My Good Friend's Ever Ever After

It doesn't matter how long you and your boyfriend have been together. If it is the perfect time to be together and forever bound by marriage, it will come! I've had friends who've been together for about 8 years but still things came up and it ended their relationship. There are some who have been together for 2 years but end up happily married. But this story is somewhat more special, this is the story of how a 1 year and 4 month old courtship ended up in the altar.

Last Saturday, December 11, a really good college friend of mine Ethel got married to her first love, Jayson. She’s my first friend (within my circle of close friends) to get married and I wouldn’t pass it up for the world! And I was surprised she was the first one to get married. Her wedding was also the second I’ve been to this year, after my cousin’s Cebu wedding.

I remember around July or August of this year when she sent me an instant message asking me, “Mai, kung ikakasal ako pupunta ka ba?” (“Mai, if I were to get married, will you go (to the wedding)?”). To which I replied to with a resounding yes! Definitely yes!

Here’s a short story. We went to college in De La Salle University, we were blockmates when I was still majoring in Organizational Communication. I think because we were both only kids, was the reason why we became close. She has always been boyish, a total cowboy! She would be comfortable in jeans and sneakers, and we'd have the time of our lives laughing at her when she wore a skirt or a dress.

Believe it or not she wanted to be a soldier, and not just an ordinary foot soldier, but one who marched down the front lines and even wanted to sign up at the Philippine Military Academy. She was one step closer to her dream of becoming a soldier when she signed up for our Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC). I was an officer; she was part of the Shore Patrol. She would’ve become a much better officer than me, she was always with us in the ROTC office, she actively helped in our duties, in short she loved the job – maybe I should’ve given it to her instead.

We also bonded over basketball. We’d trudge on over to Araneta and watch and cheer our lungs out for our school.

We also went out to the beach or to the mall. We were almost inseparable in college. And even after graduation, we tried to remain in constant communication with each other.

Fast forward to today, she’s now Mrs. Ethelynda Tee Aguila, and I couldn’t be happier. When she walked down the aisle, I couldn’t hold back the tears. I was crying tears of joy! She was radiant, like a true blushing bride on her wedding day.

That would be Jayson, the groom, the guy with a lot of heart and guts, story about their love life LATER! By the way, I almost became commentator/reader for the mass. The real commentator was late, and so Ethel “assigned” me to replace her.

Here are photos of her wedding at Mary The Queen Parish, Greenhills, San Juan. It was simple, but you could just feel the LOVE.

The facade of the Church.

About to exchange their vows.

Saying their "I-do's"

Ethel putting the ring on Jayson's finger

Sharing their first kiss as husband and wife

Signing their marriage contract

Here are more pictures







With the groom's parents

With Tita Linda, Ethel's Mom





The traditional showering of the bride and groom with flowers and the blessed aras (coins)

To my dear friend Ethel, and to her now-husband, Jayson I wish you have a blessed and fruitful life together. Believe in the power of marriage and the happiness it will bring to the both of you. It will never be perfect, just like Fr. Mac said in his homily, but it'll be up to the both of you to make it perfect! I just want to say I am so happy for the two of you! :) Best wishes Ethel and Jayson!

CLICK HERE FOR THEIR RECEPTION AT THE EDSA SHANGRI-LA HOTEL! :)

Going Gaga Over Chinese!

Oh yes I love Chinese food. From your next-door Chowking to a North Park, I would definitely eat there! I've had my fair share of authentic Chinese food when Mom and I traveled to Hong Kong and Macau oh-so-long-ago..and sometimes your palate just looks for that same authentic taste! Going to Binondo can be quite a hassle, but luckily there are restaurants here in the Metro that offer quality Chinese food, besides North Park and that small restaurant in Shopwise Libis that I raved about!

So we stumbled upon really good Chinese haunts namely: Mongkok and Eat Well Delicious Kitchen. Both restaurants really deserve a blog of their own, but Chinese will be Chinese right?

First stop is Mongkok. This little restaurant is found in Rockwell in Makati. Mom and I have passed by this without really giving it much thought, until Mom started craving for Pata Tim. We were so surprised at how cheap it was, we decided we would definitely come back here!

Then when my BFFs and I were looking for something cheap, I saw myself sitting in a table in Mongkok in Rockwell ordering (YET AGAIN!) my favorite Soya Chicken Noodle Soup.

Here are the other dishes ordered by our over-ordering friend Amanda.
Yang Chow Fried Rice (a Chinese resto must-have)

Braised Beef Brisket Pot

My friend who was on a stringent diet only had Stuffed Tofu

Salt and Pepper Spare Ribs

This dimsum was really good. Sad thing is I've forgotten the name!

