More Reunions and Celebrations

I am now a wedding ninong (or principal sponsor) for the 6th time. My friend and ex-colleague Jayson asked me if I could be a ninong at his wedding and I accepted the honor. He got married to his long-time partner Bianca at the Light of Love Events Place in Quezon City. Both the ceremony and the reception were held in the exact same place making it quite easy and convenient for everyone. I was also really happy that I got to see and catch up with some ex-colleagues whom I hadn't seen in ages. I really do love it when I get to celebrate one of the most important moments in the life of a good friend and the event becomes a bit of a reunion as well.

Jayson and Bianca's wedding at the Light of Love Events Place

Speaking of reunions, I had a few more recently. My friends from my first job had a get-together because Raych, who has been living in Australia for a while now, was in town. Most of the folks from our group live in QC so we decided to meet up at Vertis North because we love this place - it's quite chill and not too crowded, with many good restaurants. Bett suggested that we have dinner at Thai BBQ. I had eaten here many, many years ago so it was great enjoying a meal here again. We then moved to Single Origin for evening coffee and dessert. 

Pad Thai from Thai BBQ

I also had a really cool college reunion just a week after that. My friend Aries came home for a few weeks and our college friends and I got so spend some time with him while he was here. We had lunch at Siklab in Shangri-La mall and we moved to A Mano for dessert and coffee. (The burrata soft serve ice cream at A Mano is really good.) What made this reunion even more special was that Aries invited another college friend, Lea, to join us. I hadn't seen Lea since I saw her at an org event maybe a few years after I graduated so it was great to see and catch up with her again. As if that wasn't enough, we ran into another college friend Don at A Mano. It really was a wonderful afternoon full of connections and reconnections.

Burrata soft serve ice cream from A Mano

I also had a couple of lunch outs with my family. Since I have a BFF Card, we decided to have lunch at Bistro restaurants both times. First, we had lunch at Watami. The great thing about Watami is that it has a very wide range of Japanese food. We feasted on gyoza, katsudon, soba, ramen, okonomiyaki, and sukiyaki. My mom loved the fact that they had sukiyaki because she said that many other Japanese restaurants don't often have this dish and it had been a while since she had it.

Sukiyaki at Watami

We then had lunch at Italianni's a week later. I have loved Italianni's for many years and to this day, their cheesecake is still one of the best in Manila (for me). One great discovery we had in this recent lunch was their kiddie menu that included chicken fingers and chips served on an airpline-shaped dish. My brother ordered it for my youngest nephew and he was able to eat the whole thing so quickly that we ended up getting another one for him. Wow! I also gotta say, I think airplane dish is a lot of fun.

Italianni's Chicken Fingers served on a cute airplane dish

I do have few more celebrations and reunions that are scheduled in the next few weeks. I really do feel grateful and lucky that I continue to have quality time with the people that matter to me.