bambina writes

A Matter of Bribe

Bribery in all its forms - petty, blatant, subtle, systematic or institutionalized - is pretty much a way of life in South Africa.  Of course you get the whites who say it's an African thing, but in reality, is a human thing, borne out of economic desperation, bureaucratic frustration and maybe even civic creativity.  

But knowing all of the above still didn't inoculate me from the stupefaction of being hit for a bribe by the immigration supervisor on duty at the airport when I left for Manila during the Christmas holidays.

The Swine of the Times

When the avian flu broke out some years back, as a preventive measure, millions of chickens were slaughtered.  It may be too early to tell whether the current swine flu outbreak will reach pandemic proportions, but fortunately for us humans eating pork doesn't seem to pose any danger of contamination.

And fortunately, I am neither Jewish nor Muslim, because frankly, I love pork. In all its incarnations - roasted, deep-fried, grilled, braised, barbecued, cured, smoked, even boiled, depending on how it's cooked. Filipino-style preferably, in a tamarind-based broth perhaps...

The One & Only

No, this isn't about the star-studded grand opening of the One&Only Cape Town, which by the way, is a fabulous hotel by any standard.  With architecture by Ruben Reddy and Dennis Fabian Berman and interiors by Adam Tihany, it is sexy, modern and chic, and makes that grande dame of Cape Town, The Mount Nelson, look like its spinster aunt, creased but dignified, clinging defiantly to the glories of centuries past.  

No, this isn't about the hotel at all, though in a roundabout way, it is.

My So-Called Life

The Girl Can Cook

As a writer, I have to confess to a secret thrill when I see my name in print.  Any writer who tells you otherwise is lying.  Of course, I'd prefer to see my name as the byline to a story, or, even better, as the author of a book very prominently displayed in all the windows of all the Barnes & Noble stores.  But for the moment I'll settle for seeing my name mentioned in the acknowledgments page of a book, as I was this year. Not just once, mind you, but twice, when two very dear friends came out with their respective cookbooks.

Three years ago, my bestest friend Claudia published DELICIOUS in Hong Kong together with another friend, Dominica.  The book featured 60 of their favorite recipes and was a spectacular success. Having enjoyed many meals with Claudia and her family throughout the almost 20-odd years that we have been friends, believe me when I tell you, the girl can cook.  

Meet the Prez

Huff 'n Puff

With election fever raging in America, The Huffington Post has become my bookmarked blog for all things election-related.  

It's easy to affect bored indifference at the nonstop election coverage in the media, but the fact remains that this is a particularly crucial contest, and whoever emerges victorious as the next President of the United States is going to have a profound impact on our world order.  Is it going to be the hot-headed, traumatized prisoner-of-war held hostage by the rabid right wing and his suddenly expensively coiffed and dressed pseudo-Hockey Mom of a Vice President?  Or will it be the man of admittedly little experience yet deep intelligence and measured calm along with his extremely capable and seasoned running mate?

WOW Philippines

I think the Department of Tourism should hire me.  Though certainly not the DOT under the current administration.  Yes, I'm being utterly political.

In the last 12 months, Philippine luxury retail has had quite a bit of coverage in WWD.  There have been stories on Greenbelt and Ayala Land, Rafe, Melissa Dizon and Eairth, and players who have shaped the market like SSI and Anton Huang, Jappy Gonzalez, Ricco and Tina Ocampo, Juan Miguel Ongsiako, and Louis Vuitton.  There was also a story on Adora I wish I'd written but my editor beat me to it!

Last Monday, my article on how the luxury market has come of age in the Philippines appeared in a special WWD Real Estate Review  issue.  It was in fact the lead-in article (yay!):  A Family's Retail Legacy.  Because, of course, where would luxury retail in the country be without the vision of the Tantoco family?

What Would Paul Newman Do?

 

I must have always had a thing for older men.  

When I was 11, maybe up to the time I was 13, I used to make lists of my celebrity crushes.  Not for me the likes of Leif Garrett, David and Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson - the late 70s equivalent of Zac Efron, the Jonas Brothers and Chace Crawford.  Too young, too scrubbed, too bubble gum.  Instead my lists featured - or so I believed - men of humor and character, men of experience, men of assured swagger.  Men like Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, James Garner, Alain Delon, James Caan, even Beau Bridges...

