Moms’ Day Out

Earlier she greeted me saying, “Now that I’m a mom, I’ve realized how both challenging and fulfilling it is to be one. Thank you for being a great example Mama . Thank you for helping me to become who I am today so I can also be a great mom to Nate. I love you! Happy Mother’s Day!”

My daughter is so thoughtful  when it comes to special occasions that we both treasure. Now that she is  a certified mom, it is more lovely to celebrate the beauty of  motherhood. Such endless stories  about the baby we both love. Nate is now almost six months old so everything that is new to Nissa’s eyes are all recorded in her cam.  They celebrated Mother’s Day by bringing Nate to the mall and had  dinner there, baby and all. It may not be a romantic way to celebrate with a baby in tow but he is precisely the reason why mother’s day exists.

Yesterday,  my daughter came over to cast her vote  and we later went to Burgoo for lunch, just the two of us. There was a time when we used to dine a lot in one of their branches when it was newly opened at Gateway Mall in Cubao. Though everything is a bit pricey, service is always good.  I remember spending a birthday there with the family and they gave me a small cake ( a larger version of a cupcake) with a matching candle to blow.  You can always draw or write anything on the large paper roll which they use as place mat while waiting for the food. Anyway, Nissa and I were both laughing when we were served what she ordered and that included some take-out for Josef.  Maybe the wait staff  was wondering  how we could finish all that food which I think would serve at least ten.   Hahaha, we were celebrating Mother’s Day, right?

This is their Supreme Sampler. They used to have spring rolls instead of those two large cheese sticks.  Those onion rings are old-time favorites.

I asked for their bestselling veggie salad and the staff recommended this. They call it Manhattan’s Best  with small slices of chicken, croutons, apples,  and pineapple slices on a bed of fresh lettuce leaves. I found it a little dry though.

This Shrimps and Ribs Platter was really pricey at P695.00 but I loved the spicy shrimps. It came with three kinds of dips and sauces and a small cup of corn and  diced carrots. One would think, these are more than enough for the two of us but Nissa said we’ll take  some of them home  so she ordered two more on the menu.

It’s a Seafood Jambalaya Supreme. Back in those days when  we used to frequent Burgoo, I loved ordering this since the mix of seafood,  sausage and chicken on a bed of rice was just an enticing meal. At P475.00, it would serve at least two , three if you are a picky eater. Their pasta would not compare of course to those they serve at Bellini’s  but we ordered a family sized one for take out.

The wait staff greeted me “Belated Happy Mother’s Day ma’am” and Nissa said, ” I am a mom too”. She smiled at us while she took our picture. It was really a great day spent with my daughter. And yes, being a mom and the joys of motherhood were the top topics on our list.

 

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Mother Stories Make Me Cry

I watched the Monday edition of KrisTV this morning and they featured three successful mothers, actresses who were married to foreigners  and are happy with their married life. It’s so lovely to see Ina Raymundo’s kids greeting her with such loving words and G Toengie’s  foreign-looking kids speaking in Tagalog. They recounted their lives living abroad, the hardships of having no household help, being hands on in everything and yet they are raising loving, lovable and good-looking kids.

Being a mother is not only a 24/7 responsibility. Being a mother is a responsibility you carry until you die. And the reward of having loving, respectful, responsible and  thoughtful kids is more than enough to make your heart sing. There is something so fulfilling  about motherhood that I can’t really explain. Our relationship with our children are so special that we are ready to sacrifice everything for their well-being. And what makes it more poignant is that as you see them grow  into responsible adults, every small achievement that they do  is your achievement too and every success that they achieve  is  also your own.

My daughter who got married last November is three months on the family way now. And I am waiting with bated breath for the day when I’ll be able to hold a grandchild in my arms. You bet, the soon-to-be grandma is more excited than ever. Don’t they always say that the coming of a grandchild is another milestone for someone slowly approaching the twilight years? No, don’t get me wrong, I am still quite far from the stage of being called a “senior citizen” but I like to think that having a grandchild to love, to care for and to pamper is one such blessing that I will embrace wholeheartedly.  I told Nissa that I saved more than a dozen bird’s-eye diapers which she used when she was still a baby, complete with initials and  embroidery at the edges painstakingly  done by Mom. After twenty-nine years, they are still in very good condition.   In this heat, you can’t always use disposable diapers to wrap a baby, that would be torture. And I still believe in the old-fashioned way of using baby diapers and bringing up kids  the way I was also brought up by my parents.

And the greatest compliment that Nissa told me was when she gave me a card during Mother’s day a year ago saying that she’ll be having a family soon (they have just set the date  for the wedding around that time) and she will bring up her kids the way I brought them up. And that made me cry.

Kudos to motherhood. Happy Mother’s Day in advance to all loving mothers out there.

