I have a barkada (group of very close friends) from grade school/ high school and we have been hanging out regularly together since 1988, our first year of high school.
I met Amanda in the third grade, when I moved from Los Angeles to Manila. I was the new kid in school, started the school year late because school ends in June there and starts in June here, had no uniform and couldn't speak a word of Tagalog. She started school even later than me, and I first noticed her on the bus and later in my class. And she couldn't speak a word of Tagalog either! She became my best friend.
Amanda is usually the type of eater that likes to graze. We would hang out in her kitchen and check out the fridge, otherwise end up eating her super soft and squishy pan de sal, a type of local roll. I say usually because when she was training for the Philippine Team in badminton later on she would eat like a horse instead of a cow and I distinctly remember her eating a cowboy porkchop...Amanda? Was dat chu? Today, she continues to burn calories with her triathlons and training for them.
I met Amanda in the third grade, when I moved from Los Angeles to Manila. I was the new kid in school, started the school year late because school ends in June there and starts in June here, had no uniform and couldn't speak a word of Tagalog. She started school even later than me, and I first noticed her on the bus and later in my class. And she couldn't speak a word of Tagalog either! She became my best friend.
Amanda is usually the type of eater that likes to graze. We would hang out in her kitchen and check out the fridge, otherwise end up eating her super soft and squishy pan de sal, a type of local roll. I say usually because when she was training for the Philippine Team in badminton later on she would eat like a horse instead of a cow and I distinctly remember her eating a cowboy porkchop...Amanda? Was dat chu? Today, she continues to burn calories with her triathlons and training for them.
I met Pia the next year because she was my classmate. Pia likes eating soup with her meal and couldn't cook to save her life. You know those funny squiggly fibrous things in banana bread? When she made banana bread, it came out like the big lump that it was when we put it in the oven. I couldn't understand it. She recently got married and for her shower, we all gave her things like tupperware, ready to heat soup and cookbooks.
I met Racky in sixth grade. Racky is an adventurous eater and loves steak as well. Her hubby Joel is our human doggy-bag be-gone guy...he eats all our leftovers.
Then we all met Anjeanette (whew, that was long, I call her Jing) in our first year of high school. She comes from a big family of foodies. Culinary speaking, I learned a lot from her and her family. We were in Hong Kong together for a graduation trip the summer after high school and her dad treated us to dinner once. He gave me my first taste of caviar. You can't go back after that can you? She and I end up splitting meals in restos and finishing all the wine too. Hi Jing!
The five of us have been through a lot (of restaurants and stories), and they are my first inspiration for this blog. As adults, we have made it a point to have dinner together a least once a month to catch up with each other's lives. No matter where we are in our lives, we can feel like high school girls again and chat about all sorts of things. Sometimes, a whole evening isn't enough.(Which is why my hubby doesn't hang out with us. He says he gets bored because all we talk about is ourselves--haha!)
I decided one of the things I have to do before I die is write a book, and thus, this blog was born to spark some sort of creativity within me. Maybe just to even see if I have the writing chops, enough for a book. As Confucius once said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
We decided to celebrate Jing's new condo by inaugurating it with a meal.
Since that night we decided our new challenge for 2010 is that instead of eating dinner out, we will each host a dinner in our own homes.
Jing decided to host a Filipino dinner.
The menu was corn and clam soup, ginataang manok (chicken in coconut milk) ukoy (shrimp patties), inihaw na bangus (grilled milkfish) with onions and tomatoes and for dessert, mazapan na pili (pili nut marzipan). She served Montes Alpha Chardonnay with the meal. The type of meal where you run out of rice for the meat, then meat for the rice and so on...resulting in major carbo loading.
Then Jing brought out these yummy golden bars of pili marzipan (no we did not eat a stick of butter as it may seem in the photo above).
I said it would have been good to dip in chocolate, so then she took out this:
She melted it in the micro and brought out some yummy biscuits from Japan to go with it.
SO GOOOD.
As it approached, um 1030PM, one by one, they all went home. Racky and her little toddler Tadeo; Pia and her new hubby, Miguel. Amanda tried to stay with us but she was nodding off already since was up early that morning to train. Nobody left but two winos, the hostess with the mostess and the newbie food blogger.
Our conversation went like this:
Jing: So should we open this wine Peebee gave us?
Me: Up to you.
Jing: I'll only open it if we finish it.
Me: Um, ok!
Our conversation centered mostly on our kids, being married (she 11 years, me 8.5) and how it is when spouses have to live apart most of the year due to work reasons. There's always that balance of missing the person/ liking the freedom/ still missing the person. We had a really good time, wishing our early bird counterparts still had time to hang out instead of having to go.
Next is Racky's new flat. Can't wait!
Since that night we decided our new challenge for 2010 is that instead of eating dinner out, we will each host a dinner in our own homes.
Jing decided to host a Filipino dinner.
The menu was corn and clam soup, ginataang manok (chicken in coconut milk) ukoy (shrimp patties), inihaw na bangus (grilled milkfish) with onions and tomatoes and for dessert, mazapan na pili (pili nut marzipan). She served Montes Alpha Chardonnay with the meal. The type of meal where you run out of rice for the meat, then meat for the rice and so on...resulting in major carbo loading.
Then Jing brought out these yummy golden bars of pili marzipan (no we did not eat a stick of butter as it may seem in the photo above).
I said it would have been good to dip in chocolate, so then she took out this:
SO GOOOD.
As it approached, um 1030PM, one by one, they all went home. Racky and her little toddler Tadeo; Pia and her new hubby, Miguel. Amanda tried to stay with us but she was nodding off already since was up early that morning to train. Nobody left but two winos, the hostess with the mostess and the newbie food blogger.
Our conversation went like this:
Jing: So should we open this wine Peebee gave us?
Me: Up to you.
Jing: I'll only open it if we finish it.
Me: Um, ok!
Our conversation centered mostly on our kids, being married (she 11 years, me 8.5) and how it is when spouses have to live apart most of the year due to work reasons. There's always that balance of missing the person/ liking the freedom/ still missing the person. We had a really good time, wishing our early bird counterparts still had time to hang out instead of having to go.
Next is Racky's new flat. Can't wait!
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