For the past three months, I’ve been a columnist at the Manila Times writing about – what else? – food, for my column called – what else? – Dessert Comes First.

I’d have to be blind to not notice that frozen yogurt has come back to the Philippines. Yes, “come back.” Progenitors of this dessert include TCBY which had a celebrated but much abbreviated stint at Megamall in the early 90s, New Zealand Naturals (which I miss terribly), as well as that Japanese (or was it Korean?) frozen yogurt stand in Landmark. And of course BTIC (Better Than Ice Cream) has been around since the same time but no one really seems to be moved by frozen yogurt that isn’t soft serve.

How you pronounce its name, Umu, is up to you but I say “OO-moo.”

So, the deal is that I find myself eating croissants for breakfast at least once a week, usually on the weekends. Everyone is familiar with a croissant, its characteristic crescent shape and its ineffable flakiness achieved by “folding” layers of butter between layers of dough. A good croissant renders audible the crunch of each layer, the shattering of crumb as my teeth break through the crust, resulting in a clutter of crumbs of mouth and on table. There’s no other bread quite like it, it's breakfast food par excellence.

I love the weather lately: gales of cool air intersperse with sporadic bursts of sunshine interjected with protests of rain that come in spurts, sometimes in showers. The food I eat is closely related to my moods, and rainy days (and Mondays especially), call for comfort. Cooler days call for food that sit well in the soul and stomach, and why not? With a full stomach, one can rule the world. One damn good sandwich In this case, it’s a sardine panini. It’s not often that I crave for sardines, but when I do, I like the ones that come in a spicy tomato sauce. My cousin taught me a nifty trick: heat them up in a shallow pan with some cheese; the cheese melts, lending a richness to the sardines that you can’t quite get from a can. Some onion slices, tomatoes, a good crack of black pepper, and of course, salt. Of course, it also goes without saying that the quality of my sandwich is nothing unless the bread is stellar. I’ve resorted to atrocious supermarket loaves from time to time, but when I have it my way, I ...