I recently came across and was charmed by this late-2009 hit from the Philippines' popular band Hale celebrating nostalgia for this sprawling archipelago’s countryside whence most Filipinos come, at least within a generation or two. Bahay Kubo is the sweet, laid-back lead single from this four-year-old band’s fourth album, Kundiman. It’s a bit of a departure for this foursome — their first entirely in Tagalog and focusing on purely Pinoy themes. With a simple story line starring…

Dining in Miami just keeps getting better. Just this morning, on the way back from an appointment, we were looking for a place to have a quick, simple lunch, and settled on a French café that opened not too long ago on Miracle Mile, in the heart of chichi Coral Gables (one of the few parts of South Florida that feels like a real city and not a suburb). We knew…