JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Federer, a 30-year-old with a record 16 Grand Slam singles titles, is president of the A.T.P. Player Council. Nadal, a 25-year-old with 10 major singles titles, is vice president. Their relationship, which has long been mutually respectful despite their epic rivalry, has established the collegial tone for the men’s game as a whole.

“It’s very easy for him. ‘I say nothing, everything’s positive, I stay a gentleman and the others can burn themselves,”’ Nadal said of Federer. “Each of us has our opinion. Each of us is free to have a different vision of things that need to be improved on the tour. I also like the tour. It seems that we have a fantastic tour and much better than the majority of other sports. But that doesn’t mean that it could not be better and that things should be changed.”

Read the report in the NYT.

Thanks to Butch for the alert.

* * * * *

About the shorter season and the proposed two-year ranking system: Naturally Nadal, being injury-prone, would prefer this while The Fed, whose playing style is far less injurious, would disagree. As for the business aspect, Nadal is Spanish while Federer is Swiss (excuse the generalization).

At the start of the year we swore off fast food. Our reward is swift and wonderful. This is the opposite of fast food: Filipino family recipes cooked sloooowly.

My City, My SM, My Cuisine was in Iloilo yesterday to celebrate the culinary heritage of this charming city. After the open competition for the Best Pancit Molo and Best Mango Dessert, some of Iloilo’s most passionate foodies showed off their heirloom recipes.

Pancit Molo, the Ilonggo staple

Mention Iloilo and people immediately think of Pancit Molo and La Paz Batchoy. Yes they’re delicious, but don’t stop at noodles.

Eugene Jamerlan’s Estofado nga pato sa tuba

Eugene’s family recipe for duck stewed in palm wine requires five hours of cooking. While you wait, you can walk down General Luna street to visit Museo Iloilo and look at the beautiful old houses.

Rafael Jardeleza II’s Lengua con setas

Chorizo fat is involved, and it’s still better for your health and sanity than any fast food.

Maridel’s Potato Praline Torte

If you want cake, go to Maridel’s at Plazuela beside SM City Iloilo. Apart from this Potato Praline Torte they have Frozen Lemon Meringue, Fresh Guava Cake and your other just desserts.

Maridel’s YSL (Ybos Saint Laurent).

Tired of the usual suman at mangga? Here’s the designer version, fried and served with cream.

Listen to Liev Schreiber reading Anton Chekhov’s short story The Ninny.

Read The Ninny.

Spike Jonze: Mourir Auprès de Toi on Nowness.com.

via 3QD

Image from Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah

The image of the Philippines in the international media (assuming the news is not about death tolls from natural calamities) is that of a country whose people are leaving in large numbers. Every day thousands of Filipinos fly out of the maligned airport to seek economic opportunity abroad. We are largely known through our highly efficient nurses, seamen, domestic helpers and Manny Pacquiao.

A much lesser-known fact about the Philippines is that it has long been a haven for refugees and displaced people. This humanitarian tradition extends to people of any ethnicity, color, creed. The famous Philippine hospitality is not an invention of public relations experts but a quality inextricable from being Pinoy.

Manila in the 1930s

Quezon’s List: How the Philippines gave sanctuary to European Jews fleeing the Holocaust, in Emotional Weather Report, today in the Philippine Star.

The late Steven Rawlings was one of the lead scientists in the Square Kilometer Array project to build the world’s largest radio telescope.

* * * * *

Academics have said they are stunned by the sudden death of the Oxford professor Steven Rawlings, 50, at the home of a colleague.

His friend and colleague Devinder Sivia, 49, a lecturer in mathematics for sciences at Oxford University who was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder, was released on police bail on Friday and detectives said the death may be “a matter for a coroner’s inquest rather than a criminal court”…

Death of professor Steven Rawlings shocks Oxford