Three birthdays and a despedida

Theirs were the last three birthdays celebrated at Nuvo last year. It was made extra special for the celebrants because people born in December usually get only one gift — a joint birthday and Christmas gift. So these three lucky women got their respective birthday gifts and birthday party on the house, courtesy of Louie Ysmael, Nuvo, Belvedere vodka and Penshoppe! The celebration, in effect, also became the Christmas gift for them.

Birthday girls Menchu Antigua, Twinkle Ferraren and Kate Torralba were gifted with bottles of Belvedere vodka to share with their friends as well as special, personalized gifts from Penshoppe. PR girl Cacay Moras got the photos of the birthday girls and sent them to Penshoppe, which, in turn, used their photos to create personalized clothing with their respective photos.

That same night, expat Harvey Jefferson dragged his friends over to celebrate his last night in the Philippines. He, too, was given a bottle of Belvedere as he said goodbye to a country he considers his own. He promised to come back soon.

The place was comfortably packed. For a change, it wasn’t overcrowded but the vibe of three birthday celebrations and a farewell party provided avenue for guests to know more people as they enjoyed wonderful drinks and great music.

Happy birthday, girls and bon voyage to Harvey! The next birthday sessions in Nuvo will be tomorrow night, Jan. 22.

When Assumption kitchen divas took over Jeepney

Can convent-educated girls come up with a credible cookbook? Definitely! This was proven by the sales of their book, the Assumption High School Class of ’79 Cookbook and their lunch buffet festival at InterContinental Manila’s Café Jeepney. The hotel, in collaboration with the cookbook’s prime movers, Marivic Puyat Limcaoco and Annie Lim Kawpeng, featured a selection of dishes from the book in its daily lunch buffet spread for a limited time. Published on the occasion of the class’ Pearl (30th) anniversary, the Pearl Edition cookbook is a compilation of heirloom and well-loved recipes, some personal creations of Batch ’79 members. Kawpeng personally kitchen-tested each recipe to make sure it not only tasted good but was also easy to prepare. An earlier edition to mark the class’ Silver (25th) anniversary has been sold out. The recipes in the Pearl edition are different from those in the Silver edition. Lizette Banzon Cojuangco gave me a copy of the recipe book one Christmas and my mom had been preparing delicious meals from this cookbook!

Members of Assumption Class ’79 as well as the Assumption community, media and regular Café Jeepney patrons were present on opening day of the buffet. Copies of the cookbook that were on sale at a discounted price were snapped up by the happy diners who asked Limcaoco and Kawpeng to autograph their copies. Among the buffet favorites are Rina Go’s Molo Soup; Karen Cancio Litre’s Chopped Chicken Salad; Isabel de Vera Hillerstam’s Jansson’s Temptation: Anchovy Potato Casserole; Lisa Lorenzo Uy’s Spinach Salad in Poppy Seed Dressing and Honey Chicken Wings; Marivic Puyat Limcaoco’s Penne alla Vodka; Ola de Vera Regala’s Lasagna; Nina Huab Cruz’s Rellenong Pusit; Joanne Rae Mayor Ramirez’s Gourmet Chicken Adobo; Guia Mendoza Tiongson’s Beef Steak Casserole; Nina Lagdameo Alba’s Chinese Sticky Rice in Banana Leaves; Leah Luna Sherman’s Liz’s Garlic Crab; Corinna Lopa’s Chicken Binakol; Cecilia Dolendo Suarez’s Intensity Five Dip; Marilou Sarthou Lacson’s Spinach and Artichoke Dip; Ina Ledesma’s Limoncello Tiramisu; and Annie Lim Kawpeng’s Corona ng Papa Rice Pudding.