My family would always spend Christmas day by attending the morning mass in our parish, followed by a sumptuous lunch which I fondly call our “Annual Christmas Lunch” – usually held in one of the many cozy and infamous spots of Tagaytay. The day is capped off by lounging around in Starbucks Coffee whilst basking in the cool breeze and ample view of Taal Volcano during late afternoons – something I don’t usually get to savor within the urbanized part of Cavite where my family resides. This has been our family’s tradition for the past five years. This time around, however, we opted to change that tradition JUST a little bit. While we still got together for our Christmas lunch, the whole day was spent at SM Mall of Asia for a no-diet-and-Tagalog-movie day for the family.
After the 9:30 a.m. mass in our parish, we headed to SM MOA to have lunch. Since traffic was a little more tolerable that day, we had a brief pit stop to gas up. Forty-five minutes later, we arrived at the mall and decided to have lunch at Via Mare. We ordered Sinigang na Tiyan ng Bangus sa Miso, Pansit Luglog, Fresh Lumpiang Ubod, and Oyster Rockefeller. I just love the way the oysters were baked – with lots of cheese, spinach sauce, and something very butter-y and garlic-y in between, and wasn’t overcooked nor underdone. For dessert, we ordered the classic puto bumbong with grated cheese and the tri-colour puto bumbong – another thing which Via Mare has been well-known for besides their specialty of baked oyster dishes.
After lunch, we went to buy our movie tickets since we wanted to watch Ai-ai delas Alas in Ang Tanging Ina Ninyong Lahat. Much to our surprise, there was already a VERY LOOONG queue for the ticket booth, and the first three screening times have been sold out as early at 12:45 p.m.!!! The next earliest screening time available was not until 7:00 p.m., but we bought the tickets anyway; at least we had ample slack time before the movie. By 3:30 p.m. we decided to have light snack at UCC Vienna Café. We ordered UCC Clubhouse Sandwich, Sausage Waffle with Frankfurters, and Tendori Seafood Spaghetti (Which had lots of curry in it, giving the pasta a strong sweet-spicy taste that’s a little bit off with my parents’ preference of pasta.). One good thing about UCC, though, is that they have in their menu a wide variety of decaffeinated coffees to choose from, so my parents ordered the UCC Decaffeinated Coffee and Decaffeinated Cappuccino while I had the Iced Yin Yan Cha (Iced Milk Tea). Aside from the good food and fantastic brewed coffee they serve, UCC has that particular cozy ambiance that’s perfect for lounging around and quiet conversations while indulging one's senses to the delightful aroma of coffee beans brewing nearby. Around 4:15 p.m. we decided to check if there were people already lined up to the movies and, much to our surprise, there were already people waiting in line for the 7:00 p.m. screening! We had no choice but to fall in queue and wait (Believe it or not we were already sitting on the floor lest we want to strain our legs during the long wait.). Talk about a box office hit! After two hours of waiting, they started to let people in, and after 10 minutes the main feature began to roll.
‘Funny’ is not exactly the word I’d use to describe the movie – it would have to be ‘HILARIOUS’! The comedic tandem of Ai-ai and Eugene was simply at its funniest all throughout the movie. Here are some unforgettable quotes:
“Aanhin pa ang mala-palasyong bahay kung hindi naman kami doon nakatira?”
“Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who my friends are.”
“Ang batang masipag, paglaki PAGOD.”
“Ang babaeng hindi natutumba ay dating KONDUKTORA.”
“Ang lahat ng nakikita any nakikita ko rin.”
“Practice makes PERFECT; but then again, nobody’s perfect. So why practice?”
“Ang taong nagigipit, sa BUMBAY kumakapit.”
“Lahat ng problema may SOLUSYON. Kung walang solusyon, huwag nang problemahin.”
“Teach a man to fish and he will get a fish. FISH be with you!”
“Ang sakit ng kalingkingan, ang sakit sakit!”
“Hindi lahat ng gwapo may girlfriend; minsan may BOYFRIEND din.”
“Mas mabuti pang bumitiw nang maaga kaysa abutan ng dilim dahil MALAS daw.”
We were home by 11:30 p.m., and before calling it a day we had biko and ripe mangoes for late-night snack (Oh, what did I tell you? No-diet day nga di ba? Haha!), courtesy of my lola who gave away an entire bilao of biko to every household within our compound. The day had been fun albeit exhausting. The only tragedy was that I didn’t have my camera phone with me to take pictures with. (I had to leave my phone for a couple of weeks in Nokia Care for replacement of external casing.) Still, I enjoyed the day though it was a bit different compared to our past Christmases. Oh, and we were planning on a food trip in Binondo before the long Christmas break ends. I hope it pushes through. ^_^
Merry Christmas everyone, and enjoy the rest of the long holiday break!
