Catching Up With My Grandson

This quote from Pinterest 

  

This week was one of the happiest, I would say; ever since we retired there isn't much excitement going on here except when we spend time with family and the occasional meet up with friends.  But these are too far between. 

The visit of our 10-month old grandson and his parents created a lot of excitement, it was a great boost to us, pretty much like a concentrated shot of adrenaline. 

The most excited of all however, is my 9-year-old granddaughter, meeting for the first time her only cousin on her mother's family.

"Mama, how I gonna tell my cousin why I'm already 9 and he's only almost one?"  

Her dad replied: "you know what, that's not even a problem".  

She continued: 

"How am I gonna play with him now, he's still a baby?  When he's 9, I'll be 18; and If I skip-count further;  when he's 18, I'll be 27 already".

But here you see her bonding well with her cousin.

The last time we saw our grandson was in late August when we visited him; he was just around four months old then.  Though we get to see his progress weekly when we FaceTime, it's quite different when I got to carry him.  Was he heavy?   You bet!  In fact I felt like I was carrying a heavy rock that moves.  Oops! I had to be careful lest he'll fall off my grasp. 

Last Sunday, we went to see him at his Nona's (his mom's mother) home where they stayed during the visit.  It was a happy afternoon, my son's in-laws were all there; it was quite a reunion, very enjoyable to have seen all of them again.  Of course the center of attention was my grandson; who at first, was over-whelmed with so many people talking at once, and taking pictures here and there with him. 

When we finally sat him down on his high chair for snacks, he had a reprieve; it was then that he started calling attention and when one of us talked to him, he responded with a big smile.  The sound of his laughter is heart-stopping. 

When my son arrived three days after, he called us right away.

"Lets have coffee at Bouna Vita", he invited us. So, here we are, my granddaughter can't seem to have enough of her baby cousin.

The next day, everybody were gathered at our home for lunch.  Though he can't eat this cake yet, I couldn't help myself getting it.  But then I had to be fair, so I also got one for my granddaughter. 

Before they left, my son asked: 

"Let's have lunch at PF Chang tomorrow, the three of us if you're free", he invited me and my husband. 

While at PF Chang midway to lunch, he announced that his wife will bring along my grandson to join us for dessert. 

Oh, wow!   What a pleasant surprise that was!   My son knew how much we like to see our grandson again before they go back home the next day.  Here, we posed before we parted.  

Finally, here he is on the plane going back home.  Looks like he is enjoying the ride. Is he even aware that he's in business class? 

This quote from blakeflanerry.hubpages.com

I Had A Lovely Lunch TODAY!

I thank God for another wonderful day happily spent with our older daughter and granddaughter, not to mention lunch at one of the best buffet restaurants in town, The Vikings.  

"Mom, let's go try the newly opened Vikings at SM-BF on Sunday.  I reserved for 11:30", my older daughter called last Wednesday.  I've read and heard a lot about the Vikings so I agreed immediately.  

The first Vikings that opened is in the SM Mall of Asia (MOA); the mall dubbed as "the 10th largest shopping mall in the world in terms of leasable area and known to attract about 200,000 foot traffic daily".  The MOA arena is where Pope Francis said a mass during his recent visit. 

Another Vikings buffet restaurant is at SM Aura Premier at Bonifacio Global City, the NIU by Vikings; known to be the most prestigious, it claims to provide "a cloud nine buffet experience"; it being located at the top floor and coincidental with its name, it has 9 food stations.  I haven't been to any of the two, but since the newly opened one at SM-BF is the nearest to our place, my daughter invited us there. 

Though the Vikings opens at 11 AM, we were there at 10:30.  

"Mom, please come to our house early so we can go together; our reservations is only good for thirty minutes, otherwise, our slot will be forfeited", my older daughter advised. 

When we arrived, we found a big crowd waiting in spite that half had reservations, so there were a lot of walk-in customers.   In spite the big  crowd, I like that the reception is handled well; at 11 sharp, they started ushering in the groups with reservations. 

As soon as our usher sitted us, he immediately asked if there is a birthday celebrant today, a celebrant of the month;  a senior citizen, and whether the child with us is below 3-ft tall.  I saw a guy holding an antique-looking  calibrated rod to check on the height of each child.  They have a discount scheme for each category. 

Midway into the meal, my daughter said:  "I think I'll ask my sister to come home and celebrate our birthdays here".  They were both born in June and their birthdays are a week apart.  This made me miss my younger daughter more, especially on occasions such as this. 

Let me tell you that going to a buffet is not easy especially if one has to watch his diet.  I reminded myself to use my head, rather than my eyes in order to be very discriminate.  As usual I enjoyed the tuna and salmon sashimi, some crab, a thin slice of the roast lamb with mint sauce and four, yes, honestly; just four one-inch cubes of prichon, (or was that one-and-a-half inch cube?  Well---- it's hard to tell) along with fresh fruits. 

I finished off the meal with a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with fruits, creme brûlée and caffe latte.  I agree, the dessert was an indulgence, but then, can't I indulged once in awhile? 

"I'll just have fruit for dinner", I told myself.  I already consumed enough calories for the day. 

Thank you very much daughter for that lovely lunch, most especially for the great loving company that you and our granddaughter provided. 

Entertaining A Balikbayan

Balikbayan is a term coined for visiting Filipinos who live abroad.  "Balik", meaning "return or go back" and "Bayan" means "country".  "Balikbayan" is "retuning/going back to country".  Balikbayans usually come home, to attend class/club reunions, weddings, anniversaries or simply visit relatives. 

