Tag: Joseph L. Garcia

IF I had known then that my dinner at Shanghai Saloon was the last nice meal I’d have for the next three months, I wouldn’t have rushed through the affair. Right after I left the restaurant on its March 12 opening, the president went on air to announce the community quarantine — which is still ongoing after four months.

Powdered milk was an especially important commodity during times of war and famine. Removing most of the water content of the milk enabled it to be transported more easily, but more importantly, give it a longer shelf life. Now, during a pandemic, Scandinavian organic dairy giant Arla is filling in a gap in the shelf-stable organic category with its own powdered milk.

TODAYXFUTURE, a bar in Cubao, was the one place in the world where heiresses in Chanel could dance to songs by the Sexbomb Dancers. It was one of the few places in the city where 20-somethings danced to “The Ghost In You” by The Psychedelic Furs, and other New Wave and disco hits. Within a few minutes, the same crowd would also be dancing to Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own,” a perennial crowd favorite that always brought shrieks of elation. More importantly, as a safe space for queer individuals, it was one of the few places in the world where I felt secure holding another man’s hand. And now it’s gone.

BLUED, a gay social app, is launching a series of talks covering topics of interest for the LGBTQ+ community. It is, as one of the speakers, Vince Uy said, “creating a space where people can freely converse. And not just converse, but learn from each other.”

A MYSTERIOUS package arrived earlier this month, along with an invitation to attend a Zoom session. The package, sent by Don Papa Rum, was filled with bottles of booze — part of their partnership with boho-chic watering hole Run Rabbit Run in Makati’s Poblacion.

OKAY, so you’re late, only beginning to shop for a Father’s Day present the day after. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. With a purchase from these brands, not only will you be helping a local business (and maybe a few charities), you’ll also be able to give your father a nice unique present — and because of the prices, you can even go and match him, just like he always wanted.

AS Vikings Luxury Buffet reopens this week, we look back on the times we’ve made utter pigs of ourselves and tried to form sushi and salad pyramids on our plates a few inches high. I cite this specific memory as we enter what everybody calls “The New Normal.” As per government regulations, while restaurants may operate on a limited basis during the general community quarantine, buffets are still very much closed to maintain social distancing. While Vikings may have been reopened, the experience won’t be quite the same: instead of getting up and getting food from various stations, one will just order-all-you-can from a menu.

EXPERIMENTAL and recycled fabrics are the highlights of Italian fashion brand Ermenegildo Zegna’s Winter 2020 collection.

THE novel coronavirus that has effectively frozen our lives is thought to have animal origins — the virus may have spread from eating certain wild animals which were the original reservoirs of the SARS-Cov-2 virus which causes COVID-19 (scientists today point to either bats or pangolins; we’ll not get into the other conspiracy theories surrounding the spread of the virus). At the same time, the lockdowns and lack of public transportation have made it more difficult to acquire food than it was before the pandemic. As a temporary solution, some — this reporter included — have taken to eating meat analogues, or products made to resemble meat, to provide protein substitutes in the absence of meat.

WE understand that in times like these, one would like a little bit more of protection. But this does not mean that style has to be abandoned.

THE virus strips away a little bit of ourselves every day — including half our faces. When our faces are covered, how can we continue to express ourselves? For some designers, the answer is chic face masks.

BEING stuck at home under quarantine doesn’t have to be boring — not when there is access to some testosterone-filled pro wrestling. Late last year, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) inaugural Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins went head to head with Jake de Leon of the Philippine Wrestling Revolution (PWR) in an event called PWR Special: Homecoming. Now, one can watch the fight in the comfort of home, when Homecoming becomes available on pay-per-view on May 31.

THE COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic has up-ended schedules of work, sleep, meals, and everything else you thought was normal.

MISSING the things that the virus has taken away -- parties, live events, even being seen barefaced -- brought more than a thousand viewers to Facebook Live last week to watch Rajo Laurel: Runway Online, a live fashion show by designer Rajo Laurel. This was done in collaboration with Robbie Carmona, founder and CEO of Saga Events, the events company which staged the show.

FOR those missing selections from Givenchy (or essentials from Muji), the SSI Group has resumed operations for some of its stores and brands, following the government’s announcement on the re-opening of select malls and establishments.

WITH liquor bans being eased in some cities (Quezon City, Pasay, Makati, and Taguig at our last count), we think it’s okay now to have a drink, or two, or four — provided one follows social distancing measures, meaning one should drink these following drink recipes only at home. You don’t have to be lonely — some have gone on to the video-conferencing app Zoom for “e-numans” (remote drinking parties).

YOU may not be able to visit them anytime soon, but two Philippine bars made it to the list of Asia’s 50 Best Bars which William Reed Business Media released via Facebook Live last week.

Let me start with a familiar story: a wrestler, two comedians, and a comic book artist all walk into a bar… except they don’t, because there’s a pandemic, and we’re all still stuck at home.

A PANDEMIC has forced us to hole up in our homes in little better than T-shirts and robes. In this stagnation, it’s easy to think that fashion isn’t important -- but how can something not be important when it sits right on your skin?

THIS seems to be a summer of loss: jobs, money, stability, loved ones, and lives have been given over to the void. It’s not easy to wake up everyday not knowing what the world outside your windows would look like. The pandemic has changed the way we live, and in the moments that we’re trying to do more than just live and work, emotions usually bubble up to the surface.

EVERYONE has taken a hit during this lockdown. Even the restaurants we once went to to taste something new and to escape from the dreariness of normality have taken some bad blows. In a webinar earlier this month hosted by Bounceback PH, RJ Ledesma of Mercato Centrale interviewed restaurateurs about how they were coping during the pandemic, and how they plan to serve food in the future.