Cheers!
^_^
After the 9:30 a.m. mass in our parish, we headed to SM MOA to have lunch. Since traffic was a little more tolerable that day, we had a brief pit stop to gas up. Forty-five minutes later, we arrived at the mall and decided to have lunch at Via Mare. We ordered Sinigang na Tiyan ng Bangus sa Miso, Pansit Luglog, Fresh Lumpiang Ubod, and Oyster Rockefeller. I just love the way the oysters were baked – with lots of cheese, spinach sauce, and something very butter-y and garlic-y in between, and wasn’t overcooked nor underdone. For dessert, we ordered the classic puto bumbong with grated cheese and the tri-colour puto bumbong – another thing which Via Mare has been well-known for besides their specialty of baked oyster dishes.
After lunch, we went to buy our movie tickets since we wanted to watch Ai-ai delas Alas in Ang Tanging Ina Ninyong Lahat. Much to our surprise, there was already a VERY LOOONG queue for the ticket booth, and the first three screening times have been sold out as early at 12:45 p.m.!!! The next earliest screening time available was not until 7:00 p.m., but we bought the tickets anyway; at least we had ample slack time before the movie. By 3:30 p.m. we decided to have light snack at UCC Vienna Café. We ordered UCC Clubhouse Sandwich, Sausage Waffle with Frankfurters, and Tendori Seafood Spaghetti (Which had lots of curry in it, giving the pasta a strong sweet-spicy taste that’s a little bit off with my parents’ preference of pasta.). One good thing about UCC, though, is that they have in their menu a wide variety of decaffeinated coffees to choose from, so my parents ordered the UCC Decaffeinated Coffee and Decaffeinated Cappuccino while I had the Iced Yin Yan Cha (Iced Milk Tea). Aside from the good food and fantastic brewed coffee they serve, UCC has that particular cozy ambiance that’s perfect for lounging around and quiet conversations while indulging one's senses to the delightful aroma of coffee beans brewing nearby. Around 4:15 p.m. we decided to check if there were people already lined up to the movies and, much to our surprise, there were already people waiting in line for the 7:00 p.m. screening! We had no choice but to fall in queue and wait (Believe it or not we were already sitting on the floor lest we want to strain our legs during the long wait.). Talk about a box office hit! After two hours of waiting, they started to let people in, and after 10 minutes the main feature began to roll.
‘Funny’ is not exactly the word I’d use to describe the movie – it would have to be ‘HILARIOUS’! The comedic tandem of Ai-ai and Eugene was simply at its funniest all throughout the movie. Here are some unforgettable quotes:
“Aanhin pa ang mala-palasyong bahay kung hindi naman kami doon nakatira?”
“Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who my friends are.”
“Ang batang masipag, paglaki PAGOD.”
“Ang babaeng hindi natutumba ay dating KONDUKTORA.”
“Ang lahat ng nakikita any nakikita ko rin.”
“Practice makes PERFECT; but then again, nobody’s perfect. So why practice?”
“Ang taong nagigipit, sa BUMBAY kumakapit.”
“Lahat ng problema may SOLUSYON. Kung walang solusyon, huwag nang problemahin.”
“Teach a man to fish and he will get a fish. FISH be with you!”
“Ang sakit ng kalingkingan, ang sakit sakit!”
“Hindi lahat ng gwapo may girlfriend; minsan may BOYFRIEND din.”
“Mas mabuti pang bumitiw nang maaga kaysa abutan ng dilim dahil MALAS daw.”
We were home by 11:30 p.m., and before calling it a day we had biko and ripe mangoes for late-night snack (Oh, what did I tell you? No-diet day nga di ba? Haha!), courtesy of my lola who gave away an entire bilao of biko to every household within our compound. The day had been fun albeit exhausting. The only tragedy was that I didn’t have my camera phone with me to take pictures with. (I had to leave my phone for a couple of weeks in Nokia Care for replacement of external casing.) Still, I enjoyed the day though it was a bit different compared to our past Christmases. Oh, and we were planning on a food trip in Binondo before the long Christmas break ends. I hope it pushes through. ^_^
Merry Christmas everyone, and enjoy the rest of the long holiday break!
Cheers!
^_^
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