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Thursday, May 25, 2006
Magsaysay: A forming
By Jo Magsaysay
Whatever
Celebrating life and love on Mother’s Day, Chona Reyes Tan and Beatrix Tan set up a Mother and Daughter Art Exhibit that attracted the attention of shoppers in a corner of the lobby at the Banilad Town Center.
Chona and Bea may not be making waves as artists just yet as this was, after all, their debut in the art world. Neither are their names well known among local circles, but dropping the name of Delia Ilano (Mrs. Fred) Reyes should be ringing bells. Former Theresians remember when they cringed and cowered at the prospect of going to the "torture chamber," the school clinic, where Dr. Reyes waited with her drill to "excavate" their cavities and how they were pleasantly relieved when all she did was give a palliative to soothe their throbbing toothaches and advise them to see their family dentist for a filling or extraction. Oh dear, there I go with my garrulous asides!
*****
Whatever, Delia’s daughter and granddaughter have a marvelous bonding in their love of art. I’d like to think there’s nothing stiff and stuffy in their artistic relationship; rather, they must have great fun unleashing their talent, mixing colors, squirting and splashing paint and debating over the best medium between acrylic, water color, oil or pastel for their paints. My artistic talent being zilch, I am always impressed whenever I see a painting, always with awesome wonder and helpless envy that painting can be expressive of mood and creation of beauty. "Did Chona always love to paint and take up Fine Arts?" I asked Delia.
Well, she’s an architect, as if it answered anything. Chona indeed took up Architecture at the University of San Carlos where she met Manuel Tan, an Engineering student—like bread and butter, architect and engineer were perfect together, raising three sturdy sons and Beatrix who is now 10 years old.
*****
Unable to say no to Bea, one of his favorite students in the Sacred Heart School for girls, Father Ernesto Javier, S.J., took time off his frenetic Sunday schedule to bless the exhibit. Neither could Mem Castillo La’O decline the honor of cutting the ceremonial ribbon, being close and dear to Chona, doing God’s work as devoted disciples of Opus Dei. A kindred spirit and my alter ego Mem, who shares my birth date, is an exquisite aesthete to my barbarous inclinations and loves to collect paintings, an eclectic choice ranging from the old masters to the contemporary artists. My own taste for art is hopelessly limited to photographic reproductions, if what I see touches and moves me. I like the vibrant colors of Chona’s and Bea’s paintings of flowers that come alive, the restful serenity of landscapes. Under the tutelage of well-known artist Kimsoy Yap, they share a love for brilliant colors and still life, Bea is partial to acrylic, Chona to watercolor which Mem enlightens me is more difficult because "watercolors are runny." Noting their initial attempts and liking what I saw, I look forward to the day when either Chona or Bea, perhaps both, will become household names in the art world. But of course, Delia’s name is already up there with the sweets and the pastries. Certainly Rotary Anns and clubwomen have visions of cream puffs, silvanas, Napoleons and other irresistible gateau coming fragrant and fresh from her oven.
*****
Food fusion is what it was all about when the media sat down for dinner at Formo for a preview of its latest cuisine. There to welcome us all with open arms was our sparkling young friend, Jaja Chiongbian, formerly of the Shangri-La PR department, now on her own as publicist and restaurateur.
Together with her brother John Paul, who discovered the name Formo carved out on an antique block at Fort San Pedro that meant to form, to create and long, with their cousins, Kenneth and Cristina Kokseng, they joined forces to put up the resto in BTC.
*****
Mexican tortillas, Spanish quesadillas, Brazilian fajitas and Vietnamese spring rolls with red hot dips and sauces titillated appetites for the main course of Korean barbeque, Filipino bacareta, Japanese chicken wasabi, all pronounced superb, and butterscotch a la mode—a chunky square of cake that tasted like bukayo which Chinggay U. was prepared to die a thousand deaths for every devastating bite. Sitting across me was Nestor Alonso whose company I always enjoy, whose braggadocio never fails to amuse me and his knowledge about food is amazing. Besides doing research about food in the internet, he has recently pampered himself with the purchase of "the most expensive book"—La Roux Gastronomique, which must be a merry mix of all that is gastronomical, although he still swears by his icon, the late food specialist, Doreen Fernandez, whose book Sarap! is his bible. The lovely Cristina, wife of Kenneth, bearing the chore of supervision in Golden Cowrie was fielded some questions tossed her way….why not rice instead of potatoes as a siding for the bacareta, which has an excellent sauce for bahug-bahug?...duly answered, rice is already the siding for the chicken wasabi which incidentally was perfectly tender and flavorful. Although not apropros at that time, I felt I had to ask the use of peanut butter in kare-kare. Some cookbooks do suggest adding a dollop of peanut butter to enhance the taste of kare-kare but food purists, who insist on finely ground roasted peanuts, are horrified and consider peanut butter as sacrilegious… spread the kare-kare sauce on bread, add jelly and you get a peanut-butter jelly sandwich? Ugh! Neither here nor there but having previously dined in Formo, I heartily enjoyed the beef bourgigñon, the grilled mahi-mahi and a most marvelous salad dressing that ever perked up veggie greens. Bon appetit!
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (May 25, 2006 issue)
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