MY DAY!!! =) / JANUARY 6,2008

Birthdays have always been considered a big deal at my parents' house. Growing up, Mother made sure that everyone understood that if it is someone’s birthday, it is HIS or HER day. There will be no other diva on that day; the celebrant has exclusive rights. Hahaha.

If one’s birthday falls on a weekday, it means everyone would have to wake up extra-early (like 5:00 a.m.!) so people can have enough time to enjoy a special breakfast (complete with the opening-of-gifts-ceremony!) before everyone rushes off to start their day. Everyone, that is, except Father who would typically go back to sleep, not used to waking up before 7:00 a.m. Haha!

If one’s birthday falls on a weekend, it means everybody is mandated to wake up as soon as the birthday celebrant does. If the birthday celebrant decides to sleep in, Mother makes sure nobody eats before the celebrant comes down for breakfast. That said, everybody either suffers in silence, their tummies grumbling until Mr. or Ms. Special Day decides to roll-out of bed OR everybody creates the biggest ruckus in the world to force the celebrant to wake up. This, however, is usually disguised in the form of a “greeting” with everyone barreling through the bedroom door, shouting at the top of their lungs, “HAAAAAAAPPPPPPPYYYYYYYY BIRTHDAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAKKKKKE UUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!” HAHAHA! ‘D



Truth be told, such extreme measures are usually employed only on Father, haha, as all of us kids have been trained by Mother to wake up early during weekdays and by the Saturday Fun Machine during weekends. Haha! =)

I remember getting all excited every time my birthday rolled along. I know I would wake up to the smell of breakfast cooking (as my bedroom window sits right across the dirty kitchen). I know I would have my favorite breakfast laid on the table, and I know I would have ice-cold peaches for dessert. (Yes, in House Better, peaches for dessert is a clear signal that something special is happening that day! Haha. =)) I also know I would tiptoe down to find boxes and boxes of beautifully-wrapped gifts set next to my breakfast plate. There are very few things in life that can brighten up my early morning as much as a mountain of gifts meant only for me. =) Yey!

My birthday this year fell on a Sunday. Sunday, being the typical clan lunch-day on Father’s side, I decided to celebrate my birthday at Eduardo’s (the ancestral home named after my lolo =)). I had volunteered to bring in Thai Food—straight from Som’s (as I cannot cook decently enough to save my life, haha). Panety (our tita) would hear none of it! She had already planned the menu for the day. I can bring the lechon that I volunteered to bring, and she will take care of the rest. The rest, I found out much later, involved Pasta (Yum!), Paella (Yum, yum!) steamed sea bass (Yum! Yum! Yum!) and baked oysters! (Heaven!!!). YUM! ^_^ With all the plans in place and the errands that needed to be run, however, I decided to break tradition and not go home to House Better this year. I texted Mother and Father, I would just meet up with them at Eduardo’s. I rationalized that Hubby Sweet and I would just have to manage to create a birthday celebration/tradition on our own. =)

The eve went by uneventful enough. As it has been since the time I met Hubby Sweet, I would inevitably get a greeting in one form or another at the stroke of midnight. Being married has not changed that, except that this time, my half-asleep husband roused himself as best he could, hugged me tight, planted a kiss and mumbled a barely audible and very slurry, “Haberdaytweet,” before almost instantly snoring himself back to oblivion. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! ‘D Not that I minded. I was actually sleeping myself, and was only briefly roused by this midnight mini-commotion. Man! We are sooooooooo married. Haha! ‘D

In any case, the day itself started pretty uneventfully. “Good morning, Tweet,” Hubby Sweet whispered, “Happy Birthday…” With one blurry eye opened, I whispered back, “Thanks, Sweetie…Can we eat out for breakfast?” HAHA! ‘D
And so it goes that we found ourselves @ Gram's Diner in Rockwell which is like 10 minutes from our place on any given Sunday.

I thought it was my birthday so I decided to have something I normally wouldn't have at home. Steak and eggs it is, then! With coffee, of course. =) Hubby Sweet opted for the corned beef with hot choco. =) I've been to Gram's several times before (back in its old location though). It was your comfort-food-kind-of-diner.

