Tag: Joseph L. Garcia

DO STORIES really end? We’d like to think that the end of one story just begins another, link upon link like the chains in a bracelet.

THE FIRST Versace boutique in the Philippines opened earlier this month in Solaire in Parañaque.

PHILIPPINE wine company Novellino celebrated its 20^th anniversary earlier this week, marking its hold on the growing wine industry of the country.

SAN MIGUEL, known for its beer and gin, is set to shake up with beverage market with a new product: wine.

A SENATOR, a mayor, businesswomen, and other luminaries are among PeopleAsia magazine’s 14^th batch of “Women of Style and Substance.” The magazine has been honoring women by including them in the lists since 2006.

IN A world where anybody with a huge bank account can afford anything, do we still know what true luxury is?

WHAT DOES it mean to be the best? You can take the example of Glenda Barretto, founder of Via Mare, and caterer extraordinaire. Mrs. Barretto’s bejewelled hand has presided over numerous state dinners at Malacañang Palace after a dinner she catered for a friend caught the attention of the dictator’s wife, Imelda Marcos. Since then, Mrs. Barretto’s imprimatur has been on almost every plate served to almost every world leader who has stepped foot in this country.

A COLLABORATION by clothing conglomerate Bench and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) culminates again in a celebration of the Philippine national dress, the terno, in a gala on Jan. 26, 2020 called Ternocon.

WHOLESOME FUN and fashion was the name of the game at the recent Baro’t Saya gala, held on Sept. 22 at the Grand Hyatt ballroom. It is an offshoot of the Awit at Laro project, which aimed to bring traditional Filipino games and nursery rhymes to a younger audience. Proceeds of the show will go to support the child-based projects of UNICEF, Tukod Foundation and the renovation of Museo Pambata.

WHEN YOU think about Bordeaux, which I’m sure you’ve bought because of its reputation — you’re partaking in the glory of the French Second Empire.

YOU MIGHT think that a barista is simply the guy who hands you your coffee at the counter, but after attending the first Philippine National Barista Assembly at BGC last week, well, we certainly got an education.

IF TIME were a true test of anything, then objects may matter more than we do. We would be long dead and gone, but the objects we would have acquired through the years will still be gathering dust by the time we would have turned into it.

GREAT JEWELRY matched with great women are matches made in heaven. We can look at the jewelry collections of actress Elizabeth Taylor, for example, and think about the great, noisy, roaring life that she lived.

AN OFT-REPEATED legend about Queen Marie Antoinette of France is that when she was told that the people had no bread, she replied, “Then let them eat cake.” The phrase has gone down in history as a marker of the indifference that the wealthy give to the poor.

A DESIGNER-LED fashion initiative, the PHx Fashion Conference aims to provide a holistic, inspirational, and informative experience for Filipino fashion practitioners, and ultimately, to expand the market for Philippine fashion. The conference -- to be held on Nov. 11 to 14 at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Pasay City -- will tap into the combined strengths of Japan and the Philippines to incubate the next generation of global Filipino fashion designers.

YOU’LL HAVE just until today to get a pedicure similar to those that keep Cate Blanchett, Robert de Niro, Naomi Campbell, and Gwyneth Paltrow on their feet. Until Sept. 16, the Conrad Manila highlights “Healing Foot Treatments” with celebrity podiatrist Albin Brion of BGA at its Conrad Spa. The 60-minute treatment consists of a specially designed foot care and pedicure session followed by a relaxing foot massage that helps alleviate foot ailments or soreness and aides in restoring the elasticity of the skin and nails.

EXCESS was the name of the game when the accredited caterers of the SMX Convention Centers showed off their capabilities in the eighth year of Culinaire.

OKTOBERFEST beer festival which is celebrated in Munich usually from mid-September until the first Sunday of October was first held in 1810 when Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, eventually Ludwig I, created the festival to celebrate his marriage to Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Ludwig I’s reign may not have lasted long — he abdicated in 1848 amid numerous scandals including overspending, repressive policies, and his many affairs with women including the infamous dancer Lola Montez — but at least Oktoberfest endured and we can continue partying.

A NAME drapes over your destiny much the same way clothing does. Your name can say a lot about your story in the same manner that clothing can. For Fawzia Maridul, founder of Malingkat, destiny can be found in both her own name and the brand’s: “Fawzia” means “successful” in Arabic, while “malingkat” means “beautiful” in Tausug.

HUMANS are arguably the world’s most successful predator, occupying a space atop the food chain. On this pedestal, we have been made free to consume every type of animal there is.

WERE WE really born just to eat, mate, then die? How about having a little fun? A two-time World Champion of Pizza Acrobatics (in 2001 and 2002) shows us how we can play with our food, have fun, and live well at the same time.

SWITZERLAND is known for its stolid reliability and a scientific approach to living. As one of the world’s richest and most successful nations, the...

THE WORD “raw” can capture an image of boorishness. We humans think that something is only worthy of attention when it has been touched by our numerous complications. It takes a certain elegance and skill to present food safely and tastily in its rawest form, for example, sashimi. In sashimi, there is a communion between nature and humanity, the tongue getting a taste of what the universe has created in its truest, most honest, and yet proudest form, aided with minimal intervention by the human hand.

THAILAND’S CLIMATE — social and meteorological — makes for perfect culinary theater. Spices and herbs grow in abundance, while influences are gathered from high and low, from different regions like China, India, and Portugal through trade; to different classes: from the royal family itself down to the common people.

