For Chef Fernando Aracama, happy Halloween equates to happy birthday.
It would be an understatement to say that things have come full circle, especially with the long, rectangular table set up for forty of Ferns’ friends and family. The night started with rose champagne that tickled the guests pink. I myself was on a sentimental lane as we became by default, the first guests of Hotel Celeste on Pasay Road, where Planet Mars used to orbit. The fiddler of food, Ferns himself was a shooting star playing perfect host, orbiting around his heavenly body of celestial beings, each one as special as the next.
A multi-course degustacion prepared by Chef Cyrille Soenen of Restaurant Cicou started with a crabmeat and oyster concoction sexily served on a martini glass, followed by a foie gras and oxtail ravioli in creamy truffle broth, among other animalistic aphrodisiacs. It was taste titillating, to say the least. And why not, when you are surrounded by gastronauts — Olympians in the field of food.
In and out of the kitchen, I have been fortunate to get to know the real Chef Ferns. I have been a fan since his Uva days, being a devotee to his choc nut ice cream—and I’m not even a dessert person. You’ve probably seen him endorse milk and other food products, and he made you fall in love with food on his TV show aired on TFC worldwide. At present, Chef Fernando Aracama is involved with more than a handful of restaurants and ventures, and is at the forefront of the champion Philippine Team for culinary competitions abroad. The real Ferns is a sensitive, creative, wonderful, wise, introspective, malambing, fun-loving and child-like friend.
The whole experience that night felt oh-so-Ferns. But it wasn’t just about the food. There was something in the air—an Ilonggo joie de vivre that was so palpable you could taste it. Maybe it was in Ferns’ choice of friends, or his birthday cake that had exactly 40 candles or in the mignardises or small and playful pre desserts, like the chefs were playing culinary poker—a championship one at that. Chef Ferns likes to live large, and so we capped his 40th year with a giant Jereboam bottle of champagne, as we all popped the bubbly to a life of fun and fellowship.
Happy Halloween and happy birthday, partner.