As the holidays go on after typhoon Ruby, it is our culture to celebrate and thank the Lord for the blessings—and feasting is a tradition.
Cebu’s best bets are our cuisines. Locations like The I.T. Park, and Salinas Drive, Lahug, Cebu City are easily becoming this metro’s “food hub.”
Pino in Lahug has become a by-word in affordable buffet lunch and dinner and its Plaza Wing offers pasta and pizzas. Gourmet Joel del Prado’s entrepreneurial craft had transformed the restaurant into a wining and dining habitué, where live acoustic bands and piped-in music greet diners and create a cheery ambiance, especially during the yuletide break.
Also in Apas, Lahug, is Zerenity Hotel and Suites, a family creation of the Borromeos, (of the historic Montebello Hotel clan), which offers Zen Living and affordable luxury of superior, standard and cozy guest rooms, replete with amenities (Total of 47 rooms). You can see the city from its Roof Deck Garden and experience serenity in its Zen Garden. Zerenity has conference rooms for business meetings, and beside it is a 7-Eleven convenience store where guests could have their meals and snacks. Zelia and Norma Borromeo are blessed having the latter’s son Francis Fabian and wife Kim to manage the place. I am sure the late Kit Borromeo, our good friend, is happy seeing his dream come true.
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Ingrid Sala Santamaria, the Madonna of Music, the Philippine Pianist, whose music par excellence, echoed and touched the sense and sensibilities of art aficionados in four seasons: Spring (1940-1961, her sojourn in the world of music which was like a symmetry of sugar and spice; fresh and transforming); Summer (1962-1991, like climbing the mountain of fame; weaving dreams of peace and friendship through her art); Autumn (1991-2012, the soul of her music reaching far beyond mere rhyme and rhythm, but sharing messages of faith and hope to the least of our brethren, lifting their spirits); and Winter (2012 onward, touring the world, hitting the right keys to create a rainbow of fame and excellence as the “artiste with charm and finesse, with a purpose; ‘a thing of beauty is a joy forever,’” to borrow some a verse by English poet, John Keats.
All these are found in Ingrid’s book, a work of passion. “My Four Seasons!”