WE already know and feel how the current pandemic has changed the way we work, cough, or even show love. A recent webinar by Enderun Extension showed that the pandemic might affect even the way we eat, from the speakers’ recommendations on how restaurants will have to change in order to face a world during, and after a pandemic.

During times of stress, an option for many people in normal times would be to go to a resort such as The Farm at San Benito. Under the extraordinary circumstances of a global pandemic however, we’re supposed to stay at home. Dr. Marian Alonzo, Medical Chief of The Farm at San Benito, gave a list of tips on what one can do to destress at home.

UNLESS you have the good fortune of living with an incredible cook, canned goods and your own set of recipes can get old and quickly while we’re all under quarantine. Here’s a list of some of your favorite restaurants offering its menu for takeout and delivery (including fast food favorites selling ready-to-cook frozen items!) so you can get a taste of what life was before, and hope for the best for the future (but also keep you satisfied).

MUCH of Luzon has been under community quarantine for a month now and since everyone was thrust into a situation where staying at home is paramount in order to beat the virus, adjusting to living within the four walls of their homes is a challenge not only for physical fitness but also mental health. Fitness educators and trainers are suggesting that the act of moving, whether doing chores or simple workouts, for a few minutes can do wonders to help the quarantine pass easier.

In the days before the pandemic, Waya Araos-Wijangco’s restaurant, Gourmet Gypsy Art Cafe, specialized in eclectic global cuisine. The restaurant’s bohemian interiors served as...

AS WE enter the third week of quarantine, we understand that a few frazzled cooks may have already run out of ideas, or even fresh ingredients. We’re going to present a series of recipes featuring canned products from San Miguel to maximize your stock and prevent your ideas from going stale. These recipes are from San Miguel Foods Culinary Center’s Home Foodie. (If you have run out of fresh produce or it is hard to get in your area during the lockdown, see BusinessWorld’s listing on online vegetable delivery here: https://www.bworldonline.com/where-to-buy-veggies-and-fruit-online/)

FASHION designer Ito Curata died at the age of 60 on March 26. According to reports, he died of pneumonia caused by the COVID-19 virus, which has killed thousands around the globe.

DISEASE does not discriminate, and takes lives great or small. During this coronavirus pandemic, when you can: stay at home. Otherwise, maintain distance in public, avoid close contact with people, and take all necessary sanitary precautions.

THE various details that were once mere facts of life become major decisions when you’ve been forcibly locked inside the house by a virus. New developments everyday force us ever more to retreat inwards, but inside a space filled with dread. Maybe a touch of true silence will make that place a little better.

YOU and I have been placed under house arrest by an invisible spectre: a virus.

WHILE several hotels have sent us statements regarding their operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, the rules have changed as swiftly as the statements were issued. While hotels such as The Peninsula Manila and Marco Polo assured us of their food safety procedures a few days ago, they, as most of the hotels in the National Capital Region have since been closed, or are currently closing.

WHILE we’ve been ordered to stay home, going to the supermarket can feel risky, what with the long lines of panic buyers and checkout stands touched by every Tom, Dick, and Juana who may be harboring the virus that causes COVID-19. But there now are grocery delivery services available where one can order one’s necessities without having to interact with anyone in real life,except maybe the wary delivery person. Here is a list of where to get your groceries and other essentials in this time of need. Most websites, however, have posted warnings that there will be delays in delivery, due to the obvious logistical issues.

THE WORLD continued to tick on for wearers of Rolex as guests flooded into the Rolex boutique at the Podium in the Ortigas Center a few days before the announcement of the community quarantine spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new boutique is the first of its kind.

SAMAR is regularly brought down to its knees thanks to its geographical location, which puts it right in the path of storms, including the long nightmare that was Typhoon Yolanda. And yet, when BusinessWorld spent the last days of February there, it was hard to feel that it was a province that knew hardship. In a carinderia (roadside eatery), a couple feasted on what are considered luxuries in the country’s capital: crabs and upland rice. A member of the tour group, who will not be named, scoffed, “And they call us poor.”

AMID A climate emergency, a possible pandemic, and all the great and small battles we all fight everyday, the world continued to spin for the designers of Paris. Two designers at the shows in the first week of March showed a nostalgia for days gone by, one designer opted for the arts as a palliative, while one maison refuses to go down without a fight.

How sure are you that your choices when you’re dining out are healthy for the planet?

DISCOVERY Suites Ortigas, the first hotel of the Discovery Leisure Company, Inc. hospitality group, celebrated its 20^th anniversary last month, thus commemorating everything else that followed the hotel’s 2000 opening: the various properties located in Makati, Tagaytay, Boracay, and Palawan.

TONIGHT and tomorrow, three icons of Philippine music — Basil Valdez, Lani Misalucha, and National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab — join forces in And The Story Begins.

CHEF Myke “Tatung” Sarthou, like most people, may well have been content to stay in one place. As it is, however, man has a mandate to move, and despite it being a time of rest for him, he has managed to open two restaurants in less than a year.

It is understood that the people who work with wine somehow shape it too: while wine is indeed time, climate, and space distilled elegantly in a bottle, surely the hands who made it have left their imprint on it too?

MAKATI RESIDENTS can now stop fretting: the dishes of Omakase, Mister Kabab, 24 Chicken, Recovery Food, and Frank and Dean, all restaurants which are outside the city, are now available in the area, while CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice has expanded its delivery operations in the area. This isn’t because they’ve opened up new branches. They’re all there thanks to Grab’s GrabKitchen.

THE Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) held its 4^th Film Ambassadors’ Night (FAN) on Feb. 9 to celebrate audiovisual workers who have brought honor to the country by winning in film festivals abroad.

TIPPLING is even easier with a handful of new drink recipes from Johnnie Walker.

FILIPINO brand Plains & Prints summons spring with its new collection featuring its signature Spring Harvest prints.