Tessa gets it straight from the masters

MANILA, Philippines - After winning grand prize in GMA 7’s

Celebrity Duets

two years ago, you’d think Tessa Prieto-Valdes is used to surprises by now. She’s not.

Tessa was pleasantly surprised when Q-11 offered her the hosting job of the cooking show Secrets of the Masters Sundays, (7:15 p.m.) when its original host Issa Litton went on maternity leave. Thus did she shift from mere spectator of the show to its frontrunner.

“I had no apprehensions in accepting the offer,” says Tessa. “I’m enjoying the show.”

Why wouldn’t she?  Before Secrets came along, Tessa admits she avoided trying her hand at the kitchen for fear that it would make her fat. Thus, her knowledge of cooking was confined to enjoying the pleasures of eating.

Now, things have changed. She knows much, much more.

Chef Jacqui Alleje, Tessa’s guest tonight, for instance, is teaching her the ABCs of healthy cooking. The Swiss-born chef is a wellspring of knowledge in organic food and healthy cuisine.

As co-owner of Rizal Dairy Farm (with her husband) and president of Organic Farming Inc., Chef Jacqui can whip up sumptuous dishes without upsetting your calorie chart. On the menu, for instance, Tofu Mushroom Burger served with Chunky Tomato Sauce on Organic Brown Rice.

Thanks to her guest, Tessa found out for the first time that using vinegar and sea salt to wash vegetables is better and healthier. Why buy that branded vegetable wash in the supermarket when vinegar and sea salt will do?

Tessa is learning fast, not from second-hand sources, but straight from the horse’s mouth — the master herself.

Instead of dumping the sauce in one big bowl for party guests to dip the appetizers in, Chef Jacqui taught Tessa a better, more sanitary way of doing it.

Chef Jacqui took out saucers, carefully poured the dip on them, and positioned them around the carrot sticks and other healthy appetizers she prepared. Good-bye, yucky dipping from every Tomas and Maria who goes to the party!

Watching Secrets is like peeking inside the kitchen before Tessa’s party gets going. Tessa, as usual, is dressed to the nines — eye-popping headdress and all.

“Inside my dressing room,” she points to a door with her name on it, “are seven to ten clothes,” she relates. On the table are around the same number of colorful headdresses Tessa and the production staff can choose from.

Put her beside her guest-chef, garbed in her profession’s immaculate white attire, and you get a striking combination. Turns out Chef Jacqui can match her host’s gift of gab herself. She surprises the studio audience with questions and answers on the Tagalog equivalent of some of the ingredients.

The two first met during one of Tessa’s regular restaurant forays. Tessa chanced upon Chef Jacqui’s high-end Bistro Saratoga at Tagaytay Highlands. Striking up a conversation and nurturing a friendship came easy after that.

Sizing up Tessa’s potential to become a chef, Jacqui notes, “She’s a people pleaser; and chefs must want to please people.”

Will Tessa eventually add “chef” to the long list of names that define her, like eventologist, columnist, host and sea princess?

Why not? She’s getting tips, straight from the masters!