Southern Living: 2017 November

November 2017 Volume 12 | Issue 03

MANIFOLD

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CONT ENTS 10 FEATURE A young designer grows her own leather

18 COVER STORY How Mikaela LagdameoMartinez balances her many hats

Cover photo by Patrick Diokno

NOVEMBER 2017 04 FIXTURE Heirloom culture in a minimalist’s world

30 RECIPE Coconut meat loaf stuffed with a golden surprise

06 HEALTH Make room for holiday treats with a metabolic reboot

32 THE GET Hand-cut leather slides in basic colors

26 EATS A Frenchman’s love affair with Filipino ingredients

EDITOR’S NOTE Roots It has been roughly two years since T’boli dream weaver and national treasure Lang Dulay died, but her legacy lives on with her grandchildren who have inherited the skill. When she died, the government stopped providing a monthly stipend, compelling her family to sell her heirlooms just to get by.

But with the surge in demand for all that is local and handmade, shouldn’t indigenous artisans be just as prosperous as the

designers they collaborate with? Clearly, there is a disconnect. In this issue, we give our roots the exaltation it deserves, and soon, close the gap between source and end product. We feature allaround super woman Mika Lagdameo who admits she is defined by her own roots, a bountiful haul of this season’s sustainable and local goods, a debate on the loss of heirloom culture, and a young designer who grows her own clothes.

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Southern Living is published by Hinge Inquirer Publications. 4F Media Resource Plaza, Mola corner Pasong Tirad Streets, Barangay La Paz, Makati City. Visit www.facebook.com/ nolisoli.ph now. Follow us on Instagram at @nolisoli.ph and Twitter at @nolisoliph.

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SOUTHERN living

FULL FLAVORS

GROUP PUBLISHER BEA J. LEDESMA ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR BEA CELDRAN ASSOCIATE EDITOR ALYOSHA J. ROBILLOS ONLINE ASSOCIATE EDITOR PAULINE MIRANDA EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS OLIVER EMOCLING, BEA LLAGAS, YAZHMIN MALAJITO, ANTHEA REYES CREATIVE DIRECTOR NIMU MUALLAM ART DIRECTOR EDRIC DELA ROSA ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR DANICA CONDEZ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER AND VIDEOGRAPHER PATRICK SEGOVIA, NICCOLLO SANTOS INTERN JV DELA CRUZ, MANU FERNANDO

Learn new healthy recipes you can cook at home

CONTRIBUTORS WRITERS DENISE DANIELLE ALCANTARA, BELLE O. MAPA, REGINA TOLENTINO-NEWPORT PHOTOGRAPHERS PATRICK DIOKNO STYLISTS RYUJI SHIOMITSU, REGINA TOLENTINO-NEWPORT ILLUSTRATORS GRACE DE LUNA, MARK MAGNAYE HAIR AND MAKEUP APPLE FARAON, CATS DEL ROSARIO COPY EDITOR SEPTEMBER GRACE MAHINO PROOFREADER ERIC NICOLE SALTA EDITORIAL CONSULTANT RIA FRANCISCO-PRIETO BOARD CHAIRPERSON ALEXANDRA PRIETO-ROMUALDEZ FINANCE ADVISOR AND TREASURER J. FERDINAND DE LUZURIAGA LEGAL ADVISOR ATTY. RUDYARD ARBOLADO HR STRATEGY HEAD RAYMUND SOBERANO VP AND CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER IMELDA ALCANTARA SVP AND GROUP SALES HEAD FELIPE R. OLARTE AVP FOR SALES MA. KATRINA MAE GARCIA-DALUSONG HEAD OF OPERATIONS AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT LURISA VILLANUEVA KEY ACCOUNTS SUPERVISOR ANGELITA TAN-IBAÑEZ SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES CHARM BANZUELO, ABBY GINAGA, LIZA JISON, THEA ORDIALES ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE ANDIE ZUÑIGA SALES SUPPORT ASSISTANTS RECHELLE ENDOZO, MANILYN ILUMIN ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR PAM BROOKE CASIN EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS SHARM DE SAN JOSE, KRYZETTE PAPAGAYO, CHRISTELLE TOLISORA SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES SHANNA MALING, SARAH CABALATUNGAN ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE INA MATEO SENIOR GRAPHIC ARTIST JAYCELINE SORIANO GRAPHIC ARTISTS CHEE FLORES, NICO ORTIGOZA, KRISTINE PAZ

