BREAKFAST BIRTHDAY SURPRISE

 

The whole day celebration of Brett 45th birthday started out with a breakfast surprise in Rustic Morning located in Marikina City.  It was just a family affair but nevertheless we succeeded in surprising the celebrant.  The plan was Nadine had to convince Brett to go for a jog while the rest of the family went ahead to Rustic Morning.

Aside from the main reason that we are celebrating the birthday of my brother in law, the place somehow added to our excitement.  I would consider the place as shabby chic.  Everything I see makes the place lovely even if those are just old bottles, old window panes old wrought iron chairs but when they put them all together it forms a gorgeous piece.  It was evident to me that blue and white are the significant colors of the restaurant.  Among my favorite was this white wall which is filled with tiny blue glasses and cups as accent to the wall.  Another thing that caught my attention was the knit cover for the pitcher, a simple water pitcher was exquisite with the knit cloth to cover it and  with shells hanging on it.

 Rustic Morning by Isabelo is like a hidden garden in the city.  It is located right across the San Roque church and the shoe museum in Marikina.  The narrow street named Isabelo st., and coming from the museum or the church, would just be few steps until u see the gate and the sign board of the restaurant.




 
We started our breakfast with the basket of bread.  It was served with butter and and the jam which I didn't try cos I opted for the butter.  The rest of us took different breakfast meals just so we will get to try a bit of everything. I chose to have the pork BBQ crackling sandwich.  Thumbs up for the sandwich.  Another favorite are their pancakes and their strawberry milk shake.  By the way the food is serve in large portion. A meal can be shared by two.

 I do think that we made Brett's birthday breakfast a memorable one.  The place, the food, and his company somehow added to make it a special birthday breakfast.  Rustic Mornings is a great place for breakfast with families.  Its like an extension of our homes, maybe because the things surrounding it can be identified with things in our own homes.  A great place with a special breakfast birthday party made our morning on Feb1, 2014.

BARNARDs Birthday 2014

Being the closest buffet resto to our place, we decided to celebrate  Barnards birthday in City Buffet fairview qc.  This is not my first time to have dined in city buffet but every time I come here their wide array of food choices  still overwhelmes me. You can have your choice of japanese sushi, chinese dimsum, filipino dish, red meat like the pork ribs and angus beef. The most popular I would say  would be the tempura coz every time they served it, it will be gone in seconds.. Another must try would be their chicken sweet and sour. Among my favorite in the buffet table.

For dessert, again so many to choose from.  But we like most their avocado flavored ice cream.  You can really taste the  avocado flavor in it,  there's no hint of bitter taste  just like how avocado actually taste like and not too sweet just like any other ice cream.  It is like everything is just right made out of perfection.

 Aside from the food, the  friendly waitresses and waiters is another to reason to come to City Buffet. A group would perform for you on your birthday.  They would sing and dance in front of your table with their party hats on and a birthday greeting plate. With Gara, our dear friend, it was again worth fun day with our celebrant brother, Barnard.

toledo

Municipality of Nabas (Filipino: Bayan ng Nabas or Aklanon and Malaynon: Banwa it Nabas) is a municipality in the province of Aklan, Philippines. It is located east of the town of Malay and Buruanga Peninsula at the northwest tip of Panay Island. It is a coastal town bounded on the north by Sibuyan Sea; on the south by the municipality of Pandan, Antique; on the east by Ibajay; and on the west by Malay.

with a local nabasnon

Arron s sand castle- this is his first

with nadine

coastal area

Facing the Sibuyan Sea, the town started as a small coastal village referred to as Barrio Alimbo which extends to the hills and mountains to the west.

visit to auntie cherry s place

Hurom-Hurom  is one of the cold spring resorts in Nabas, Aklan. The main pool is actually a basin that catches  water from a spring that flows from the mountains. Locals enjoy taking a dip here as it is way cheaper than going all the way to Boracay.  Plus, the cold water is just perfect for summer!

CHRISTMAS 2013

It was white Christmas for 2013...White was the theme color for this years Christmas party in Katarungan..

Terrified to spend Christmas alone in Lagro, I decided to  celebrate it in Katarungan with my sisters family whom I consider as my 2nd family too. I had to comply though to this years theme and that is, we should be in white top and jeans. No sweat..

We started out with the children's christmas party in the afternoon. The kids from the neighborhood were invited. So they came bringing presents for their exchange gifts.  I got busy helping out preparing food for them. Kiddie stuffs..cupcakes, candies, pansit, spring rolls and more..the trick was, we adorned the cupcakes with superheroes to make it more enticing for the kids. Childrens party is no fun without games..Divine took in charge of this.  The moms brought gifts and some cash too for the prices. After the tiring games, we served them with their food, the adults joined too in savoring the kiddie meals.  Afterwards, they continued with the party with dancing and other kids sang too.  The kids went home happy, bringing gifts they got from their monitos and monitas.

