SugBugoy: The pedestrian tales of one who works for a living.

I'M late on most Sunday noontime appointments because of a 30-minute show on local television, ABC 5's How 'Bout My Place.

Produced by an outfit called Little Wing Productions, it's a cooking show hosted by Chef Fernando Aracama. It premiered in 1999 though I started watching it only in the middle of last year.

The concept is tried and tested - make culinary masterpieces appear like practical arts. A bit of this, a dash of that, some work over the wok and - Voila! - food, glorious food.

Yesterday's episode had co-host Chef John Co-unjieng, in a hushed and matter-of-fact tone, annotate his making of a Mexican soft taco using ground beef and freshly made salsa.

Jobim's Aguas de Marco lilt on the background.

"... After heating the taco over the stove, let's set it on the dinner plate, place our sautéed ground beef, fold it like so, place the salsa on top and, a bit of cilantro (Chinese Parsley) to garnish. Ah, beautiful enough to eat."

My fondness for the show is somewhat anchored on fantasy:

There, I manage a finance company of sorts located in an upscale business district and, for fun, I go yachting, play golf and shoot sporting clay.

One day, I meet a nice lady in a bar somewhere. Small talk gains ground and, since it was merely minutes past six, we discuss having dinner. She asks where and I answer, how 'bout my place?

We then go to my condo (I told you this was a fantasy) and proceed directly to the kitchen where I get her a bottle of wine to enjoy over the background of the most relaxing Latin jazz your ears will ever feast on.

I prepare gourmet dinner from whatever was inside my fridge, chopping, mincing, slicing, sautéing, whatever... as she watches in total awe and fascination.

Dinner by candlelight and wine ends with a kiss. No woman can resist a man who cooks.

There is something that's feels simply "right" about the cooking in How 'Bout my Place.

Maybe it's how the Chef - Aracama, Co-unjieng or one of their guests (they have a new one each week) - is able to merge a cacophony of tastes into one beautiful union.

Or maybe it's how the ingredients were put in at exactly the right moment and how the heat was maintained at a precise temperature and how the Chef's understanding of aesthetics helped in making the final presentation.