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PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGER JAN CARIQUITAN PRODUCTION ASSISTANT MARICEL GAVINO FINAL ART SUPERVISOR DENNIS CRUZ FA ARTIST ARGYL LEONES MARKETING AND EVENTS MANAGER JELLIC TAPIA TRADE MARKETING SUPERVISOR BIANCA DALUMPINES BRAND MARKETING SUPERVISOR MA. INA RODRIGUEZ BRAND MARKETING ASSISTANT NICOLE USON EVENTS ASSISTANT MERJORIE YOUNG SENIOR GRAPHIC ARTIST ROI DE CASTRO FIND SOUTHERN LIVING AT STARBUCKS COFFEE, THE MANILA PENINSULA, ALABANG COUNTRY CLUB, HEIMA, DUSIT THANI HOTEL, AYALA MUSEUM, AND FULLY BOOKED.

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CLEAN SLATE Is minimalism erasing heirloom culture?

TEXT ANTHEA REYES ILLUSTRATION MARK MAGNAYE

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“We don’t hold onto these things as social status symbols as much as our parents did.”

In my father’s childhood home, an old bahay na bato in Batangas, there sits an old, wooden bed frame with intricate carvings and an enduring lifespan. It’s beautiful, durable, untouched. It rests under a hanging altar, watched over by a Maria Magdalena idol dressed in elaborately embroidered clothing and with a giant rosary around her neck.

Four hours away in Quezon City, 22-yearold me is busy fantasizing about my dream loft. I’m talking about a sensible 200 sq.m. unit with minimalist interiors, an open floor plan, and metallic accents. In that kind of space, there simply isn’t room for an ostentatious queen-sized bed.

And here lies the problem.

There seems to be the impression that it’s hard for us millennials to make room.

That it’s almost beyond us to exert effort and make room for the remnants of those who had lived before us in the lives we’re building today. The baby boomer generation is attributing this hardship to three things: the internet (what’s new), minimalism, and informed consumerism.

It’s an old script, really. The thinking goes a little something like this: Millennials are too busy being digital nomads, being too dependent on their digital collections (their selfies and their social media personas and connections) that they no longer care about the physical manifestations of sentiment from their parents. That’s why minimalism is currently glorified. That’s why young homemakers and young professionals living on their own exercise cold, calculating, and informed consumerism when purchasing their household pieces.

We aren’t as reliant on physical things like china sets, or big wooden dining tables, or collections of framed pictures to leave our mark in the world. We don’t hold onto

these things as social status symbols as much as our parents did. But I hardly think that my generation is as cold and as self-involved as this quote implies—at least, not in the Philippines.

In the province, for example, where most old houses reside, keeping heirloom pieces or inheriting them can be fueled by practicality as much as sentimentality. The ones who do sell items to antique shops or auctioneers often come from the extreme ends of the financial totem pole. A family is either affluent enough to be in possession of several historically valuable pieces that they have some to spare, or they’re the kind of family who could make financial use of an antique piece by selling it to the highest bidder. But for the majority of those “blessed” to be in the middle class, 19th century arm chairs and the like are often kept because they still serve their everyday purpose of being furniture items.

In overcrowded Metro Manila, downsizing, minimalism, and IKEA’s Scandinavian furniture are trending. However, that doesn’t indicate our indifference to sentiment and familial piety.

Perhaps, this is best explained in the words of Tiffany Mathay of Casa de Memoria. “I think people are getting smaller items and furniture because this generation lives more in smaller spaces. But [minimalism], style-wise, it’s not reflected as much. There are fewer things [bought], definitely, but people today like to live in color. I think because our world is so visual now, people like to see that there are elements they can connect to.”

So it’s not so much that the younger generation has developed thicker skin or has grown numb to the sentiments and values of the past. It isn’t that we aren’t making room, or that we can’t be bothered. It’s just that we’ve learned to appreciate experiences and balance them with the practical.