By 9pm we all dressed up for the mass. After church was the noche buena.  Aaron led the prayer thanking the Lord for the food and the blessings.

food...

It was minimal but sumptuous dinner prepared by Byne and Don.  Pastas were spaghetti with the filipino sweet style sauce and baked mac loaded with cheese.  Main menu was baby back ribs, then for dessert there were the mango flavored cake and choco merangue cake.  As a pasta fanatic, I was heavily into the baked mac. Yummy treat....

 

The Opening of gifts..

After dinner, the rest of the night was spent on gift giving. Took us hours because of so many gifts to give and to open. Everyone was upbeat to give and to receive but nothing compares to Aarons joy when it was his name being called.  Christmas is indeed for kids, and true enough that gifts will bring joy to them.  Aaron been hinting that he wants a ninja turtle prior to Christmas.  So from his lolo Pamboy and lola Thelma, he got Michaelangelo ninja turtle and he got a 3d ninja turtle book from me.  My nephew was so thrilled accepting the gifts.  The more he was getting, the happier he was.  His lola Inda bought him bike, his papa and mama bought all sort of action figures, heroes and villains.  His daddy Don bought ninja turtle sword and mask as present, and he got boxing gloves from his amune.The most awaited part of the gift giving was to whom the grand present will go. Grand because it was in cash form.  Brett sponsored it.  So our names were put in a bowl, and whoever Brett picked from the bowl will get the money. This year Divine got the prize.  It was almost 3am...so we ended our party..everyone was contented, I myself had a blast.  Merry Christmas!

NADINEs 2013 BIRTHDAY

 Nadines 39th birthday lunch at Sugi Resto in Greenbelt 2..

I went ahead to Greenbelt to have lunch with Nadine and the rest of the family. It was not an ordinary lunch cos that day was my sisters birthday.  This family loves surprises. So this one was another surprise for the celebrant. I was advised to go and meet them in the mall.  From the mall, we proceeded to Sugi.

What made this ordinary lunch extraordinary was that Brett reserved a private tatami room for us. We were able to experience an authentic traditional japanese restaurant were in we had to take off our shoes, sat on the floor and felt Japanese ambiance around us.  The room was all to us, there is a button to press if we need assistance. Waiters in their kimonos were there to take orders and assist the customers to their needs.

 







 I had assorted tempura, it was 3 piece consisting of shrimp, fish and eggplant.  I had assorted sushi.  There was a bowl of beans sprout for side dish and our favorite appetizer was the pickle salad.  There were bite size of fruits too. It was served ala carte and presented in trays.  One full tray and huge portion of servings.  We stayed for a while and took pleasure on our food.


 The Origins of Sugi.
 Owned and managed by Sugi Management. Corporation, Sugi was established in Greenbelt Arcade. back in February 2, 1983. Sugi was conceptualized and tested on a modest scale by Toshikazu Yoshida in M.H del Pilar prior to Makati operation.
The name sugi is japanese for pine tree from where this fragrant wood is taken from; a tree which can only grow higher and higher.

After lunch we strolled the mall then dropby in a pastry bar where we had the cake for the celebrant.  Aaron sang for her mama and said his wishes for her.  It was a yummy cheesecake for everyone.

the birthday cake-cheesecake for all of us

ARRONs CHRISTMAS PLAY

 December 18 2013: I was invited to watch the ISYC Christmas play. It was presented with a family wherein the kids started to ask their parents how people celebrate Christmas around the globe ...and about that time the cute performers started to sing Tagalog Christmas songs..The Filipino Christmas celebration..that was they portrayed.

 On the later part of the play, they presented the Nativity of Jesus.  The scene after when Jesus was born, the section Camel where my nephew Arron was a part of, started to sing Silent Night. And again when it is the kids performing, its always mind blowing..somehow touches the heart maybe because of their genuine singing and performances.

They ended the play by showing the ISYCs effort to help the Yolanda victims..They showed photos of how every kid and their families and the teachers took part in their donation drive for the victims.  I know Aaron broke his piggy bank to shell out his savings to buy some stuff for the victims.  Hopefully these kids will continue and take with them what they have learned.

The after celebration of Aarons performance was in Bistro Mateo in Tiendesitas Pasig.  We had lunch and surprised Aaron with presents for a great performance.