SOMETIMES, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

THIS reporter was trying to figure out what made Martha Stewart so special.

FILIPINOS are famously a romantic people, and so the wedding becomes the highlight of the lives of many people, taking years to plan, incorporating fantasies fermenting in the soul since childhood.

DEPENDING ON where you place the accent, the word saya in Tagalog can mean two things: it can mean a skirt when emphasis is on the first “a,” but when you pronounce the “a” a little bit longer at the end, it means happiness. A fashion show which will be held on Sept. 22 at the Grand Hyatt Manila brings both meanings together with Baro at Sayá by Awit at Laro.

SOMEONE ONCE told me that a good breakfast was a sign of a good life: someone has spent time, money, and care to make sure you’re properly nourished in the morning. Of these three options, Manu Mano, a small bakery in Banawe, Manila, chooses to occupy the space carved out by love.

HERITAGE is such a loaded word these days, and in the face of a rapidly changing world, preserving a legacy seems ever more urgent.

THERE’S A belief that the many golden apples mentioned in Greek mythology — the food and playthings of the gods — were actually oranges from the East. Also, just in case you want to know, the name of the color comes from the fruit and not the other way around. Now, the fruit is grown everywhere, with 2018 data from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization stating that 73 million tons of oranges are grown worldwide.

THE Japanese seem to have a golden touch when it comes to design and manufacturing. If one looks at examples of Japanese design, the result is almost always intuitive, as if they have read the customer’s mind. The little touches they add, and a deep understanding of ergonomics solve problems people didn’t even know they had: for example, knife handles with certain angles that allow for cutting in any direction, or else rounded corners in simple objects like toasters so as not to seem obtrusive (or painful when one hits their hand against it). They have a skill in taking something foreign -- like jeans or whiskey -- and improving upon it, making it seem even better than the original.

MEAT CONCEPTS Inc., the group behind KPub BBQ, Thai BBQ,Ogawa, Oppa Chicken, Modern China, and Rico’s Lechon, among others, is opening several new concepts this year: a Chinese hotpot restaurant, another Cantonese concept, a steakhouse, and a Korean stew spot.

SKIP the line at Bo’s Coffee with a chatbot called Botty.

FAIR-SKINNED, brown-eyed, and dark-haired, Ai-Da speaks with an English accent. She wears a white long-sleeved blouse and black trousers. Since April, she has been studying her subjects and sketching them using her bionic arm in a company in Cornwall, England.

LET’S TAKE you back to the late ’90s and early 2000s, when climate change was a far-off fear, spaghetti straps were de rigueur, and we all had hope for the future (which is why we all dressed in plastic and glitter). The Syquia Apartments in Malate, once some of the most luxurious in Manila, served as a home for upmarket bohemians. The residents -- photographers, actors, editors, writers, designers, artists, and other creatives -- opened up their apartments for wild block parties, with each apartment having a unique theme. The parties were eventually put to a halt after a series of petty crimes.

THE YOUTH are our future, so the Fashion Design and Merchandising students of the De La Salle College of St. Benilde (DLSU-CSB) showed the possibilities of the future of fashion through their culminating fashion show and exhibit, Sinulid, now on its fourth edition.

GIN IS a drink that transcends classes and space. It could be found in the hands of cosmopolitans sipping classic G&Ts, or spilling on the streets from shots taken after work. A new gin called Archipelago by Full Circle Craft Distillers Co. shows off the full breadth of the Philippines, from all classes and spaces, distilled in a single bottle.

FLUIDITY, as a term, expresses the ability to change. Fluids take the shape of their containers; and can be seen in various forms, either in a liquid state, or as a solid or gas. Glenfiddich, as a single-malt whisky (and thus a fluid), is expected to do the same.

PABLO PICASSO once said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Some people, like children with cancer, don’t have the benefit of everyday life that they can shake dust from. Salcedo Auctions, through its subsidiary Gavel&Block, is helping out children with cancer through a benefit auction on July 20, in partnership with the IWantToShare Foundation.

FASHION and dance both serve the same purpose: to glorify the human body and display it at its zenith. Keeping in mind this goal, Ballet Philippines, for its 50^th anniversary gala on Sept. 29, will feature a 50-piece couture collection in a fashion show from renowned Filipino designer Michael Cinco alongside a new dance by Alden Lugnasin, inspired by the Swan Lake ballet. The show will be held at the Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom.

THE PIECES by renowned jewelry designer Roberto Coin -- who went into design after a successful stint as an entrepreneur in the hospitality industry -- are undoubtedly pretty, but are they smart, and as a bonus, even kind? That could be argued; and you’re welcome to ask some of his clients, a very long list that includes Oprah, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama.

THE seasons are here to remind us of our place in the universe. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter occur due to the Earth’s axial tilt, and humankind's existence revolves around this cosmic phenomenon. The seasons also remind us of the passage of time, how things that blossom will die someday, and, perhaps, be reborn in the future.

WITH THE opening of Seda Hotel BGC’s second tower comes the reimagining of its signature buffet restaurant, Misto.

THERE’S something to be said about the continued human adoration for flowers. No matter how beautiful a flower is, it will eventually die. We continue into a noble and futile effort to love something that will never last. But here’s a thought: what if it does last?