Bouna vita, dolce vita. Good life, sweet life. This blog would somehow document how I intend to find joy in simple things no matter how ordinary or insignificant they may be to others.
Saturday, 5 August 2023
ORANGE CHICKEN: MY VERSION
Sunday, 30 July 2023
A REUNION OF GREAT FRIENDS
When true-blue friends meet after a”long time passing”; it feels like nothing ever changed; like we just met yesterday.
Today we met up for brunch with my former office colleagues who through the years became good friends.
They are like family now that we share milestone celebrations together; be it a wedding, an anniversary or a birthday, we can count on each other’s presence.
It was a happy reunion and as always we felt the same closeness and warmth we always have. Helen S. who migrated to Vancouver and currently vacation said:
: Deep down in my heart, I thank God for the blessings of being friends forever. We treasure every moment of being together like this, sharing wonderful moments, laughter, reminiscing the past ……till next year. Well, she has to go back.
The beauty of our get together is sharing our personally prepared food, well..,, except our host, Helen Conti, who used to head the HR of Conti’s restaurant before the family sold the whole enterprise. She ordered their signature baked salmon and chicken barbecue.
There was baked lasagna, lapu lapu salad, pork barbecue, Vietnamese rolls and veggie paella.
For dessert, we had Nathaniel’s buko pandan ice cream and mango cheese cake.
There was also Leche flan as a party favor.
I was pleasantly surprised when our host came out holding the cutest strawberry cake while everyone started singing happy birthday. I failed to take a photo of the cake but they took a video.
I can only say that true friends are hard to find and lucky to have. To quote my friend Nina:
“A real friend walks in when the rest of the world walk out. Let’s not let age change us …let’s change the way we age. Our time is too valuable to be wasted on people that can’t appreciate who we are”.
Wednesday, 26 July 2023
MY UNFORGETTABLE BIRTHDAY!
My advanced birthday celebration wouldn’t have been a million-fold happier were it for the presence of my walking friends, the Sweet Magnolias.
I was surprised that they went out of their way to come up with a gift I’d truly love. It took them half the night to decide which design I’d like best out of all the beautiful collection of dinner set from: At Home With Maria.
At least they did not go far since one of us,Maria Claire markets all those exquisite, colorful and beautiful wares that a good homemaker who knows quality home wares would love to add to her a collection.
To compliment the dinner set for 12, Claire gave me 12 of those modern transparent chargers and colorful placemats.
I received other equally interesting gifts but I’d like to tell everyone that the At Home With Maria collection is worth acquiring.
Wait, there’s more! This 3-tiers cake with a garden theme of the most decadently moist chocolate; fully decorated with edible plants was a surprise.
Im happy that my sister and niece drove all the way from the other side of town to grace my party. It turned out that they easily mingled with my friends before i knew it they were exchanging contact numbers.
Me with my sister and niece
It was a happy event. I thank Jim who entertained the husbands. It was his idea to hold this party and he made it happen.
Thank you everyone for coming, I had a great time.
Tuesday, 25 July 2023
FEELING GREAT AT 78
FEELING GREATAT 78
Wednesday, 19 July 2023
Tuesday, 27 June 2023
A WONDERFUL BREAKFAST WITH FRIENDS
We had a sumptuous and joyous breakfast yesterday! Thanks to our gracious and generous host, Carol who prepared this delicious breakfast.
Thank you as well for this elegant table setting.
Welcome back Cheska and Claire! We are happy that almost all the Sweet Magmolias are home now except Tess who is pressntly touring Vienna with her better half.
Claire, from the photos you shared, your Jacoboys indeed had a blast in Singapore and Legoland in Malaysia.
Likewise, Cheska’s family had a great time bonding with the elders and cousins in India.
Her teenage son even celebrated his birthday there. Look how tall he is and still growing taller.
Back to our breskfast
As usual, Carol’s breakfast fare was over-the-top. At first I didn’t know where to begin but Carol handed me this delicious buko still in its husk, the juice is sweet and fresh.
There were fruits galore! Mango, apple, pear, dragon fruit, papaya, orange wedges, sweet sampaloc and banana.
This ceviche in my bowl eaten with crispy papadams from India was amazingly fresh and crunchy.
Here’s where you can have a refill.
And on to the main course
What to choose? What to eat first? Shall I eat them with rice or bread? I enjoyed them more with rice, like the majority did.
But wait, there’s more!
I could’t pass up on my favorite, the suman sa lihya with a yummy white sauce.
And there’s that soft and fleshy macapuno in very light syrup. Yummmm!
Of course we always finish off with the most delicious cooffee that all of us serve in our own homes. Great coffee is a must, i guess we all expect it. At Carol’s there’s monk fruit powder with stevia but I only put cream in my coffee, nothing else.
Wait, i need to include this. Jim and I went out to see Carol’s dipping pool and jacuzzi at the back. We had our photo taken
We thank Claire for these chocolates from Singspore.
Thank you Carol for this wonderful breakfast. You really outdid yourself again with your over-flowing spread, beats some hoteks in town.
We had a lot of fun !