Cebu Living: 2016 April-June

CEBU LIVING

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 4

GOLDA KING The visual artist on whim, power, and how the dots came about

CONCRETE ART

The conundrums of graffiti: Is it art?

Page 10

CLASS ACT

Hannah Florendo and the distance between astronaut and art teacher Page 12

ITALIAN KITCHEN

The Guidicellis share family recipes, and why they don’t serve pizza Page 26

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SOCIAL DIARIES SOCIAL DIARIES

By PRISTINE L. DE LEON

A WEEKEND AFFAIR Cebu Living launches the year’s first issue with heaps of craveworthy comfort food and a night of relaxing music

Launching its first issue of the year, the team behind Cebu Living magazine set up a post-Valentines-themed food fair at 32 Sanson, Rockwell, Lahug last Feb. 20.

Friends, couples, and families gathered to revel in good music and sumptuous fare ranging from melted chocolate to everyone’s favorite lechon. A horde of around a thousand dropped by to unwind—topping the number of guests from last November’s Weekend Sunset.

Some visitors, with their beers from The Social or their shaved ice cream from Sno, took their spots on the picnic mats near the pool, beside swaying red balloons—a sight reminiscent of a community picnic.

The Wonggoys, Cebu’s homegrown band of brothers, delivered relaxing tunes, followed by an equally enjoyable number by Vincent Echo. The evening revelry concluded at 10 p.m., but it was duly extended until 11 p.m. as groups of friends and families were still savoring the food and romantic backyard ambiance.

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GUESTS JOINED IN FOR A LAID BACK WEEKEND OF GOOD FOOD, GOOD COMPANY AND GOOD VIBES

KRISHTAL OF KRISH’S KITCHEN READY TO SERVE SCRUMPTIOUS SELECTION OF BAKED GOODIES

MARCO ANZANI, KATE ANZANI AND DAUGHTER AZZURRA

ROSE HENNESSY AND KLOODIE CHIONGBIAN

JUMBO CLIMACO AND MARIAN CLIMACO

JEN MARTINEZ WITH KIDS TINO, TONI, AND TALI, CELINE MANIQUIS AND MAIA HERRERA

THE NIGHT’S MUSIC WAS COURTESY OF 22 TANGO’S THE WONGGOYS

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ARTS & CULTURE

WEAVING GROUND

Building an ecosystem of weavers, designers, seamstresses, entrepreneurs, and consumers to revive a forgotten symbol of identity

EXPOSED TO COMMUNITY SERVICE AND LOCAL HERITAGE AT A YOUNG AGE, ANYA LIM DISCOVERED THE ART OF WEAVING ON A FAMILY TRIP TO BANAUE, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE.

By DENISE DANIELLE ALCANTARA Images by RYAN RACAL Weaves are making a slow (very slow) comeback.

With people commonly associating weaving with the commercial label of “tribal prints,” more entrepreneurs are finding slivers of opportunity in startup businesses that also promote the craft.

“Wear your tribe with pride” is the slogan of a Cebu-based social enterprise Alternative Nest and Training/Trading Hub for Indigenous/ Ingenious Little Livelihood seekers, or ANTHILL for short. Founded by motherdaughter duo Annie and Anya Lim, ANTHILL began six years ago as a hub of local weaves where people went to purchase materials in yards for their personal projects or respective businesses. “We have a bigger mission that is for a lot of people to wear local weaves and use it.

The common mindset is weaves are expensive but have poor quality. And that’s not how we want to position our weaves. We want to make them accessible for people and to educate them about their value,” says “Princess Ant” Anya Lim. Since the beginning, they wanted to bridge

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the gap between weavers and the rest of the Filipino people—to tap communities to continue their craft, purchase the product from them, and then sell it to socio-entrepreneurs who can make shoes, clothes, bags, or even fashion accessories with it. With a vision to celebrate a communal spirit and to mimic the values of hardworking ants, the common goal is still to work for food. Anya’s vision is to build a healthy ecosystem that will thread Filipino people from all walks of life together as a means of survival for the dying local weaving art form, and survival of these communities as well.

