Friends and Mermaids at the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa #Cebu #travel

 

Here are more pictures taken at Plantation Bay Resort and Spa.

The picture above shows a group of us posing next to a horsedrawn carriage and driver, left to right: Chona Bernad, Terry Manguerra, Cecilia Brainard, and Chinggay Utzurrum.

Here's a picture of me with my host Manny Gonzalez. 

Brainard Pictures Christmas 2015

Here are some Christmas pictures.
Happy New Year!

Brainard Pictures Friends and Family 1997

This was our Christmas card in 1997.

The collage below shows friends I saw that year:

I see Resil Mojares, John Silva, Isagani Cruz, Danton Remoto, Krip Yuson, the American USIS representative Bernie Lovejoy, teachers and workshop participants of a USIS program.

Happy holidays!

Read also

Brainard Christmas Pictures 1993
Brainard Christmas Photos 1994
Brainard Christmas Photo 1995
Brainard Pictures Friends 1996

Philippines: Christmas and the Nochebuena

Some Brainard Holiday Pictures - 2014

Christmas Reflection: The Holy Family as Refugees

Tags: Christmas, holidays, #christmas, friends, family, pictures, Maryknoll, Philippines, St. Theresa's College, Philippine

This is all for now,
Cecilia and family

Brainard Pictures Friends and Family 1995

The top picture was the Brainard Christmas card in 1995.

Reminiscing with the De Vries at Le Petit Cafe in Santa Monica, California

We had dinner with our friends, Carol and John De Vries, whom we have known for many years. Our sons went to school together and were/are good friends. Chris (our son) and Kevin (their son) had many escapades which we recounted over dinner.

Christmas Carolling at the Brainards

Halloween 2009

More Pictures Taken in the Philippines, August 2009

Gossiping in Makati, l-r: Marily Orosa, Cecilia Brainard, Maribel Paraz, Mila Santillan

Taken in Cebu at a dinner hosted by the Francos: l-r seated: Lucy Garcia, Terry Manguerra,Cecilia Brainard; l-r standing: Chinggay Utzurrum, guest, Diana Ledesma, Helen Misa

Taken in Edith Alcantara's condominium in the Fort, a gathering of some Maryknollers: l-r: Precy Florentino, Marily Orosa, Meldee Perez, Edith Alcantar, Cecilia Brainard, Milla Santillan, Maribel Paraz, Lyn Enriquez

l-r: Edith Alcantara, Lynn Enriquez, Marily Orosa, Cecilia Brainard, Maribel Paraz

Dinner in a Greek Restaurant in Greenbelt, Makati: l-r: Cecilia Brainard, Araceli Lorayes, Guia Lim, Tess Tan

With STC classmates: l-r: Joy Atienza, Darn Posa, Lilu Gimenez, Mila Santillan, Cecilia Brainard

In Tagaytay: l-r: Darn Posa, Mila Santillan, Cecilia Brainard, Joy Atienza

Lunch at Tootsies in Tagaytay, l-r: Mila Santillan, Cecilia Brainard, Darn Posa, Joy Atienza

Taken in Borussia's Northern Cebu l-r: Inday Blanco, Terry Manguerra holding Aya, Chona Bernad, Chuchi Mannchen, Cecilia Brainard

ANSWER TO YESTERDAY'S JACK POST QUESTION

The answer to yesterday's Jack Pot Question:

1. The Revolutionary Post is in the middle, in the back, leaning against the headboard.

2. Her name is Mila D. Aguilar, click here for more information about her

And more about Mila, click here.

3. The 4 women were being silly.

All for tonight.

PHILIPPINE STAR ABOUT MARILY & JOE

My friend, Marily Orosa, lost her husband,Joe, last January to cancer. This article by Josefina T. Lichauco appeared in The Philippine Star.


Business Life
A belated Valentine love story
HINDSIGHT By Josefina T. Lichauco Updated February 23, 2009 12:00 AM

This love story was meant to be published the Monday after Valentine’s Day, but my workload piled up and I was not able to meet the deadline. I usually write on Internet law, but on occasions like Valentine’s, Christmas and New Year, I deviate from my usual topic.

