The week started when I had dinner and drinks with Maileen, who was in town to celebrate her grandmother's birthday. Our evening started out over dinner at Museum Cafe in Greenbelt 5 before we moved to the lobby of New World Renaissance hotel (which I had written about in my previous post).
The next evening, I had a reunion with some of my ex-colleagues, who were having a very advanced Christmas celebration. Apparently, they couldn't find any other common date in December so they decided to have it in end-November instead. Mia very generously hosted the party at her beautiful home and she prepared a beautiful feast that included roast beef and baked salmon that could rival that of Conti's. After dinner, we started the exchange gift by making use of some kind of white elephant exchange gift app. (I was actually told that I had to bring an exchange gift only on that day LOL so I decided to swing by Fleur De Lys along Tomas Morato to get some florentines and brownies.) I ended up getting Saporito Gourmet Salted Egg Potato Chips and Sofia's Jar lengua de gato. Unfortunately, I had an early start the next day so I couldn't stay too late but it was really great seeing everyone again, especially since I hadn't seen most of them in months.
On Friday, I met up with my friends from my first job. The last time we saw each other was earlier in the year when Raych was in Manila but what made the evening more special was that almost every Manila-based person was able to join us, including Bett and Lany, both of whom I hadn't seen in a while. As it turned out, Anna was also in town so she could join us too. Since Chari lives far south and Jette lives far north, we opted for Ortigas. Jette requested some place that is easily commutable so I suggested we have dinner somewhere in Shangri-La mall. Bett wanted to try Zao and everyone agreed so we finally had out venue sorted out. :) Our dinner started quite early - Chari and I were there before 630pm - so a couple of hours later, the mall was still open and we had time for dessert. At first, we were thinking of just having dessert in Zao because people wanted to try their mille crepe but unfortunately, it wasn't available that night. Since people suddenly had a craving for mille crepe, we went to Paper Moon instead. We stayed there until the mall closed. This was probably the biggest gathering we've had in a while and the longest time that we spent with each other.
The long, full week ended the next day when I went to Tagaytay for two special occasions. The first was Me-Ann's birthday. It was a full day event, starting with brunch at Bag of Beans in Twin Lakes before we would go to Sandari Batulao to hang out and spend the rest of the afternoon. Unfortunately, I ended up being massively late for brunch, not only because I woke up a bit late but also because of a horrific driving mistake. Since I was already running late, I checked waze to see how long it would take for me to get to Twin Lakes - waze estimated two hours - so I messaged everyone that I would get there by noon. Unfortunately, by entering Twin Lakes in waze, I was directed to the Twin Lakes community at the bottom of the crater instead of at the top which is where Bag of Beans is. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem except that the route from the bottom to the top can only be traversed on foot or by tricycle and it is impassable to cars and larger vehicles. The kicker was that the only way to get from where I was to Bag of Beans was by going all the way back, a one and a half hour trip. That was just about as long as my drive from Manila to Tagaytay!!! By the time I got to Bag of Beans, half the group had gone home. Me-ann had ordered for me before I got there so my food was ready when I arrived. I was absolutely famished and I ate everything pretty quickly. It was close to 2pm when we headed to Sandari Batulao where the rest of us spent a lazy afternoon enjoying each other's company and having great conversation. Alvin and Doray brought their kids and later that afternoon, Alvin and his kids all went swimming.
I left at around 4:30 to get ready for my second event in Tagaytay: the wedding reception of Jef and Diane. I booked a room at Lee Boutique since I knew I would be tired from the long drive and the long day (plus, I wanted an easy way to get ready for the wedding). The reception was held at Angelfields. It turned out to be a bit of a reunion as well since Jef and Diane were ex-colleagues and I was seated at a table with many of our other ex-colleagues such as Karen, Kat, RJ, Julie, and Jojo and a few other ex-colleagues whom I hadn't seen in years, like Walter, Melvin, and Mshel. It was a beautiful and well-prepared and well-executed program - Diane's outfit change for her dance number with Jef was one of the many highlights - and it was shortly before 10 that the program ended. Most people left immediately but RJ, Julie, and I stuck around until pack up because Jef asked us to. :) That gave us an opportunity to catch up with each other and also with Jef and Diane once things had calmed down.
I checked out once I got cleaned up after waking up and I immediately headed over to Breakfast at Antonio's to have their Home-made Bacon Roesti, which is one of my favorite dishes and which I have and enjoy in most of my trips to Tagaytay. I wanted to try something else from Breakfast at Antonio's so I ordered their Croque Monsieur to go so I could eat it for lunch. I have to say, this sandwich is tremendously good too!
On the way home, I had to pass by a few places to get pasalubong for my family. I made three stops. The first was in Rowena's to get pineapple tarts. The second was in Good Shepherd to get ube jam. The third stop was in The Original Buko Pie Bakeshop to try their buko pie. I've been told that it is better than Colette's which is what I usually get. Now that I've tried it, I think I personally still prefer Colette's which is a bit sweeter but people who find Colette's too sweet should try The Original Buko Pie instead.
