Face-to-Face Time

After being in isolation for most of the last couple of years, I've taken as many opportunities as I could to meet up with people. In fact, for the last few months, game nights have once again become staples. In this last month, I had a couple of them, including one where we got to celebrate Mitch's birthday. This was actually the first time we celebrated someone's birthday face-to-face. As is often the case, I was responsible for the cake. I decided to order a Dark Chocolate Cheesecake from Mary Grace because it was a limited edition cake made for Father's Day so it won't be available during most of the year. I'm glad I ordered this because it was really good. So good in fact that Mitch actually ordered the same cake for her birthday celebration with her family! It's a bit pricey but if you haven't had it yet and it's still available, I suggest you give it a try (even just a slice).

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake from Mary Grace

I also got to play a few games that night, including 5211, the new edition of Love Letter, Isle of Cats, and Qwinto. Earlier in June, I had another game night where we got to play Architects of the West Kingdom. I purchased a secondhand copy of this game before the pandemic and I got to play it only once before quarantine started so I'm glad I got to play it again.

I've also met up with many different sets of friends over meals. I had lunch at Cafe Breton with my high school friends (I requested this place because I hadn't eaten there in a really long time). That was pretty special too because the son of my friend who now studies abroad was in Manila for the summer break and he joined for lunch. It was cool hearing about how his life has been living and studying abroad.

I also had a Wild Flour-themed get-together in BGC with my friends and teammates from the corporate social responsibility group in my previous company. I say Wild Flour-themed because we had dinner at Wild Flour Italian (which was the first time I ate there) then we walked all the way to the original Wild Flour and Farmacy for dessert. While my friends all got ice cream from Farmacy, I got a cake and coffee from Wild Flour. I also ended up buying some pastries that were 50% off. (I brought those to my family the next day for their merienda.) 

I also had lunch with some friends in Single Origin in Rockwell. We had all been chatting about getting together but our schedules didn't match up until recently. It was the first time in about 3 years that we all got together to enjoy a meal and catch up. I love meeting up with this set of friends because of their involvement in the arts and culture scene. It's always great to hear about what they are or have been up to and learning about upcoming shows and exhibits. Hopefully, I can get to see a live show again soon.

Finally, I got to meet up with my friends from my first company. Jette lives way up North while Chari lives way down in the South so we decided to meet up in Shangri-La mall for lunch. Mitch suggested Kettle because of their buttermilk chicken (naturally, we ordered that). Needless to say, our meal together was filled with fun and intriguing stories. One of our friends based in Australia might be coming home for Christmas so hopefully we get to see each other again then.

There has been a surge of Covid cases recently but so far, the cases have been mild and hospitals are still not overwhelmed and remain in good shape. While I will obviously still keep my guard up, I'm hoping these are signs that our bodies are slowly building a greater ability to manage and fight the virus and that life continues to get closer to pre-pandemic normal.