This is a love story that has to be written. It is within this context that I write it — it touched the heartstrings of everyone that was part of the spiritual process where His Creator claimed back Jose de Santos Orosa for his congregation in heaven on Jan. 26, barely three weeks ago.

My family has known the Sixto Orosa Jr. family from the time I was a young kid playing badminton with the Orosa brothers, together with my sisters. Joe Orosa’s father was nicknamed “Ting” and was bank president in his time. I’d see him and his wife, Tita Edita, at my late parents’ parties after we, the kids, lost touch with one another, as we pursued further studies abroad and thereafter forged lives of our own.

It was only when I met Marily Ysip-Orosa at a number of common political endeavors that I met Joe again after so many years. Immediately, upon seeing the two together, what struck me about this married couple — a second marriage for both of them since both were widowed — was the remarkable intellectual synergy and rapport that existed between the two. It was not only remarkable but also absolutely impressive.

Being a widow myself, what I kept going over and over in my mind was the fact that these two high-powered individuals found each other and fell in love — in fact, fell in love so mightily to bravely marry each other the second time around. I am convinced now, however, that when the Lord has a hand in it, love flows, as Joe said at one time, “effortlessly.”

Certainly I agree with those who believe in love. In fact, I believe not only that love makes the world go round; love is what makes the ride worthwhile. Let me go one step further for I subscribe to the theory that the only abnormality in life is the incapacity to love.

In the case of Joe and Marily Orosa, Kahlil Gibran’s words are so applicable: “To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind.” There was indeed a love so great that even in the darkest moments during Joe’s journey back to His Creator, Marily guided him not only with her heart but also with her mind constantly. If anyone has ever doubted that true love really exists, that someone will immediately be constrained to relinquish that feeling.

And there was likewise an admiration for each other, so outstanding, that friends like me could not help but appreciate.

I cannot just call Joe and Marily’s meeting each other as simply arranged by destiny, for it was God that made certain that the two would meet. About eight months into Joe’s widowhood, he hosted a lunch at the Manila Polo Club. On the agenda was an audiovisual presentation (AVP) to raise finances and gather support for a Christian school expansion and relocation.

Businesslike and brief though the AVP was, Joe was impressed by, in his own words, “the courage and strength of character of the presenter.” Marily had been widowed less than a month before and she was making this efficient and brisk presentation so well. Their pastor had asked Marily to take on the job of crafting and making the presentation needed by their Christian congregation. She was requested to work with one of the prominent members of their church, Joe Orosa, who had accepted the chairmanship of the project. In spite of Marily’s protestations because it was soon after she was widowed, she could not refuse the pastor. In an essay she wrote, she said she “acceded reluctantly, hoping obedience to a man of God would get me closer to heaven.” That, indeed, was the Lord working in His strange way.

The business meetings soon graduated into friendly dinner dates. Joe had written in an essay likewise that he had been invited to write on his widowhood and eventual meeting with Marily, that he “started to take notice of this woman of character, beauty, grace, wit and humor.” As Joe himself had said, through five years of courtship, God guided and strengthened us, “especially in the areas of patience, relationships, and dealing with our past.”

In spite of this fundamental identity as far as intellectual compatibility was concerned, Marily, however, says in the same book of essays, which was published in 2002, that she was “amazed at how wonderfully opposite we were. I was talkative and an extrovert; he a man of few words and an introvert. I was bubbly; he, serious. He loved Pavarotti; I, the Bee Gees! He enjoyed the sea; I, the mountains. I hated oysters; he could consume a plateful of them! He insisted on “fine dining”; I was constantly watching my newfound figure and was content with a salad. He was always punctual, and me, late. Rose Yenko, my psychologist friend, ventured to say that Joe kept my feet on the ground. I liberated him from his seriousness. Happily our love blossomed in this fertile soil of diversity” (excerpts taken from the book From This Day Forward).

From this fertile soil of diversity sprang a unity of purpose to serve God and to clasp each other’s hands in solidarity. And there was indeed that fundamental intellectual harmony that created the opportunity for love and admiration for each other to blossom and prosper in the manner it did.