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READY, SET, RESET The three cardinal rules of resetting your metabolism TEXT BELLE O. MAPA ILLUSTRATION GRACE DE LUNA

I took on a wellness program to reset my metabolism earlier this year. Obviously I’m no doctor, but the basis for the reset is quite simple. We can’t control the very chemical processes happening on a cellular level within our bodies, but we can control what we put in our bodies and how we live day to day.

To put metabolism in simpler terms, think of the body as a car. For the body to run, it needs a source of energy (the fuel) for its mechanism (the engine) to convert into power. A car won’t work if its engine isn’t up to specs, and neither will it function if given the wrong type of gas. So when it comes to losing weight or maintaining a healthy food intake, it’s not just about what the body receives but also how it processes energy.

The body stores energy in three ways in this order: inside muscle cells, inside the liver, and inside fat cells. Whatever energy the body converts from our food or drinks gets distributed first into emergency muscle storage. When that’s full, energy goes to liver storage and, after that, the fat cells.

Then if there’s still an excess of energy, the fat cells duplicate. That’s where fat retention happens. There’s a surplus of junk in our trunks, literally.

I underwent a physical examination to measure my metabolic age and, apparently, I’m a 23-year-old inside a 48-year-old body.

Minus the (for now) nonexistent wrinkles and graying hair, my body seemed older because of an accumulation of toxins, unprocessed

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“Overall, resetting one’s metabolism is a lifestyle change. The greatest thing about it is that it’s sustainable and, more importantly, totally workable.”

nutrients, and lazy life decisions. To bring my body down to its ideal metabolic state, I went through a 10-day detox and a 30-day cleanse in which I took a truckload of daily supplements and overhauled my menu at home and at work.

The medical aspect just wasn’t sustainable for my lifestyle, though. I had to drink some fat-burning shake before every meal and honestly, who brings a blender to work?

So I got myself off the supplements and maintained these three rules for maintaining my metabolic rate.

carbohydrates. My carb-loving nature made giving up white rice and real pasta a trying sacrifice, but there are more than tolerable options: basmati or low glycemic rice, whole grain pasta, quinoa, and whole-wheat bread.

Properly portioned meals To get the optimal amount of nutrients per meal, the body can only process so much protein, fat, and carbs. But there’s a way to balance these nutrients, and it’s fairly easy to remember, just like the back of your hand.

Or rather, the front. A serving of carbs should be around the size of your palm, protein the size of your fist, fat the size of your thumb, and, the biggest bonus, unlimited vegetables.

Don’t get me wrong: green was not my favorite color to see on a plate. But after Pinterest-lurking and opening the plethora of cookbooks on our shelves, my family and I have found ways to eat our veggies without hating them.

The 4-4-12 rule Those are the number of hours I need to keep in between my full meals. I take a full breakfast—no, coffee is not, in fact, a full meal—and wait four hours until lunch.

After I’ve had lunch, I wait at least four hours or more before I can have dinner. This ensures my body can digest every meal as fully as possible before I eat more food. It’s Overall, resetting one’s metabolism is a not as intensive as, say, intermittent fasting periods, which is great for me because I can lifestyle change. The greatest thing about it is that it’s sustainable and, more importantly, get hangry. totally workable. It feels gratifying to be able to sit at a restaurant without having to restrict The power 3 plate Remember when they taught us “Go, grow, my orders because once a week, I’m able to and glow” back in elementary? It’s real. For treat myself to what I call the “cheat-all-youevery meal, the body needs a good proportion can” meal, which is definitely something to of protein, fat, vegetables, and complex look forward to.

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SPECIAL FEAT URE

Macky finds inspiration in everything: from her out-of-town trips to the clients she collaborates with.

LIVING IN FULL VIBRANCY

Jeweler and entrepreneur Macky Fäh deviates from the convention of success TEXT BEA CELDRAN PHOTO RG MEDESTOMAS

Clad in immaculate white, Macky eagerly shows us her latest creation for a client. Emerald beads rolling all over her work tray, she tells us how she had once been a banker, while putting each bead in place for the shoot. “You think you need to be a certain person.” And it’s the story of attaining success that every generation goes through: different time, new occupation trend, but same script.

