Michelles' Touch

About a week ago, Richard and I, together with Randy Ortiz, Rey Lañada, Leo Rialp, Juan Sarte, Chechel Joson, Rhoda Salas, Michael V. and his wife Carol, Job and Sandy Adriano with their daughter Nikka, Ariel and Gelli Rivera with their sons Joaqui and Julio, and Archie and Ana Castillo were treated to a wonderful dinner at the home of Ogie Alcasid and Michelle van Eimeren-Alcasid. It was a get-together of sorts as well as an opportunity for the whole group to see the newest addition to their lovely family, Sarah Kate. Michelle had given birth in her native Australia and was finally back after several months to celebrate the holidays in Manila.

Michelle, despite the fact that she has not a drop of Filipino blood in her, can be considered truly Pinoy at heart. She can fully understand and converse in Tagalog, is inherently warm and friendly, and can cook a mean kare-kare as well! She even has no qualms about going to the wet market herself.

That night though, Filipino food was not on the menu. Instead, we were treated to a full spread of modern cuisine. After some crackers, olives, dried vegetables and cheese she had us all seated Italian-style at a long wooden table covered with pristine white linens. She served delicious classic Caesar’s salad but the dressing had some twist to it. Upon inquiry, I found out that she made the mayonnaise from scratch! There were also some fresh, succulent oysters from Via Mare and though we didn’t have our fill of that yet we were sidetracked by even more food in large plates that came cascading out of the kitchen: roasted balsamic tomatoes, rosemary potato wedges, and a whole tray of delicious garlic heads roasted in salt and olive oil. The latter was so good we were all still dreaming of it long after the night was over. Each garlic head was roasted till the cloves become soft and sweet and the top just a bit caramelized. The nice thing about it is that you don’t go home with the strong flavor still lingering in your mouth – I don’t know if there is some technique to that or if it simply was a natural effect of the cooking process. Michelle says she used the imported, large garlic because those would not be as pungent as the local variety.

Then came the large crabs cooked in garlic-butter perfection, Than Long style, the boiled giant prawns with cocktail sauce, and the baked snapper fillets. Instead of baking it whole, Michelle finds that cutting it up in fillets takes out much of the malansa taste. Apparently, it really makes a difference when you take off the head, the tails and the fins because the fishy smell just all about disappears. To cap off the meal we had flambéed Haagen Daaz strawberry ice cream with strawberry compote. For that, Michelle used Grand Marnier Light although she says you achieve almost the same results with Contreau. All throughout the meal we had lemon water and an assortment of white wines.

The food was amazing. But what amazed me even more was that Michelle singlehandedly prepared everything from scratch! And to think she has five-year-old Leila and four-month-old Sarah to take care of. No yayas for this supermom. But she seems to have enough time to do most everything. Michelle put up her beautiful Christmas tree practically by herself, runs an orderly household, has time to cook wonderful meals, be wife to Ogie and full-time mom to two lovely daughters. Pregnant as she was middle of last year, she even took time to personally make teapots with matching cups to give as Christmas presents. She is a talented potter and in her home there is a room where she keeps her supplies and does her pottery. Although she would have wanted to make each single piece, last year was very busy for Michelle. She launched a children’s book she wrote entitled Butterfly, was expecting another baby, and had to leave for Australia to give birth. So she did the next best thing in keeping with her desire to give something personally crafted – she made a prototype that she gave to renowned potter Lanelle Abueva for the latter to make a mold of and mass-produce. For Christmas, she gave Richard and me a beautiful tea set.

How organized and thoughtful is she? Because she was already in Australia awaiting her date with the stork during Ogie’s birthday, she wanted his day to still be special. So in her usual efficient way, she contacted a caterer and set out all the details just so Ogie could celebrate with friends and not have to think of any kink to iron.

I asked Michelle where and how she learned to cook so well. Apparently, she was exposed to the kitchen since she was five years old. Both her parents worked (her mom was a nurse) and so she was left with her grandmother most of the time who happened to be a very good cook. From her, Michelle gained enough confidence to actually prepare meals for her family as she was growing up but only started cooking full-course meals for friends when she was 18. More than anything, she says she enjoys cooking because she likes the pleasure it brings her – she is able to give people something of herself on top of seeing them all enjoy a good meal in the company of good friends.

For that night, the whole meal was planned two days in advance. I asked her how she could have prepared (from scratch) a whole spread like that with all that she had to do in between and on the day itself be free to enjoy the night and mingle with the guests. Careful planning and time management are key. And whatever can be prepared in advance, even if those are but one or two little things, would help a lot. Because the balsamic potatoes, the rosemary potatoes, and the roasted garlic all have to be baked at the same time, they all went in the oven together and halfway through, she also put in the fish fillets. As for the crabs and the prawns, she buys them live and allowed them to swim around in water as much as possible, changing the water every so often until it comes out clear. Once the prawns are boiled, Michelle proceeds to pack them in ice until they are ready to be served.

To ensure a delicious meal, she is very particular about buying the freshest ingredients and adds that cooking time also has a lot to do with taste. She believes that food generally shouldn’t be played around too much because then you just might succeed in messing up the natural flavors. Instead, one’s focus should just be on accentuating what is already there.

That night, we all benefited from Michelle’s labor of love. We were all basking in the comfort of a wonderful home-cooked meal and the pleasure and company of good friends. The Alcasid’s are a wonderful family; Ogie is always warm, Michelle is gracious and very thoughtful – a perfect hostess, the two little girls – beauty queens waiting to grow. And they all glow with the gift of Michelle’s touch.