Maricel, Janice reminisce about most memorable taping memory together

Four years after working in their last project together, the 2019 action-drama series The General’s Daughter, veteran actresses Maricel Soriano and Janice de Belen got reunited recently as the Dirty Linen actress appeared in the Diamond star’s latest vlog.

But instead of simply catching up with each other in this vlog, she had a tour around Janice’s unbelievably huge and spacious kitchen and pantry. She also had a little challenge for her, which was to cook any dish made up of ingredients found in the aforementioned nooks of their house.

Maricel wasn’t able to contain her astonishment upon seeing the kitchen, as it was truly expansive, orderly, and clean despite the innumerable utensils neatly organized in shelves. Since they have a huge family, they have three refrigerators where they keep some of their food. She compared her five kids to the titular main character in the video game “Pac-Man” because of how all of them love to eat.

Janice disclosed that she makes sure to put labels on the items inside their refs in order for her to easily identify them and avoid keeping spoiled items since she’s the one who personally cleans them once every three months. Maricel then imparted that both of them actually went to culinary school, that’s why Janice is very adept when it comes to cooking and baking. The latter was able to use it not just in feeding her family, but also in earning extra money, especially during the pandemic when productions were halted.

After the brief ref raid, they proceeded to the pantry, which also wowed the Diamond Star because of how pack yet organized the grocery items are. Janice shared that she seldom goes grocery shopping in bulk, so she makes sure to buy big packs of some items every time she does. She’s also a self-confessed spendthrift as she usually buys things that are actually not needed, so she refuses to join grocery shopping most of the time. And the same goes to herself according to Maricel, whose family doesn’t tag her along with them whenever they go to the grocery.

They continued going around her kitchen as Maricel still gets amused by how well-organized her kitchen shelves are. Although she has a number of coffee machines, Janice is actually not into coffee because of its negative effects in her. She’s just simply obsessed with coffee machines, and even taught her kids how to make their own coffee in order to save money. The hot weather nowadays has also made them purchase an ice maker, which automatically produces ice cubes in minutes.

After having a sip of homemade sago’t gulaman offered by Janice to her, Maricel then asked her if she’s already ready to take on the challenge of cooking a dish for her, to which the former replied that she had actually been thinking what to prepare for her. And she came up with a shrimp dish, which is her fellow actor and friend Enchong Dee’s favorite dish of her.

While she was busy cooking, Maricel interviewed her about random personal stuff. First off was the favorite food of her every child, starting with her firstborn Luigi who loves to eat meat, such as steak, spam, and callos. Her first daughter Inah, meanwhile, is not a picky eater as she would eat everything she cooks, may it be vegetables, fish, or even tuyo.

When it comes to Moira, she described her as “maarte” like her and Luigi. Kaila, on the other hand, will try anything, but if she disliked something, she absolutely hates it. Her youngest Yuan, meanwhile, is also a meat-lover and occasionally eats fish. She revealed that her children learned to eat fish when her elderly dad started living with them.

With regards to having a lot of kids, Janice opened up that she loved it when they were still young since it was easy for her to talk and be with them. However, it could be difficult when they were growing up since she discovered that they actually have various interests and even had to get to know their friends and the people they usually get along with.

She further revealed how tough it also is to be with three girls because of how moody or cranky they could be, yet she still loves them because they are her children. “Sa mga pinagdaanan ko sa buhay, hindi ko rin naman alam kung paano ko kakayanin kung wala sila. Sila naman ang naging inspirayon ko para gawin lahat ng mga ginagawa ko,” she told the Diamond Star.

Aside from being a great homemaker, Maricel also commends her for being a dutiful daughter to her father, as she’s been taking good care of him after their mom died in 2016.

When it comes to the personal lives of her kids, Janice initially thought that she would become “pakialamera” or intermeddler. Although that’s just natural to parents like her, she later on found out that she’s actually not as she only wants to get to know the person or the guy they’re often with everytime they are not at home.

The two veteran actresses then talked about their most memorable taping moments together, with Janice recalling that time when Maricel slapped her so hard in one of the teleseryes they did, which she really didn’t expect. In return, Maricel praised her for being a wonderful and talented actress, which absolutely touched Janice since she felt like all her efforts are being paid off. However, unbeknown to us, it was actually not her dream to be an actress because Janice actually used to dream of becoming a singer when she was still a kid.

Once Janice was done cooking, they continued their chikahan at the dining table and was joined by her daughter Kaila, who is Maricel’s co-star in the upcoming ABS-CBN series Linlang. Thus, Janice took the opportunity to personally express her gratitude to Maricel for being among the people who takes good care of her at work.

“Magtha-thank you ako sa’yo kasi alam mo, having a daughter na bago sa show business, siyempre kapag nagtratrabaho siya, natutuwa ako na may naggu-guide sa kanya, na may nag-aalaga sa kanya. Kasi siyempre, sabi ko sa kanya, pag-alis mo ng bahay, pagdating mo sa trabaho, you’re on your own. So, natutuwa ako na nagkakaroon siya ng mga kaibigan, nagkakaroon siya ng mga nagmamahal sa kanya, at nag-aalaga sa kanya,” she said.

As Janice asked if her daughter is doing a good job, Maricel commented that she has nothing to be worried about since Kaila’s performance and demeanor while on the set are actually impressive. Meanwhile, because of how tasty the shrimp dish Janice prepared for her, and how she got enticed upon learning from Kaila that her mom’s adobong puti is delectable, too! Thus, she asked if they could send food to her home.

Janice then reminisced about her life being a child star who was still able to live a normal life like other kids her age, as well as how she used to wish that none of her kids would want to be in showbiz like their prominent parents. That is why she doesn’t have anything to do with Kaila’s decision to enter the industry, too.