They were intellectual equals. Marily had founded and was president of Studio 5 Designs, Inc., involved in various aspects of visual communications such as corporate literature, marketing and sales collaterals, special arts events, calendars, etc. She was head of a highly competitive group, responsible for the excellent quality of its products and services produced by the company for its clients. In this capacity, Marily was the main reason for bringing to the company multiple awards for works designed and developed for Studio 5’s clientele. She had majored in Communication Arts in college and came prepared, armed with her degree, to undertake such a business.

Marily Orosa is an entrepreneur par excellence and the complete businesswoman.

Joe Orosa graduated cum laude from the De La Salle University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce with Accounting as his major, so it was but natural that Marily sought advice from him and made him chairman of the board of the firm that had now expanded into publishing. The union of two great minds produced what Studio 5 is today.

The couple worked together on a great number of publications. But more than anything, to my mind, the most remarkable achievement of Joe was his being project director of the Every Nation Leadership Institute, Inc., a leadership training and development institute located at the Universal Park of Fort Bonifacio Global City. He is committed to the vision of training a new generation of leaders in the Christian ministry, business, public governance, sports and media. It is one of the most beautiful edifices in the Global City.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that all of the above was brought about by that formidable combination of spiritual, intellectual, and business synergy that existed between Joe and Marily Orosa.

But I am getting ahead of my story. After all, this was intended to be a belated valentine love story.

On Dec. 21, 1993, six years after they were both widowed, and five years after they first met, Joe and Marily were wed in a wonderful garden ceremony at the then Westin Philippine Plaza. For a backdrop, the two professed their marriage vows against the golden sunset of Manila Bay.

After approximately 15 years of a marriage beyond compare, Joe Orosa passed away peacefully and beautifully with his loved ones around him. According to Marily, no matter how heartrending her grief is, she knows so well that Joe would want her to carry on bravely. Her reminiscences of her husband are touching. She was only 40 when she met Joe, who was eight years her senior. She remembers 15 qualifications for a future husband that she drew up after she was first widowed. She did not know Joe yet when she made the list. He found out about that list, asked for it from her, and kept it in his wallet for 20 years.

Joe gave her beautiful red roses several times a year with a handwritten note always. And especially on Valentine’s Day, the red roses would be there with the day ending in a romantic dinner for two.

After Joe was diagnosed with cancer and became seriously ill in spite of all the medical procedures and medications here and abroad, there were no roses for Marily. But this time, Marily surprised Joe with a beautiful note that said in simple words: “To my husband, my best friend, I love you every day, and Valentine’s Day gives me just another reason to tell you how much love you bring to my life. You are always there for me … you make me feel secure, cherished and loved. Your trust has helped me to reach beyond myself and to become all that I can be. You are my best friend and my favorite person to be with. You are a wonderful man and I am proud to be your wife. I love you. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

On the first day after his passing, I paid tribute to Jose de Santos Orosa at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes, for leading such an exemplary life. Beneath his casket was a little round table with 15 lovely red roses (15 years of marriage) that said: “I love you, honey-pie.”

I know that even now, there is still that synergy that goes on between Joe and Marily Orosa. Death could not just break this up. I myself am an incurable romantic, for which reason this love story had to be written.

Sophocles so wisely said: “One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life. That word is love.”

* * *
Photo shows Marily and Joe Orosa on their wedding day, Jan. 21, 1993

UPDATE ARROWHEAD MINI-REUNION WITH MARYKNOLLERS

There was something that happened to us. We went to the same college, and we probably weren't even that close then. After college, we went on with our lives. Some of us stayed in the Philippines; some migrated to the U.S. or to Europe; some got married; some didn't. Some of us had children. Some of us had careers. We took different paths, and for many years, we barely saw one another. And then after not seeing one another for two decades and more (so hard to imagine it was that long ago) we got together and reconnected, got caught up with our lives, and now suddenly, these classmates whom we hadn't seen for ages became symbols of home, of our youth, and a kind of ease developed among us. It was no longer important to show off, to be the most popular, the most beautiful, the smartest, the most accomplished. It was all right to be overweight and all right to have dysfunctional families, and all right to have some neuroses. (Next year marks 40 years since we graduated from Maryknoll College!)

That is how it feels now to be with old high school and college friends. . . at least some of them. . . it feels like "going home" to be with them.

