Reunions and Celebrations

This year continues to be filled with special reunions and celebrations. A few months ago, my college friend Mai came home to Manila and we got to meet up with her. Given where most people were coming from, Makati seemed liked the easiest place to meet so we agreed to have dinner at Grace Park in Rockwell. Our same college group actually had dinner at Grace Park last year when our other friends came home but one of us here in Manila missed that dinner and she said she hadn't eaten at Grace Park yet. And since Mai had also not been there before, we agreed to have dinner here. Mai went on safari to Tanzania shortly after I went to Kenya so we exchanged stories about our wonderful experiences. Another one of our college friends whom we hadn't hung out with in years also got to join us briefly. It really was a lovely evening filled with great conversation and spent with wonderful people whom I've known since college.

Roasted Bone Marrow from Grace Park

I also had another reunion more recently, with people I've known longer and with someone I hadn't seen in an even longer time. I actually can't recall the last time I saw my cousin Jessyca but she came to visit the Philippines recently and naturally, we had a family reunion while she was here. Tito Erwin and Tita Maritie hosted us at their home one Sunday night and my family and some of our cousins were able to make it. It was great catching up with Jessyca and learning how she's been and what she's doing now (she has a really cool and interesting job). While Tita Maritie prepared most of the food, including two kinds of paella that she cooked herself, I did order chicken pastel from CCME that I had delivered to their house. I don't know when Jessyca will visit the Philippines next but hopefully it isn't too long.

Paella and chicken pastel from our family dinner

Finally, I had dinner with my ex-teammates to celebrate my friend Irish's birthday. Our friend Michelle said that a lot of restaurants in Podium had credit card promos so we looked up the ones that did and finally agreed on Greyhound Cafe. We ended up ordering a few dishes, including Tom Yum Super Bowl (their version of one of my all-time favorite soups) and Pad Thai. I love the food here although it is a bit expensive, but with the 50% off promo with UnionBank credit cards, our dinner became a lot more affordable. Cool! (Thank you Irish for your birthday treat!)

Tom Yum Super Bowl and Pad Thai from Greyhound Cafe

I would like to end this blog post by going back to our family reunion and sharing a very special moment with Jessyca. At one point in the evening, she told me that I was very kind to her when we were kids. It was such an amazing thing to hear from such an incredible person, and even now, her words have continued to move me. Thank you, my dear cousin Jessyca!