The Original Buko Pie can be found at the Caltex Station along Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay road.
The next evening, I had a reunion with some of my ex-colleagues, who were having a very advanced Christmas celebration. Apparently, they couldn't find any other common date in December so they decided to have it in end-November instead. Mia very generously hosted the party at her beautiful home and she prepared a beautiful feast that included roast beef and baked salmon that could rival that of Conti's. After dinner, we started the exchange gift by making use of some kind of white elephant exchange gift app. (I was actually told that I had to bring an exchange gift only on that day LOL so I decided to swing by Fleur De Lys along Tomas Morato to get some florentines and brownies.) I ended up getting Saporito Gourmet Salted Egg Potato Chips and Sofia's Jar lengua de gato. Unfortunately, I had an early start the next day so I couldn't stay too late but it was really great seeing everyone again, especially since I hadn't seen most of them in months.
On Friday, I met up with my friends from my first job. The last time we saw each other was earlier in the year when Raych was in Manila but what made the evening more special was that almost every Manila-based person was able to join us, including Bett and Lany, both of whom I hadn't seen in a while. As it turned out, Anna was also in town so she could join us too. Since Chari lives far south and Jette lives far north, we opted for Ortigas. Jette requested some place that is easily commutable so I suggested we have dinner somewhere in Shangri-La mall. Bett wanted to try Zao and everyone agreed so we finally had out venue sorted out. :) Our dinner started quite early - Chari and I were there before 630pm - so a couple of hours later, the mall was still open and we had time for dessert. At first, we were thinking of just having dessert in Zao because people wanted to try their mille crepe but unfortunately, it wasn't available that night. Since people suddenly had a craving for mille crepe, we went to Paper Moon instead. We stayed there until the mall closed. This was probably the biggest gathering we've had in a while and the longest time that we spent with each other.
Chocolate Mille Crepe and Coffee at Paper Moon
The long, full week ended the next day when I went to Tagaytay for two special occasions. The first was Me-Ann's birthday. It was a full day event, starting with brunch at Bag of Beans in Twin Lakes before we would go to Sandari Batulao to hang out and spend the rest of the afternoon. Unfortunately, I ended up being massively late for brunch, not only because I woke up a bit late but also because of a horrific driving mistake. Since I was already running late, I checked waze to see how long it would take for me to get to Twin Lakes - waze estimated two hours - so I messaged everyone that I would get there by noon. Unfortunately, by entering Twin Lakes in waze, I was directed to the Twin Lakes community at the bottom of the crater instead of at the top which is where Bag of Beans is. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem except that the route from the bottom to the top can only be traversed on foot or by tricycle and it is impassable to cars and larger vehicles. The kicker was that the only way to get from where I was to Bag of Beans was by going all the way back, a one and a half hour trip. That was just about as long as my drive from Manila to Tagaytay!!! By the time I got to Bag of Beans, half the group had gone home. Me-ann had ordered for me before I got there so my food was ready when I arrived. I was absolutely famished and I ate everything pretty quickly. It was close to 2pm when we headed to Sandari Batulao where the rest of us spent a lazy afternoon enjoying each other's company and having great conversation. Alvin and Doray brought their kids and later that afternoon, Alvin and his kids all went swimming.
Sandari Batulao
I left at around 4:30 to get ready for my second event in Tagaytay: the wedding reception of Jef and Diane. I booked a room at Lee Boutique since I knew I would be tired from the long drive and the long day (plus, I wanted an easy way to get ready for the wedding). The reception was held at Angelfields. It turned out to be a bit of a reunion as well since Jef and Diane were ex-colleagues and I was seated at a table with many of our other ex-colleagues such as Karen, Kat, RJ, Julie, and Jojo and a few other ex-colleagues whom I hadn't seen in years, like Walter, Melvin, and Mshel. It was a beautiful and well-prepared and well-executed program - Diane's outfit change for her dance number with Jef was one of the many highlights - and it was shortly before 10 that the program ended. Most people left immediately but RJ, Julie, and I stuck around until pack up because Jef asked us to. :) That gave us an opportunity to catch up with each other and also with Jef and Diane once things had calmed down.
I checked out once I got cleaned up after waking up and I immediately headed over to Breakfast at Antonio's to have their Home-made Bacon Roesti, which is one of my favorite dishes and which I have and enjoy in most of my trips to Tagaytay. I wanted to try something else from Breakfast at Antonio's so I ordered their Croque Monsieur to go so I could eat it for lunch. I have to say, this sandwich is tremendously good too!
Breakfast at Antonio's Home-made Bacon Roesti
On the way home, I had to pass by a few places to get pasalubong for my family. I made three stops. The first was in Rowena's to get pineapple tarts. The second was in Good Shepherd to get ube jam. The third stop was in The Original Buko Pie Bakeshop to try their buko pie. I've been told that it is better than Colette's which is what I usually get. Now that I've tried it, I think I personally still prefer Colette's which is a bit sweeter but people who find Colette's too sweet should try The Original Buko Pie instead.
The Original Buko Pie can be found at the Caltex Station along Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay road.
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