THE plot may have thickened post-Ondoy, spurred on by the unfortunate, inadvertent dunking of his vintage Benz at his mechanic’s shop at the height of the typhoon. At least that’s what I thought when chef/restaurateur Gene Gonzalez mentioned his plan for a Carmenère tasting in the same text message that expressed his grief over the sodden state of the prized car. Or perhaps the plan had long been on the drawing board, given his fascination with Carmenère. I know, I’m stretching the “car”-“Carmenère” link here, but it’s true—vintage cars and Carmenère are close to Gene Gonzalez’s heart.

WHEN I was small, I was so addicted to butter, I’m surprised I didn’t have a heart attack at age 10. How addicted was I? I would spread butter on anything...dead or alive: on bread, crackers, steaks, fried chicken (take note: fried na, I’ll put butter pa!), hot rice, pasta, soups—ask me if my favorite dessert was sans rival.

HOLLYWOOD—You’d be forgiven for not recognizing Mariah Carey in her role as a dowdy welfare caseworker in the urban drama Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.

The legendarily high-maintenance pop diva underwent a soup-to-nuts physical transformation, checking her glossy celebrity patina at the door to convincingly portray the film’s Ms. Weiss: a drab but deeply empathetic soul helping a troubled teenager in 1980s Harlem. Far from the image Carey has cultivated for years, the character is no oil painting of music-video pulchritude, with her lank hair, a wardrobe of rayon sweater-coats and, yes, even a sparse mustache creeping across her upper lip.