There is more to it than promoting the local craft. Apart from this generation’s ignorance of it, both in the urban setting and indigenous communities, weaving is a dying art because nobody uses it. There is a saying that you are what you wear. Historically, clothing has been used to identify where an individual comes from.

People could easily associate signature patterns and techniques with a distinct tribe. As weaving

disappears, we lose not only an art form but also our identity.

In indigenous communities, it is evident that only the seniors continue to practice this ancestral tradition. The younger ones are not interested in learning the craft since it is no longer relevant. “As a social enterprise, it’s really the social pain that you try to address and we felt that there was a huge gap with cultural continuity.” Anya says.

“But more than that, as a cultural enterprise, the reason why we set up ANTHILL is to change the mindset of Filipinos.”

During Anya’s travels around Asia, she realized that weaves were still entwined in the lives of the locals. In some of our neighboring countries like Laos, Vietnam, and China, it is a custom to bring tourists to shops that sell handwoven fabric for souvenirs. Even Gandhi was a big believer in the significance of weaving and the local cottage industry. He believed in the power of the spinning wheel to not only unite people but also grow the economy.

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ARTS & CULTURE to accommodate more locals and tourists.

ANTHILL’s official website and online retail store is under maintenance in preparation for the launch of her summer collection. Also, with consistent pop-up appearances in Manila for the last two years, the brand will set up shop in the capital very soon.

These constant changes also entail constant growth, but Anya doesn’t stop with the business side of things. She shares one of her end goals: “Integrate crafts in the School of Living Traditions. So now, at my personal capacity, I am working with Ateneo de Davao and their anthropology department to incorporate it into their curriculum.” Aside from bringing back weaving to the consciousness of every Filipino, ANTHILL has become a channel to bring back a sense of pride and strengthen our sense of identity.

ANTHILL IS A FAVORITE STOP AT THE GABII SA KABILIN EVERY LAST FRIDAY OF MAY WHERE ANYA GIVES A GRAND TOUR OF HER ADVOCACY.

ANTHILL Fabric Gallery. Pedro Calomarde St. cor.

Acacia St., Gorordo Ave., Lahug, Cebu. 505-4175. www.anthillfabricgallery.com.

Makeup by JAY CASTILLO of MAC COSMETICS Hair by ROLDAN ABEJO of BENCH FIX

Anya laments that Filipinos don’t even wear weaves to special events like Buwan ng Wika or formal gatherings. We are more aware of the traditional baro’t saya or terno. Her goal is to transform these traditional weaves into modern and everyday wear. “Our ultimate goal is to see that every Filipino has a weave in their closet. I want people to have a deeper appreciation of our weaves,” she adds.

With that in mind, Anya is already taking necessary measures to expand and strengthen the mission and vision of ANTHILL, starting with growing the base of individuals from local communities to take part in reviving this tradition. For example, in some communities where only less than 10 people were still practicing the art, Anya’s ANTHILL programs have grown the number to a community of almost 50 weavers. Half are in their 20s to 40s.

Her recent creation of homegrown ready-towear and custom-made clothing lines has also increased the popularity of these weaves hailing from the northernmost tip to the southernmost part of the Philippines. This growing demand has forced her to grow as a brand as well. Anya is currently renovating her boutique shop

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PROFILE

The transient charm of graffiti makes its way to the walls of Cebu

By JOSEPH DAX VELOSO Images by RYAN RACAL

“’Di naman ni connected sa topic,” mutters the graffitist when asked for a brief background. It isn’t so much a rude way to cut someone off as it is a self-protective mechanism. With his graffiti strewn all over the city, the most infamous of which is the one on a flyover in Banilad that is

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simply signed “BEK,” his nom de guerre, one must keep in mind that he’s defaced urban walls, government properties, and, to avoid run-ins with the law, has chosen to remain unidentified. The graffiti in question, five-foot high black letters against a stark white background—plastered on

Shot on location THE SOCIAL, LEVEL 4, AYALA CENTER CEBU.

