TheModernPinayWife: My Birthday - Good food. Good times. Good fun.

Monday, January 24, 2011

My Birthday - Good food. Good times. Good fun.

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January 23, 2011 -- Happy birthday to me!! Yesterday, I celebrated the anniversary of my 25th birthday. Of course I am not giving away my age, for they say that most of the time, I do not look like it. Thanks to my own Belo and Calayan in the form of positive attitude, happy disposition in life, love of comedy film, and music. And the biggest factor of all--my big man and my little man, who when I watch play and make a fool of themselves together, give me that instant face lift. These are the reasons, I suppose, that make me not look my age most of the time. That's most of the time, I am stressing that out, for there are times I look older than my real age. I am thinking the culprit would be sleepless nights due to deadlines,or due to paperworks brought home, or due to my little man's unpredictable sleeping behavior, or due to dvd marathon. Lack of sleep that brought stress, that brought sagging of the face, wrinkles, fine lines and out-of-this-world tantrums. Sleepless nights can really bring out the monster in me, physically and attitude-wise. Other than that, not patting myself on the back, a lot really say I do not look like my age. I really hope so.

Prior my natal day, my cousins planned of a dinner date for all of us. We went to Yakimix in Tomas Morato. Original plan was in Trinoma branch but due to the long queue, majority decided to shift to Morato. Elmer and I were the first ones to arrive, and by then we found out that we did not have a reservation! Yakimix, now gaining a large population of followers, is full especially on weekends. Reservation is a must, really. We were like 18 hungry ones, so we had a hard time arranging ourselves in one table. After a long 1 hour of waiting, we finally had a taste of their all-you-can-eat dishes. Japanese food reign on the buffet, yet there were some Filipino food (I saw a crispy pata) and surprisingly, Italian (there was a pizza there, I swear!) Sushi person that I am, my tummy feasted with different kinds of sushi they have there. I enjoyed their salmon and tuna sashimi so much. Valued at more or less 650.00 per head (depends on your add-ons), with a lot of food on the buffet, this rate is not bad at all. Later that night, we transfered to Starbucks and there we welcomed my birthday. I felt so old, who wouldn't? I am the eldest of all the cousins, and there they were with me. But I also feel so young, for despite the age differences, we still have times like this bonding with each other over some plateful of yummy dishes.

Yakimix in Tomas Morato

I enjoyed a lot of sushi in different colors and shapes (and calories!)

They also have a shabu-shabu

A gathering that will soon be on a regular basis (crossing fingers!)

I usually celebrate my birthday in two days. The birthday itself, the 23rd, with my Rockville/Bonifacio family, and the day after with my Fairview/Kimpo family. My Rockville treat would always be at home. My dad dreads going out for whatever reason so you will find me dialing numbers of food delivery service so I can still treat my family in the comforts of our home. Not losing hope each year, I still announced my plan of treating them out on my birthday. I expected my dad's usual contra-reaction. Surprisingly, dad just kept mum about it and everybody was kinda surprised of this big leap (big leap na talaga 'to!). So on my birthday, I treated them for lunch at Romulo Cafe.

I am not at all new to Romulo's and in fact I also blogged my first Romulo experience here. We ordered the bestsellers: kare kare and flying tilapia. This time, we added another best seller on our table--the pancit puti. Everybody raved about the food we had at Romulo Cafe.

I do not know why despite my knowledge of Romulo Cafe's
swirls of black and white interior, I still wore this blouse. I only noticed
it when my sis pointed it out. What a booboo!

Later around 6;20pm, we went to the restaurant where I put my reservation for dinner with my Fairview family. Yes, this time, I celebrated it with them on the day of my birthday itself. The restaurant, whenever I pass there, stirred my curiosity for aside from the great interiors that can be viewed from outside, the place is always full not to mention the peeps lined up outside patiently waiting for their names to be called. So because the place really looked interesting, I decided to bring my Fairview fam there. The restaurant's name is Lugang Cafe. Quite an odd name for a restaurant, I thought. Later I found out that this restaurant is the famous Bellagio in Shanghai that is known for their delicious Taiwanese dishes. Now in Manila, they changed Bellagio into Lugang, one of Taiwan's best places.

Lugang Cafe's interior is awesome! The walls are of different designs. Our side of the wall have bricks with mirror-like posts in front that when viewed from several meters away looked like a weaving pattern. The wall in front of (but a bit far from) us have a different pattern in which I cannot describe blow by blow for I had no chance to scrutinize but it looked like a weaved pattern of some solid material in immaculate white. Our couch has black and white swirls that goes very well with the wall behind it, while some couches in the middle are made of cream leather material. For some reason, the chairs remind me of Gucci and Chanel patterns. Lugang Cafe's door is a massive one and is really beautiful, that kuya Edmund, the one that has an eye for what's pretty when it comes to furniture and interior, noticed it at once.

Elmer, my big man, enjoyed the couch of black and white swirls that goes
very well with the weave-like wall behind it.

We ordered Lugang bestsellers: 3 cup chicken, beef with crullers, spicy dory (fish), and golden rice.

Spicy Dory is a personal fave. The dory fish is so tender, and the spicy-ness
is a bit powerful yet not that kind that will make you quit munching anytime.
In fact, I had this without rice, so to appreciate the taste more. I love it!

No meal is complete without the rice.

Small chicken parts cooked in 1 cup sesame oil, 1 cup rice wine, and 1 cup
soy sauce, hence the name: 3 Cup Chicken. I love how the marinade of three
different sauces blend well together coming up with a yummy dish.
p290 good for three.

Beef with chinese crullers is my personal favorite. It has thinly sliced beef,
that was so tender with crunchy bicho bicho, all embraced by the tasty
sauce. This one is a steal for P280.00 good for three.

My lovely SIL's gave me cakes from Conti's. I was really craving for a Mango Bravo and they turned into mind readers that day for they gave me just what I craved for. We finished Mango Bravo so fast! My little man loved it too!!