bambina writes

Sexed Out

It was Girls Night Out everywhere around the world last night. And there was a run on Cosmopolitans as well. After watching Sex and the City on opening night like all good card-carrying thirty- and forty-something women and gay men, we headed for the nearest bar and ordered what else but Cosmopolitans. Our rotund waiter was clueless as to why the dark pink drinks were unusually popular last night. And so began, drink in hand, a post-mortem on Sex and the City, the most hyped, most publicized, most fashionably self-conscious and most self-consciously fashionable movie of the year.

A Room with a View

I've been waking up to some amazing views lately. This morning, in Cape Town, from the patio of my fabulous room at The Dock House - a sublimely chic six-room villa-type boutique hotel in what used to be the Residence of the Harbour Engineer in the mid-1800s - I woke up to this:

Swiss Miss

Went to Switzerland and didn't ski but came back with a tan. So tanned that my children didn't recognize me when I picked them up from school. And so tanned that my older daughter cheekily pulled down my top to ascertain whether the sudden and uncharacteristic tan was an epidermal phenomenon limited to my face, chest and arms, or all over my body.

All About My Mother

I tend to have an aversion to contrived holidays like Valentine's Day and, yes, Mother's Day. It's not the sentiment nor the intent behind the holidays that turns me off, but the over-commercialization of the occasion. But then again, perhaps coming from a family for whom the mere mention of a Hallmark card is enough to elicit a collective shudder, it's not that surprising that I prefer to steer clear of anything that involves syrup and schmaltz served up in a greeting card.

Until I had kids, of course.

Brief Encounter

So there I was at an airport terminal, somewhere in the Middle East, en route to Europe to see the man. I scanned the coffee shop, staffed naturally by Filipinos, hoping to park myself at a table and keep myself awake for the next three hours with a cup of java. I heard an accent that was unmistakably - for want of a better description - Manila-NuVo-Embassy-by way of Boston University.

Rafe Rocks Manila

As far as homecomings go, Rafe Totengco's is pretty hard to beat.

Accessories designer Rafe Totengco, known for blending uptown sophistication with downtown edge, has taken his aesthetic to the Philippines.

"I was blown away with the reception I got from customers, who came in droves to congratulate me, shower me with affection and support," New York-based Totengco said about the launch party.

Mini-Me to the Max

So tonight I was cooking chicken drumsticks and thighs marinated in what we refer to at home as my "special sauce" - sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic and whatever else I feel like adding, be it lime juice and ginger or five-spice powder.

Recently I fiddled with the recipe a bit, using chicken breasts and skipping the garlic.

In the Taff Ten Again*

WWD today released a new Top Ten List, this time ranking the countries by the percentage of residents surveyed who say they buy designer brands.

And guess what? The Philippines is ranked 8th, with 26 per cent.

Read the Signs

If the guy you're dating had on his bedside table a self-help book by the likes of Osho or Dr John Demartini, would you think he was profound or a total loser?

Personally the warning bells would start clanging loudly in my brain. And I tried reading both books, believe me, but there was no breakthrough experience for me and I gave up after 30 pages. I would rather see, say, a hefty Yves Saint Laurent tome by his bedside; at least I'd know he's gay and we could spend the rest of the night watching Sunset Boulevard and taking turns acting out Norma Desmond's lines.

Things Go Better with Coke

The ongoing "high" society drugs-and-sex scandale in Manila as exposed by THAT blog reminds me of an incident - oh gosh - over 20 years ago or so. I was home from Paris for the summer and on a date with a well-known Man About Town. Intellectual sophisticate, smooth talker, connoisseur and collector of all things luxurious, from sports cars, aircraft, fine vintage wines, private islands and women...