AN ODE TO STREET CRED

government property, no less—manifests this artist’s growing unease with the current administration.

Artist is a term used loosely when referring to Bek, as he isn’t quite sure that what he does is art. When stripped of all its elements, graffiti is just that—graffiti. It is a practice deeply rooted in vandalism and it thrives on illegality. It’s throwing things on a wall and seeing what sticks. While art and so many of its ever changing forms aspire to spark a discussion, send a message, or simply motivate, stimulate, and inspire, graffiti puts everything into a bag and defecates all over it.

But that’s not to say that Bek’s work does not provoke and evoke. “I get my fair share of mostly unsolicited commentaries from curious onlookers. You’ll have people breathing down your neck but it’s all in a day’s work.” Hecklers, he says, come with the territory. On several occasions, while vandalizing an empty urban wall, he has received scathing remarks and gibes from people who don’t agree with what he does.

That is the downside to and, depending on your perspective, one of the perks of graffiti—you get the reactions firsthand.

Anonymity is a blanket of many layers, and while Bek is more than happy to snuggle beneath it, he is okay with and, to a certain extent, supports interactions between graffitist and spectator. “It keeps you in check. It’s how you learn to roll with the punches,” he quips.

Whether the notoriety surrounding graffiti is deserved or not, one can’t deny that there’s a certain kind of bad-assery in Bek’s work. That element is credited for his upward trajectory towards the general public’s attention. Venture capitalists are quick to cash in on Bek’s brand of cool. He’s been commissioned to create pieces for places as mainstream as The Social, a Singapore-headquartered watering hole that sits atop a high-security mall. When moving from vandalizing random city walls to painting for private businesses, it’s easy to lose one’s street cred. When I suggest that many lose their grit when the cash rolls in, he interjects.

“I make sure my clients know what they’re signing up for,” Bek says. “I’m basically doing what I do in the streets, only this time I do it inside a fancy place. I don’t tone things down or filter my work to meet their needs. It’s either you take my work or you leave it. That’s how you keep your integrity,” he says softly, the defiance in his voice clear and distinct.

“Work is good,” he says “but the streets will always be home.” I ask him one more time if I could, at least, get his name. He gives me a wry smile that signals our conversation is over.

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PROFILE Makeup by JAY CASTILLO of MAC COSMETICS Hair by ROLDAN ABEJO of BENCH FIX

HANNAH FLORENDO DREAMS UP A VISION FOR ARTASTIC! THAT GOES BEYOND AN ART SCHOOL TO AN ESTABLISHMENT THAT EMPOWERS FUTURE ARTISTS TO PURSUE A CAREER IN ART.

A FUTURE IN ART How Artastic!’s Hannah Florendo grew an art project into her own art academy

By RENZ NOLLASE Image by RYAN RACAL “You want to know the truth? I’d say I want to be an astronaut.”

Hannah Florendo, founder of art school Artastic!, dreamed of being many things: a mom, a cook, a spacewoman, but never really a teacher. “No. Never in my dreams.” Florendo grew up in a home filled with art. Her mom and sister are both artists and were her first mentors. “I’d watch my mom paint all the time, and I’d steal her paint brushes and art materials and do it on my own. That’s how I fell in love with art.”

But in a narrative all too familiar, the occupation of growing up and finding a career swayed Florendo from the artistic path. While she was pursuing a degree in Fine Arts, the lack of career options for artists troubled her.

“Back then, fine arts programs in colleges weren’t that up-to-date. I remember taking up

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an advertising class, but our curriculum would be about working with clay. I didn’t get to use a computer until I was much older.”

Unsure of whether she’d be able to make a living with a degree in art, she shifted to hotel and restaurant management. After graduating with a degree she didn’t use, Florendo was on her own. “In our family, once you’re done with college, you’re pretty much on your own.

That was my parents’ way of getting you to be more independent.”

