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Thursday, January 22, 2004
Magsaysay: An old friend that is Golden Cowrie
By Jo Magsaysay
Whatever
Jingling my memory, my young friend Cathy Cusi reminds me, ‘Oh ma-am! It’s all systems go for Helen of Troy,’ But of course! I should not forget, nor should you, that this weekend, the 24th Saturday and the 25th Sunday, the production, Olympian in proportions with a mammoth cast of 300 students of the Mary Immaculate Learning Center will be staged at the SM Cinema 1 at 3 p.m. (matinee) and 7 p.m. (gala night). Alan Claude Evangelio, the prize-winning playwright and director, wrote and directed the play encapsulating the Ten-Year War into a full-length play of two hours.
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Young talents play adult roles going through the magnificent pageantry and drama of the Greek tragedy with incredible passion reenacting the roles of Paris, Helen, King Priam, Menelaus, the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite and King Zeus. Those of us who believe the youth can and will accomplish anything that they see their hearts, minds and souls upon to make this world a much better place will stand up and cheer to see these students perform. The play is the thing.
Go to SM Cinema One and see Helen of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ships on Saturday, the 24th or Sunday, the 25th. Proceeds of the play will go to the LILC scholarships fund and our city’s homeless street children.
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Like an old friend that delights me, who lets me be me, who makes me feel at home; like an old lover who knows my pleasures, who understands my quirks, who fulfills my desires, Golden Cowrie is all that to me. Even like an old shoe, well-worn and well-loved. For the past 20, I’ve been a habitué of Golden Cowrie- not only because its original owner Tina Ebrada and the succeeding ones, members of a close-knit family bonding themselves into Cebu Golden Restaurant, Inc.- are dear friends but mostly because food in the Golden Cowrie is what home cooking I wish I had at home but never get it quite that good! Like the Bicol express at the Golden Cowrie is fiery hot but does not burn the tongue, rather the heat is like lava streaming through the arteries, softly, smoothly… like the baked scallops and tahong that are cheesy and garlicky but never runny or dry… like the ampalaya or eggplant in the pinakbet are still green and crunchy not wilted or soggy… the sinigang sour and puckery enough to make me smack my lips.
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When the second branch of Golden Cowrie opened in SM City, it was homecoming. There, Connie Uytengsu-Kokseng matriarch of the “Golden” family and the original Golden Girl, Tina Ebrada, cut the ceremonial ribbon. Seeing Connie again brought back many fond memories of the Uytengsu family. Her father, Tirso, the business tycoon, a true Taipan-tall, ascetic, impeccable of manners and speech. Her mother, Haney, frail and fragile as a porcelain doll her tiny figure and tiny feet encased in brocade. I remember the sculptured gilt frame in the living room of their mansion, a gorgeous piece of art, the formal English garden where Cebu’s very first garden wedding was held so elegant and splendid was Alice Uytengsu’s wedding to Bill Mannion, it was the talk of the town for days. I remember all of Connie’s siblings: Susan, Florida, Lillian from STC even Wendell and Wilfred who were my grade school classmates, Henry and Edward. I babble like this old girl that I am but these were the halcyon days. Back to Golden Cowrie, the Uytengsu scions were there and few of their intimate friends-Wing Lip, a most special friend and business partner, carrying the candles to light the way for Fr. Lucas Inoc as he sprinkled holy water around the wide, open spacious dining area, the huge kitchen gleaming with stainless steel paraphernalia which Kenneth Kokseng, the good-looking young manager proudly showed off.
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One of my favorite people, Sonny Kokseng who is always quick with a quip is, I happily discovered, an environmentalist to his very soul when he waxed lyrical on the subject of conservation of forests and preservation of trees.
Stroking the grain, whorls and finish of the wooden benches and ladle-shaped counter, Sonny recounted that the lumber originally came from the gemelina trees growing tall and mighty in Salinas drive but unfortunately had to be chopped down to clear the area for the expansion of the Golden Cowrie. “It hurt to cut these magnificent trees down but we refined and preserved them for posterity, remembrance of things past for the future.” Jason Go as he so creatively remodeled the old Cowrie, just as ingeniously planned the interior design for the SM branch. None of those cutesy, kitschy curtains of shells and faux palm trees but more subtly impressionistic were the spiraling rings simulating tree trunks on the walls, the truncated lamps suspended from the rafters and a diorama of sorts depicting a naturalistic setting. ‘Do these paintings make this place look like a gallery?’ Sonny asked anxiously. As good a place as any to showcase talents of homegrown artists in a homey atmosphere. I say, absolutely.
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A tossed salad with a Chinese accent is Yee Sang. Extremely symbolistic, the Chinese look upon signs to guide them through good luck and prosperity during their lifetime. The New Year is ushered with fireworks to drive bad spirits away, open windows to bring in good “chi” so we’re told by Neil Rumbaoa who clicks away on his computer keyboard to research on anything and everything of interest, of information, of amusement to guests of Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort, of which he, as everyone knows, is director of communications. Yee Sang is a raw fish salad appetizer signifying posterity.
Sang means life and symbolic of life is raw fish like salmon or jellyfish which is therefore, an important ingredient in the salad of life. Life is sweet, life is bitter, life is salty, life is spicy so mix in crackers which symbolize happiness, peanut and sesame signifying harvest, oil is wealth, pomelo good luck—stir them all up as you would stir up life, toss them as high as can be because the higher you toss the Yee Sang, the more prosperous you get. So we mixed and we stirred and we tossed our Yee Sang salad high up in the air and ate it with great relish at the media lunch at the Shang Palace of Shangri-La Resort and Hotel to celebrate the Chinese New Year with our hosts, Desmond Hatton, Daniele Vastolo, Dexter Chang, Maggie Garcia and Jaja Chiongbian. Kung Hei Fat Choi!
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A special guest at lunch was Dr. So Chaw Yee, minister of Simbahan ng Santo Sing Kong in Tondo, Manila, master of the art of feng shui, business adviser, family counselor, fortune teller, healer and geomancer. The Tagalog and English-speaking Dr. So foresees a good year for the Philippine economy if “we will have good leaders”… May is not the auspicious month for the election of a woman President (Goodbye, Gloria!) … Cebu being in the center, the middle of the Philippines, meaning the stomach, will never go hungry… Desmond’s high cheek bones a sign of intelligence and good luck but he must be patient… Nelia’s eyes see many things, know many things… the configuration of the sun, moon and stars on a person’s face can spell a man’s fortune… people born in the years of the rat, the snake and the dragon are lucky during this year of the monkey… the moles in my face are good luck, I was born in the year of the dragon so I’m a lucky monkey’s dragon! I think…
(January 22, 2004 issue)
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