And that was how it felt to go to Arrowhead to be with Maria Ciocon and Med Villanueva, classmates from Maryknoll College (class of 68).

I had with me my lengua, some Didi Riese cookies, an overnight bag, when I drove to Upland to pick up Maria Ciocon. In fact Maria's nickname is Baby. So through the years, she has been Baby C. and I, Baby M. (for Manguerra, my maiden name). Technically, she ought to be called Baby N. (for her maiden name, Navarro), but somehow, we ended up calling her Baby C.

So, Saturday, after delays because of business phone calls, I threw my bag and food into my Mercedes Van and drove for about an hour to Upland where Baby lives. She was waiting for me, with a nice cup of brewed coffee. And then we drove to Arrowhead. We were both wondering if we would see evidence of the recent fires. We didn't, at least not from the highways we took.

Med was waiting for us, and the first thing we did, after greeting one another and dragging our stuff into Med's house, was to start heating the food. It's very Filipino to eat during gatherings. It's like Holy Communion. So, the lengua was in the microwave and the mongo soup was over the cooking range, and a chicken dish was in the oven. Rice was ready. The table was set, and by 12:30, we were eating our comfort food.

(Aside: Twice a month or so, I will go down to Vermont to my favorite turo-turo Filipino restaurant for my laing, dinuguan, binagoongan - Filipino dishes - and I pick up the Asian Journal or Philippine News, and I read about Macapagal pardoning Estrada while I eat my comfort food. The food is totally high in cholesterol, but it's all fun, and psychologically healing - it is like recharging a battery. After such a meal, I can leave Bibingkahan Restaurant and face "America" once again. I can go back to my American life.)

Eating Filipino food with other Filipinos doubles the same experience. My batteries feel doubly-charged. We eat the food we grew up on, and we talk about matters that we could not discuss with our husbands and American friends, and we can even do this in Taglish!



So there the three of us were, talking about the recent fire - Med's house had been spared, but she had to evacuate - and talking about our children and grandchildren, and of course our classmates, these other links to our youth and past.

We ate and talked from 12:30 to 2 p.m. And feeling we had to do something else, we went to town where there was an Oktoberfest going on. We window shopped and watched the Men's drinking contest. We each picked a possible winner and watched them down pints of beer in a few seconds flat. Maria thought the young college-age guys would have a lot of practise drinking beer. I picked an older man with a rotund stomach, thinking age and experience might have an edge. Med picked a younger fellow, who made third-runner up. Maria's and my candidates dropped out in the first round.

After the beer drinking contest, we went to Mass in Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church. We were an hour early, so we said the Rosary and Our Divine Mercy Chaplet, and walked around the neighborhood, and the outdoor Stations of the Cross, and window-shopped in the Church store. Then we heard Mass. The priest talked about the fire and the victims; and a fellow from a volunteer group talked about their providing assistance to fire victims. The priest invited all to the refectory because the Red Cross had brought food.

We returned to Med's place and proceeded to pray the long version of the Healing the Family Tree prayers. It's a very powerful prayer for your ancestors - look it up sometime (I forget the title of the book with the prayers we said, but Kenneth McAll has an excellent book about the subject matter).

After praying, we ate some more. And then we changed into our nightwear and settled down to watch DVDs. Med's machine is apparently temperamental and it refused to read my DVD on Water (by Deepa Mehta), which I wanted to share with them. But it read the BBC's version of Pride and Prejudice, a 4 hour show. I dozed off and on, but Maria and Med stayed awake until around 3:30 a.m.

There were two beds in the guest room but I opted to sleep in the living room with the magnificent cathedral windows. It was chilly, and we welcomed it because this was different. It reminded us we were in another place. Maria kept saying, "Doesn't this remind you of Baguio?" - referring to the cool, mountain place, Baguio, with pine trees, in Luzon, a favorite vacation place.

I was awake by 7 a.m. and through the cathedral windows I watched blue jays hopping on pine trees branches. There were white fluffy clouds and the sky was blue. By 8:30, we congregated around the dining table again for a meal of garlic rice, eggs, bacon, dangit (dried fish), and fruit.

