The diplomat’s wife returns to her roots
After years of living in theWest, Gracita Tolentino-Sieber, wife of the Swiss ambassador, is enjoying the social whirl–and knows just how to handle it
CHÄSCHÜECHLI,” said the gracious Filipino hostess with a slight contraction on the throat, followed by an expulsion of breath.
She was offering amini Swiss cheese quiche to a guest.
Madame Gracita TolentinoSieber, the Filipino wife of the Swiss ambassador, has adopted European ways. She speaks High German and works with Swiss efficiency, yet maintains an Asian gentleness.
For the coverage of the despedida for Margreta Klauser, wife of a popular Swiss hotelier, Madame Gracita sent us a detailed schedule of the interview, pictorial, the luncheon menu and the protocol.
A friend of the Siebers, Reto Klauser, who oversaw the Shangri-La hotels in the Philippines for five years, has been promoted to vice president of the Shangri-La hotels in Malaysia. His wife, Margreta, invited 11 friends to an intimate lunch before leaving for Kuala Lumpur.
“Margreta is a very dynamic woman,” said Madame Gracita.
Guests nibbled on smoked salmon with horseradish cream, topped with black lumpfish caviar and spiced beef tartar on country bread.
Then they gathered in the formal dining room for a Swiss meal, catered by Chesa Bianca.
In entertaining, Madame Gracita always plays up the red and white, the colors of the Swiss flag. The nationalistic hostess wore a chic red dress. Red and white mums were arranged in clear vases and red birds of paradise sprang from a white vase.
A red handwoven Zamboanga runner trailed across the white linen tablecloth. She added bird sculptures, which Swiss Ambassador Ivo Sieber collected in his Zimbabwe posting, and scattered Swiss chocolates wrapped, naturally, in red tinsel.
The guests whetted their appetites with a carpaccio of Norwegian salmon, topped with tarty lemon-mustard dressing, with mushroom salad, rocket caperberries and Sbrinz cheese on the side.
The main course was a typically Swiss meat-and-starch dish of milk-fed veal steak with creamed morrel sauce and homemade spätzli (egg noodle) and fresh vegetables.
The meal ended with a typically creamy dessert—a trio of pear frangipani tartlette with vanilla ice cream, linzer tart and chocolate mousse.
Faux pas
Every week, the Siebers receive guests in their home.
Built in the ’60s by artist Betsy Westendorp, the Swiss residence was furnished with contemporary furniture and art. The Siebers added their personal effects such as a Chinese apothecary cabinet and a Chinese wedding chest from their Bangkok posting, sculptures from Africa and some paintings.
As an homage to Westendorp, her abstraction is displayed in the formal dining room.
The bungalow is surrounded by a lush tropical landscape, planted with over 20 towering coconut trees all over the property. Sometimes the gardener would climb up and harvest the coconuts for the family’s buko juice.
Their daughters Katrin, 19, and Nina, 17, are studying in Switzerland.
“We are empty nesters,” she said with a sigh.
During meals, the conversations on current events and embassy matters would always end up with family: “Have you heard from the girls?” they would ask each other.
After living in theWest for 30 years, Madame Gracita was glad to return to her roots.
After graduating from St. Joseph’s College with a degree in Business Administration, she went to New York in 1980 to work in the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The job entailed organizing conferences, assisting the bureau chief and doing administrative work. The job prepared her for a diplomat’s lifestyle, since the work exposed her to the international community.
While overseeing a conference in Geneva, she met her future husband, then amember of the Swiss delegation that was poised to go to New York.
Eventually, their paths crossed again when Sieber was a young diplomat in the Swiss mission to the United Nations.
They were married in New York in 1992. In 1994, Sieber was posted in Bangkok, with his wife and infant daughter.
Without any formal training