Sinful gustatory indulgence

This week has been a crazy whirlwind of feasting, an eating frenzy with family that is not due to stop till after the middle of the month.  July birthday celebrants are plenty in the extended family, and till halfway within the month, we are going to pile on the calories, layering the fat!!!

                It started off with the 6th death anniversary of my brother-in-law Tony San Diego, beloved and missed by family and friends for his genial, generous and gentle ways. After all these years, the loyal close friends of Tony were still in attendance last Monday, June 30, remembering Tony who left us at the prime of his life, relishing happy memories of our badminton days and the inevitable Friday dinners after the game. Tony was the quintessential host who enjoyed feting as well as feasting on fine food himself. If the prime rib was Angus with very good marbling, he could polish off three or four thick slabs with nothing else on his plate to distract him – just the beautiful marbled meat and some gravy.  If the lamb chops were tender and nicely grilled, he could tick off twelve pieces of chops.  If both were available for the taking, well, he could strike a nice balance without necessarily sacrificing on the numbers. It was all a matter of timing and spacing. A gourmand myself back in the day, I had a difficult time keeping up with him because my fickle mind had me trying out other delectable dishes at the buffet table. I now concede Tony was really “the more clever eater”.

After mass at his family mausoleum at the Manila Memorial Park in Paranaque, the large group composed together with Tony’s only remaining brother (two others passed away recently within a year of each other) and sisters (all of the four ladies are still hale and hearty) proceeded to Makati to partake of a hearty lunch, for how else does one celebrate Tony’s life? We all found ourselves at the Spectrum of Fairmont Hotel at the corner of Makati Avenue and Pasay Road.

The buffet, unlike others in similar venues, was not as ostentatious and plentiful, certainly not with quantity at the top of its priorities.  Quality, though, was a prime consideration, obvious in the careful layout of dishes and in the way the chefs hovered over their side of the long buffet table. The Indian community will enjoy the plates of hummus, another paste made from mashed beets along with some Punjab dishes of curries and genuine Tandoori chicken still hot from the oven.

Of course I enjoyed a nice half slab of roast beef (I hope my doctor appreciates my restraint here) doused generously with good gravy after a plate of Japanese sushis and salmon sashimi.  Come to think of it, in any buffet in a hotel setting that I go to, this is inevitably my short repertoire: Japanese sushi, sashimi, and then a slice of angus rib eye.  Years back, half of my plate would be filled with other stuff my eye would take fancy to, but advancing years have taught me to be more discriminating. That and the borderline levels of cholesterol, etc. in my regular blood chem tests have taught me such important lessons in the prime of life (what is the age range here, I wonder?) And of course the lessons that my brod-in-law Tony has shared with me in his zest for the good life.

That was on a Monday. Tuesday was my sister-in-law Linda’s birthday. Linda, who just planed in from North Carolina was having her birthday bash at the Spiral of Sofitel, the grandest buffet, I think, in these parts. No matter how I starved myself before the dinner, I still couldn’t prepare myself for the lavish and generous spread before me.  Make that around me. Sometimes, when faced with such a feast, the mind and the gustatory senses refuse to come together to form an opinion on what to take, even on what to like. My daughter Tin (DJ Suzy), my son Wee and his wife Kaycee had already made a firm decision to train their sights on the foie gras and to focus on this single dish with all their resolve. I saw them demolish plate after plate of this sinful but heavenly dish with glints in their eyes, and I just had to have my share of it as well. And then I had my de rigueur plate of Japanese treats: slivers of fresh salmon that melted in the mouth and mounds of different kinds of sushi. Great! Next in line was my meat supply, but the basket of warm crusty bread in front of me was so inviting, so I had a big slice of it with fresh butter, just to warm up my taste buds for my Angus.

On the way to the Angus station, there were other stations that the curious eye could not pass on, so I also had some slices of grilled pork belly, a few slices of roast duck with a good plum sauce and a few rolls of Peking duck wraps. Real from Peking, not Pateros.

Then it was time for my meat fix, but by this time I was getting stuffed so I could only manage a thin slab of the Angus roast beef. Regrets! The Angus was good, juicy and tender, but the tummy could only take so much.  I should have heeded Tony’s lessons on good food.  Oh well, there’s always a next time.

The rest of the week was filled with more business luncheons and dinners, nothing as lavish, but having one almost daily is just too much for my age. Next week, there are three family birthdays coming up, and I hate to think of its toll on the body. It’s going to be another calorie-and-cholesterol-loading week for me, but come to think of it, my next blood chem. Is still a month away, so I have time to make up.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino!!!

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