OUR official duties as judges in the 10th Annual Hotel, Restaurant & Tourism Weekend began on our second day of stay at the Baguio Country Club in my favorite vacation place, Baguio City, last week (September 5 to 7, 2013).
There was a grand opening ceremony over at the Atrium of SM City Baguio, where pastry chefs led by Baguio Country Club’s Chef Art Nucaza paid tribute to the heritage structures and tourist destinations of the City of Pines by depicting them in huge cakes. There were six cakes, and these cakes featured some of the city’s most popular and historical infrastructures: Baguio Cathedral, The Mansion, Baguio City Hall, Melchor Hall of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), the Post Office and Baguio Country Club. Chef Art also led the unveiling of these giant cakes at 10:00 a.m. last Thursday (September 5, 2013) as well as the ceremonial tasting and distribution of cake slices to some 8,000 people who attended the opening rites.
I had wanted to witness this opening ceremony, but, like most of the judges who went up to Baguio for the 10th Annual HRT Weekend culinary competitions, my husband Raff and I couldn’t make it because we had 8:00 a.m. judging assignments to hurry off to. So we woke up very early last Thursday (September 5, 2013) and had an early breakfast at The Veranda of the Baguio Country Club. The Veranda happens to be one of my favorite places in the country club because it’s al fresco, casual and relaxed. Like we usually do, we started our breakfast with fresh fruits then proceeded to enjoy a small serving of Fresh Garden Salad. If there’s one thing you shouldn’t miss when you’re in Baguio, that is to enjoy the City’s abundant fresh produce. So we assembled our own salads while at the same time keeping track of the time. The other judges trickled in to The Veranda for breakfast, and it helped that breakfast was buffet style so everyone proceeded at his own quick pace. I quickly found the Daing na Bangus and Fried Squid, had a sunny side up egg cooked at the egg station, and then added a ladle of Garlic Rice to my plate. Found some interesting pastries on the bread and dessert buffet, including Danish Pastries and slices of Baguio Country Club’s famous Raisin Bread, but there was no time for dessert.
Armed with our own Rule Books and Schedule of Competitions, Raff and I went separate ways – I to the Baguio Country Club Ballroom for The Housekeeper-Student Division competitions, and Raff to the BCC Multi Purpose Hall’s Center Stage for the Coffee Concoctions-Student Division competitions. Joining me as judges for The Housekeeper-Student Division were The Peninsula Manila’s Executive Housekeeper Marissa Dowling, Eton Centris Operations AVP Louie Caridad and ABS-CBN’s Property Management Head Charisse Amisola. A few minutes past 8:00 a.m., the competitions began.
The Housekeeper-Student Division was basically a bed-making competition. There were six competing teams, each made up of three students, who had to make a bed with all the layers of bed sheet, duvet, blanket, bed liner and pillows. They had to be quick because, in the real world, the housekeeping staff of hotels have to make plenty of beds within a limited time and make them look really nice and clean, but the competition wasn’t so much about which team was the fastest but which team was able to make their bed within the best possible time, make it the proper way, with a pleasing end result. The teams had their own designs for their beds and beddings, as well as accent furniture, and they approached their bed-making chores with their own styles. Most of the competitors turned out impressive results.
This was actually my first time to judge in a bed-making competition, so I really read up on it in the Rule Book and asked my judging companions, who were more knowledgeable about housekeeping than me, about acceptable time limits and other details. The six teams finished their bed-making chores within the acceptable time limit the four of us judges set for this competition, so they got good scores.
After consolidating our scores to come up with the final scores and submitting them to the assigned Event Officer-in-Charge, the four of us took a short break before going back to the Ballroom for The Housekeeper-Professional Division competition scheduled at 10:00 a.m. We walked over to the BCC Multi Purpose Hall, where the Judges’ Room was located, and spent our break time there.
Just like in the past years, the Judges’ Room was set with dining tables and a buffet table, which is always stocked with bottled drinking water, sodas, a cooler for ice cubes, sandwiches and pastries for morning and afternoon merienda, and lunch. There was a platter of Danish pastries on the buffet, but I only reached for a bottle of Fiji Artesian Water and walked over to the Center Stage to see how things were doing with the Coffee Concoctions-Student Division competitions, where Raff sat as part of the Panel of Judges, which also included Maribago Bluewater Resort-Mactan, Cebu’s F&B manager Rowena Jose, Ferna Corporation’s president Peter Co and Restaurant 9501’s Marie Garcia.
