This is my favorite time of the year. Yes, I'm talking about now: scorching summer months where the air is still and when it sometimes rains on a cloudless day. I love the summer because school's out and traffic eases up on the roads, thereby making my drive to work a little more leisurely. But most of all, I love this time because this is when two of my favorite foods come into season: strawberries and avocados. Strawberries used to be such a rare treat because the only time they were available to me was when I'd make my yearly trip to Baguio in December. Even then, they were quite expensive, which was why I never got to buy more than a few baskets at a time. Now I've discovered that they're available in supermarkets during these months, although I do recommend getting your rations at Farmer's Market in Cubao. There, a quarter of a kilo is a steal at P35-40. Clean them as soon as you get home by soaking them in a bowl of water for ten minutes. Remove the hull (those green leaves) by firmly pulling on it with your thumb and forefinger. Refrigerate until ready to eat ...

It's evident in my columns that I love food and have these close to orgasmic fantasies about creating or tasting the most sinfully rich dessert, or sinking my chops into a succulent slice of prime rib oozing with its juices and marbled with glistening fat. Most people who are like me are the types who supposedly savor their food: languidly chewing away, all the while tasting each burst of flavor, noticing the change in texture from firm and meaty to complex and full-bodied. I have an acquaintance, E, who has this expression of rapture on his face when he's eating something he particularly likes. There's no other way to describe it, but he looks like he's in ecstasy. These are the people who put their utensils down between each bite and who recite lengthy spiels before feeding themselves the next spoonful. I have been told several times by different kinds of people that I am one hell of a fast eater. I agree. Let me say it again: I am a fast eater. My women friends urge me to keep pace with them so that we can all have dessert together and the men gawk none too politely as I return ...

I have not met a cheesecake that is better than mine. Conversely, I have also met too many cheesecakes that I don’t like. I would like to change my fellow Filipinos’ perception that cheesecakes are gelatinous in nature. Nothing could be further from the truth and frankly, nothing could be worse, either. Some bakeshops offer cheesecakes that use unflavored gelatin to hold the whole thing together, and it’s also a way to cut costs. However, I beseech you to only patronize those cheesecakes that are made from 100% pure cream cheese. You deserve nothing less, just like this most hallowed of desserts. My mom first taught me how to make cheesecakes when I was 11 years old. I remember tiptoeing to reach the counter, holding the mixing bowl steady while my mom cracked eggs into it. That mixer is still the same one my mom used sixteen years ago when she first introduced me to the art of making this ambrosia. While I still have the mixer, the original recipe has undergone tremendous revisions, so much so that it’s not even a shadow of its former self. A cheesecake is deceptively simple to make. Stripped to its bare essence, it only requires ...