This month was hectic in a good way for celebrations.
Then, boom, 15 years.
But compared to an almost last minute trip overseas last year, we stayed put this year. We just came from a trip with my sister and the kids to Hong Kong recently. So it was a no brainer that we’d rest our bodies and our wallets.
At 15, there was no need for the theatrics. So, we just went to Rockwell for dinner and a movie.
Our 15th year face
For months since our trip to Europe, we had been looking for a place that serves carbonara without the cream and all.
We had been craving for the traditional one with pecorino romano and guanciale, and I could not find it at all.
I was unsure what I searched but eventually found one in Makati. We had no idea that it was just there all along.🤣 No brainer to us then that Rockwell was the place to be.
We have long searched for this carbonara
Authentic Italian food
We had ordered a salad, ravioli, carbonara, pizza and some sweets for dinner. The trip last time put us off track with our diet, and while we still do not eat rice, Italian pasta just left too indelible of a mark.LOL
I have been occasionally cooking pasta with cherry tomatoes from scratch. Suffice to say, we relaxed that rule a little bit for Italian food. (Excuses.)
After dinner, we just had a cup of coffee before watching… The Nun II. I true Mon fashion, we have watched a horror movie in our 15th.
It was not a packed cinema as it was a weekday, and it felt colder than usual. I personally felt like watching Barbie again but, oh well.
A couple of days later, it was JB, Papa and Kuya’s birthday lunch.
Papa’s 70th birthday lunch
Blake all smiles
We had decided to just have lunch in one of the garden restaurants in a garden restaurant in Antipolo.
Kuya and her wife even brought Blake, who was recently injured. One of their dogs bit him hard on his left front leg and broke it in the process. Poor baby. We had titanium screwed on his bones and a cast to heal it. Still, he was quite energetic and acted like he was not running with three legs.
The food in the restaurant however was… quite interesting. It had a peculiar mix of Italian, American diner and Filipino food. As Gia Gunn once said, ‘My god. There’s room for everybody!’ 😅
The restaurant likely looked smashing in the evening with their fairy lights up in the mountains, but we were not able to have dinner given people’s existing commitments.
And Mama’s birthday lunch
Would not say no to cake
Last but not the least, another birthday lunch, this time for Mama. There was a newly-opened eat-all-you-can buffet in Robinson’s Antipolo, where birthday celebrants dine for free as long as a certain number of regular customers are met.
We obviously grabbed the opportunity. HAHAHA
Papa is usually not a fan of these cook-your-food type of lunch. He would always complain why we had to pay an amount but the onus was on us to cook what we’d eat. Bless him.
So we’d just cook way ahead of him whatever he wanted, so he won’t be stressed out by this dining arrangement.
As hectic as the series of celebrations was, it was also something I look forward to. Any opportunity to celebrate is an opportunity to celebrate.
I am always delighted for another year to do all these things.
