Jack The Scribbler

It’s highly unlikely.
But a published account written by Cory’s speechwriter, newspaperman, and Makati City congressman TeddyBoy Locsin Jr. said that Kris Aquino was named after the word that has singularly defined the state of Philippine society (and arguably, her personal life).
“We’re gonna call her Krissy, for crisis,” Locsin wrote in page 320 of the book, Cory Magic: Her People’s Stories, citing Ninoy.

The book, Cory Magic: Her Peoples' Stories, remembers the former president and her funeral. (Picture from starmometer.com)

The remark was made over a dinner in August 1971, when Locsin was covering Aquino’s career for the Philippines Free Press.
“Ninoy and I immediately hit it off,” Locsin added, remembering the event more than three decades ago when the senator’s youngest daughter was just “a chubby, little baby girl” held by Cory whom he met for the first time.
In the meantime, Ninoy’s remark — as reported by Locsin — may have been flippant.
After all, it was uttered hours after grenades were thrown into a crowded Liberal Party (LP) campaign rally at Plaza Miranda in Manila, an event that Ninoy — an LP senator — begged off from attending at the last moment. The decision may have prolonged Ninoy’s life although he would later be assassinated exactly twelve years later to the day at the airport now bearing his name.
Now, more than thirty years later, Ninoy’s words about Kris sounds prophetic.
Just this week, Kris reportedly cursed and caused a scandal when she visited the house of her husband’s fan, a certain Mayen Austria, in an upscale village east of Metro Manila.
But Aquino immediately denied the incident in a text message.
She only expressed her feelings about Mayen’s “actuations” toward her husband, basketball player James Yap, she said.
The incident could have been easily set aside.
Except that Kris’ brother Noynoy is running — and is the leading contender — for the presidency of the Philippines.
And no spin doctor worth his bag of tricks will miss this opportunity to reduce Aquino’s popularity.
This explains why political operators of all shapes, shades, and sizes are working overtime, only to make sure that the incident — no thanks to Kris and her husband — renders the most maximum damage possible to his campaign.
Already, a text message supposedly from Austria, has been making the rounds, accusing Kris of being “very mad, berating us, saying I always text and call james” and of “passing by the house to make me sugod [confront me].”
The lengthy text message ends with the question, “Do you want Kris to be in Malacanang?”
Whether the message came from Austria or not, Aquino’s political rivals are stopping at nothing to create — what’s that word again? — a crisis big enough to dent his lead in the surveys.
It enough to make you think whether Ninoy had the power to predict the future.
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From the Acknowledgments Dept. Altered pic of Kris and Noynoy was copied from Karl Kaufman. Thanks, man. Picture of the book came from Starmometer.com.

Kiss The Cook Cafe seems too upscale for its location.

Or so it appears to customers who may find parking difficult, tricycles irritating, and the neighborhood itself unsettling.

After all, KTCC is situated along Maginhawa Street in UP Village, an area not exactly bursting at the seams with coño kids, socialites, and moneyed executives. (But then again, it could be argued that the neighborhood is getting trendier by the minute. About a dozen or so decent-looking, medium-rise structures are currently being constructed in what still primarily is a residential area, no thanks to record-low interest rates and Quezon City Hall’s spot zoning policies.)

In any case, of all UP Village’s establishments — from cafe cum bars to hole-in-the-wall, mom and pop operations — KTCC stands out.

Sliding glass doors, coupled with al fresco seating in front, lends some degree of charm and sophistication to the place, bringing it a notch or two above restaurants located just less than a kilometer away down the same street.

That’s not all.

KTCC’s overall decor and its dining implements indicate good taste; none of the bright and gaudy distractions plastered on fastfood outlets found on every city corner.

Of course, the ambiance is provided at a premium, which is fortunately within justifiable levels.

Besides offering impressive service — uniformed waiters are always on alert to fill customers’ goblets with water — KTCC’s food is, simply put, good.

Take one of its starters, a set of eight bite-sized spinach feta dumplings, which goes for P145.

Considered too salty by one foodie blogger, the dumplings — which consist of approximately five parts spinach and only one part feta cheese — prepares patrons for better things to come.

At first glance, the entrees appear no larger than the size of fastfood value meal servings.

But looks can be deceiving.

KTCC uses plates as big as steering wheels of regular, run-of-the-mill Isuzu Elf delivery trucks.

With more than enough breathing space between say, the brown rice and the salad, diners are given the first — but nevertheless false — impression that KTCC skimped on their servings.

That notion would be dispelled soon enough.

One of its basic entrees — the five spice pork spare ribs (P185) — manages to exceed expectations, both in size and taste.

Once dipped, bathed, or soaked in vinegar, the crispy brown tender meat morsels are filling. However, they may be too hot for those with less adventurous palates.

If that’s the case, then you can’t go wrong with the Asian braised pork belly (P285), served with a slightly sweet thick, brown sauce.

Since it is packed with flavor, every slice must be accompanied by a spoonful of rice, if only to distinguish and savor the essence of the sauce.

Gourmands, gourmets, and gluttons will hardly bother leaving any leftovers but those easily cloyed by rich sauces may find it a challenge to finish off an order.

In the meantime, those with temporarily overloaded palates can try a sip or two of KTCC’s fruit coolers. Priced at P80 a bottle, the coolers allow for temporary respites between bites, whether its lemongrass, calamansi, lemon iced tea, or passion fruit.

To provide a fitting end to a hearty dining experience, patrons are well-advised to partake of KTCC’s yogurt ice creams, perhaps among the tastiest in the city.

The dessert has one drawback though.

Of its five flavors — strawberry, chocolate, mango, vanilla, and pistachio — only three can be accommodated in a single order.

This is reason enough to get seconds or perhaps merit another visit.

Visitors may get to meet the cooks next time. However, kissing them for an excellent meal is entirely optional.

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Photo courtesy of Didang Alvarez. Thanks, Ma’am.

These instructions are for those who already have Twitter and Evernote accounts and use their mobile phones for Twitter updates. Some additional but nevertheless superfluous instructions have been provided just in case.

1) Upon opening your Twitter account, follow @myEN, which is the Twitter account of Evernote.

2) @myEN will then send you a direct message on your Twitter account containing a link.

3) After clicking on the link, you will be brought to your Evernote account, which in turn, will ask you to link both your Evernote and Twitter accounts.

4) After clicking on the link accounts button, you can now save both public and private tweets on your Evernote account.

5) Here’s the fun part. Since you can update your Twitter status through your phone, you can save notes to Evernote using Twitter.*

6) To save a public tweet on your Evernote account, just type @myEN every time you update your Twitter status.

7) To save a private tweet on your Evernote account, just type d @myEN before your notes and it will immediately come up on your Evernote account.

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The usual disclaimers apply. If you encounter any mistakes in this set of instructions, please do not hesitate to post a comment below. You can also send me an email at j at jackthescribbler dot com or a direct message via Twitter at scribblerjack.

*Twitter users in the Philippines should follow @tweetitow and/or visit tweetitow.com for more information about enabling their phone to send tweets to their accounts through text messaging. As of this posting, the service is free but the text messages are not.