see larger view.

Cebu Eats in 48 Hours

I had a scant 48hours over a week ago to eat at all the restaurants my hungry friends insisted I try in Cebu City. Not to be overwhelmed and armed with voracious appetites, my friend Maitoni and I managed to hit seven of them! Eight if you count the deeply satisfying muesli and breakfast buffet we had twice at the Marriott Hotel!

I put yogurt, bananas, mangoes, raisins, prunes, walnuts and granola in mine. Yum!

I haven't been to Cebu City in over five years so please allow me to gush a little. The Ayala Center was visible from our bedroom and was pretty both by day...


and by night.

Many of the popular local restaurants are already found here together with most restaurant and coffee chains from Manila, so you really need not go far to grab a bite. One heavenly place it can uniquely boast of however, is the Australian gelato brand, Gelatissimo.

Mama Mia! Raspberry, Hazelnut, Tiramisu, Lime, Caramelized Fig, Honey Toffee Malt, Pistachio, Rum Raisin ... need I say more?

And at PhP95 a scoop, how can you go wrong? The people lining up with us obviously agree!

But I'm getting ahead of myself here...our first meal was actually a late lunch at a deli called Tinderbox. We saw it coming from the airport, and thought it a priority to try the cheese fondue before even checking in.

The fondue was the creamiest I have ever tasted and the bread it came with was warm, freshly baked and grilled. That alone I could have eaten to the last cheesy morsel, but decided instead to pair with grilled schublig that was served with perfectly boiled potatoes tossed with bacon and oil. A perfect match my hungry belly said! It was a quick and light lunch but rich and calorie-filled nonetheless. Sigh!

Our other two lunches which I was unable to take pictures of as we were hurrying visiting different furniture factories during the day, were highly recommended Filipino restaurants. The first was Hukad by Golden Cowrie and the next was Cafe Laguna, both in Ayala Center. Golden Cowrie is known for their seafood and ihaw-ihaw while Cafe Laguna seems to be popular for it's merienda and kakanins apart from their food. I would compare it to Via Mare in a way. Both were deeply enjoyable and rightfully raved about! Best to come in a big group though so you can share and try more family-style.

Another deeply satisfying meal was at Olio, an Italian/Continental restaurant found in a cluster of restaurants called Crossings. Yet again no pictures of the generous truffle salad, perfect Omaha steak with mushroom gravy and asparagus, bubbling baked creamed corn and spinach, and succulent garlic rock lobster with pasta aglio olio! This you MUST try! It was my best meal this trip. For dessert we went next door to a popular sweet stop, La Marea where Maitoni and I shared an old-fashioned brownie ala mode with Lavazza coffee as we were absolutely stuffed. We considered going further down Crossings to this new Mexican restaurant called Maya to have their almost famous churros con chocolate but thought the better of it. Next time!

A most special place to go to if only for the serene and beautiful ambience is Abaca, a small boutique resort right next door to Shangri-La Mactan. It is clearly a place where marriage proposals are made and honeymoons... enjoyed?

We had our last dinner here.

As always we shared everything: a mezze of hummus, tabbouleh, olives and artichokes for starters; a whole baked sea bass that melts in the mouth...slightly under salted for my taste but still okay; freshly made tagliatelle with slow cooked veal, which was the most memorable thing I had; and a creme brulee and tea for dessert. If you aren't ready to spend over PhP2000 a head for dinner however, I suggest that you have cocktails and appetizers at Abaca instead. It should definitely still be a stop especially for couples. Below is a dim shot of the pretty mezze. The place was lit for maximum romance making it challenging for my photography skills!

And here still is an out of focus view of one of the gorgeous, gorgeous rooms that we toured before dinner. Note to self: bring hubby to take photographs next time!

By the end of our short trip, as if Maitoni and I hadn't eaten enough, we had one (or a few) more food stops...for pasalubong this time! We thoroughly enjoyed the Tabuan Market for all the different kinds of dried fish and squid, and discovered that they also have daily deliveries of Carcar chicharon.
All packed and ready to go...

We each brought home two boxes of assorted goodies and even checked in one whole Cebu Lechon from Cang's! The total damage of 48 hours in Cebu City? 23kilos overweight in luggage (between us) and three pounds weight gain just for me! Yikes! I clearly missed MANY on my restaurant list and have to apologize to my friends who suggested them, but no worries! One thing's for sure...Cebu City, I will return!!

Sweet Garlic Prawn

It isn't easy for me to ignore fresh seafood whenever I come across them. So on the same day as my flower stop, I unexpectedly came home with fresh sugpo and live crabs. I decided to have the sugpo immedietely for lunch and reserved the crabs for dinner.

One thing I love about shellfish is that they are quick and easy to prepare, so I knew lunch was to be on the table in no time at all. This recipe took all of 15 minutes to make. The fact that I keep chopped garlic stored in a container in the fridge obviously helped a lot. I would suggest you do the same!

This recipe was inspired by the sugpo I loved, served at one of those huts in Puka Beach, Boracay. They were sweet, succulent and swimming in what I thought was oil. Later on I learned that it was actually margarine! I didn't have margarine in my pantry and so opted for "healthier" unsalted butter instead. I did have leeks in my fridge though and decided to throw that in last minute.