The visit of a nephew, J and his Vietnamese girlfriend Li, from Vancouver this past week prompted me to write this blog. When his family migrated to Canada, he was four years old; the whole family came back for a brief visit when he was about nine to attend my son's wedding; there are places that he barely remembers.  So  on this last visit he wanted to take it all in as an adult. 

Meeting them at the airport, after hugging one another, my nephew said: "thank you for meeting us".  From the airport, we met my older daughter, her husband and daughter for lunch at a chinese restaurant along the way.  My daughter took our pictures and emailed them right away to Vancouver.  His family were excited and curious, they replied to ask what we were eating when they saw the pictures. 

"What do you guys want to do?", I asked as we headed home after lunch. 

"Oh, auntie Rita, all I want is to spend our time here with family", he replied.  

Fortunately, my husband rounded up the cousins, their spouses and kids for dinner at home that night. Aside from a 5-day trip to El Nido, he wanted to devote his time to bond with family, catch up on his cousins' lives and share what's going on with his own; and he also wanted to introduce his girlfriend to the family.

I like that friends and family visit us here at home; whenever I learn that balikbayan friends are in town, I always invite them over for brunch.  When relatives visit, I enjoy having them stay with us; I believe that laughter bring good vibes to a home.  I also enjoy bringing them around, to the malls and to my favorite restaurants. When shopping I tend to look at things differently through their perspective. 

When guests arrive, the first thing they ask is my password for Internet access;  they immediately want to assure their love ones back home that they arrived safe and sound. 

The next thing they need is a local sim.  Fortunately for J, my older daughter is quick to help; she immediately secured a sim card and put it on my spare iPhone, fixed it ready for J to use.  Usually, she identifies the number in our "contacts" with the guest's first name and attach it the word "Manila"; as in "J-Manila",  then puts in all our numbers on that phone under  "favorites".

Filipinos usually prefer to stay with relatives rather than in a hotel; that way, they get to have more bonding time.  That first dinner we had was a lot of fun, there were plenty of hugging; everyone was talking, eating and laughing all at the same time and posing for pictures now and then. 

The last time, my husband's siblings had a reunion, there were 7 relatives who stayed with us.  In order for everyone to be comfortable, we arranged that a couple sleep in a relative's  house next door, but they didn't want to separate, they didn't  want to miss the fun, especially  before bedtime.  That's when the funniest family jokes are retold and the latest family news is told.  They didn't mind sleeping on futons as long as they were together. 

The older folks are eager to eat Filipino delicacies.  Top requests in our family are steamed "talangka", (native crablets with lots of the orange fat inside) and a mix of local veggies cooked in fish sauce trimmed with broiled milkfish. 

My husband's siblings love the "burong isda" (local fish fermented in salt with rice).  After it is sautéed with lots of garlic and tomatoes, this is eaten with steamed okra, eggplant, string beams and banana hearts.  The  "daing na bangus" (milkfish dredged in vinegar, garlic, salt and lots of pepper) is a breakfast favorite. 

The younger ones are adventurous enough to taste the local food but having been raised abroad, they usually prefer their kind of food.  Of course, you'll never go wrong if you give them pasta, pizza and fried chicken. Even the older folks after sometime, already look for their usual diet, as well. 

Shopping at the mall is usually the first in their agenda.  The SM malls is often the most visited since true to their claim that "they've got it all for you", it is the place where balikbayans can get most of the items they need.  I'm proud to say that regards apparels, there are international labels here which is not even available in Canada. When it comes to fashion, I'd say that we're not that laid back.

My husband's former colleague from Los Angeles is presently in town. 

"I need a tailor  to custom make some clothes; likewise I also need someone to take in my pants since I lost 20 pounds" he told my husband.  My husband messaged him the tailor and the alteration shop; expectedly, both services are available in any SM mall. 

I observed that balikbayans are not keen on local historical places and museums;  they prefer to see the latest shops and restaurants.  In the south of Manila, a great place to entertain the guests is  at Alabang Town Center (ATC), Town to those who live in the south of the metro; there are restaurants offering a variety of international cuisine as well as the authentic local food;  Right across Town is Molito complex where a row of nicely decorated restaurants are located, also offering authentic food from Japanese sushi, Italians-pasta ala vongole, French- croque mosuer, Koean noodles, etc.  

Out of town road trip is usually Tagaytay; with its cool climate especially during the months of December to February, guests are more comfortable there.   Along the way, there are lots of local fresh fruits and local sweets and delicacies to taste and bring back home.  We started early going to Tagaytay; 

Here we are having breakfast at Pancake House, this is pretty much like Denny's

Here are J and Li, enjoying the view of Taal Lake at sunrise

Taken after lunch at the Royale Tagaytay County Club. 

Oh, did I tell you that our meals were long?  There were just too many stories to tell and J always stirred our conversation about family, mostly how his family is getting along as well as other relatives in Vancouver.  He would relate incidents that gave us a good grasp of what's happening over there.  We found ourselves often laughing and J would say: 

"That's funny!". 

But there were serious conversations as well, my husband gave them tips to minimize issues between couples; how to live wisely on whatever resources one has and many other things.  We enjoyed bonding with them and I'd like to believe that they also felt the same.  When they bade us good bye, J said he plans to come back soon, most likely with the whole family. 

The low point after guests depart is that our house seems so lonely and empty.  But then again, after a day or two, we bounce back to our routine and when our children call, message or FaceTime with us, our lives are full again!