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A Day Worth Remembering

Yes, it was a day worth remembering. Celebrating Mother’s Day with the family really made me so happy. We started the day by attending the Holy Mass at St. Jude Parish then we later went to SM Hypermart in Pasig to do some groceries and to have lunch. We were looking for a new place , a quiet one obviously to celebrate lunch. I was enticed by the sumptuous-looking cakes displayed at the window of Icings. Compared to the other restaurants in the area, Icings probably would only sit twenty people. We were only supposed to buy some of their pastries. We asked if they also offer lunch, they do, so we decided to try it. The place is clean and has its own comfort room.  The food is really  not that exceptional but the simplicity of the presentation is just fine. When it comes to food, I prefer taste more than the presentation. It’s a plus factor of course if you could combine the two which makes the food more appetizing.

Celebrating such occasion would not be the same without taking pictures of the place .  Force of habit, that’s what the camera is for, to record memories.

 Lemon Grass Chicken Skewers

 Grilled Porkchop in Fruit Sauce

 Hawaiian Loco Moco

Barbeque Pork Spareribs

A yummy Banana-Choco Loaf. We had it for dessert. 

And here’s what made me teary-eyed. After we finished our meal, Nissa gave me this beautiful hand-made card which has dedications of the three of them inside.

She is into arts and crafts and I really admire the way she assembled the silk flower designs and attached a glossy ribbon . But what made it so touching are the words they wrote on the card. In part she said, “Continue to be an inspiration to others as you have been to your family. I will be starting my  own family soon and the lessons you have taught us will surely be passed on – for generations to come.”

We went to Watson’s and to the supermarket later while son and hubby were waiting for the Pacquiao-Mosley fight. They  mounted a big screen at the activity area so shoppers can watch the fight. Of course, it was to be expected, Manny won! Another pride for the Filipino people. It was raining cats and dogs when we left the place and we could hardly see the road we were traversing. When we passed by the Rainforest Park on our way home, we saw several people walking drenched to the skin and hubby remarked, “tamang tama, rainforest nga“. His comment was not really laughable but it was the way he delivered it that kept the three of us in stitches.  He had me laughing so hard which prompted him to remark, “don’t laugh at the misfortunes of others.” That’s hubby for you, he really had a bountiful sense of humor. And it made my day complete, celebrating the day with my family. And here are some  family pictures which a server at Icings took earlier. We normally bring a tripod, but that is a bit overkill for a simple lunch so we have to rely on the  staff of the restaurant to take our family photo.

It was indeed a day worth remembering.

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Happy Mother’s Day (May 08)

For all wonderful mothers out there, I am greeting you “Happy Mother’s Day” in advance. Two years ago, I blogged about being a mom and last year, I took some pictures of the place we went to, to  celebrate Mother’s Day. How time flies! Where have all the years gone? I promised myself I would pay tribute to all the lovely people we call our mothers. It does not really matter whether they are Nanay, Inang, Ina,  Mum, Mom, Mommy, or Mama, all these words are just loving and affectionate way of calling our wonderful mothers. And as I’ve said in my previous blogs, you can only learn to appreciate what motherhood means when you become a mother yourself.They say that there is probably no relationship as pure as that of a mother and child. That special bond would always be there. A lot has been written about motherhood and being a mom.

What makes someone a mother? Maybe the difference lies in the fact that a true mother bestows on her child that everlasting love. Make her proud this mother’s day. Show her that you appreciate every single effort she is doing for you. Make her feel that she is really someone special.

My daughter asked me last night where I want to have a family lunch on Mother’s Day. It’s always been something celebrated with the whole family. As long as we are together, it does not matter much where we go.  I do prefer Italian cuisine though and would love to taste again  the “oh-so-yummy-mouth- watering” gelato  at Amici or the “to die for” Orange cake at Bellini’s. It’s been a while since we had dinner at Burgoo at Gateway mall. It used to be our favorite place for celebrating birthdays and such other special occasions.

A close friend sent me this wonderful message today. Would love to share it with you.

Once upon a memory
Someone wiped away a tear
Held me close and loved me,
Thank you, Mother dear.

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In Celebration of Mother’s Day

“I love you, Mom”.

We could always say those important words to our moms at any time of the day or any day of the year, right?   But some of us wait for special occasions like Mother’s Day to tell our mothers that we care.

Every second Sunday of May, we celebrate Mother’s Day as a tribute to all those wonderful moms out there.  The joy of motherhood is incomparable to all the material things we have in this world.  And not all women are given the gift of  being  God’s instrument in procreation.

Sunday is always a family day for us. We always make it a point to attend Sunday mass together.  Today is a special day though and hubby took care of our lunch, my two kids gave me some special gifts. How thoughtful really to be remembered this way.  I took some shots of our lunch at Chef D’  Angelo, an Italian-American restaurant that  is famous for huge servings of chicken, pasta, pizza, salad and other rice-based meals. If you are on a tight budget, this is the place to be.  We’ve been coming back here time and again.

A bacon potato cheese chowder, it’s delicious served hot.

A chicken pasta sampler

A seafood medley pasta – a fettuccine pasta with sautéed tender shrimps and calamari in Scampi  sauce

Salisbury Steak with rice

Hearty Burger

A mouth-watering German chocolate cheesecake

As usual, we ended the day browsing at a bookstore and son having a hair cut at Fix Saloon.

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