We talked until 1:30 p.m. and then Maria and I packed our things and put them in the car. The plan was to windowshop in antique stores, then we'd bring Med home, and head back home. In Cedar Glen's street mall, I parked the car, and we visited five shops. When we returned to the car, there was a note stuck in the windshield, saying my tire was soft. Indeed a huge bolt was stuck in my left rear tire and my tire was flat. We called triple A, had to wait over an hour, and got a guy named Paul who had a heck of a time figuring out what to do. We stopped by a gas station and had another guy put air into the spare tire and other tires. Then we dropped Med off, and Maria and I drove back down Freeway 10, to 210, and alone to 10 all the way to Santa Monica. The only hitch was I had to keep my car down to 50-60 mph because of my spare doughnut tire.

But I got home safely, and I dare say the three of us were charged once again to deal with Life.

There's talk of another mini-reunion before Christmas.


(Above photo: Seated l-r: Med Villanueva, Chona Preston, Standing: Cecilia and Maria Ciocon;
Middle photo was taken at another Mini-Maryknoll reunion: Seated l-r: Marieda Alba, Maria Ciocon, Standing l-r: Meldy Perez, Med Villanueva, Cecilia Brainard
Bottom photo was taken in New Delhi, India, l-r: Cecilia, Lulah Quiambao, Mila Santillan)

COOKING LENGUA ESTOFADA FOR THE MARYKNOLLERS

Today I am cooking tongue. I should say "Lengua" to make it sound more dignified, but it's tongue nonetheless - a huge cow's tongue around a foot long, still with the grizzly covering that needs to be peeled off. It's in boiling salted water right now, and later on I'll peel that outer skin off. That's the ugly looking part, with little pimply bumps, the sight of which can make a person reject eating tongue for life. But since I grew up eating Lengua Estofada and Lengua Escarlata and Lengua Con Setas, and no longer have the cook Menggay around, I have to do the dirty work. The sight of the ugly uncooked tongue doesn't bother me because when I look at it, I can imagine the cooked tongue on a platter, with velvety red-brown sauce covering it, some mushrooms, plantains, and onions, maybe carrots and sweet potatoes surrounding it. Very elegant. Mouthwatering.

I've learned to appreciate the ritualistic feeling of preparing the comfort foods of my youth. It feels healing, like I'm connecting to some part of myself that sometimes I forget is still there! The part that eats tongue!

I had a difficult time finding today's tongue. My Filipino market, Seafood City on Vermont, didn't have tongue; neither did Von's; and fortunately Albertson's in Santa Monica had tongue. The wonder of it is that it was inexpensive; it was only ten dollars for one cow's tongue. Think of it, one big cow gave up it's life so I can cook that tongue. I wouldn't give up my tongue for just ten dollars! But maybe it's cheap because many Americans do not eat tongue. I think only Deli's serve tongue, in sandwiches, and we have some friends who have distant memories of tongue being served in their homes, but they no longer serve them in their homes.

My American family does not eat tongue. That is an understatement. My American family abhors tongue. They are terrified of tongue. When they see the huge cow's tongue coiled in my huge cooking pot and they see strange foamy scum floating on top, they turn away in total disgust. "It's Ok," I say, "I'm throwing away that water. It's just to remove the outer skin."

I'll admit that when the children were young I used to tease them by holding the uncooked tongue in front of my mouth, so maybe that little joke has permanently damaged their relationship with beef tongue forever. I'd tried to convince them that it tastes just like beef, but just by looking at the slices of tongue, they could tell that the texture was different. I assured them it's tender, and tasty, and melts in their mouth. They were unconvinced. Once I cooked tongue along with some beef stewing meat; that is the two kinds of meat cooked in the same liquid/marinade - and they swore they could detect the taste of tongue on the beef and refused to eat the beef stew. So really, I stopped cooking beef tongue for the family. And there's no point going through all that work just so I can have my Lengua. But this weekend, I'll be seeing a couple of Maryknoll college classmates, Maria Ciocon and Med Villanueva, and like me, they were raised to appreciate such fine food as Lengua - so I'm cooking tongue for them - for us.