While searching for a job, it was her husband, Lorenz, who suggested she teach art to their friends’ kids. Artastic!’s first class was a modest seven kids in a small room in Florendo’s home in La Guardia. Four years and three relocations later, Artastic! has grown from a summer art program for kids to a bona fide art school with a curriculum that evolves with

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PROFILE

I want them to realize that there are different ways of making art. If they have a particular way of doing it, they don’t have to feel shy about it or think that it’s not good.

every class and Florendo’s burgeoning vision.

Artastic! has recently moved to a quaint house at the Martinez Compound in Escario.

Previously occupied by Koh Onozawa’s Loudbasstard team, the space has only bare traces of an art school: framed artwork in the sala, easels in one room, and colorful low desks in the kids’ classroom. “We moved here a month before I gave birth, that’s why I’ve only started fixing the place.” It’s a charming space nonetheless, light and airy and free of clutter. The furniture is made of reclaimed wood or bought secondhand and repainted.

“We moved here because we needed a bigger place, but another reason is that I feel like we need to evolve. I can’t keep teaching in a small room. A space like this allows me to have more activities, workshops, and host

events,” says Florendo.

Despite Artastic!’s already substantial development, Florendo knows that in order to sustain the school, she and the program need to grow. Aside from an expansion in space, the curriculum has developed over time as well.

Florendo admits that the very first class was more “arts and crafts” than an actual art class.

The focus was on what she wanted the kids’ artwork to look like. These days, the children learn about different artists and their style, art history, and art movements.

Asked how she explains someone as complex as Van Gogh to young kids, Florendo says she uses the artists to introduce her students to the concept of a personal style and approach to art. “I want them to realize that there are different ways of making art, and if they have a particular way of doing it, they don’t have to feel shy about it or think that it’s not good.”

The goal for Florendo is not to teach these kids about technical aspects or the grown-up version of art with all its adult complexities.

Those can come later. She says, instead, “[it is] important to nurture their love for art at such a young age, because that’s how I ended up here in the first place. I really love art, and I imagine that if back then there was a place that I could come to like this, maybe I wouldn’t have been so scared of not having a career in the arts.”

Her vision is clear. She wants to elevate art from mere leisure to something that could be a means to make a living. Florendo plans to include pottery and glassmaking in Artastic!’s future offerings to equip students with skills that could help them land a job.

She’s also arranging talks by professionals from different fields to inspire young kids in schools throughout Cebu to pursue a career in the arts.

Right now, though, she’s rooted in Artastic! and taking her time balancing her priorities: being a mom to her newborn son Noa, managing the school, and, at the same time, practicing her art. Someday, though, she knows she must leave for a while to learn how to develop the school further. In the meantime, the students at Artastic! have their devoted teacher.

Artastic!. House No. 10, Martinez Compound, Juana Osmeña, Escario, Cebu. 0977-8133382. www.arastic.com.ph

ARTASTIC!’S STUDENTS HAVE EXPANDED FROM KIDS TO INCLUDE TEENS AND ADULTS. THEY HAVE CLASSES YEAR-ROUND AND EVENTS, SUCH AS STUDENT EXHIBITS, TO PROMOTE THE SCHOOL’S PROGRAMS.

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COVER STORY

ACROSS

THE

UNIVERSE

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COVER STORY

CONNECTING THE DOTS Golda King in her quiet, light-filled personal space, and the gravitas of her art

By EDWIN AO Images by JEFF ROGER KHO

PHOTOGRAPHED IN A CONVERTED GUEST BEDROOM THAT IS NOW IN HER STUDIO IN THE FAMILY’S HILLTOP HOME IN BANAWA, GOLDA WEARS HER SIGNATURE SOMBER COLORS OF BLACK, GRAY, AND NAVY. HER LOOK IS PUNCHED UP BY TOUGH GIRL BRASS RINGS BY NEILL FELIPP, A NOD TO HER PAST AS AN ACCESSORIES DESIGNER.

Her oeuvre is not easily grasped at first glance. At least, you are not expected to understand it right away. Comprehending Golda King’s art requires both a slow digestion and a deep savoring of her color and subject. Because good art has the tendency to do so, it affects you with the raw emotion it radiates.

