Day 13 - House Guests

Here be my brother's dogs Nicki and Ginger. They'll be at our house for the week as my brother and his wife and her family will be in Cambodia for a holiday.

I'm grateful to have them for the time being as they are super duper cute. :3

Day 12 - Some New Friends

Tonight was a little strange for me as I actually went out to a bar with some friends. And not in the South. :P This was taken at The Bourn Food Station on Taft Ave., Manila. And sure, it was near the university I used to go to every day, but when I was going to school there I hardly ever went out. I honestly can't recall a time that I went out at night during the time I was in college. Okay, maybe once, to a poetry reading, and it was actually for extra credit. LOL. As much as I would like to say that I was a nerd, I don't have the grades to back that up so I'm just going to say that I was really poor and lazy.

Anyway, with me here are M, who is an old friend by now, E, whom I met last year and M2, whom I met just a few weeks before this photo was taken. I know I always say that I hate meeting new people, but I really only mean that when I meet crappy people. :P When I meet people like M, E and M2, I do think about rescinding that statement.

Day 11 - Clown Cake

This rainbow cake (but it was named 'clown cake') from Epicurious at Shangri-la Mall was yummy. And it's so Instagrammable, too.

Anyway, I was at Shangri-la Mall today to meet with my former co-worker and friend L. We had lunch and dessert and coffee and talked about lots and lots of stuff. I think the last time we saw each other was at my birthday celebration in 2014. And we weren't able to talk much then as it was a "party" and there were other people around.

I wonder if I will ever get tired of meeting my friends individually for lunch and coffee. I don't think I will. I'm not supposed to anyway, am I?

Day 10 - Pasinaya 2016

The line to see the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra was so long, M and I could only get seats at the very top of the theatre. Hence, this very difficult and then turned out to be mostly worthless shot :P But I think our smiling faces are still able to convey some of the emotions we felt during this day. I say some because we felt a lot of emotions this day. A whole lot. Just ask me about it if you see me personally if you'd like to find out why. ;)

Day 9 - Pot Luck + Cooking in Our Kitchen

Yum! Don't they all look yummy? They all were. :)

So, technically, this was our dinner for Saturday night, but eating these extended until the wee hours of Sunday morning so I think it's fine to use this pic as my January 24 picture.

I hosted a farewell party for a dear, dear work acquaintance who will be returning to his hometown (forever!) in a few days. Since he's been our personal chef for the past four years we've known each other, we requested that he cook us something on his farewell party. He decided to make a chicken dish (it's the one on the lower right of the photo). He deboned it and everything. It's chicken stuffed with feta cheese, spinach and pâté de campagne, whatever that is. The sauce is a combination of orange and mango juice + my grandfather's Martini and chicken bone er, essence, I don't know what I'm talking about. Anyway, it was really, really good.

So that he wouldn't have to cook so much stuff, I decided it would be a pot luck event so our friends brought the other dishes. X brought the macaroni salad, which she made herself, too. The liempo on the upper right of the photo was brought by B. And the creamy garlic potato dish was made by me. All dishes received good reviews. Hooray! We are successful foodies!

R brought red and white wine and our desserts, from C and M, were J.Co donuts and Frozen Brazo de Mercedes.