FOO'd by Davide Oldani

This is a really late post but it was a special celebration so I felt I should still write about it. When my friend Michele celebrated her birthday, she decided to take us to FOO'd by Davide Oldani, which is one of her favorite restaurants. I had never eaten there before so I was looking forward to our dinner here. Upon arriving, we were served bread and cheese cream and it was really good.

Food is ordered by selecting one of the three tasting menus: 3-course, 4-course, and 5-course. I believe all of us chose the 4-course tasting menu which consists of 1 Antipasto, 1 Primo, 1 Secondo, and 1 Dolce. For my antipasto, I selected the Iberico Pork and Scallop, which is a scallop appetizer served with Iberico pork and a green pea puree.

For my primo, I chose the Riso Marsala, with 18-month aged Carnaroli (a type of rice), black pepper, breadcrumbs, and Marsala sauce.

I had the 36 Hour Shortrib for my secondo. This dish is US Angus Prime Shortib served with creamy polenta and mushroom ragout.

Finally, for dolce, I chose the White Chocolate Souffle served with apricots, almond biscotti, and amaretto gelato.

Everyone in our table decided to share desserts with each other. I gotta say, all the desserts are plated exceptionally well. This Dark Chocolate Mousse with Cacao Crumble, Raspberry, and Dark Chocolate Gelato looks really mouthwatering...

...as does this Lemon Curd, which is a Dehydrated Lemon Meringue with Cacao Crumble, Curry Almonds, and Lettuce Gelato. While I do love chocolate and I really enjoyed the dark chocolate mousse, I think this lemon curd dessert was my favorite because it was really inventive and delicious.

Since FOO'd is a fine-dining restaurant, it's definitely not cheap but the food is superb, the ambience is elegant and tasteful yet cozy and comfortable, and the service is great. I may need to save up for another visit to this place.

FOO'd by Davide Oldani
https://www.facebook.com/pages/FOOD-by-Davide-Oldani-Shangri-La-at-the-Fort/670327909842873
Address: Shangri-La Hotel at the Fort, 30th St cor, 5th Ave, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, Metro Manila
Phone: 0917 711 4469

Wedding Ninong for the 3rd and 4th times

I became a wedding ninong (or principal sponsor) for the first time in 2017. It happened a second time in 2018. Then all of a sudden, in a span of just a week, I became a wedding ninong again for the 3rd and 4th times!

Interestingly enough, both weddings were out-of-town. Mon and Chelle got married first at Palazzo Venezia in Malolos, Bulacan. Both of them were my direct reports at the time that I left my previous job so a lot of our other teammates were also there, making it a reunion. I was quite happy that Chelle and Mon asked the male guests to come in Barong Tagalogs because I really miss wearing the national dress of the Philippines.

A first for me: I had to give a principal sponsor speech. When I met up with Mon and Chelle for lunch a few weeks before their wedding, they asked me if I could give a speech. They said that of all their principal sponsors, I was the one who knew both of them the most. I decided my speech would focus on what qualities both of them had that would ensure their marriage would shine and last through the ages. Their ninong gift to me was also a first: cheese bread and sylvannas from L.A. Bakeshop (among a few other things). Apparently, L.A. Bakeshop is a very popular bakery in Pampanga so I'm happy I got to try this.

Six days later, I found myself in San Fernando, Pampanga for the wedding of Migs and Diann at the Country Garden. Both of them reported to me in my previous role (the one I had right before I became Chelle and Mon's boss). As such, their wedding also turned into a pretty awesome reunion.

There was a bit of a scare for me though right before the wedding. For some reason, I thought the ceremony would also start at 4pm. I decided I would leave Metro Manila at around 1:30 pm so that I could get to the venue at around 3 to 3:30 and I would have enough time to get settled before the wedding. However, when I checked the invitation at around 11:30am, I realized that the wedding was at 3pm! I started to panic because I was at risk of being late (which would be a disaster because I was a principal sponsor). I ended up skipping lunch to help ensure I would get to the venue on time. As it turned out, I still arrived a few minutes after 3pm and I was worried that the ceremony would have already started. Thankfully, it hadn't. In fact, it actually started at around 4:30pm (it was really hot that afternoon so the coordinators decided to start the ceremony later in the day so that the sun wouldn't be so high up in the sky). That made me wish I had at least a quick lunch somewhere along the way LOL. I did make up for my missed meal by overeating during dinner. :)

Another first: I was asked to give a speech on the spot! Apparently, the principal sponsors who were supposed to share some words of wisdom to the newlyweds didn't make it. The coordinator ended up asking me and my ninang partner Maan (who took over as their manager when I changed roles) to give the speeches instead. I didn't want to say the same stuff I told Mon and Chelle LOL so I just did the best I could under the very last-minute circumstances.

As such, I am now a four-time wedding principal sponsor. I don't know how many more times I will be asked to be one but hopefully, I will be able to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of a ninong to all my current wedding godchildren. :)

Reunion Season

December and January are always filled with reunions and I'm fortunate to have had more than my fair share of them. The most significant one was also the most recent: I had lunch with my Grade 2 adviser, Mrs. Ontiveros, who is the best and most influential teacher I've ever had. I hadn't seen her in decades and while we talked about meeting up a couple of times, we never got around to finalizing a date. That is, until early this year. I asked if she was free one weekend, she said she was, and the date was set. I asked her if she wanted to see my family - she knows them and my brother was also her student - and she said she was actually about to ask me if I could invite them to our lunch date as well. Cool! We agreed to meet in Aristocrat Banawe and my mom and my brother were free to join. We enjoyed each other's company for many hours as there were so many stories to share. It was such an amazing, nostalgic, and soul-stirring reunion and I am so happy that we finally managed to catch up.

