Down the Rabbit Hole

One of the cooking shows I watch whenever I get the chance is "Curiosity Got the Chef" which is hosted by Sharwin Tee. Then I received news that he was dropping by IRRI... And I got the opportunity to talk with him. Ahhh!! Starstruck moment! I was so unprepared... I came from a wakeboarding weekend in Anilao, Batangas, which was why I was burned. Burned; not tanned. Great... He's fair-skinned... I'd practically look like a black blob bouncing on the rice fields! Only my orange shoes stood out of the darkness. (Thought bubble: Dementor, is that you?) But no worries, it was a beautiful afternoon to be outdoors... And my shoes were too pretty to not be an eye-catcher. We chatted about heirloom rice, with me hoping I'd be able to give him ideas for new dishes from these traditional rice varieties. He, like all chefs I've talked with, know their food. It's fun talking science with them because they really understand what the implications of che...

These days, I find Freddie, Jason, and Chuckie more gross than they are scary. But there are movies that I'd prefer not to watch because they spook me, like last year's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ... or even Blair Witch Project (which I have never watched. Ever.). Then there are scary movies that I watch because my friends want to watch them. The first one I watched in the cinema with friends was The Sixth Sense (1999). The more recent one was this year's Poltergeist. Well, it wasn't as scary as I had thought it would be. In fact, I thought I was watching Ghostbusters without the parapsychologists and without the Marshmallow Man and Slimer... basically without the obviously comedic elements. What made it feel like Ghostbusters to me was the presence of a paranormal expert and her team of graduate students, and a tv personality who was documenting ghost stories for his show. These characters helped the family in the haunted house to save the youngest of the bro...

My birthday week ended with a surprise: we saw dinosaurs! No, we didn't really  see dinosaurs in an uncharted island in the middle of nowhere... we just went to watch Jurassic World. Wound down the birthday week the epic way: with the socially inept Indominus rex, the Jaws-like Mosasaur, and oversized Velociraptors. Plus the Tyrannosaurus rex that (***spoiler alert***). A photo posted by Rochie Cuevas (@rochiecuevas) on Jul 7, 2015 at 6:58am PDT And what a joyride it has been, as always. I knew we'd see the Tyrannosaurus rex and the Velociraptors. But I didn't quite expect the appearance of the biggest baddie in this refurbished nature park: the extra ferocious Indominus rex. Seriously, it was claiming to be the wildest king of the jungle (the name said it all). Then there was the Mosasaur that made great white sharks look puny. The first few minutes of the movie was all about introducing these new characters, along with the humans that tempted fate by a...

Yes, another "over-celebrated" inconsequential number. As always, it took me a week of partying to celebrate my birthday.  I kickstarted it  on Tuesday. I ate dinner at The Black Pig with Ana, Anna, Pau, Annette, and Matty. A strange mix people, it seems, but really it's a group of my friends all involved in heirloom rice , who love rosé wine , and some I went (or got dragged into) roaming the exhibits and ice cream shops of Madrid Fusíon Manila with. As always, the food at The Black Pig was excellent; Carlos has outdone himself again in the kitchen. Anton and Berna, as usual, were very warm hosts. How could I not drop by for a great dinner when the restaurant partners are all my friends, right? On Wednesday night, I had dinner up in the heights... near the infinity pool at the penthouse floor, in fact, of The Nest, of Vivere Hotel (in Alabang). This time, I was with my foodie friends: Man, Ate Bing, and Justin. Ate Mary opted out at the last minute; o...