To get invited to a dinner hosted by Kathleen Lior is truly a rare privilege to witness her artistic talent in whipping-up original recipes and avant garde styling and plating
You don’t say no to that. You just go and enjoy.
The night before, she messaged me saying “you’re diet will absolutely be wrecked by CHOCOLATE so come sans the diet”.
Perfect timing, I just had my blood chem results and my sugar has hit the roof. I told her if I could just be the photographer of the night rather than the food taster.
She also said that we will start promptly at 7 pm.
I arrived at 6:59 pm.
The waiter served water in Swarovsky crystal. Maymay said she saw them in Milan and they’re actually candle holders.
It can only hold one gulp of liquid.
A few others would be late (Lorna Kapunan, Tessa Prieto- Valdez, etc.) according to Maymay. She tried to wait for another 10 minutes but decided to start at 7:40 pm.
We first stayed in this room where the so called “Chocolate Altar” is. Each of us has a set of 37 tiny bottles of liquid scents. A box made of mother of pearl contains sachets with tiny slices of chocolates coming from other countries.
A tiny notebook, a red pen, a wheel are also in the chocolate altar.
Maymay gave a long lecture on chocolates– the source, origin, processes, tastes, qualities, expensive brands, etc. She said everything that she knows about chocolates are knowledge she acquired the past 3 or 5 years.
Criollo chocolat
Maymay is in pink. Looking on from left to right are:
Gigi Daza, Sonya, Anna Isabel Sobrepena (Editorial in Chief of Lifestyle Asia) and Chit Lijauco (Managing Editor of Philippine Tatler)
Virginia Lane and Tessa Prieto arrived about 10 minutes after Maymay has started her lecture.
Chocolates Sensory Map
Scent wheel
Scent testers from France
After the lecture, she tested our acquired knolwedge by asking some random questions from her lecture.
I was able to answer one and I got this small bottle of Made in Candy candies as my prize.
“Sonya” in Sonya’s Garden gave Maymay a bouquet of fresh pink flowers called Dombeya. It looks and feels like Hydrangea or Milflores.
Sonya lives in the private portion of Sonya’s Garden in Tagaytay. I didn’t recognize her at first because the few times I’ve seen her in Tagaytay, she was always wearing a hat. Sonya’s funny. She said “I thank God for making my husband leave me”. (or something like that).