There are actually no precise measurements to any of the ingredients in this dish but I think it would be hard to get this wrong, so no worries!

Sweet Garlic Prawn

• 1 kilo medium-sized fresh prawn/sugpo
• 2 sticks unsalted butter/margarine (or more!)
• 3 tablespoons chopped garlic (or more!)
  
• Chopped leeks (Optional)
  
• Chopped birds eye chillies or red siling labuyo (Optional)
  
• Rock salt
  
• Brown sugar

-Clean the prawns: with kitchen shears trim whiskers and the sharp spine on its head.
-Slice white and green parts of leeks and wash thoroughly.
-Melt a stick of butter/margarine in a wok or a large pan.
-Add as much or as little chopped garlic as you want to the melted butter.
-Saute for a minute and immediately throw in all the prawns. No need to brown the garlic.
-Mix well and keep adding as much butter depending on how much sauce you want. You'll be surprised how much butter you can add to this dish so restraint is key if you have health issues!
-The prawns will give off some of its liquid so do not cover the wok. This will allow the liquid to evaporate and will prevent the prawns from overcooking.
-Season with salt and a generous sprinkling of sugar. This is all a matter of taste.
-Add the leeks and siling labuyo if you so choose. Stir well.
-Total cooking time is around 10 minutes. Be careful not to overcook as prawns get chewy!
-Serve immediately with rice.

Quick-Fix Flowers

I was in the vicinity of a market this morning and decided to swing by the corner flower shop. As to be expected, this one was no flower district like Dangwa or even like Market!Market! but for quick and none too fancy sprucing up, the limited selection and convenience suits me just fine.


My vases almost always have something in them, even if simply filled with Irises from my garden. It's just one of those things that add warmth and life to a home I think. Mine look FAR from professional but they make me happy when I see them.

On this trip to the market I got some medium sized Philodendron leaves at PhP35 each (quite pricey if you have it growing in your garden, I know) which happily lasts over a month in water! The long grass-like Irises were from my garden and last just as long as the Philodendrons and the yellow Birds of Paradise were sold at PhP50 for a dozen and lasts two weeks or so. All in all I spent around PhP350 for foliage and flowers that will please me for a month. I can deal with that!

Walk This Way

There are some things on my must-do list that I haven't quite got around to doing yet and frankly I'm running out of excuses. Top on this list the past couple of years (egad!) was to join Carlos Celdran's Walking Tour of Intramuros. Every time I see him in some exhibit or event I guiltily re-write this mental note to finally book with him!

One Sunday in April I got to wangle a group composed of a few of my running teammates and our families for Carlos' Deluxe Tour at 9am at Fort Santiago. Like a true veteran , Carlos smoothly herded his audience of nearly 30 to the shade of a kalachuchi tree, propped himself atop a granite bench, turned his mic-and-waist-speaker system on, and promptly started his three hour monologue, but first the Philippine National Anthem.

Hand over heart, waving a tiny Philippine flag in the air, Carlos was an image that was hard to forget. First off, he is the only tisoy guide around, dramatically garbed in his dressy barong tagalog, be-tamborined neck and his quintessential black hat, all evoking eccentric images of Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter! Mad he isn't, but genius, quite possibly! As we started our theatrical journey down Philippine History though, I noticed a few forlorn looks of other tourists looking our way. The grass IS greener on our side people!

Equipped with a clear binder of images that Carlos skillfully manipulated like a cinematographer, a small casette player that he cleverly used for scene transitions and a script that he has internalized to the last point, pause and change of accent, we were effortlessly spellbound by the Dan Brown-esque tale that he creatively wove of our nation's history! Hilarious and irreverent, he is the best non-historian History teacher that I have ever come across! Even the skittish 8-12 year olds in the group were mesmerized by the whole performance, which I think accounts for a lot these days.

I was so enthralled by Carlos' storytelling that at some point, while we were all huddled in the San Agustin crypt listening to him recount the last days of World War II, I found myself nervously balancing along the precipice of cool composure and ugly cry. Nope, mearly tearing and demurely wiping tears away was not an option available to me! It was either to ugly cry or NOT to ugly cry. It was all my pregnancy hormones could take and thank goodness composure won this round amidst hard swallows. Whew!

Thankfully, the mood lightened once again after that episode and the Deluxe Tour eventually ended with a glass of halo-halo for everyone! Perfect as the weather that day was hot and muggy. Not one to let a single prop go to waste, one of the concluding points of Carlos' spiel actually uses the halo-halo as a metaphor for Filipinos. I won't take the liberty of narrating his other exceptional insights on the matter since I think you should really hear it straight from the horse's mouth, but one thing I will say is that Carlos has definitely changed the way I view Manila!

Undoubtedly, Carlos has managed to masterfully and single-handedly keep everyone's attention for a three hour long roller coaster ride that he beningly calls his Walking Tour. It's FAR more potent than that Carlos, and I'd gladly walk your way any time!

Celdran Tours
www.carlosceldran.com