It is her slinky, smoke-colored domestic long-haired cat Puppy (oh the wry irony) that greets us, almost escorting the team to her basement studio two floors below the main entrance of their hilltop home facing the garden. Flooded with good light, it is nevertheless atypical of the studios in my mind that are a chaotic jumble of huge slashed canvases, paint-splashed walls, fabrics, paint, brushes, boxes, a large crate.

Instead, her workspace is neatly organized.

Her canvases are arranged in a pyramid.

Taped to the wall are the most interesting yet random studies she is in the process of concocting for her two upcoming onewoman exhibits early in 2017. “It takes me an entire year to prepare for a show. I was always taught to paint what I know,” King intimates. “Sometimes the titles have nothing to do with the image. I paint what I feel at the moment.” One can only surmise the laborious process that goes into creating one painting. Imagine an entire series.

We speak first of her evolution: she was interested in fashion, initially, for which she earned a degree in fashion merchandising in 2004 from La Salle College in Manila. After five years in fashion and a line of fashion accessories called Caimito Couture, she succumbed to her first love. King pursued painting

at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and completed her degree in 2013. The city made an indelible impact on her artistic development. “My early work was so dark that one of my teachers took me aside to ask, ‘Are you okay?’”

When asked if at some point in this journey she felt like she lost her direction, she admits, “Yes, of course. Yes!” There were moments of self-doubt: “Why am I pursuing something that’s just a hobby?”

But the answer became apparent. “In life where we seek contentment, it is just normal to question our direction.” And her art is headed on a good path.

After all, it was earned the hard way: from the repetitive exercise of skill practice, to traditional still-life drawings, and then an attempt at experimentation, to eventually finding her own unique style. “You find your voice as an artist, eventually,” she confirms. Her style was not a product of rebellion but of experimentation, rigorous testing, and even insightful investigation. “I don’t like to admit it but the dots came about only because…” she smiles tentatively, in the middle of having her makeup done and mindful about not getting in another artist’s way. “I wanted to cover up some mistakes.”

In her work, the natural world elicits surprises. For instance, her portrayals of the Aurora Borealis create Lilliputian vantage points. A madness of impressions explodes on a canvas; the strokes become seemingly unattached, movable, and very relaxed. Nature is a deep well of inspiration for King. She finds equivalents for emotion in natural forms. She likens her experience to collecting stones and

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COVER STORY ‘’IT’S FUNNY HOW I GET COMMISSIONED TO DO PORTRAITS, EVEN WHEN THEY DON’T REALLY HAVE FACES,” GOLDA KING SAYS OF HER SIGNATURE STYLE, HERE FROM A DOT SERIES FEATURING NUDES AND BLOOMS; WHEN SHE ACCIDENTALLY RUBS PAINT ONTO HER DRESS AS SHE LEANS ON A WALL FOR THIS SHOT, SHE CALMLY SAYS “OH, IT WILL COME OFF WITH SOME RUBBING.” TYPICAL KING: UNENCUMBERED BY THE INCONSEQUENTIAL; A SELF-PORTRAIT, HALF HIDDEN IN THE STUDIES FOR AN UPCOMING SHOW TAPED TO THE CLOSET CABINETS, SHOWS HOW FAR SHE HAS EVOLVED AND DEVELOPED HER KNACK FOR CONCEALING AND REVEALING.

pebbles during her travels. The objects find meaning and the experiences become subjects on her canvas. Her dots series is not unlike a battle of art and technology or the harmony of pointillism and pixels.

The subject becomes very lucid, yet there is a magnificent blur in the images that takes you inside a different world. Instead of luring you into forceful entry, she ushers you in with more of a murmuring, a soft voice telling you that this is her world, these are her emotions.

With her gift for soft colors and lucid design, her unabashed love of decorative forms, and her frequent coupling of abstraction with Cubism, she has, in my opinion, made Cebuano art more accessible to the broad audience. King’s unshakeable faith in art’s capacity to

convey and relay inner feelings, which was a major theory of Symbolism, is evident in her work. And yet there is a shyness in her art. If not reflected in the color palette or the form itself, the timidity is arranged in her composition. She finds delight in the challenge of purifying and abstracting form, epitomized in her painting Where I Live/A Process of Self Awareness, which at first glance looks like an aimless doodle.