While my generation had been transfixed with nursing, then recently, information technology, hers had been the boom of the banking sector in the late ‘90s. “If you do what you want, you will find success.” However, Macky’s definition of success deviated from that of the convention.

She left her occupation in banking and followed a vibrant dream not many would dare to. “I always was creative; drawing and creating things.” And thus, spawned her fascination with jewelry, “I always loved jewelry. It was all around me.” Her husband’s family is entrenched in the jewelry-making industry, which her mom had been a patron of before the two children met and fell in love.

Nowadays, Macky juggles a full-time profession as a jeweler and entrepreneur by her own standards. She has branched out from emeralds and diamonds to scented candles and vegan soaps under her self-made label FäE, which can be found at Cura V and Philux at Power Plant Mall. But more than supplying products for the shops, Macky frequents Rockwell for her edgy haircuts at Emphasis Salon, her daughter’s play time at Gymboree, and visiting her friends who live in the residential towers in the area. Despite living in the north, she admits that Rockwell is still her go-to destination for both business and recreation. Amid the bustling urban lifestyle of Makati, Macky still finds refuge in Rockwell.

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To achieve the texture of her bacterial leather, Hazel Roldan dries the material on plywood with a screen.

FEAT FEAT URE URE

CULTURED COUTURE A young designer adds life to fashion

TEXT OLIVER EMOCLING PHOTOGRAPHY DANICA CONDEZ

“Everyone in this house was having a hard time,” sustainable designer Hazel Roldan says. “At first, I stored it on my dad’s shelf in the garage. When he opened [the container], he got mad. He was like, ‘What’s this? It stinks!’ I stored it inside the house, and the place smelled for 10 days straight.”

No, Roldan wasn’t trying to hide a cadaver, like Emily Grierson in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily. The putrid odor came from the bacteria she was cultivating into leather.

Roldan takes out a sack from the attic. She opens it, but you cannot detect any trace of the supposedly fetid scent. Instead, the leather releases a sweet scent akin to that of dried berries.

The creation of bacterial leather begins with brewing tea and sugar along with a bacterial culture. “It took me six months to perfect the ratio,” Roldan says. Then,

she waits for Acetobacterxylinum, a type of bacteria naturally found in soil around plants like sugarcane, to populate the mixture.

Waiting is a key step in creating bacterial leather. It takes approximately 10 days before the leather forms. Once the leather has formed, she dries it on a surface for about three to four days. But the tedious process doesn’t stop there. Roldan says the material is a bit unpredictable. “Sometimes it’s sticky, sometimes it’s soggy, and sometimes it’s not.”

When sewing, she even has to stop every now and then to clean the needle.

Roldan first presented her bacterial leather as finished pieces at her graduation show at the School of Fashion and the Arts.

The collection is comprised of clothes in hues of brown—with their mystical and earthy appeal. She called her presentation

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FEAT URE “Ecdysis,” which refers to the shedding of old skin for growth.

But more than an introduction of a new material, Roldan makes a bigger statement through the collection. “It’s all about fast fashion and profit now,” Roldan says. “[On a small scale,] I want to shed that skin and grow our mindset in terms of profit, people, and process.”

Although sustainable fashion is not a new concept, Roldan believes there’s still a need to raise and spread awareness. “For us, education is a priority. Sustainable fashion is not going to be profitable if nobody buys it. If more people [patronize] it, it’s going to be easier to mass produce clothes in an ethical way.”

Roldan understands that sustainable fashion can be intimidating because in subscribing to the idea of sustainability, a person also takes the responsibility of knowing the provenance of every material used in the production of their clothes. Yet sustainability must always be an inherent part of design.

Roldan believes that her work as a designer does not stop there. “When you design, you

must know where your designs come from.

You also design where it ends up. Will it end up as waste? My work as a designer doesn’t end when my clothes are sold. I now think, ‘Hey, after my consumer uses this, where does my design go?’” she says. “You design a story.