After I peel the rough outer skin, I will brown the tongue in my big enamel pot, then I will sautee onions and carrots, then I will pour in burgundy, soy sauce, beef stock, garlic, bay leaf, pepper (I have to check my recipe book - and then I improvise as I go along) - and stick all of that in the oven for a good 2 hours or longer. Then, I'll adjust the taste, and I will let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days to let the meat soak in all that wonderful juice. Then it will be ready for serving, with some full-bodied red wine, and rice, because we eat rice with most everything, and rice will sop up all that delicious sauce.

That's the plan.



Read also:
Cooking with Cecilia Brainard - Quiche
Cooking with Cecilia Brainard - Linguine with Clams
Cooking Lengua Estofada
Food Essay - Fried Chicken Caribbean-style
How I Learned to Make Leche Flan (or How I Met my Husband)
Cooking with Cecilia - Leche Flan (Vietnamese Style) 
Easy Filipino Recipes from Maryknollers
Cooking with Cecilia - Beef Bouruignon
Cooking with Cecilia - Chicken Soup for my Bad Cold

(Photo shows Cecilia with her famous Beef Bourguignon
Bottom Photo shows Cecilia, Med Villanueva, and Maria Ciocon)

tags: Food, wine, cooking

ABOUT FRIENDSHIP

I don't have a lot of close friends. I never have. I'm one of those extroverts that get tired when I'm with a lot of people. Introverts are recharged when they're with people. I'm the opposite, I give out energy, so after any social event, I feel depleted.

I don't look like a loner because when I'm with people I'm gregarious, too talkative in fact. And I do enjoy being with other people; it just wears me out. I can be just as happy being by myself, reading a book, writing, gardening, doing one of my many, many projects It's amazing how quickly the day passes.

But I have a few really good friends.

One of them is Marily Ysip Orosa, whose blog site I just visited - Marily's Journey of Faith. She's been blogging the journey she and her husband Joe are going through. Joe is battling cancer and Marily's blog records all of this. Marily is a Christian and her reports are upbeat and cheerful, even if frank. She doesn't flinch about writing about colostomy bags, and platelets, and the audacity of hope, and faith, and love.

Let me reminisce here and recall when Marily and I first became friends, and that was when we were at Maryknoll College, Quezon City. We were both Communication Arts majors. For high school she had attended St. Theresa's College, Quezon City; I had attended St. Theresa's College, San Marcelino. We were educated by the same Belgian nuns in High School, and American nuns in College.

Marily and I were not the studious types that hung around the library, which did not mean we were not good students, because we always managed to get decent grades. I was even a Dean's Lister. But there were too many other things to do aside from studying! We partied; we had a singing group and actually performed in a couple of Television shows. We called ourselves The Rainmakers. We had endless talks in the famous "lanai" of Maryknoll College. Once we rebelled and started wearing "civilian clothes" instead of our green and white uniform; and we were promptly reprimanded by the nuns.


Marily and I took a class together - it was a 2-unit class called "Rizal" about the Philippine National Hero. It was a Saturday morning class - a real bummer. On the very first day, the professor announced that we didn't have to attend class, that we could do all our other work and that would be fine. Marily and I took one look at each other and didn't show up in that class until finals. We were shocked and incensed that we got C's; we thought we deserved As.

I mention this incident because Marily went on to publish an award winning coffee table book about Jose Rizal, titled In Excelsis, published by Studio 5, Marily's publishing house. It is an absolutely handsome and intelligent book. Marily is a publisher of coffee table books, aside from doing public relations work. The irony of this didn't escape us and we both had some laughs when In Excelsis won several Philippine National Book Awards.

.
Marily is one person who has always supported me, especially in the Philippines. Our other friend, Brenda Arroyo, calls her the opposite of a Fair Weather Friend, because when things are okay in your life, she doesn't bother calling etc. as she is busy herself. But when you need help, she will drop everything and run to your side. That's a good friend
I have some other dear friends, and I'll remember them some other time, but tonight I want to remember Marily and Joe and wish them the very best in this journey they're in.
~~~~~~
Photo 1-top -l-r: Marily, Cecilia, Lauren.
Photo 2 - Taken at the book launch of Behind the Walls which Marily and I co-edited. Our college heroine, Gemma Cruz, who won Miss Universe in 1964, is in the picture; she's second from the right.
Photo 3 - Taken at the book launch, guest, Marily, and Cecilia