The graduate

Abel and Petchay

Facebook is full of posting by proud parents in their children’s graduation rites. Double pride for parents with children graduating with honors.

But the award-winning post,for me, was by journalist Isabel de Leon of the Manila Bulletin. Last week, she posted: “Scoured the entire Recto Avenue for a toga for my Petchay who’s graduating this Sunday.

“Found the toga and the cap. At dahil di ako sure kung may award na matatanggap ang apo ko, ibinili ko na rin sya ng gold medal. (And since I’m not sure if my grandchild will get an award, I also bought a gold medal.)”

Who can top that?

Recto Avenue, as we all know, is where you buy what you can’t get in school: fake diplomas, school ring, medals, etc. etc.

Abel and I covered Malacañang together during the Ramos presidency. She was famous in the Malacañang Press Corps for finding terrific buys when we go shopping in between coverage during foreign visits. We would be green with envy for the beautiful items she had found at bargain prices.

But when before, Abel’s shopping list were mostly her clothes, now Petchay’s needs are her priority.

Petchay, seven years old, is Matthew Benedict Adao, first son of Abel’s only daughter. He just finished his Prep school at Fairfield School in Quezon City. He also attends classes at Multiple Intelligence Learning Center.

When Petchay enters Grade One in June at Fairfield, he will also be studying Braille because he is half-blind. He can only see with his left eye.

Abel said Petchay was born in 2005 with sepsis (infection) because his Mom had urinary tract infection in the late stage of her pregnancy.

Abel said Petchay is a miracle baby. “He is special in the sense that he almost died when he was a newborn and stayed at the Nursery Intensive Care Unit for more than a month. He had sepsis and doctors told us he was going to die,” she recalled.

Abel then was one of Gloria Arroyo’s press undersecretaries. Every day, after work in Malacañang, she would pass by St. Jude church. “I begged God to spare him because looking at him every day with all those contraptions on his body, parang durog na durog puso ko. I promised God I’d give up something for Petchay.”

On the day the doctors said that Petchay has a slim chance of surviving, Abel said she resolved to give up smoking. When Abel arrived at the Heart Center that day, she was alarmed seeing Petchay’s crib empty. She thought of the worst. She ran to the nurses’ station, where she was told that Petchay had been transferred to a regular room.

Abel said Petchay’s physical growth is normal except that because he is half-blind he would always stumble or bump into furniture.She said he scores high in social interaction.

Last Sunday, Abel said when Petchay put on his toga, she also put on him the Recto-bought gold medal.
She later posted in her Facebook: “Good thing I bought that gold medal. Petchay got the Most Punctual and Most Confident awards though .”

Abel deserves a gold medal for “Best Lola in the world.”

Manila International Auto Show 2012

Manila International Auto Show

Two days to go before the Manila International Auto Show 2012 unfolds at the World Trade Center in Manila (or is it Buendia, Pasay City?) Car lovers from all ages and all walks of life will surely converge here for a chance to look at those gleaming cars (and beautiful ladies!)

As the press release says: “it is the Philippines’ largest and most attended car show, with over 85,000 attendees and an exhibit area of over 30,000 sqm. The event features the best concept cars, hybrid cars, and other automotives that will change the way we look at motoring.

With the theme “motorsports,” the highlights of the four-day MIAS 2012 include the Russ Swift Precision Driving Stunt Show,
the Car of the Year Awards 2012, the MIAS Classic and Custom Car Competition, the European Mobile Media Competition, various car launches, test drives, motorsports exhibits, special demonstrations, and a car photography contest.

Participating car brands are Audi, Jeep, Jaguar, Mini, Ford, Honda, Isuzu, Hyundai, Land Rover, Mercedes Benz, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Chrysler, Dodge, Nissan, BMW and other upcoming car brands.

See you there!

Official website: www.manilautoshow.com

Tous Les Jours Korean bakery

All right, there’s a seeming Korean invasion in Manila’s commercial scene, and if you include our President’s love life, that’s a double whammy! :) Along with Korean groceries, Korean bakeries are also sprouting up in select places and the most famous among them is the international franchise Tous Les Jours.

What it means I really don’t know (too tired to Google, at this point). Maybe Koreans, like Filipinos, also have a colonial mentality. For how else can you put a French name on a Korean bakery? It escapes me ;)

But I wasn’t complaining, the moment I saw these glorious cakes on display.

Tous les jour cakes

It turns out they were not “layogenic” (looking good only from afar). The more I salivated when I looked up the desserts up close.

This was Kiss Strawberry, described as “strawberry cream cake covered with natural dried strawberries.” Only P648 for a whole piece.

kiss strawberry

A look at this lovable bear cake covered in black and white chocolate and I was thinking of my kids! Definitely bringing this home for my daughters’ graduation parteeh :)

bear cake @ Tous Les Jours

I thought the Rose Inspiration Fresh Cream Cake (P498) looked mysterious.I certainly wondered what lay beneath the velvet white frosting. I will taste you sometime…. xoxo. My body (and my wallet) is presently on an enforced diet :)

rose cake @ Tous Les Jours

While I swore off the cakes, I didn’t hesitate to fill up my basket with their baked breads. There’s something about mothers and pasalubong, you know. The first thing I chose were a couple of red bean buns (I told you I love adzuki). Then some cream cheese danish, rectangular apple pies, croissants and more buns. The salesgirl convinced me to buy the pizza toast since she said it just came right off the oven and so I did, along with a sausage roll.

Verdict: all good. And the best thing is that they’re cheaper than the competitor initialled BT :) Their baked treats are of high quality and are produced fresh daily but observe advanced frozen dough technology (this is according to their global website).

Am coming back Tous Les Jours!

sausage roll

pizza toast @ Tous Les Jours

The branches of this bakery in Manila are in SM North Edsa The Block and SM Southmall. Alabang Town Center and J Center Mall Cebu open in summer 2012.