You design a life.”

There is still so much work to be done to develop bacterial leather. Roldan still needs to find a better way to sew, dye, and coat it because the material is hydrophilic, meaning it absorbs and holds water. But this particular fault is also a sign that whatever she designs out of bacterial leather is indeed alive. “So when a hole forms, you just wet the material and it sort of regenerates itself.”

The ingredients for bacterial leather include tea or coffee, sugar, and bacterial culture or kombucha.

Before making bacterial leather, Hazel Roldan experimented with various waste materials like fish scales and sacks.

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FEAT URE

“When you design, you must know where your designs come from.

You also design where it ends up.”

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1.Mini multo bag, P1,680, Halo-Halo, Common Thread 2. Ticog hat, P280, Ritual 3.Recycled narra hand-carved bag, P28,000, Charming Baldemor 4.Jama Mapun mat, P1,700, The Manila Collectible Co. 5. Tapered pitcher, P2,600, Abacรก 6. Bowl and spoon, P3,300, Mia Casal, Aphro Living 7. Chocolates, P290 each, Tigre y Olivia, Ritual 8. Pink leather bag, P16,900, Zacarias, Aphro Living 9. Merida mini bucket bag, P2,00, Abacรก 10. Ifugao bangles, P1,000, The Manila Collectible Co. 11. Bowl, P18,460, Winnie Go, Aphro Living 12. Earrings, P20,700, Tropa Store 13. Striped Philippine cotton shawl, Interweave Connections

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COV ER STORY

FULL HOUSE Among the many roles she plays, Mikaela Lagdameo-Martinez likes being mom best TEXT DENISE DANIELLE ALCANTARA PHOTOGRAPHY PATRICK DIOKNO

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Clad in all white, she emerges from the front then I do the shopping. Basically, my job is to door, immediately apologizing for the mess shop,” she explains. In between work errands, inside because “everyone is in the house.” she also tries to fit in meetings, lunch catchBy everyone, she means her husband, kids, ups with girlfriends, personal tasks, and some and brothers. “This is our typical night,” events—all the while making sure she gets she continues. “But on Friday nights, we do home in time for dinner. “I don’t have a typical wine nights or board game nights.” Stripped day because every single day is different. I don’t of makeup, she claims with a smile that she have a fixed schedule, which I like.” just got home from a long day at work. Yet she looks so fresh, it seems as if she had just Early start All thanks to her early exposure to business awakened from a long beauty sleep.

Inside, everyone is indeed at home. Dinner’s and money matters, Lagdameo-Martinez already over, the food’s all gone, and the plates learned the art of hustling young. “Back in grade school, whenever I have been washed, yet would go grocery shopping everyone is still in the dining area, catching up “I’m thrilled whenever I with my mom, I would ask with each other. “I try to get to sell things, but they her to buy boxes of Jelly Ace, then I would sell them to my be home early as much as have to be things that I like. classmates for four pesos.” possible so I can spend Seemingly following her time with them,” she says. Like, if I don’t get to sell it, footsteps, her kids and Mikaela LagdameoI’d be happy to keep it.” her brothers have recently Martinez wears many collaborated on the small hats. She is a daughter, cookie business Hey Sugar the eldest of her siblings, a wife, a mother of three, a businesswoman, Dough. “All my brothers bake, my kids help Store Specialist, Inc.’s VIP services manager, a them out, and I am the resident taste tester,” model, a blogger, and a former money broker. says Lagdameo-Martinez. It’s important for Her day starts as early as six in the morning. her, she adds, to expose her kids to the value With a one-year-old whom she still breastfeeds, of earning their own money. “[My brothers] most of her morning is spent with little Max. bake every other day and the kids sell the If she has more time to spare, she squeezes in products in school for now.” They’re planning some writing, posting, and shooting for her to register the business and eventually join bazaars in time for the crazy Christmas-slashblog and social media accounts.