The food was not bad, but it was nothing spectacular. Well, except for the corned beef which was apparently sooooo good, Hubby Sweet just had to ask the waiter what brand it was. =) Oh, and the hot choco was apparently good too. Sooooooo good, Hubby Sweet also had to ask what brand it was. Lech. Mas masarap yung breakfast niya kesa sa'kin. Haha. =)

Still, the morning ambience more than made up for it, especially when you consider that we were right smack in the middle of Metro Manila! =) Nothing much beats eating breakfast al fresco on a chilly January morning as Japanese kois swim about you. ^_^


Later that day, we had a spectacular lunch @ Eduardo's (as detailed in an earlier paragraph) and capped off Panet's menu with brewed coffee and my current favorite cake, Frozen Brazo de Mercedes by Ange! Let me put it on record that I am NOT a Brazo de Mercedes fan. I actually loathe it, thinking it is no more than a beautified version of egg with higher calories and cholesterol. Well....*sheepish grin =D*...come to think of it, it actually is. The moment I tasted Ange's at an office function, however....well, it's something else! I suppose it's the ice cream that makes all the difference. Or the fact that the "yema" is not too sweet. Or the fact that the soft merengue was just right, not too dense, but not too airy. Basta! All of them put together makes for one delicious dessert. Diets and diabetes be damned, I decided it was going to be my birthday cake for 2008! Haha. Yum. YUM! ^_^

Apparently, everyone thought so too since practically everyone had second servings, all raving the entire time. The Hubby probably had twice as much serving as the next person who had the most! Then again, HE is a traditional Brazo fan. If he liked the traditional variety, how much more this?! The frozen brazo was polished off in no time at all. =D

The following day, I extended my celebration a bit when I got to the office and excitedly opened the special edition coffee that Hubby Sweet gave me. It had such a beautiful box, I was almost sorry to open it. Part of Starbucks' Black Apron Exclusive Line*, Lomas Al Rio (of Costa Rica) is supposedly the perfect Central American breakfast coffee. The blurb on the back read that it is "sparkly with sweet floral notes reminiscent of orange blooms...". Isn't that such a romantic way to describe coffee?! =D I brewed 3 cups (= one gigantic mug, =)) in my trusty 5-cup mini-coffeemaker and savored the smell of this special coffee wafting through the air. Although I did not imagine myself "watching the sun rise over the mountains amidst the noisy piapia calls of brown jays in gaurumo trees" (as it said in the pack panel blurb, haha), I did savor every sip! I almost wished I did know how it is to watch the sun rise over Central American mountains, how brown jays sounded like, and what gaurumo trees exactly are. If I did, it would have been easy to transport myself to some exotic location--if only in my mind. =D

All in all, it wasn't a bad way to turn 37. (WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! Hahaha! 'D)

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* The Starbucks Black Apron Exclusive line is a collection of "rare, exotic and cherished coffee". Starbucks buys and and sells this line of coffee at a premium. Proceeds supposedly go to a "tribute fund" from which cash awards for the small farmers and funding for projects within their communities are derived. The primary objective is to encourage small farmers to continue growing their country's traditional coffee despite pressures to grow only the commercially-viable varieties that manufacturers turn into, que horror (!), instant coffee. It is their hope that the program will ensure the survival and long-term sustainability of each variety included in the line, as well as protect the biodiversity within the environments in which these types of coffees are grown. Coffee has grown a conscience and you can sip it in every cup! =)



* On the other hand, if you want to try Ange's Frozen Brazo de Mercedes, just go through the San Lorenzo Amorsolo gate (the one near Don Bosco). The guards usually just let you pass if you tell them you're buying cake from Ange (unless you're suspicious-looking and you look like you're about to rob someone in the neighborhood, haha 'D). Just go straight along that road until you hit house # 75. It's the pink house on your left. Just ring the bell. The frozen brazo is usually available; no need to pre-order (except, I suppose, during peak season). It comes in two sizes. The small pan (4"x8") goes for P300; the big one (7"x11") goes for P500. Methinks the big one is more sulit but get it only if you have a ton of people coming over (I exagerrate, of course =)) OR if you have a big enough freezer to store it in. =)