And then there was Paul Newman and his impossibly beautiful blue eyes, in a class of his own.  

The Scent of Exclusivity

Funny how life - and genetics - work.  In 1953, a chemist and inventor by the name of Graham Wulff concocted a formula that became one of the most successful beauty elixirs of all time. That elixir was Oil of Olay, and it promised youth through effective moisturizing and mass-market distribution.

Fast forward to some fifty years later and Wulff's own granddaughter, Tammy Frazer, continues the family tradition of invention, concocting her own elixirs made from the purest organic ingredients, each one promising to seduce, to captivate, to tantalize, to immortalize, all through the power of scent. And perhaps even more powerful than that is the appeal of the ultimate luxury - exclusivity.

Mothers and Daughters

My older daughter went off to camp a kid and came back a teenager. I like to think I'm pretty chilled as a mother and not at all like the uptight, high-anxiety parents described in a recent New York Times story:

"Their parents, meanwhile, were bombarding the camp with calls: one wanted help arranging private guitar lessons for her daughter, another did not like the sound of her child’s voice during a recent conversation, and a third needed to know — preferably today — which of her daughter’s four varieties of vitamins had run out. All before lunch."

In Praise of Older Men

Because I have a Groovy Old Man of my own, I could SO identify with this piece in The Independent, charmingly entitled Groovy Old Men: The rise of the silver swingers.

Continue reading "In Praise of Older Men" »

Dr Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor of the "Last Lecture" fame, passed away on July 25,, 2008, after a brave battle against pancreatic cancer.  He was 47.

Live with wonder, he exhorted the audience at his lecture, delivered in September 2007.  He told friends and colleagues that he would probably be delivering his lecture to a crowd of no more than 50.  Instead, the 400-seat auditorium was packed to capacity.  In fact, it was standing room only.

Continue reading "Randy Pausch Lives" »

It's always nice to open a magazine and see three of your stories published in one issue.  The latest WWD Fast, a biannual publication of WWD which focuses on jeans, sportswear and youth culture, carries three pieces by me - one on Eairth, the organic line by Filipino designer Melissa Dizon, one on Metropolitain Cosmetics, just about the best beauty and fragrance shop in Johannesburg, and one on my favorite African city, Cape Town.

Read them after the break.

The terno goes haute couture.  Was Lola Karl inspired by Imelda Marcos?

Take a look at this from the Chanel Fall-Winter 2008 Couture show in Paris yesterday:

 

Continue reading "The Imeldific in Karl Lagerfeld" »

Randy Pausch Lives

Dr Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor of the "Last Lecture" fame, passed away on July 25,, 2008, after a brave battle against pancreatic cancer.  He was 47.

Live with wonder, he exhorted the audience at his lecture, delivered in September 2007.  He told friends and colleagues that he would probably be delivering his lecture to a crowd of no more than 50.  Instead, the 400-seat auditorium was packed to capacity.  In fact, it was standing room only.

Continue reading "Randy Pausch Lives" »

It's always nice to open a magazine and see three of your stories published in one issue.  The latest WWD Fast, a biannual publication of WWD which focuses on jeans, sportswear and youth culture, carries three pieces by me - one on Eairth, the organic line by Filipino designer Melissa Dizon, one on Metropolitain Cosmetics, just about the best beauty and fragrance shop in Johannesburg, and one on my favorite African city, Cape Town.

Read them after the break.

The terno goes haute couture.  Was Lola Karl inspired by Imelda Marcos?

Take a look at this from the Chanel Fall-Winter 2008 Couture show in Paris yesterday:

 

Continue reading "The Imeldific in Karl Lagerfeld" »

Triple Treat

It's always nice to open a magazine and see three of your stories published in one issue.  The latest WWD Fast, a biannual publication of WWD which focuses on jeans, sportswear and youth culture, carries three pieces by me - one on Eairth, the organic line by Filipino designer Melissa Dizon, one on Metropolitain Cosmetics, just about the best beauty and fragrance shop in Johannesburg, and one on my favorite African city, Cape Town.

Read them after the break.

The Imeldific in Karl Lagerfeld

The terno goes haute couture.  Was Lola Karl inspired by Imelda Marcos?

Take a look at this from the Chanel Fall-Winter 2008 Couture show in Paris yesterday:

 

Continue reading "The Imeldific in Karl Lagerfeld" »