I also got to have coffee and dinner with Chachie right before Christmas. I think the last time I saw her was more than five years ago when we played board games in Ludo Cafe so it was great to see her. She's been through quite a bit over the last few years but she has maintained such a positive outlook in life which I find to be very inspirational. I got to meet her daughter for the first time and I also saw her husband whom I haven't seen since maybe their wedding. We hung out from the late afternoon until the early evening, when their family had to go to catch the evening mass. We met at Tyler's Cafe along Katipunan where I ordered the Ricotta Pancakes with chocolate chips, chocolate fudge, cream, and chocolate crumb and OMG it was sooo good! I need to visit Tyler's Cafe again so I can enjoy these delicious pancakes.

Another mini-reunion I had was with Ana and Earl at Motto Motto. I think the last time we had a decent conversation was when I was still working at my previous job. I did run into them quite a few times over the years but we never really properly caught up. We finally met up shortly after Christmas at Motto Motto in Serendra. It was great to find out what they were both doing over the last few years. We agreed that we needed to catch up more frequently.

Apart from these reunions with people whom I hadn't seen in a while, there were of course the annual ones. I had dinner with my friends from my first job at Relish Hello Happiness! My friends from our corporate social responsibility group in my previous company had dinner at Stock Market in Uptown Mall and we moved to Scout's Honor for coffee and dessert after. My college friends met up nostalgically at the house of the Jay's parents, which is where we had many parties when we were still in college. I had dinner with another set of college friends in Sentro. The team I last managed in my previous company had our Christmas party at TGI Friday's (a lot of them had moved on to new opportunities). Finally, I had dinner with my high school friends shortly after the New Year at my Michele's house.

As I look back at all these reunions, I can't help but feel very lucky to have made so many incredible connections in my life. Hopefully, I can continue to have these beautiful moments with people who mean a lot to me.

Happy 2020 and looking back at 2019

Happy New Year!

As usual, before I jump straight into 2020, I will take a look back at the last year. The highlight of my year was getting to visit Seoul and experiencing The Joshua Tree Concert of U2 there. This trip allowed me to see some city sights that I hadn't seen before, visit Nami Island and the Morning of Garden Calm, interview a North Korean defector during our DMZ Spy Tour, and go on an incredible street food tour that allowed me to enjoy a lot of amazing Korean dishes. It was also the first time that I got to travel internationally with one of my best friends Michele and her husband Ferg.

Seoul wasn't the only place I traveled in 2019. I also spent a night my high school friends in Sinagtala Resort in Orani, Bataan. I also revisited Club Balai Isabel during our company outing.

One really cool thing I did last year was perform travel agent duties for my mom who took a trip to Bali. She knew she wanted to go but she didn't know what to do there. I created her itinerary, booked her hotel (which she said was really nice), found her a driver with whom I aligned the itinerary, installed WhatsApp in my mom's phone and set up a WhatsApp group so my mom and I could communicate easily with the driver, rented a Smart Travel WiFi device for her so she would have mobile data when she was in Bali, then drove her to the airport and picked her up when she returned. It was the first time I did all this and my mom's trip turned out great. I was so proud of myself. :)

On the cultural side, I got to see quite a few stage shows. I took my family to see The Phantom of the Opera (it was the third time I got to see it). I took my mom to see Swan Lake by Moscow Ballet La Classique at the New Frontier Theater in Cubao. My mom and I also got to experience Van Gogh Alive in Manila. My family watched the 33rd Sampung Mga Daliri Atbp by the UST Conservatory of Music because my nephew was in the ensemble. Finally, I saw Beautiful: The Carole King Musical with a couple of my friends.

On the more mainstream side, I got to see quite a few movies in the last year. My favorites: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Alone/Together, Godzilla II: King of the Monsters, Knives Out, and Avengers: Endgame.

It wasn't all hunky-dory though. I had a health scare last year that triggered the need for a lifestyle change. I managed to lose about 10 kilos and so far, I've managed to maintain that weight. Hopefully, I can continue eating better and exercising whenever possible. In line with trying to having a better future for me and my family, I also got PRU Life policies for my nephews.

Back to more positive stuff. I managed to read four books last year, including the second Dan Wells trilogy. This is the most I've read in a single year and I'm hoping I can keep on reading this year. My family celebrated my grandmother's 92nd birthday. I played bowling for the first time in years as part of our department bowling tournament and I ended up winning highest men's score and my team was awarded best scoring team. My friends and I also visited Mystery Manila twice to try the Mr. Moriarty room and the Sorcerer's Stone room. I attended a few weddings and I sang in a couple of them. I went to a karaoke bar with friends on six separate occasions, the most times I had been in a karaoke bar in a single year in maybe a decade. I tried several restaurants for the first time, including Raging Bull, Salta!, La Mere Poulard, and Downtown Cafe in Pampanga. And of course, I got to play board games a lot.

2019 proved to be an amazing year that brought with it some rich and memorable experiences. Hopefully, I can continue to have more of them in 2020.