She then leaves home at around 10 a.m. to bazaar season. get to work, and any mall with an SSI brand is Lagdameo-Martinez runs her own business her office. “I check what’s new in the stores. If as well, a result of a sudden hormonal surge there’s a list I need to complete for my clients, during her pregnancy last year. Mink Candles

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Under the spotlight Lagdameo-Martinez is known for her TV and print work in the early 2000s. At 15, she was discovered at a teen magazine event, and she eventually worked with the magazine for a six-page fashion editorial. This led to many commercial modeling opportunities in the Philippines and around Asia.

Today, her 13-year-old firstborn Noelle is trying out vlogging, though for the longest time, she wasn’t allowed to create her own Instagram account. “My husband Chucho and I were afraid that it would get in the way of her studies,” Lagdameo-Martinez says.

The teen had found a loophole, however, and asked if she could try out posting videos on YouTube. Upon viewing Noelle’s first video, the Martinezes realized their daughter’s potential. “She spoke her mind and edited her own stuff, and we really enjoyed watching [the result].”

Eventually, the couple allowed her to create an Instagram account to promote her new YouTube channel Noelle Knows, but they set guidelines on the type of content and information she could post. With the pressure that social media could exert on Noelle, Lagdameo-Martinez was scared of how her daughter would take the attention and criticism. “We made sure that she started with the right mindset. We had to tell her that she shouldn’t be focused on the number of followers, likes, and even dislikes. Those don’t matter because they don’t validate who she is.” On her part, Noelle says, “I know not everyone will like my videos, and that’s okay.”

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STYLING RYUJI SHIOMITSU MAKEUP APPLE FARAON OF MAC COSMETICS HAIR CATS DEL ROSARIO STYLING ASSISTANT GALE MERERIA

was borne out of her love for scented candles.

Because they are not cheap, she thought of making her own and selling them. The earnings from Mink were used to build a nursery for her youngest kid. Over a year later, she has found a new obsession, this time with plants, and has turned it into another business opportunity named Mink Jars. “I’m thrilled whenever I get to sell things, but they have to be things that I like. Like, if I don’t get to sell it, I’d be happy to keep it.”

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“I’m never alone. It may sometimes be chaotic and messy, but there’s more meaning to my life.

It’s not just about me anymore.”

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With the YouTube channel Noelle Knows slowly gaining traction, Noelle posts a video almost every week where she talks about anything and everything about her life: school, life hacks, and the time she spends with her little brothers. It surprisingly became a good window for LagdameoMartinez to see into her daughter’s life. “I get to learn or see what’s going on in her head through the videos she posts. Her posts are really age-appropriate. A lot of girls are already messaging or sending her e-mails. Some even ask her for advice. She has fan mail, too.”

Circle of trust Lagdameo-Martinez herself was raised in a very tight-knit family. “I think it’s good that my parents were always there during my younger modeling days,” she reflects; she also has a good relationship with her brothers. As a parent, she’d like her children

to have the same closeness she has with her folks. “I don’t want to be too strict because I don’t want them to hide anything from me.

I’d rather know all of their kalokohan and guide them from there,” she says.

Though she jokes that starting a family at 19 is such a cliché, Lagdameo-Martinez acknowledges that motherhood is the best thing that has ever happened to her. “I’ve always wanted to become a mom,” she says.

“I actually want more kids. I mean, I’m happy to have three, but how fun would it be if we have four, right?” When asked what the best thing about being a mother is, she answers, “I’m never alone. It may sometimes be chaotic and messy, but there’s more meaning to my life. It’s not just about me anymore.”

At this point, we conclude our interview.

Yet at the dinner table, everyone is still happily catching up with each other. They seem just like one big barkada, only better because they’re family.

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EATS Located in the former Champetre space, Sagana has a little corner dedicated to fresh organic produce on sale.

The menu also features old favorites from Champetre like this beef tartare.

HARVEST MOON

French cuisine and Filipino ingredients exist in harmony at Sagana TEXT OLIVER EMOCLING PHOTOGRAPHY DANICA CONDEZ

When chef Marc Aubry uprooted himself from France almost three decades ago, he brought with him the concept of terroir. “I strongly believe that the origin of the crop will affect its quality and flavor,” he explains.

After his previous venture, Champetre, terroir becomes the apparent driving force of his new restaurant Sagana Epicerie and Bistro.

