This year continues to be the year of reconnecting for me, and I'm very grateful for the many opportunities I've had to spend quality time with so many wonderful people. The biggest reunion I had this year was with the department I worked in in my second company. It was multiple generations of our department, but as I did work there for many years, I actually recognized majority of the people who were there. I hadn't seen many of them in more than a decade so it was tremendously satisfying to spend a wonderful evening catching up with many incredibly amazing people like Angel, Ces, Ella, Led, Afi, Vei, Romi, Benj, and many more. It was also the first time I got to see Kleng since she returned to Manila, despite a couple of attempts for us to meet up prior to that.
There was a smaller version of that reunion a few weeks earlier. Amy and Duncan were in Manila and they had very limited time to meet up with friends so they organized dinner one stormy night in BGC. I got stuck in bad traffic so I only made it for dessert. Not only did I get to catch up with both of them (and their kids who are now both really big), I also got to hang out with Shawie, Michelle, Marion, and Celle. I think the last time I hung out with Michelle and Marion was during team events. With Shawie, it was even longer, because it must have been when we were still working on the same project maybe 16 or 17 years ago. Wow!
I also had dinner with Kat, Sol, and Aren in Spatzle in Shang Mall. Aren requested that we meet in Shang Mall and I suggested Spatzle because it is one of my favorite restaurants there. The last time I saw Sol was more than a year ago - we both resigned on the same day - and I last saw Aren during the wedding of Auds and Primo a few years ago. It was a lot of fun hearing the new challenges each of us were facing since all of us were now working in different places. It was also really fun to hear Sol talk about her recent furniture purchases. :) I'm happy that the folks also enjoyed the food in Spatlze. I normally order the Roesti Complet when I'm there but that night, I ordered the Risotto con Maiale, which is creamy truffle risotto with crisp pork belly and asparagus. It was really good!
Not all my recent get-togethers were done over dinner, though. One of them, with my college friends, was done over brunch. Lala went to a wine sale and she took orders from many of us. She had a few boxes of wine so she suggested that we have brunch in Ortigas so everyone can get their orders. We had breakfast at Wildflour in Podium and it was good that Jed was able to join us because he had a flight that afternoon.
I also got to catch up with Krizel for coffee at UCC on a day that I didn't have work. It was funny because this was the second time we were having coffee together and each time, there are just so many stories to share before she had to go back to work that we always forgot to take a photo of ourselves. The cool thing was that after coffee/brunch with Krizel, I had dinner with AJ and Tin later in the evening. It had been more than a year since I had dinner with AJ and Tin and it's always great catching up with these two because there are always a ton of stories to share. AJ is getting married soon and she is really busy with the preparations so thankfully, we found a schedule that worked for all of us. Tin wanted to have dinner somewhere not too near her office so we ended up meeting in Little Flour, which is Wildflour's little sister. Funny how I ended up catching with two separate sets of friends in the "flour" sisters in a short period of time. :)
Finally, another brunch reunion. (Can you say Titos and Titas of Manila? LOL) Alvin was in Manila and was staying in the Rockwell area so he asked if anyone from our high school batch was free for brunch in that area. A few of us were so we joined him in Refinery. I see Joyce a lot and I've seen Elaine a few times over the last few years but I can't really remember the last time I saw Alvin so it must have been many years ago. We met at 10:30 and while Alvin had to leave at 1pm for another appointment, the rest of us hung out together until almost 2:30pm. There were some discussions about more plans that our high school batch has so I'm excited to see those plans brought to fruition.
There was a smaller version of that reunion a few weeks earlier. Amy and Duncan were in Manila and they had very limited time to meet up with friends so they organized dinner one stormy night in BGC. I got stuck in bad traffic so I only made it for dessert. Not only did I get to catch up with both of them (and their kids who are now both really big), I also got to hang out with Shawie, Michelle, Marion, and Celle. I think the last time I hung out with Michelle and Marion was during team events. With Shawie, it was even longer, because it must have been when we were still working on the same project maybe 16 or 17 years ago. Wow!
I also had dinner with Kat, Sol, and Aren in Spatzle in Shang Mall. Aren requested that we meet in Shang Mall and I suggested Spatzle because it is one of my favorite restaurants there. The last time I saw Sol was more than a year ago - we both resigned on the same day - and I last saw Aren during the wedding of Auds and Primo a few years ago. It was a lot of fun hearing the new challenges each of us were facing since all of us were now working in different places. It was also really fun to hear Sol talk about her recent furniture purchases. :) I'm happy that the folks also enjoyed the food in Spatlze. I normally order the Roesti Complet when I'm there but that night, I ordered the Risotto con Maiale, which is creamy truffle risotto with crisp pork belly and asparagus. It was really good!
Risotto con Maiale from Spatzle
Not all my recent get-togethers were done over dinner, though. One of them, with my college friends, was done over brunch. Lala went to a wine sale and she took orders from many of us. She had a few boxes of wine so she suggested that we have brunch in Ortigas so everyone can get their orders. We had breakfast at Wildflour in Podium and it was good that Jed was able to join us because he had a flight that afternoon.
I also got to catch up with Krizel for coffee at UCC on a day that I didn't have work. It was funny because this was the second time we were having coffee together and each time, there are just so many stories to share before she had to go back to work that we always forgot to take a photo of ourselves. The cool thing was that after coffee/brunch with Krizel, I had dinner with AJ and Tin later in the evening. It had been more than a year since I had dinner with AJ and Tin and it's always great catching up with these two because there are always a ton of stories to share. AJ is getting married soon and she is really busy with the preparations so thankfully, we found a schedule that worked for all of us. Tin wanted to have dinner somewhere not too near her office so we ended up meeting in Little Flour, which is Wildflour's little sister. Funny how I ended up catching with two separate sets of friends in the "flour" sisters in a short period of time. :)
Finally, another brunch reunion. (Can you say Titos and Titas of Manila? LOL) Alvin was in Manila and was staying in the Rockwell area so he asked if anyone from our high school batch was free for brunch in that area. A few of us were so we joined him in Refinery. I see Joyce a lot and I've seen Elaine a few times over the last few years but I can't really remember the last time I saw Alvin so it must have been many years ago. We met at 10:30 and while Alvin had to leave at 1pm for another appointment, the rest of us hung out together until almost 2:30pm. There were some discussions about more plans that our high school batch has so I'm excited to see those plans brought to fruition.
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