King’s work embodies contemporary Cebuano art on a unique level. Hanging in the precarious balance between vision and reality, her work becomes clearer as one steps back, and not with a dissection.

It is her conception of artistic creation as a state that transcends her rich experience.

Yet it is never boastful, relayed only by an almost imperceptible whisper.

Edwin Ao is a Cebu-based fashion designer who has represented the country in the 18th Concourse International des Jeunes Creteurs de Mode in Paris, France.

He is the first Cebuano to represent the country in the 2005 Asian Young Fashion Designers’ Contest in Singapore and the 2015 Chongqing International Fashion Week in China. He has also shown in the 2010 Asian Designers’ Collection for Japan Fashion Week and in 2012 was handpicked by the Royal Thai Government for HRH Queen Sirikit’s ASEAN+3 Fashion Project in Thailand.

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COVER STORY

Makeup by CHADY PANTALEON of MAC COSMETICS Hair by NIKKI B. GONZALES

Hanging in the precarious balance between vision and reality, her work becomes clearer as one steps back, and not with a dissection.

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STYLE DRESS, P8,959, PEDRO DEL HIERO, RUSTAN’S, AYALA CENTER CEBU.

BRIGHTER THAN LIGHT The charm of the hot spell in a slew of soft hues and light, breezy fabric Styled by EDLENE CABRAL Images by SHAIRA LUNA

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STYLE

SLEEVELESS TOP, P2,450 AND SKIRT, P3,250, BOTH LADY RUSTAN’S, RUSTAN’S, AYALA CENTER CEBU. HAT, P845, FOREVER 21, SM CITY CEBU.

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STYLE

HAT, P845, SLEEVELESS TOP, P1,275 AND ESPADRILLES, P1,135, ALL FOREVER 21, SM CITY CEBU. COVER-UP, P3,495, DOROTHY PERKINS. JEANS, P3,950, GUESS. BAG, P11,500, REBECCA MINKOFF, RUSTAN’S, ALL AYALA CENTER CEBU.

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STYLE

DRESS, P7,950, SINEQUANONE, RUSTAN’S. AYALA CENTER CEBU.

Hair and makeup by BULLET REYES Modeled by LYNDSAY of IDEAL MODEL MANAGEMENT

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FOOD

TABLE FOR ONE

FROM FARM TO PLATE

Eating through nine of Taiwan’s 300 leisure farms sounds like a chore, but someone’s got to do it

Words and images by JUDE A. BACALSO Amy drops three glowing stones straight from the hearth right into our soup. The water comes to a boil, cooking the tender flaky freshwater fish taken straight from the Fudang river with watercress picked by us from the riverbanks.

Three more times the superheated rocks drop, after a quick wash in a pot of hot water to remove the soot, and by the third cycle, the traditional Amis soup is ready for lunch, without ever having direct contact with fire.

The Amis have lived in the largest wetlands in the East Rift Valley of Taiwan for centuries, calling the Fata’an their ancestral home. ShinLiu Farm, one of Taiwan’s leisure farms, has turned the village into a virtual learning center for agriculture and the way of life of one of Taiwan’s aboriginal groups, appropriately in a carpet of lush green.

Even the coffee in these parts is a colorful affair. The San-Fu leisure farm’s purple coffee is topped with froth made from sweet potato, giving it the daintiest hue and the most delicate flavor. The other signature drink, a pot of pomelo tea, is an infusion of pomelo flowers (five to a pot) that is sweetened with organic honey.

The meal most reflective of their culture— in my opinion—was the one I had at the canteen of a rice academy. In the town of

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Guanshan, the smallest in Taiwan, our meal is prepared in a bowl assembly-line style. A lady scoops rice into a bowl (the town produces rice enough to feed 300,000 people), tops it with local sausage, sautéed cabbage, steamed squash, stir-fried rolled dough, and a whole chicken leg. It was almost Zen-like, a Japanese trait. “Taiwan was occupied by the Japanese for many years,” says Calem Ngan of the Taiwan Leisure Farm Association. In fact, it was a dependency of the Empire of Japan from 1895 to 1945.

