Dishes that remind me of celebrities

The best thing I like about Christmas (next to the Misa de Aguinaldo which I always look forward to every Christmas eve) is the abundance of food. And for my column today, I would like to talk about certain dishes and how I associate these with people in the entertainment profession.

Whenever, I have Japanese food, for instance, I always remember Vilma Santos who is a hopeless Japanese food freak. From the late ’80s up to the early ’90s, it had been a tradition for us – along with Chit Guerrero and Maribeth Bichara – to have a post-Christmas dinner (always Vilma’s treat) in the early days of January. We usually hold it in a Japanese restaurant because after eating all that grease (from the ham, relleno, etc.) during the holiday season, it really felt good to sit down to good healthy Japanese food. And as Vilma herself once said, "You can eat all the sashimi you want and not worry about getting fat."

Below are my other food associations with certain people in the field of entertainment:

Chat Silayan and pochero – Since Chat is a nutrition graduate from the Philippine Women’s University, it is not surprising that she cooks well. But her specialty is pochero – a dish I never had a taste for since the time I was a kid. Chat, however, cooks it so well that I eventually learned to appreciate this Spanish dish of boiled meat, cabbage, potatoes and saba bananas.

Marichu Maceda and cocido – Pochero and cocido are practically one and the same – but with variations on the side. Manay Ichu’s cocido, for instance, is different in the sense that, instead of dumping the tomato sauce straight into the mixture of meat, vegetables and soup (the Spanish way of doing it, so I was told – but I which find unpalatable), she turns the tomato sauce (made with fresh tomatoes – and not from the can) into a dipping sauce. For variety, she also prepares an eggplant dipping sauce which I prefer over the one with tomatoes.

Actually, a lot of people will probably be surprised to find out that Marichu Maceda can cook – or any of the Vera-Perez children for that matter. After all, they’re considered showbiz royalty, But all the girls in the family cook well. Lilibeth Perez Nakpil (who had a stint as a child star) once even ran a restaurant outside the Sampaguita Pictures compound called Sangag-Balot and for a while, operated a catering business with her sisters and sister-in-law, Elvie Gonzalez (the mother of Charlene).

The fastest and most efficient cook among the Vera Perez women, however, is Gina de Venecia. During their family trips to Europe, she brings her own spices, ready-to-pour mixes and – believe it or not – even her own rice cooker.

Loren Legarda and fresh lychees/bagoong Balayan – Whenever I see fresh lychees (during the months of July to September), I am always reminded of Senator Legarda because this was what she craved on when she was conceiving her first-born child, Lanz. During the early stages of her pregnancy with her second child, Lean, however, she always had green mangoes dipped in bagoong Balayan by her side. In fact, she had this odd habit of drinking what remained of the bagoong Balayan after she was done with the last morsel of her green mangoes. Sure, it was unhealthy (imagine all that salt that went into her body!), but how do argue with a conceiving woman?

Zeneida Amador and torta – always get to share meals with Bibot Amador during screenings conducted by the Film Ratings Board (FRB), which she chairs. But since these FRB lunches are subsidized by government money, we’ve learned not to expect much from these meals. We therefore all look forward to those occasions when Bibot would bring an extra dish that she herself prepared. One time, she brought with her a huge platter of torta (omelet) which was so tasty, there was no need to smother it with ketchup. It wasn’t oily and wasn’t salty either maybe because there was a lot of potatoes in it, which I love. In our next FRB screening, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Bibot would bring torta again. It’s the best I’ve tasted in the world.

Annabelle Rama and lechon – When Rosanna Roces celebrated her birthday last May at Via Mare in Greenbelt, I found myself seated beside Annabelle (Osang’s first manager). While there was a lot of food on the buffet table, I was surprised to see that Annabelle’s plate only had rice and lechon on it. According to her, every time there’s lechon in a party, that’s the only thing she eats. And being Cebuana, she doesn’t put the customary liver sauce on this very traditional Filipino dish. (The lechon Cebu is stuffed with lemon grass and other spices which gives it a certain flavor that would no longer beg for it to be eaten with liver sauce.)

In the beginning, I didn’t think she would be able to finish the plate of lechon (mostly skin) in front of her. But amazingly, she did. (I wonder how she manages to stay in shape with that appetite!) And just watching her demolish that pile of cholesterol-rich lechon already gave me a headache.

Louie Heredia and gazpacho – Guipacho is pureed cucumber and tomatoes served cold as soup. It is rarely served in Filipino homes because Pinoys want their soup hot (even scalding hot). One time, Louie invited me and other friends from media for an afternoon merienda over at his house. For starters, we were served gazpacho, I was already familiar with it and even asked for seconds. But not the other guests who politely pushed their bowls away and patiently waited for the next dish to come out from the kitchen.

Bibeth Orteza and tuyo in olive oil – Bibeth and Carlitos Siguion-Reyna give away bottles of tuyo, in olive oil as their Christmas presents. It’s one gift I always look forward to from the couple during the holiday season. And mind you, I don’t share this with other people at home.

I usually eat it at midnight (never mind if I’ve just come back full from a party) along with kaning lamig and macaroni salad. I know this is a horrible combination, but the salty flavor of the tuyo blends very well with the sourness of the mayonnaise in the macaroni salad.

I don’t know if Bibeth and Carlitos are planning to send tuyo in olive oil to friends this Christmas. And perhaps I’m being too presumptuous to think that they’ll be sending me one again this year. But in case they plan to (and I hope they do), please make it a big bottle.