TO MARK the Quincentennial anniversary of the first circumnavigation of the world, the Spanish Embassy has organized Guitarras del mundo (World Guitars), an online concert on May 7, 5 p.m., through the Facebook accounts of Embassy of Spain and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

THE CULMINATING talk of Filipino Food Month, titled “The Endless Possibilities of Filipino Cuisine,” took the discussion beyond the table and into the fields of tourism and education.

OF THE FLAVORS that the human tongue can detect —  salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and savory (umami), bitter is the least acceptable and provokes the most aversion. From an evolutionary perspective, rightly so, as many bitter substances are toxic, and humans are programmed to avoid them.

THE RECENT talk of the town was the viral “lugaw is essential” mishap, wherein some local government officials prohibited a food delivery rider from delivering glutinous rice porridge due to the curfew. Inspired by all the discussion around lugaw, the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) Culinary Cluster came up with the idea of a Lugaw Challenge, which tasked 10 culinary experts from the School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management to give their own twist on this favorite Filipino comfort food.

FAMILY sits front and center in fast food giant Jollibee’s latest campaign called “Family Thanksgiving Month” (to be held annually henceforth every May). This was launched via a press conference on both Zoom and Facebook Live last week featuring media personalities Edric and Joy Mendoza. Still, the star of the show was the star of yet another Jollibee commercial, actress Anne Curtis.

AS SUMMER deepens and temperatures continue to rise — the Metro’s temperature spiked to 35.2C on May 4, according to the weather bureau, with a heat index of a truly wilting 39C — people are not the only ones who suffer. Pet owners are now tasked to tap into their creative side and come up with different ways to help them and their pets beat the heat and avoid heat exhaustion over the next two months.

DIAMOND Hotel Philippines just added new culinary selections to its online shopping site onlineshopping.diamondhotel.com to turn mundane home meals into hotel-at-home feasts.

IN MARCH 2021, a collage of images called Everydays — The First 5000 Days by Beeple (graphic designer Mike Winkelmann) was sold to Singapore-based technopreneur Vignesh Sundaresan at a Christie’s auction for $69.3 million worth of the crypto-currency Ether. The sale positioned Beeple as among the top three most valuable living artists, after English painter David Hockney and American sculptor Jeff Koons.

EVERY year, a team of young people undergo training in specialized skills for the upkeep of heritage structures — construction, painting, welding, plumbing, and electrical maintenance —  at the Escuela Taller de Filipinas. Like everyone else, the foundation was affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdowns this past year, and had to suspend the training. But it did not give up on its current conservation projects around the country.

STUCK at home amidst the pandemic, many people have turned to decorating their homes and making sure their private spaces reflect their personal taste and style. And if their tastes run towards the antique, Casa de Memoria can help them out.

LOS ANGELES —  The board of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the group that hands out the annual Golden Globe awards for television and film, proposed several changes on Monday to address criticism over its membership’s diversity and ethics.

TWITTER, Inc. said on Monday it will introduce a new feature to let users charge admission to their live audio chat rooms in its Spaces feature, as the social media company seeks to court more content creators.