And yet, as the day ends in neon lights and night market frenzy, nothing beats a taste of the familiar offered to you in a way that redefines it. At the Luodong market, the locals bring me to a dark street corner away from the crowds. Huddled around a folding table, we dip into plastic bowls of touhua, soybean curd.

Instead of arnibal (caramelized sugar syrup), it comes with sweetened shaved ice, topped with your choice of peanuts or barley.

You close your eyes and it tastes like home, all the homegrown velvety smoothness of taho. It is only when you flick your eyes open and hear the chatter in a cacophony of Mandarin that it dawns on you that you are miles from home, wondering, “Why didn’t we think of that?”

TOP PHOTO FROM LEFT: EATING THROUGH TAIWAN WITH CANDIED KUMQUATS FROM AGRIOZ FARMS IN YILAN (NO ENTRANCE FEE); FLOWERS IN YOUR ROLL AT TAI-YI FARM; AT OLD MOTHER RESTAURANT THERE ARE NO MENUS: ONLY FOUR ITEMS ARE SERVED, CENTERED AROUND THEIR SIGNATURE ROAST CHICKEN: (BELOW) STREET FOOD AT LUODONG MARKET FEATURES “THE TASTE OF YILAN” IN THESE KE-ZAI-JIAN, OR OYSTER AND EGG.

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EN

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FOOD

A PLACE AT THE TABLE

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: BRUSCHETTE, SCAMORZA AFFUMICATA, AND TRIS DI MOZZARELLA

The Guidicellis offer a taste of home in Trattoria da Gianni

By RENZ NOLLASE Image by JEFF ROGER KHO

Trattoria da Gianni is an extension of the Guidicelli family’s dinner table, a family kitchen guised as a restaurant, not least because of the home-style cooking that comes out of the kitchen but for the simple reason that, as Giorgia Guidicelli admits, “[The family] basically just eats here now, since we don’t have cooks at home [anymore].”

The restaurant is managed by father and daughter duo Gianluca and Giorgia Guidicelli.

Asked how they manage to work together as a team, Gianluca’s response is charming, “How we work as a team? No, we work as a family.”

The trattoria, nestled among the lines of restaurant at Crossroads, is an homage to the late family patriarch Gianni Guidicelli. His love for food and family was synonymous, seen in simple expressions like sending bottles of his favorite Italian bottled water, Acqua Panna, to the members of the Guidicelli family staying in Manila. But while he insisted on importing main ingredients from Italy to ensure authentic Italian flavors, Gianni preferred his meals to be

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simple and uncomplicated, the way his wife Franca and the family cooks, Jean and Antonia, made them at home.

“My father didn’t like eating out at Italian restaurants here. He used to say, ‘I only eat good food when I am in the house. Why aren’t more people cooking the way that Jean and Antonia are cooking?’” says Gianluca. The two favored cooks served the Guidicellis for almost 30 years. After Gianni passed away, Gianluca offered the women a part in the family restaurant. From the family kitchen, they now work in the trattoria’s back of the house as cooks and part owners, still serving dishes according to the late Gianni’s taste.

“My father, he didn’t like complicated dishes in other [Italian] restaurants. He liked things simple.

For him, the best sauce was just plain tomato sauce or plain butter with ravioli,” says Gianluca.

With a preference for simplicity, a meal at Trattoria da Gianni requires no lengthy degustation. There are no notes or hints here, just straightforward flavors and textures

highlighting the curated ingredients Gianluca sources from Italy. “I don’t like to mix my olives. We get olive oil from Tuscany and Umbria. Our cheeses come from Campania and Naples because they have the best cheeses.”

