At the ripe old age of 33, I’ve come to believe that Christmas is for kids. At the risk of sounding like Scrooge (which my Bin tells me I’ve become), it’s horrid to hear and say that I don’t like Christmas as much as I used to. I’ve become the fretful adult grousing about prices, my kilometer-long Christmas list that seems to grow longer everyday, the party preps that need to be done, and I find myself wincing (not just from exertion) as I listen to Christmas carols while at the gym. Meantime I watch in envy as Boo, my 5 year old, runs around the house announcing, “Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming!” Without fail, she’ll ask me once everyday, “Mom, can I open my presents now?” Her youthful eyes sparkle with uncontained glee. Our Christmas tree, which has been up since November 1 at her request, has its lights turned on promptly at dusk, and Boo dutifully turns on the lighted wreath that hangs outside above our front door. Such merriment should be contagious I suppose, but I haven’t given in yet; perhaps because I don’t want to. Ah, the stubbornness of adults. Grumbling notwithstanding, ...

More than two months after my momentous visit to Japan, I’ve become a certified “Japanophile”, someone obsessed with Japan and anything Japanese. Of course this so-called obsession of mine is strictly limited to food, so I’ve been combing the local Japanese food stores, groceries, and restaurants – the more obscure, the better – and even cooking Japanese food in my own home: sukiyaki, omuraisu, katsudon, and even my own version of soba. For further fueling this mania with Japan, my profuse thanks goes to DCF reader Cecile, who tipped me off to an okonomiyaki restaurant, Kagura in Little Tokyo, a cluster of Japanese restaurants along Pasong Tamo in Makati. Little Tokyo is one of those places that I’ve always known was there but never really paid any attention to. It always seemed like a no-man’s land for its sheer lack of people and the apparent shuttered-up appearance of its establishments. An evening visit showed me that the place completely transforms at night into its total opposite: tables and chairs set up outside where Japanese locals, ...

Two apple desserts arrive at my door within days of each other. One is a tart, the other is a pie. The difference between the two is vast, but the most obvious one is that a tart is more shallow than a pie (usually just about an inch tall) and is usually served in a fluted crust. Pies, on the other hand, are served in the pan they’re baked in and can boast a variety of crusts: single or double, crumb (streusel), and some even sport a jaunty meringue topping. The Tart Let’s take the tart first. An abundance of green apple chunks shines against a sienna mixture of cinnamon, sugar, and butter. Their playground: a pastry crust rendered tender with the addition of cream cheese, its richness imbuing a golden color to the tart. Finally, a cascade of crumbs crowns this creation. Made by Margie Tan and her mom Daisy, the pair owns Symphony of Flavors, a food business that began as Margie’s fund-raising project in high school seven years ago. Its success led to their supplying school canteens and small coffee shops. “The baking is done only by me and my mom so as not ...

I’m big on breakfast. I eat it every morning, and when I can, I even eat breakfast food for dinner. What I eat for breakfast is dependent on what I ate the night before and how much time I have that morning. My weekday breakfasts are quite the boring affair of some disgustingly nutritious cereal and milky coffee, and then it’s off to the gym for me. There are days however where I wake up and make whatever I happened to dream about the night before: usually scones with nuggets of chocolate or pancakes. Lately, I’ve been tinkering around with whole wheat versions of biscuits an addition to breakfast that’s welcomed by no one in my household except me. view of The Columns from Kopi Roti Of course I love eating out for breakfast, usually on the weekends. My new a.m. pleasure is having breakfast at The Columns, the 30-storey residential tower of Ayala Land that sits pretty at the corner of ...

It sits there in its subdued yet elegant glory, its cocoa brown leather cover interrupted only by a strap striped in brown, green, and white. Gleaming from the counter, it’s the object of desire for all those who come close, the main reason why countless people will chug down more cups of coffee this month than they usually do. In the same way, if I drink enough coffee and ingest enough caffeine to keep myself wired all throughout the holiday festivities, this will be my reward. The thing to covet this season is none other than the Starbucks 2008 Planner. Don’t ask me how – and for Pete’s sake, don’t ask me where – but I’m able to get my dessert-stained hands on one. Clutching my prize close to my chest, I run and hole myself up in someplace private. If I’m seen with this, things could get ugly. (Fight, fight, fight!) Safely ensconced, a demitasse cup of homemade cappuccino con panna beside me (with red sprinkles for that Christmas sparkle), I run my fingers down the planner, relishing ...