Danny Dolor’s ‘dream project’ & Mother Lily’s bioflick
There are three good reasons why I look forward to the barkada’s usually-potluck weekend salu-salo.
The pleasure of the company (very relaxed and exuding positive vibes);
The food is not just good but very, very good (with more than enough leftovers for the members to take home, Styrofoam boxes standing by); and
The strictly “off-the-record” exchanges about the latest showbiz goings-on are oftentimes more juicy than the array of desserts (minatamis na saba, cakes from Estrel’s, homegrown fruits, etc.).
From Lawrence Tan’s well-appointed condo unit at Renaissance where the “sessions” would be regularly held, the venue was (temporarily) moved to the Canton Road restaurant in Shangri-La BGC to celebrate a milestone in STAR Remember When? columnist Danny Dolor’s life. Sorely missed (as in the past two salu-salo) were Marichu “Manay Ichu” Maceda who has lately been suffering from various illnesses and Lawrence who is prevented from “socializing” by Chinese tradition within 40(?) days after his father’s demise.
Evenly spread around four tables, the barkada dishes out morsels of gossip between bites of glorious Chinese cuisine: Huaiyang & Cantonese appetizer combinations (Smoky five spices grouper fillet, marinated white radish in aged white vinegar, crunchy assorted vegetable tartar, bean curd, dried shrimp, pickled cucumber salad)…Ming dynasty roasted Peking duck…Braised fish maw seafood and conpoy soup…US scallop, prawn ball and asparagus in XO sauce…Angus beef tenderloin and foie gras in crispy garlic pepper sauce…Leshan flavor organic chicken, dried chili and Szechuan pepper…Deep fried marinated cod fish and mango roll with wasabi sauce…Steamed green grouper in ginger soy superior…Bok choy, wood fungus and wolfberries in superior broth…Fried rice with char siu and beet root in black truffle sauce…and chilled papaya and white fungus soup, egg tart.
Danny has something big coming up as a nod to the Philippine Cinema centennial, a veritable dream project laid out once in a blue moon…and everybody nodded in agreement and approval. The project is kept confidential for the meantime so Danny (and friends) are not at liberty to discuss details just yet. Just wait and see.
But Regal Matriarch Lily Monteverde assured that her bioflick to be directed by Erik Matti and produced by her son Dondon Monteverde, would be pushed through, with Judy Ann Santos eyed to play Mother Lily at a certain stage of her multi-colored, heavily-checkered life. Maybe one or two more actresses might be enlisted to portray other periods in the life of the “oldest Regal Baby,” but who would play Father Remy Monteverde who, at his prime as one of San Beda’s star basketball players, was a standout good-looker? Richard Gomez, maybe?
Still basking from her and husband Senate president Tito Sotto’s 50th-wedding anniversary a week earlier, Helen Gamboa brought a photo not only of her Paul Cabral gown she wore during their renewal of vow early morning of Sept. 22 in the same Sto. Tomas, Batangas church where they secretly got married following a post-midnight elopement, but also the pink mini-dress she wore on that fateful night when she fell while climbing the fence of their White Plains home as Tito waited nervously outside.
The happy occasion is reflected in the faces of the attendees in the photos on this page.
(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)
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