Sagana, which means “bountiful” in Filipino, celebrates the rich agriculture of the Philippines. And true to its name, it intends to uplift local farming communities. Upon entering, baskets of fresh produce, along with other local foodstuffs up for sale, greet guests.

Scan through the lengthy menu and you’ll realize that Sagana, despite its name, is still truly French. “What we try to do here is not make French cuisine taste like Filipino food.

We’re trying to use the best ingredients [while

keeping] our traditions,” Aubry says.

French cuisine may be difficult to grasp.

Perhaps it’s because of the unfamiliarity.

However, there is comfort when you see traces of Filipino ingredients all over Sagana’s menu and their hearty servings. Beef from Mindanao and garlic from Batanes are used for steaks, pampano and a legume called kadios from Negros are also integrated in mains, rhubarb from the Cordillera region is used in sorbet, and the butter chiffon cake surprises with guava.

A weekly market menu further highlights our agricultural abundance. Despite all this, a monthly menu specific to one region is in the works. The possibilities between Filipino ingredients and French cuisine are limitless.

And while there is no intention to make French cuisine taste Filipino, the use of local ingredients makes Sagana familiar to the palate.

Sagana Epicerie and Bistro. GF Net One Center, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Facebook.com/EpicerieSagana. 815-8801

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EATS

Clockwise from top: grilled pampano with kadios from Negros; rhubarb sorbet; Sagana employs a modern look for its interiors, far from the rustic look of Champetre.

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RECIPE

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RECIPE

GOLDEN LOAF

Reinvent this classic comfort food with coconut TEXT REGINA TOLENTINO-NEWPORT PHOTOGRAPHY PAOLO ANTONIO VALENZUELA STYLING TINA CONCEPCION DIAZ BOOK COCONUT KITCHEN

EGG-STUFFED COCONUT MEAT LOAF

INGREDIENTS 2 to 3 tbsp. coconut oil 1 tsp. minced garlic 1/2 cup finely minced onion 1/4 cup finely minced celery 1/2 cup grated carrots 3/4 cup ketchup 2 tbsp. coconut vinegar 2 tbsp. coconut sugar or white sugar 1/2 kg. ground beef 1/2 kg. ground pork 3 eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 cup coconut milk 1 cup coconut flour 1/4 cup ketchup 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves (or 1/4 tsp. dried) 3/4 cup grated cheese (Cheddar or Gruyère) 1/2 cup breadcrumbs 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

PREPARATION 1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line an 11 x 5-inch loaf pan with foil or parchment paper.

2. Heat oil over medium heat in a pan. Add garlic and sauté until golden. Stir in onions and cook until soft. Add celery and carrots.

Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.

3. To make the glaze, whisk together ketchup, coconut vinegar, and sugar. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, combine meats and the rest of the ingredients, except for the hard-boiled eggs. Add

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the vegetables and mix with your hands. Divide mixture into two portions.

5. Press one portion of the mixture to cover the bottom of the loaf pan.

Arrange the peeled eggs in one row in the middle.

Add the remaining half of the meat mixture on top, pressing firmly down.

Brush the top with half of the glaze.

6. Bake for 40 minutes.

Brush the top again with the remaining glaze and bake for another 30 minutes until juices run clear.

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T HE GET

ECLECTIC SLIDE

Flat-heeled sandals handcrafted by the artisans of Marikina TEXT YAZHMIN MALAJITO PHOTOGRAPHY PATRICK SEGOVIA

Fashion store CommonThread worked together with local shoe label Renegade Folk, an online brand which has found a nook in some physical stores in the metro now, to create a design that is both classic and current.

The result of the collaboration is a slip-on called Masterpiece. A single thick strap across the foot makes the design minimalist, but embellishment in the form of leather pom-poms gives it a playful twist. Masterpiece comes in three versatile colors: black, oxblood, and tan.

Like any other sandal from the online brand, it is crafted from genuine leather and is hand-cut, hand-stapled, and hand-lasted.

CommonThread. Greenbelt 5 and Power Plant Mall, Makati City.

Facebook.com/CommonThreadPH. Instagram.com/CommonThreadPH

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