Trattoria da Gianni’s menu, in fact, is a smorgasbord of dishes featuring quality Italian ingredients. The Tris di Mozzarella, a parade of fior di latte, bufala, and burrata, is delightful eaten by itself or placed atop a slice of ciabatta from La Panetteria di Luigi, owned

by Gianluca’s brother Francesco, who provides freshly baked bread to the restaurant every day.

Pizza is curiously absent, owing to the restaurant’s lack of a traditional oven, which Gianluca and Giorgia insist is how pizza should be made. “When someone asks me if we have pizza, I just tell them to go to La Nostra,” says Gianluca. Giorgia is referring to Michael Cancio’s La Nostra Pizzeria Napoletana, another steadfast voice in championing authentic Italian food. In place of the usual pizza, the trattoria offers a selection of bruschetta that’s as playful

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FOOD FROM LEFT: TRATTORIA DA GIANNI’S INTERIOR IS WARM AND BRIGHT, DECORATED WITH GIANNI’S COLLECTION OF PAINTINGS, A BOWL OF MATCHES, AND A CURIOUS BUST OF MAO TSE-TUNG; ASIDE FROM THE TRATTORIA, GIORGIA AND GIANLUCA ALSO WORK TOGETHER MANAGING THE TRIATHLON TEAM FORD FORZA; A BOWL OF FRESHLY MADE TAGLIATELLE WITH RAGU.

and varied as the quintessential baked dish.

Though they insist on authenticity, local produce still finds its way into Trattoria da Gianni’s dishes. The dish that had everyone nodding in satisfaction, in fact, was a plate of spaghetti with local sardines: the dish marries sweet Dipolog sardines with salty rings of black olives, fresh tomatoes, and perfectly al dente pasta, all tossed in good quality olive oil.

“My father, he really liked to have people around at his table when he eats. When the family was away in Manila, often he would invite people from the office to eat with him,” says Gianluca. On the brick wall next to the stairs leading to more tables is a sizable ship’s wheel that Gianni brought with him from Italy.

As a salesman, he often flew back and forth from the Philippines to Italy, but in the end, he chose to stay here for family.

With the restaurant in the old patriarch’s name, Trattoria da Gianni embodies the spirit of a good Italian family dinner, but beyond the satisfying bowl of steaming tagliatelle, come here to know what it’s like to have a place at the Guidicellis’ table.

My father, he didn’t like complicated dishes in other [Italian] restaurants. He liked things simple. For him, the best sauce was just plain tomato sauce or plain butter with ravioli.

Trattoria da Gianni. Crossroads Mall, Gov. M. Cuenco Ave., Cebu. 0977-8422786. www.facebook.com/trattoriadagiannicebu.

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RECIPE

ICONIC STAPLE The humble loaf makes a name for itself Image by RYAN RACAL

When Majestic Restaurant opened on the second floor of then Belvic Theater on Mango Avenue, Pinky Chang introduced an innovation to their bestselling pata tim (braised pork hocks) by experimenting with the side dish that it came with. Until 1985, everyone else served pata tim with unfilled cua pao (steamed buns). Thirty-one years later, the experiment—fried bread—has now become so iconic that diners infamously order the meat dish to get to this crunchy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside loaf.

MAJESTIC RESTAURANT’S FRIED BREAD INGREDIENTS 6 cups flour 1 cup white sugar 1 pack active dry yeast 6 tsp. baking powder 1 cup lukewarm water 2 tsp. salt

PROCEDURE 1. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.

2. In another bowl, mix yeast with lukewarm water and 1 cup of the flour mixture.

3. Cover and allow to rise for 1 hour.

4. Soften white sugar with 1/2 cup boiling water, stir well, and cool down to lukewarm temperature.

5. Pour sugared water into yeast mixture and add the rest of the flour mixture.

6. Knead mixture on a floured board for 3 minutes.

7. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a damp cloth.

8. Allow dough to rise to double its size (about 2 hours).

9. Knead risen dough on a floured board for 3 to 5 minutes.

10. Roll dough into a log. Cut the log into 6 pieces or to desired size.

11. Shape each piece into a smaller log.

12. Steam for 10 minutes and then deep-fry for 2 minutes.

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