And last but not the least, the first time I met and fell in love with Shao Long Pao! I was sooo amazed by the soup inside the dimsum! Love at first sight!

Overall, Mongkok may just be this unnoticeable little restaurant in Rockwell. But their tasty and CHEAP dishes can sure attract hungry yuppies. It's a great food find and right now while writing this, I am missing Mongkok with all my heart!

Next stop after reading a blog entry from one of my favorite food bloggers, TripOrTreats, I decided to treat Mom to a little and belated birthday dinner at Eat Well Delicious Kitchen. There are 2 branches, one in The Fort, and the other where were we ate in was at Greenhills.

The baby of Law Kwok Keung, chef extraordinaire of Shangri-La, this Chinese restaurant boasts of authenticity. It must have been really good, because even if the restaurant was located at the liblib part of the huge Greenhills arcade, families kept coming in even at 9.30pm! And when Mom and I were here it was right smack in the middle of the Undas long weekend and Greenhills was almost deserted! They must be doing really good Chinese food!

Learning from past mistakes, Mom and I decided to just order dishes we could share. So here's what we ordered! First is my love, Xiao Long Pao. Boy was this dimsum the bomb! You can just have this with Yang Chow and it's over! :) By the way, for the Xiao Long Pao addicts out there, you could order the 8-pieces!

Mom wanted to try this because it sounded cool. Three Cup Chicken Hot Pot. It did not disappoint! I loved the spiciness to this dish!

Of course, Yang Chow Fried Rice! I don't eat rice, so Mom had this all to herself!

We ordered a soup dish through the recommendation of ToT in her Eat Well blog, Wonton Noodle Soup. Dear Lord, it was better than I expected. I couldn't get over the wanton floating around! And the soup was really tasty! YUMMY! It was so good I forgot to take a picture of it! But it's something I'll come back to Eat Well for, plus the Xiao Long Pao!

So if craving for something Chinese, I totally recommend these 2 restaurants! You won't be sorry! They're really good and really cheap! You'd spend less than a thousand, and you'd be full to the brim!

Mongkok
Concourse Lvl., Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Drive cor. Estrella St.
Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel. No. 756-5112


Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen
Unit RP2-A Connecticut Carpark cor. Missouri St.
Greenhills Shopping Center, Greenhills, San Juan
Tel. No. 722-8518

The other Eat Well! branch is at
Unit C Ground Floor, Net Quad Building
4th Ave cor. 30th St.
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Tel. No. 856-9408

New Food Trip: Peri-Peri Grill House

Bez and I can't seem to get over each other that we met up for the 3rd time this week. This is a major feat for us since I already transferred to Cainta last month. Funny because she was in Greenhills waiting for the traffic situation along EDSA to improve, and since it was just near my usual route home, we met up. I had to wait out the traffic as well, so spontaneous date was at The Promenade.

The usual noshers that we are, she wanted to go back to Peri-Peri Grill House to eat. I was excited because this was a new food haunt for me.

Trency said that the place looked different already. The last time she ate there was 3 years ago, and they have improved the look of the place. Cool addition to the restaurant was WIFI! I absolutely love establishments with free wifi..agree with me on this! :)

And so the starving Trency ordered the same food I did: Peri Chicken Combo 1. A delightful 1/4 chicken platter with 2 side dishes. Trency's side dishes were Jave Rice and Buttered Corn and Carrots. For me, I had the French Fries and Buttered Corn and Carrots.


Besides the free gravy that comes along with your dish, there are other condiments you could try to make the chicken flavor come alive! Just choose from any of these 3 Peri-Peri sauces - Hot Peri-Peri Sauce, some oily sauce thing, and Mild Peri-Peri Sauce. :)

The chicken was really good! Since it's grilled, it's supposedly healthier than deep-fried. The meat was really tender and full of flavor. Something I'd recommend to chicken addicts out there. :)

The only thing I didn't like about the restaurant was its confined space. We stayed outside, but when I went in to use the bathroom, I got confused. Upon entering, to the left there was this huge mirror that reflected the other side. So you'd think there was an extension. Sure mirrors are used to make something look bigger than it actually seems. But I just found their use of mirrors weird and unnecessary. Pictures below are from Click The City.



They don't have service charge, so if they please you with their service and out of the kindness of your hearts, give 'em a little something. We didn't have problems when we were there, except that the server forgot my french fries.

Come to Peri-Peri Grill House if you want fantabulous chicken! They have other stuff on the menu that looked really enticing. Just be prepared to pay up, it's a little pricey. But I guess it's worth it, cos the food was good anyway. :)

Peri-Peri Grill House
G/F Promenade, Greenhills, San Juan
725-5270
Visit their website at http://www.periperigrill.com/