SOMETIMES WE JUST WANT TO PARTY

​Tonight was another “blockbuster” dinner in our own little way.  Indeed, it was hearty and satisfying; like any dinner of the Sweet Magnolias who are always ready and willing to get together on the spur of the moment. 

This dinner was conceived during an impromptu breakfast the day before. Dolly, who gave the breakfast; mentioned that Vener,(her significant other)  planned to cook pork blood stew (dinuguan).   Claire, our bubbly and enthusiastic youngest in the group picked up on that and suggested dinner. I guess she felt like partying. 

“Let’s have dinner then; we already have pork blood stew”, she messaged us all. “I asked Dolly and she confirmed that all of us are welcome. You can bring a dish if you like but no pressure. Let’s invite our partners. Please give me a headcount so I can order crabs and lapu lapu. 

Who can resist such enthusiasm? 

Thanks for this nice table setting, Dolly. 

So we had dinner. 

Upon learning about the dinner; Tess who is enjoying family time in Rotterdam and Cheska visiting her in laws in India said that they are in serious FOMO. “FOMO IS REAL, they both messaged in our group chat. 

“There will definitely be a repeat of this”, Dolly assured. 

As usual there were so much food. 

Salad for stater and the pinakbet beside it

There’s the pork blood stew 

And the kilawen; grilled pork liempo and pork liver, thinly sliced and dressed with calamansi, onions, salt and pepper

Then the star of the dinner.,,,the crabs sautéd in oyster sauce and leeks. 

There’s sweet and sour lapu lapu 

Steamed shrimps

Daing na bangus topped with tomatoes and onions. 

There’s puto 

and it’s female counterpart, the kutsinta

For dessert there’s leche flan

And lychees with nata de coco 

Fruits: Bangkok santol, dragon fruit and siniguelas. Sorry I failed to take photos of those. 

Since we are walking at 5 AM tomorrow, Dolly gave us the most delicious coffee as our nightcap.

These guys lingered for more bonding while the seniors went home. 

Once again, Vener and Dolly, thanks a lot for a wonderful dinner. 

 

OLD FRIENDS, NEW MEMORIES

​When we say “catching up” with friends, what exactly do we mean? 

Ideally, catching up is talking face to face or at the very least a video call to update each other on what’s going on with our lives. 

When Nitz invited me for coffee, I was excited to see her. The last time we got together was over lunch in November.  I did miss her; I met her seven years ago ; the wife of Jim’s former colleague and friend. 

More than that, Nitz is a true friend.  They say that “friendship isn’t about who you’ve known for the longest time; it’s about who walked into your life; said I’m here for you and proved it”. 

Nitz is that in my life. 

“I’ll get you at 4 and the tab is on me; you may want to suggest a place”, she messaged. So we ended up at Concordia’s, a convenient place with a good ambiance. I knew she liked it since she’s never been there. 

Of course I let her pick up the tab for “coffee” and Jim took care of dinner. 

Catching up with Nitz was easy, we just picked up where we left off.  Thanks to facebook that updates us on what we’ve been up to; the only thing missing is knowing about our plans and how we feel about them. 

It was a happy afternoon and a happier evening of sharing stories. Then Jim joined us for dinner. It was a great meetup; it is something I love to capture and share in this blog. 

WELCOME BREAKFAST FOR THREE SWEET MAGNOLIAS

​Today we welcomed Carol, Cheska and Dolly from their summer travel; Dolly and Carol went to the US and Cheska to Europe 

Carol and Cheska

Here’s Dolly below 

I prepared a different breakfast today; not the American/continental breakfast of bacon, ham, sausages, omelettes and pancakes; nor the Filipino breakfast fare of corned beef, longanisa, tocino and over easy eggs or salted egg with tomatoes. 

I am one who always try different dishes. Whenever I go to a restaurant, I always order something different; this way, my palate will experience different taste and flavors

When I was in Singapore in April, my son brought us to Tuga a Portuguese restaurant in Dempsey Hill where I tasted chicken livers cooked the Portuguese way. I replicated the recipe back home, added half chicken thighs to the livers. From memory, I recalled the taste and put in the right spices. And voila!  I got it!  Adding that dish to my cooking repertoire, for sure. 

Portuguese chicken livers. 

Today I served papaya and orange wedges. 

And sandwiches: 

Chicken sandwich with tomato and romaine

Cream cheese-yogurt and dill with cucumber

And cheese pimiento which I forgot to photograph. 

Tomato-onion-mushroom- spinach omelet. 

I like to depart from the usual breakfast; at home don’t we often run out of menu ideas so we turn to processed meats in our pantry like corned beef, spam or our stock of ham and  sausages? Don’t we also resort to longanisa, tocino and red eggs?  See, that’s why I want to try new things. 

While some may not choose pasta for breakfast, I thought, why not? So I made putanesca. 

I served the mango loaf baked by my sister, Annie  and mini cheese cakes from her too. 

Mel, a dessert aficionado brought a peach dessert topped with jello on cream

Cheska brought a taste of Paris where she visited recently; different croissants and kouign-Mann: pronounced “kween uh, man”; like a Britton butter cake made of 30% butter, 30% sugar and the rest is flour.  Oh so yummy yet so sinful. It must be really good coz when I opened the box this is all that was left. 

Carol brought chicken macaroni salad 

And Juliet gave me lots of suman which is my fave. I was brought up eating cakes baked by my mama and all kinds of rice cakes too. There was a lot so I shared some and left these for us. 

The highlight this morning was the unexpected Bidibidi bag for Carol. 

Tess gave us all similar bags for our birthdays except Carol so she left this before she went home to Rotterdam.

Tess is in London now with her family. Here she just got off the plane.  Look, she is also using her Bidibidi travel bag. She says that she misses  us, everyday she always has a word or two in our group chat. 

Tomorrow is the birthday of Cheska. This morning we already greeted her and I handed my gift to her, a solo personalized cheese board. 

We missed Claire, our youngest bubbly buddy who is feeling under the weather so I sent her food Here she is when she is well. 

MEET AND GREET TERESITA, MY BROTHER’S WIFE

​The reunion yesterday was a fun-filled and tummy-filled day!  My sister, Annie gathered the relatives in her home to meet and greet our brother’s wife, Teresita. Married in the US; she  has not been home for 13 years that’s why we are meeting her for the first time. 

Here we were at Annie’s 

Teresita, Ching as she is fondly called and my brother Joe met 20 years ago at work. And the rest is history. Here’s Teresita below. 

Here is my brother, Joe

And their daughter, Mayeann

Though we were a bit disappointed that Joe did not join her on this trip, still it was great to meet Ching. 

Ching arrived earlier this month but had several commitments. However Jim and I were able to snag her for breakfast at Concordia’s earlier in the week. 

We had an enjoyable get-together, everybody were talking at the same time that this little girl, a grand niece, Zia couldn’t stand the noise, she covered her ears. 

I was surprised that everyone brought food 

I am missing the photos of the the buko pandan salad, the veggie salad, the grilled liempo from Steakation and the pinapaitan. 

It was fun seeing everyone.  Until next reunion.