Sony Alonso came to Cebu from California for a brief visit whose main purpose was to toss a party and introduce her only grand daughter, Isabelle Alexis Kyriakides. Guests were mostly dear friends representing some of Cebu’s oldest and most prominent families.
That was quite a crowd at the Club Filipino penthouse in the FGU building at Cebu Business Park. Getting the rush, and all the cooing, was little Isabelle in the arms of her mother, Shemaine “Ginger” Alonso Bushnell Kyriakides.
In the days that followed, Sony, Ginger and Isabelle did the rounds of sights and sites around Cebu. Sony has returned to Los Angeles, promising to be back by February for a more relaxed visit. Ginger with the baby is back in Cyprus where she is the honorary consul of the Philippines.
Kristalle “Kri-Kri” (nee Garcia) and Wolf Kekert invited a large group of family and friends to the baptismal of their son Harvey Antonio. Officiating at the font rites was Kri-Kri’s uncle, Msgr. Cristobal Garcia, at Sacred Heart Parish.
There was a long line of padrinos and madrinas posing for the commemorative photo: Bo and Cheryl Pascual, Nina Fruelda, Carie Anne Banate, Gerry and Sari Malixi, Menchu and Erik Esdaile, Maite Garcia, Ian Borromeo, Banjo and Kina Ho, Kirsten Cuenco and Vincent Garcia. Unable to attend were Kristine and Oyo Sotto.
To celebrate the occasion, there was a grand dinner at the ballroom of Cebu Country Club. Radiantly happy was Harvey Antonio’s glamorous maternal grandmother, Lucy Franco Garcia. Holding court at a special table was great aunt Nena Espina Garcia.
Over in Ormoc City, Leyte, Sabin and Rosie Larrazabal celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. There was a huge family gathering at their Sabin Resort Hotel by the beach attended by the diamond celebrants’ 10 children, spouses, 23 grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. Guests from Cebu took the fast ferry.
Cebu at the moment is in the midst of its annual festivity honoring the Santo Niño. The fiesta comes to a head this day with the Sinulog celebration, now on its 31st year. But the traditional procession, which took place yesterday, has been on for centuries.
As it does every year, Marco Polo Plaza Hotel has a Cebuano food fest in progress and an exhibit of Santo Niño images at its lobby lounge. Msgr. Carlito Pono officiated the blessing of the exhibit during its opening. He was assisted by exhibitors Ernesto Ben Chua, Helen Ynclino Bucag, Mark Steven Go and Val Sandiego who organized it all.
Val also brought members of his dance company to perform the Sinulog to the beat of drums and bugles. The dancers wore elaborate costumes. Hotel guests had a field day clicking their cameras and applauding.
Welcome remarks were delivered by resident manager Julie Najar, while Jessica Avila explained the various exotic dishes she had researched and prepared for the duration of the food fest. There was fiesta food from cities and municipalities of southern Cebu, such as Carcar, Argao, Boljoon, Ronda, Dumanjug and Barili.
Marco Polo’s sales and marketing director Lara Constantino Scarrow was present as were executive chef Luke Gagnon, human resources director Menie Toledo, F/B director Stephan Wieprich and the PR staff. Among them were Kyra Cabaero, Aireen Mansueto, Monika Tan and Yummy Marriot who hosted the program in florid Cebuano.
“This has been quite a successful culinary journey,” said Julie Najar days after, citing the response of the dining public. The next food fest will focus on China, Jan. 20-28, to coincide with the Chinese New Year.