Also ongoing at the adjacent Cooking Station 1 and 2 were The Cordillera Kitchen-Student Division and The Pantry Chef-Student Division competitions, respectively.
Then it was time to head back for the Ballroom for The Housekeeper-Professional Division competitions. There were only two contestants, so the competition went a lot faster and we judges were more relaxed. It was over in no time, and Marissa, Louie, Charisse and I went our separate ways for the meantime. We had our own judging assignments for the afternoon. I went back to the Multi Purpose Hall, checked up on Raff again and was told that they were still on their first category, Coffee Concoctions-Student Division, which was proceeding at a very slow and much delayed pace. I stayed in the Judges’ Room and chatted with Chef Jean Pierre Migne of Tuloy sa Don Bosco Culinary School. He had to take a quick, early lunch after his Amuse Bouche-Student Division judging assignment, so as he ate his Roast Beef with Gravy and Mashed Potato, I filled a small plate with fresh strawberries and ate them with a little whipped cream.
Raff got off his coffee judging at almost 12:00 noon and we had a light lunch of Cream of Watercress Soup, mashed potato and vegetables at the Judges’ Room and ended our light meal with fresh strawberries and mini cakes. Restaurant 9501’s operations manager Raul Ramos had to substitute for Raff in the Coffee Concoctions-Professional Division because, since the student division competitions ran late, it would overlap with our next judging assignment, Mocktail Mixing: The Mocktail Host-Professional Division, which was scheduled at 1:00 p.m. This time, the two of us were judging together with Marie and top wedding and events planner Rita Neri.
Mocktail Mixing was a bit like the much-awaited Flairtending competitions, except that it was more subtle and had less of the performance and more of the cocktail mixing done within a three-minute limit. Mocktails, as you may already know, are cocktail drinks without alcohol, and are concocted basically by using fruit juices, water, fresh fruits and syrups. This batch of six contestants went well, but because the Coffee Concoctions event was delayed and we started with the Mocktail Mixing rather late, as well, our next event, Mocktail Mixing: the Mocktail Host-Student Division, already started rather late. With Louie Caridad and Marie on the judging panel with us, we had 12 competitors this time, so, by the time we finished, it was already around 6:00 p.m. Our event was the last to finish for the day.
Raff and I rushed up to our room to wash up and got back down to the lobby just in time to meet up with all the other judges, and we all walked up to one of the cottages also within the jurisdiction of Baguio Country Club. We were going to have a barbecue dinner!
Funny, but dinner was also delayed, so we tamed our growling stomachs with fresh tomato slices, jicama sticks dipped in blue cheese dressing, and bread rolls. Chef Sandy Daza opened the two bags of chicharon that he had brought along, and some of our group mates enjoyed part of the bounty. The karaoke kept us busy, as Chef Jill Sandique, Peter Co of Ferna Corporation, Chef Myrna Segismundo and Micky Fenix belted out Pusong Bato with much gusto before shifting to standards and dancing along, as slabs of steak, sausages and fish were slapped onto the charcoal-fired grills by some of the country’s best expat chefs – including ISCAHM’s Chef Norbert Gandler, Chef JP Migne of course, Chef Martin Kaspar of L’Entrecote, Chef Colin Mackay of People’s Palace and Sala Restaurant, and Chef Thomas Wenger of Enderun Colleges.
What an awesome barbecue dinner when you’ve got top chefs cooking!
Before we knew it, dinner was ready, and everyone, already comfortable with each other, had his fill. Then it was back to dancing, singing, animated conversation and a lot of picture-taking before we called it a day. With a full day filled with four judging assignments, I had real great fun on our second day in Baguio last week.
Back in the room, I struggled to work on an article for FLAVORS Magazine so I could email it to my art director, Danny Hernando, for layout, but when Raff, who was watching the news on TV, dozed off a little too soon, I gave up trying to fight my sleepiness and slipped my tired body into the nice and warm blanket and slept away…
– To be continued –
