“Replacing Chef Chico” is a taste test of how far Filipino creatives can satisfy the international audience. And from the rave reviews and positive feedback it has been receiving since it was released globally last Nov. 24, it looks like the first Filipino-produced series on Netflix has passed the test. As of this writing, the...
Category: Lifestyle
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Two days and one night in BTS Country
An overnight stay in South Korea might sound more like a layover than an actual vacation. But it was what made a recent trip to Seoul with my sister Kristine, our first together overseas, unique and memorable. Being the well-travelled one of two siblings, Kristine had been to South Korea thrice this year alone. Our...
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One island paradise, five worlds
To try to run across the length and breadth of Boracay is to catch a glimpse of at least five very different worlds. There is the world of White Beach and Bulabog Beach, of course. The world of low-budget and mid-range hotels; a world that looks increasingly more like Greenbelt or BGC but transplanted beside...
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Living his dream and not working a day in his life
Sandy Daza hosts three food shows on TV and writes a column, making him one of the most recognizable chefs in the Philippines. He co-owns kiosks bearing his name that sell empanada and siopao in malls across Metro Manila. And he wears another hat: as a guide of culinary tours in Japan that he considers...
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Artist researching: Experience curves in Taiwan and Cambodia
A man in his rormork (the traditional and bigger version of the tuk-tuk) hovered near us outside the public market early one rainy October morning. We carried heavy backpacks and he asked in English: Need a ride? We actually did. But we had been accustomed to using the PassApp to book these local taxis. With...
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My babies forever and always
I remember a rainy afternoon. I was sitting next to the window, drinking hot chocolate as an alternative to coffee because I was pregnant with my fourth child. I stared outside and watched the raindrops falling to the ground. I could hear my three other children laughing and playing in the living room. On some...
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Food, friendship and more on a tour with a chef
FUKUOKA, HIROSHIMA, OSAKA—We came here to savor food that popular Filipino chef Sandy Daza has taste-tested and pronounced “exceptional” (for him, “good” is simply “not enough”). But the “Daza Japan Food Tour” of the three cities and their namesake prefectures on Oct. 20-25 offered participants more than just food. It also included visits to fish...
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Sinistral in a dextral world
Are you left-handed or right-handed? Neither? Only recently I learned that there is a term for my handedness: mixed-handed. I write and brush my teeth left-handed and use scissors and play golf right-handed. But I think that using my right is more of an adaptation to right-handed tools. I looked it up and I read...
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What we discovered on a walking tour and a Pasig River Ferry ride
When my husband and I signed up for a heritage tour by Renacimiento Manila in September, we expected the usual daylong visits to old buildings and houses, with some historical trivia and eating stops on the side. But we got much more than that in this tour. We also found ourselves wondering why the government...
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When food tourism in US colonial period spurred fight for Filipino cuisine
The adventurous palate of foodies and their #willtravelforfood motto are interesting phenomena. The trend mentioned in a recent lecture intrigued me and moved a university student in the audience to ask Dr. Kristine Michelle L. Santos if Filipinos of yesteryear inherited their fondness for food from the Americans during the colonial era. Santos, an assistant...