Whenever there’s a get-together of foodies, there is usually a new dish that becomes the topic of conversation.

That also happens to my Bible study group, my culinary judges group, as well as my badminton group. Everyone is excited to experience a new food item or dessert.

Chaine des Rotisseurs is one foodie (gourmet) group that does regular dining. In all the dinners I had with them, most of the discussions were naturally about food. I can imagine the pressure a chef goes through, cooking for a bunch of foodies, most of whom are good cooks themselves.

I also look forward to meetings with my culinary judges’ group—which is usually invited to food festivals and cooking competitions.

The group is headed by Myrna Segismundo and includes Glenda Barretto, Claude Tayag, Maricris Encarnacion, Micky Fenix, Manny Torrejon, Nana Ozaeta, chefs Jill Sandique, Robbie Goco, Eugene Raymundo, Jessie Sincioco, Sau del Rosario and Penk Ching.

Always fun

These meets are always fun. Our topic is, of course, mainly food, also culinary discoveries.

In a few weeks, our group will go to Cagayan De Oro for the Cohara (Cagayan De Oro Hotel and Restaurant Association) competitions.

It is a four-day event of eating and tasting dozens—sometimes hundreds—of entries.

A lot are good, but once in a while you come across entries that will make you worry if you’ve had your anti-hepatitis shots.

June Rufino’s goodies

My cousin Pat-P also belongs to a group that incidentally loves to eat. Its members are mostly show biz figures like Mother Lily, June Rufino, Susan Roces, Marichu Maceda.

Recently they went to my restaurant Wooden Spoon for Pat-P’s birthday celebration. They brought their own desserts, which they shared with me.

I was told that the desserts were made by the family of June, whose brother Manny Torrejon is a fellow judge in many of our cooking competitions. That day, June brought three goodies—caramel cupcake, banana cupcake and torta Torrejon.

The cupcakes were to-die-for because of their moisture, and they were not too sweet.

Nutty flavour

But what surprised me was a plain-looking cake which had no decoration. It was like an unfinished sansrival with a slight similarity in taste—crunchy, chewy, tasty, and with lots of texture. I could taste the nutty flavor in what seemed like almonds. It tasted like another dessert, pavlova, super sarap.

I have just added it to my list of Manila’s best tasting desserts. I took some home and ate it two weeks after; it was still very good. Love it!

I look forward to meeting other foodie groups to see what goodies they can share with each other.

Happy eating!

For inquiries on the banana and caramel cup cakes and Torta Torrejon, contact 0919-996 4989.

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