Celebrating Mom's 64th

It's Friday the 13th today, but today is a lucky or should I say a blessed day for us because our beloved mother is celebrating her 64th birthday. Woot woot!!!



When September came, sister and I started thinking of ideas how to celebrate mom's birthday. At first, we wanted to throw her a princessy-children's party complete with tiaras and balloons, but last Monday mom told us that she will be hosting a prayer meeting last night (Thursday) that made sister and I scrap the tiaras and balloons and just go with the food instead.

This was a surprise, so we couldn't plan of cooking anything. Instead, we opted to buy the food we planned to serve.


Pansit Luglug - Max's Restaurant
Children's party often serves spaghetti, but because mom will be serving spaghetti at the prayer meeting, we decided to go for this. It's just the three of us, so taking the other food into consideration and the fact that there's just the three of us, I just bought the a la carte serving.

It was past 6pm last night when we arrived at the SM Fairview branch of Max's Restaurant, and I was surprised when the menu indicated that this food is only available from 2 - 6pm. I made an "Awww..." expression and the cashier quickly phoned in the kitchen to ask if they could accommodate my order. The cashier flashed a sweet smile to say I can still order the Pansit Luglug.

I didn't even tell them it's for my mom's birthday, but this very sweet gesture truly made our celebration complete. Thank you!


Lumpiang Shanghai - Max's Restaurant
Growing up, Lumpiang Shanghai is always part of the birthday party table, and since we already purchased the pansit there, we didn't look for any other restaurant.


Fried Chicken - McDonald's
At first we were thinking of trying out the fried chicken at Angel's Pizza, but we didn't have the luxury of time (I had to leave mom last night while she was preparing for the prayer meeting and we had to be home by 8pm so I could cook the spaghetti for her guests), so while waiting for our order at Max's Restaurant, we went to buy the cake and made a side trip to McDonald's to buy the chicken. Personally, I love KFC Hot and Crispy, but us three girls love Chicken McDo, so choosing where to buy the chicken wasn't difficult at all.


Mocha Crunch Cake - Tous les Jours
At first I suggested we go ahead and buy the cake at Max's, too, but honestly, we have already tasted their big cakes (the rolls we haven't yet... but, we figured mom's birthday is more special than a cake roll, with all due respect to ever humble cake roll), and sister's not so keen on buying a cake at either Red Ribbon or Goldilocks, so we walked all the way through Tous les Jours (at the other end of the mall) to buy the cake.

At first we wanted to buy cupcakes, but inquiring at Felicity, we found out they require at least three weeks prior to the event. We love cupcakes, but we don't know much about places where to order customized cupcakes (Felicity is the only one we know of), so we went to the next best thing - pre-made cakes. We wanted to buy the strawberry cake, but the Tous les Jours branch in SM Fairview didn't have a wide selection, so we just chose among the available cakes. I really wanted the Chocolate Powder Cake, but mom's tummy usually reacts bad to chocolate cakes and ice cream, so in the end we chose the mocha cake.

This was the first time we bought something at Tous les Jours, and we just loved their service! Their staff were all friendly - they even wrote our message on the cake - and I loved how they packaged the cake. The box was very sturdy and it even came with free plastic cake knife and a pack of candles (5 pieces). Best of all, the cake tasted so so so good! True to what the staff said, it wasn't overly sweet and the glaze at the top as well as the crushed barquillos around the cake provided a different twist to the usual mocha cake. We are definitely buying there again!

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In a way, we were thankful the prayer meeting took place last night (they usually have prayer meetings every Wednesday), because mom was busy chit-chatting with her friends that she didn't notice or she didn't pry into to the paper bags anymore. The meeting ended half past 11pm, so the timing was just right for us to pull our surprise as soon as midnight came. Mom wasn't the emotional type of person, but we knew she was surprised. When we had our picture together, there was a little sadness because for sure she was missing our brother who is now in Cagayan de Oro, but she lightened up when I handed her the card brother and her fiancée sent earlier this week.

Happy, happy birthday momskie! We may not be the best children, but do know your imperfect children loves you to the moon and back. :)

Grill King

Like what I have said the previous post and in posts from my other blogs, we packed slices of pork belly, chicken, and liver as our food. Brother marinated the slices from the night before, and rented a grill from the resort so we could have freshly grilled meat for lunch. I hindered brother to take a dip in the pool, it was just okay.

To help brother, I sliced the tomatoes and chopped the green mangoes as well as the onions to go with the grilled meat. Lunch was really, really good! Brother chose good cuts of pork belly - it wasn't really fatty, although the slices were too thin, in my opinion.

Thank you for taking the effort to grill the meat slices, brother.

*** Jenn ***

Adding Salt to Wound

Not a very good title considering this is a food blog, but since I saw it on the TVCs, I have been craving for the Pizza Hut star pops pizza. I knew it would be inappropriate for us to eat this because it was expensive... but still, I won't stop craving about it until I get a taste of it.

My sister knew I wanted to eat it. Time and time again I have told her I hope for us to eat it, and for her to show this:


felt as if she added salt into my wound. It hurted. Hahahaha.

Taken last Wednesday, she and her bf just went out to bond - do videoke and eat out. They had the Supreme pizza, and she said the Star Pops was a joy to eat. I was feeling bad when I saw the pictures in the camera and asked her why didn't she pack a slice for me... but the bad feeling was more of a joke. I did feel bad yes, but it was no biggie. Brother told me it was like eating their stuffed crust pizza (which I already tasted), and I knew that, too. The thing is, I am still craving for it.

... and I hope to taste it the soonest possible time.

*** Jenn ***

His Ostrich Experience

January of this year, my brother traveled to Cagayan de Oro to attend a friend's wedding. He arrived quite early (a few days before the actual wedding), so he and his girlfriend just took the time to bond.

On his third day in CDO, they went to eat dinner at Cucina de Oro, and because they had some ostrich dishes in the menu and that my brother hasn't tasted it yet, they opted to add a serving of Ostrich ala Pobre (Php 205). According to him, eating ostrich meat is like eating chicken and beef meats together. It's not as tender as chicken, but it wasn't really rubbery.

Our family might travel to Cagayan de Oro next year, and when we do, I really am hoping to taste ostrich meat, too!

*** Jenn ***

From the Pantry

Tuesdays on this blog is a day when I talk about anything food courtesy of my siblings. Today's post comes from my sister. Not too long ago, she got a job in a restaurant in EDSA Shangri-La, and what she does is to prepare the foods before it gets to be served to the customers. Once in a while, she would take the camera at work, and if there's a chance, she would take random pictures. She has a lot of pictures now, but I just chose five images from her files to share today.

Mushrooms. My sister has to slice these mushrooms and somehow it irritated her hands after some time.

One Serving. The good part about eating Shabu-Shabu is that customers get to cook their own food. This bowl is considered one serving. But of course, there are other ingredients that goes with it.


Kani Sticks. I just love how my sister photographs this one.


Beef Sirloin. The meats aren't part of my sister's job, she just took a picture of this because she loved how the meat people plated the sirloin cuts.


Seafood Platter. Crabs and mussels. I am not into seafoods, but this one's nicely plated.

I still haven't heard my sister complain about her job (except for the irritations in her hands), so I am guessing she's having a great time. Being a foodie, I think my sister has found a great job. I just hope she will be absorbed in the company.

*** Jenn ***