It can’t be the holiday season unless you have baked SOMETHING! aabake1In our home, the ovens go into overdrive this time of year and at Marketmanila

lose yourself

We were driving around the back roads of Mandaluyong looking for I-don’t-remember what-now. I was in the back seat craning my neck, my eyes peering out into the darkness. Suddenly a large blue and white sign appears on the left with letters that I could just make out: Chefs’ Nook.

“Hey, that looks cool!” I remember pointing and yelling to my two friends up front. “Quick! What street is this?”

“Pilar,” my friend, Mari mumbles distractedly, too intent on her driving.

that fortuitous blue sign

That was way back in 2003. I remember coming back to the exact same street a few days later, this time on my own, to check out what this “Chefs’ Nook” was all about. I found a store crammed full of the widest variety of Thai ingredients and even better, baking ingredients (yippee!). So enchanted was I with Chefs’ Nook that I immediately pitched the idea to my editor (of the food magazine I was writing for then) and I didn’t stop pestering her until she gave me the go-ahead to feature it.

There’s no way that I could’ve known then that the owner of Chefs’ Nook would become one of my dearest friends. She’s Imelda Go, baker of the famous White Velvet Symphony and Triple Hazelnut Mousse which was featured at the tea party last March. Imelda owns this treasure of a store along with her friend and business partner, Sally So. Chefs’ Nook is actually an offshoot of a sister company, Magic Kitchen, which is Imelda’s home-based made-to-order bakery.