A peek into the stars' kitchens

Celebrity chefs are now dime a dozen — what with all the lifestyle programs we have all over television.

Once upon a time not so long ago, a budding female chef was introduced via the QTV show Ka-toque. She was just one of the many chefs in that cooking program.

Today, this once budding talent had finally bloomed and already has her own show, QTV’s Quickfire, which airs thrice daily (10:30 a.m., 11:50 a.m. and 6 p.m.). Her name: Rosebud Benitez, a graduate of the Center for Culinary Arts Manila.

Sponsored by Aji-no-moto, Quickfire is now on its ninth season and its current theme is Celebrity Kitchen Takeover. This means that they visit the homes of showbiz personalities and cook in those residences.

I had the chance to talk to Rosebud when Quickfire did a cooking demo in my house (with Toni Rose Gayda as official food taster) and I asked her to describe some of the homes — and kitchens, especially — of the celebrities she had interacted with for this program. Here’s what she has to say regarding the celebrity homes they had visited — plus her experiences with each one of them:

Bibeth Orteza — According to Rosebud, the Forbes Park home of this comedienne/scriptwriter/director is simple — zen-like in style, in fact. The kitchen is very functional and Bibeth herself would admit that she learned a lot of recipes from Rosebud. Bibeth now cooks these dishes for friends — and all these are certified hits.

Princess Violago — This young celebrity is known as the rich girl of local show business. I’m tempted to call her the Paris Hilton of the Philippines, but Princess will always be far better behaved than the Hollywood personality. The Corinthian Gardens home of the Violagos is huge, says Rosebud. “I’ve never seen a house with that many living rooms!” she gushes. The celebrity chef, however, was surprised to discover that for all that grandness of that residence the Violago kitchen is small and simple. As she later discovered, the Violagos do not cook. All the food served there is either take-out or catered. Princess, however, is now in touch with Rosebud and wants to finally learn how to cook.

Sam Y.G. — This mainstay of Diz is It lives with his mother and siblings in the Alexandria condominium in Ortigas. Upon entering the residence, Rosebud was surprised to see so many knick-knacks in the unit. As it turned out, it also serves as a showcase for the family business and visitors can purchase items they fancy in the place. But unforgettable for the chef was the kamasutra shrine — or that’s how the boys in the family refer to it. No, there is nothing lascivious to it. It’s just how the playful Sam calls that piece of furniture. For Rosebud, the best part of that shoot was the fact that the kitchen was air-conditioned! No sweat there.

Giselle Sanchez — She lives in the Rolling Hills subdivision in New Manila with her husband and kids. Rosebud swears she has never seen an actual house with so many rooms — more than a dozen, as per her estimate. She found out eventually that relatives love to come visit and Giselle makes them stay in those rooms. But Rosebud was impressed with Giselle’s kitchen — what with its functional layout that makes everything accessible to whoever is manning the area. And, yes, it’s a busy kitchen since Giselle loves to prepare home-cooked meals or what we call lutong bahay. Giselle, however, is grateful to Rosebud for teaching her how to tweak and even stylize these supposedly simple dishes. Sinigang with lemon grass, lime and kaffir leaves, anyone?

Alyssa Alano — What made Rosebud’s visit to the home of this Startalk regular memorable was how everything turned out to be a comedy — thanks to Alyssa’s own brand of English. “She was so funny!” recalls Rosebud. The kitchen of Alyssa’s Antipolo home is actually small and only has an air-cooler for ventilation. Alyssa obviously doesn’t cook and hasn’t invested yet on kitchen utensils. But they still had great bonding between them when Alyssa showed her bag collection. Rosebud may be a dedicated chef, but she’s still all female and kitchenware can go hang at times when faced with fancy bags and shoes. Oh, well, girls will be girls.