Celebrities Up Close - You don't have to be snooty just because you're a celebrity

In Lucasan, maybe some 20 minutes away from VE, we went to the place of Ugu Bigyan, the POTTER (but as my son and husband say, no relation to Harry... corny). The gates were wide open, anyone could simply walk in and get anything in sight, but happily no one did. I guess that's how things are most of the time in the province. A healthy respect for the neighbor's property and the neighbor's trust in turn.

There were at least 3 structures that looked like houses, but the biggest also had an open side door through which we walked and saw antique furniture, used rather than simply displayed furniture. Place was very clean, no dust, no musty smell there. No one was around as we quietly looked. Earlier, my husband inquired from someone he saw if we could have lunch. They said impossible as we had no reservations. Ugu Bigyan after all, was first of all a POTTER (no relation to Harry, ang kulit) rather than a chef. Never mind, we thought, we could eat at Kusina Salud which was part of our itinerary home anyway. So we looked around some more. One of the structures had a lady manning it. It had pottery works of Ugu among other stuff. True to form (which has come with age in my case), I asked her, can we not really have lunch here? She asked me, "maybe you can. have you talked to anyone? what did they say?" I was evasive, vague. I didn't want her to know we had been turned down so she could "fight" for "our cause" and maybe she did because when she came back, leaving her post to possible thieves (us, haha), she said we could be served lunch. yahoo. As we moved on to another structure, this one selling jewelry with terra cotta attachments (parang file) and or semi-precious stones, bull horns, etc. and native bags, and browsed some more, the waiter said we should start eating as the soup might get cold. Soup was asparagus with strands of beaten egg white. My son said it had fish too, but my cup didn't have any. There was also pako salad which looked inviting (it had the pako leaves, some tomato, cucumber, onions) and another green dish (was it Lent and I was being punished? Joke) with kangkong leaves and tahong out of their shells.
The third dish served was impressive in terms of size: a huge flat fish skimmed by light soy sauce and topped with slivers of ginger. My son loved this dish very much. Oh and then there was a pork dish that tasted like it had orange marmalade. And finally a cup each of strawberry ice cream. Oh yes and fresh buko juice, very sweet though unsugared, with lightly spooned out buko meat. Very refreshing.

When we asked the server who prepared the meal, I nearly fell off my wheelchair: Ugu Bigyan, he said. When we arrived, we had been told he was bathing. And then he had prepared our lunch so quickly? I almost wanted to ask if he could train our maid cum cook to cook faster, more enthusiastically. Tall order. As we lunched with the server bringing in stuff, we asked if we'd see Ugu. he said Ugu would come out that's for sure.

My son said he saw a picture of the young Ugu: dark and thin like ____ Bermejo, a session drummer whom we'd seen perform in the Podium. So we looked out for anyone who remotely resembled that image. We didn't see such a one but at one point, there was a man in a grey shirt and plaid green shorts walking past us. When we asked the server for the nth time where Ugu was, he said, "ay sayang, siya yun" pointing at the very man. He said, "tawagin ko". It occurred to me then that maybe, he was an okay boss because without hesitation the server approached his by then eating amo, who promptly smiled and walked to us, shook hands and quietly answered our questions. He also posed with us, asking one of his nieces to take our picture so everyone could join in. Look for it See here. Now there was a genteel place with hospitable people, not hungry for tips. (Sorry VE personnel.) He also signed the calling card (his) we asked him to.

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NDP is the daughter of a well-know culinary expert. Her son and mine were classmates in Prep. She was our "boss" parent being the Class Parent Representative. She also cooks and had a long-running cooking show on TV. As soon as she was chosen CPR, I had written her explaining how she could call on me to help anytime. She never did and was mostly on the giving side. One time, after our sons' field trip, my son came home with a shirt that wasn't his. It was his Tita Nina's who saw how sweaty my son had become. She lent her shirt. One time there was a grade level presentation and she took my son's pictures without being asked and gave us copies. Another time she went to Australia for the Special Olympics and came home with a shirt of the event for me. A very thoughtful friend.

And still another incident. I was cooking pastel de lengua but had run out of sherry. I texted to ask her if I could substitute white wine. She said better to stick to sherry. Aware that I had run out, she promised to bring me some so I could cook a perfect pastel.

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LKT and Mr. T are the parents of a Hangad member. One time PKT eagerly introduced us to them or them to us (if there are billing problems as in showbiz billing) and ever since then, LKT has always approached us to kiss, Mr T to shake hands. The couple, I found out only the other day, are journalists (do I reveal LKT's identity? Lorna Kalaw-Tirol). And the son, Paolo, has his name in many, many, CDS as arranger/composer of many beautiful songs, but he's not at all snooty.


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And of course there's TMP, who doesn't hesitate to be on mother mode when we interact because her son and mine are friends. One evening, sounding alarmed, she called me to ask if my son were around because hers wasn't home yet. They had practiced together but leave farther than we do from the practice place. Motherly stuff like those. Another time when she saw me she asked if I knew what had happened to her husband: he had slid and hurt himself. Wifely stuff like those.

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Celebrities like the above show they are human and that fact doesn't make them less of celebrities. It in fact enhances their celebrity because they are not conscious that they are celebrities.