The year has just begun but already, I have had quite a few new experiences. One of these is spending Three Kings Day with my family in Manila Peninsula.
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| Manila Pen lobby on Three Kings Day |
In the Philippines, Three Kings Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of the year. When we arrived, the lobby was decorated with a nativity scene that showcased the gifts of the three wise men: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
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| Nativity Scene display at the Manila Pen lobby |
I had a discount voucher for Sunday brunch at
Escolta and I thought it would be good to enjoy a buffet meal with my family to close out an amazing holiday season and before the craziness of the year starts. I love how beautifully the hotel is decorated. We've seen it
sparkling in the evening and now we saw it during the day.
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| Escolta at the Manila Pen |
Even the interior of Escolta was decorated to celebrate Three Kings Day. Cool!
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| Three Kings Day decor inside Escolta |
Another set of new experiences: having dinner and dessert with Che at Greenhills Mall and getting to try a new place. Che and I agreed to meet for dinner in Greenhills after New Year and we were thinking of a place to eat. I don't know if social media was spying on our conversation but after we agreed over chat to meet in Greenhills, I got an ad for
Cafe Kulture. It looked interesting so I suggested it to Che and she agreed. I ordered their Shrimp Aglio with Cherry Tomatoes which was pretty good.
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Shrimp Aglio with Cherry
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I had wanted to order a donut for dessert (it was their only dessert) but we were told that they had already run out. As such, Che and I decided to move. I suggested that we try
SuperSam.
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| Supersam at Greenhills Mall |
I suggested this place because I had eaten here once before - I ordered the Strawberry Croissant - and I really liked it. I also loved the fact that they serve decaf.
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| Strawberry Croissant from SuperSam which I tried late last year |
As it turned out, SuperSam was an even better choice than we had originally thought. Che saw the history of this restaurant in one of the menu pages. The name is meant to be a contraction of the phrase Super Samahan, which was the main driver for setting up this business. Apparently, they started out as a means to help people who lost work during the pandemic by providing a source of income. They started out as a food delivery service before being established as a restaurant about a year later. That's amazing! It suddenly made me want to support SuperSam even more. However, we had just had dinner so I just ordered coffee and a dessert. I really loved the strawberry croissant I had previously but I wanted to try another item on their menu. So this time I went with the Dark Choco Croissant. It was good too! (Hopefully, I can visit SuperSam again in the near future.)
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| Dark Choco Croissant |
Another new experience: buying Mamita's lasagna and enjoying it with my family. I had tried this before, during one of my board game nights, and I really liked it. So one weekend, I decided to place an order. They have two pick-up locations, Scout Gandia and Blue Ridge. I decided to order from their Sct Gandia branch.
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| Mamita's along Scount Gandia |
I ordered a family try of their Special Lasagna (P1,150). When I got home, my mom saw the name on the box and said she had seen Mamita's as well on her social media feed. I'm happy that my family enjoyed it as well! Mamita's also has a lot of other dishes that you can order from their
website. I am sure I will order from them again in the future.
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| Special Lasagna from Mamita's |
A friend of mine flew to Japan over the holidays and I asked him if he could get me Tokyo Milkcheese Factory cookies (I know they cost a lot less in Japan than they do here in Manila). However, my friend went to Hokkaido and he was told that Tokyo Milkcheese Factory wasn't available there (because, well, it wasn't Tokyo haha). Instead, it was recommended that he get Shiroi Kobito cookies so he did. I tried this before, when another friend brought home a box and gave me one piece. This time, I had a whole box of the Chocolat Blanc Et Langue De Chat cookies. It was really good! Hokkaido really has a lot of very good dairy products!
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| Shiroi Kobito Chocolat Blanc Et Langue De Chat cookies |
Finally, I attended the milestone birthday of my friend Martin. He is heavily involved in the cultural scene of the Philippines and during his party, he invited two musical prodigies: Vien who plays the harp and Dirk who plays the cello. The entertained the party attendees with beautiful music, some of which I had never heard before but some of which I was quite familiar with. A highlight of their performance was getting to hear them play The Swan from The Carnival of the Animals. I know this because there is a popular ballet dance called the Dying Swan that is choreographed to this musical piece. It was such an enriching experience to hear this music performed live, and so beautifully.
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| Musical prodigies Dirk and Vien |
This really has been an awesome start to 2025. I can't help but feel very thankful to have so many wonderful and enriching experiences that I get to share with my family and friends.
