Thursday, October 25, 2007 Magsaysay: Delicious conversation By Jo Magsaysay Whatever
THIRTY YEARS, perhaps more, since I last saw Lelah Chew McLaughlin.
Except for the white cloud of hair, her eyes chinky-slanted still crinkled with light when she smiled. A practicing attorney in Los Angeles where she has made a home for husband and four children for the past 54 years, she is best remembered by her Theresian classmates as smart, and full of spunk and sass.
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Lelah’s homecoming was a sad and yet proud occasion. She had come from the funeral of her sister Rosie in Manila, attended by corporate colossus, businessmen and marketing moguls who had paid tribute to Rosario Chew “mother of the Philippine marketing research industry.” Awesome. I have a certain affinity with Rosie having been interviewed and accepted for a job with Philippine Manufacturing Company (PMC), makers of Perla soap and other products. I was sent a one-way plane ticket to Manila to take on the job, but my parents, God Bless them, firmly refused because, now hear this: I might fall in love with a married man and live a life of sin in Manila, good grief! So much for my aborted fantasy of becoming a hotshot business analyst.
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Classmates who had been alerted by Marisol Borromeo Putong gladly responded to her call for lunch with Lelah. A precious few “survivors” of Class ‘42 turned up: Carmen Bunagan; my sister Consuelo Ortega; Juanita “Niting” Solon Villarosa with Crispin and by Lelah’s special request, Lydia Abad Mckenzie with sister Ongker Pidfo; my brother Jess, without Socorro, who was feeling under the weather; Anontio, “Nene” Solon without Alita who had to attend to a church meeting; and Myra Sun—my arm, my leg, and my heart. Marisol, who has exquisitely cultivated taste buds, coming as she does from a family well known for their connoisseurship of gourmands, had selected a menu of dishes like no other, as superior visually as it was gustatorially. There was so much of the Lauriat food, doggie bags were in order.
*** Table talk naturally centered on the good old days and family ties. Recalling most of all Lelah’s family: her father, an excellent cook (chef was not in our vernacular in those days) who owned one of the better known Chinese restaurants, El Lido. Her sisters, Lydia (Mrs. Joe Espeleta) in California suffering from Parkinson’s disease (like Pope John Paul, actor Michael J. Fox) for the past 20 years; and Teresita (Mrs. Fred) Marigomen having passed away several years ago; Herminia “Dayot” (Mrs. Suding) Paulin in Cebu with a passel of children and grandchildren. Remy who had severely damaged her spine from playing “ruined camp,” the rough and tumble dodge ball game which has since been banned n STC; and Josephine, a US resident traveling home with Lelah.
Recalling also Luz, the Chew’s mother who always served us hot, fried banuelos, soft and fluffy, whenever we visited with them in a Carcar mountain barrio during Japanese time. Speaking of which Lydia contributed the startling info their father, Fiscal Jose Abad, armed all his daughters with pistols to use on any Japanese who looked like he had evil intentions, or just shoot themselves rather than be raped.
*** Amazing feedback on our piece on the Japanese time, seems endless. But one I am most grateful to is Marie Liz Noel who relayed a fond memory of her mom, Mary Sala Evangelista, about a delightful interlude during the Japanese time when we made up a choir for the Misa de Gallo on Sto. Rosario church. Father Ernst Horrdemann conscripted quite an elite group: the Sala sisters—Mary, Fe (Villarica), Mousie (Garcia), Milli (Yrastorza); the O’Keefe sisters—Martha (Bebe Duterte’s wife) and Teresa; and my sisters Lolita and Consuelo. All of us joining voices in the choir loft to sing Latin mass songs from the portfolio of our profesora, Lourding Borromeo. Since no one else was available, Father Horrdemann asked me to play the organ, a magnificent old instrument which, I am sorry to admit, I played painfully, awfully, shamelessly yabag. The choir simply ignored by horrible playing and sang their hearts out. They were glorious.
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For my honorarium, Father Horrdemann came to our house after Christmas bringing a bottle of sweet red wine, vino de misa. In turn, we offered refreshments: fresh pineapple customarily rubbed with salt. Father was aghast.
“Salt on pineapple? Good heavens child, that’s terrible!” Politely, however, but shaking his head in disbelief, he took a bite. He ate three slices and must have liked the salted pineapple.
***
Today, X Salon’s 5th anniversary celebration is offering exciting discounts on hair extension, hair color, rebonding, facial treatments, hand/foot glycopeel, and hand and foot paraffin. Lalaine Porras-Espiritu, X Salon managing director, promotes “X Salon and you.” Fat control treatments seem to attract my interest.
But sweety, at 80, everything is too late. It is never too late, however, for the image-conscious ladies. Look good to feel good. Or is it to feel good to look good. Whatever...
