Turning 33

I received an email from a good friend of mine. The title of the email was Congrats! As this was my birthday, I was a bit confused with the title. When I read the body of the mail, then it all made sense. The email reads:

"Congratulations on yet another successful trip around the sun"

Indeed, it has been another successful trip around the sun! What a unique and fun way of greeting someone a happy birthday. For a space geek like me, I very much appreciated this. 

For my special day, my husband treated me to dinner at my favorite restaurant, Aubergine Restaurant Pattieserie. Originally, I was thinking of getting the degustation but upon checking the content of that menu, it seemed a bit too much and I might not be able to finish everything. So we decided to order ala carte instead. 

It is always a pleasure eating at this restaurant. 

tuna tartar with salmon caviar

King Prawn Bisque
with lobster-mozarella ravioli and champagne froth

It turned out that there is only one ravioli in the soup...my husband ordered this. While eating, he found the ravioli and told me, have a taste. So I took the ravioli, cut it in half, then ate both halves. He then asked me, where is the other half? I said I ate both and he laughed and told me, well I hope it was good because there is only one.

Yellow fin tuna tartar and soy-honey marinated, compressed tuna
accompanied by avocado, shitake, and salad greens in sesame-ginger dressing

I ordered this for a starter. I do not like eating raw food, so when I received this, I was quite doubtful about whether the tuna was raw or cooked. In any case, I swallowed my distaste for raw food and took a bite of that compressed tuna. It did taste like it was raw but all in all, it was quite tasty. The tartar had a bit of tang and the dressing complemented the compressed tuna. As long as I ate the compressed tuna with the greens, then the dish was quite delish.

Pan seared fillet of Greenland Halibut
accompanied by homemade lobster-lychee tortellini on green asparagus-tomato melange  and curried ginger nage

My husband ordered the Greenland halibut for his main course. The taste was a bit similar to the Prawn Bisque he had so this dish was a bit redundant for him. It was however cooked perfectly and tasted quite nice. It would have paired better with a green salad. On a side note, this dish also had a stuffed pasta, the tortellini, which my husband did not share with me anymore as I have already devoured the one ravioli in his soup.

Marriage of beef and sea bass
Grilled Chilean sea bass on a spiced fennel-apple compote and grilled Australian Mulwarra beef tenderloin, served with Madeira jus, gratinated with zucchini and mushroom, accompanied by walnut gnocchi

For my main course, I ordered the bass and beef. The description on the menu says it all. Every bite is heaven.

In between the starter and the main course, we were served with lime sherbet to clean our palate and prepare our taste buds.

After the main course, I ordered tea to help with my digestion and we then asked for the bill. I didn't order dessert anymore as I was feeling quite stuffed. However, before they brought our bill, they brought out my birthday cake with a candle.

Chocolate Pyramid
Belgian chocolate and vanilla mousse with passion fruit ganache

the happy birthday girl

with the free macarons and chocolates

I think Aubergine will be a tradition that I will certainly keep. I spent my 32nd birthday here also and will probably make this an annual tradition.

Aubergine's website: http://www.aubergine.ph/

A Happy Union

March 6, 2011 marked a new turning point in my life. I got hitched. My wedding was probably one of the funnest days of my life, albeit very tiring. It is true that wedding preparations, while a lot of fun, can be stressful. It seems that a wedding is really a family affair because each member of both the bride's and groom's family all have their opinions and it is a juggling act trying to please everybody and not hurt anybody's feelings if their idea is not exactly what you want. It is seems that the whole process of preparing for a wedding is a practice in compromise for the life you will soon have with your husband, his family and your family.

It will happen when it is meant to happen.
Dates are important in Chinese weddings. The couple (or couple's parents) must choose an auspicious date to hold the wedding. Usually, there is a "fortune-teller", for lack of a better term, consulted to give the dates, or as were our case, advance Chinese Lunar calendar was looked into. We were given a set of dates by my fiance's parents on when we should hold the wedding. Of course I chose the earliest which was March 20. I made the initial round of calls to all the big ticket items to reserve the date for the reception venue, videographer, photographer, and wedding coordinator, but alas, all of these suppliers were already booked! So I asked my fiance's mom if there were any other dates for March and fortunately, when she consulted the calendar again, she saw an auspicious date, March 6. So I again my round of calls and what do you know, all of them were available. Of course, I booked them all at once.

The road to the wedding we wanted:
Prior to getting married, my then fiance and I have been doing a lot of research on all the little stuff that a couple needs to pull off their dream wedding. Suffice it to say that we wanted to get the best suppliers that we can afford and research is the way to achieving this. We read so many forums and blogs to see which suppliers real couples have gotten and their reviews of them. After so much reading, googling and asking friends, we finally decided on the following suppliers.

Church: Central United Methodist Church
Rating: Satisfied
I am a protestant by faith so my choice of churches are very limited. My first choice is the Ellinwood Malate Church where we worship regularly. However, the earliest that they can conduct weddings on Sundays is at 7pm. That will be too late for us. So I had to look for other churches. We ended up with Central United Methodist Church. There are pros and cons. Pros: the church is beautiful and it is the first Protestant Church in the Philippines.Cons: no aircon, so imagine us sweating while saying our vows. Overall, I would say that I was satisfied. The church wedding pictures are lovely and most importantly, the vows were exchanged in a worship service that we believe in.

Reception: Mandarin Oriental Hotel
Rating: Ecstatic
My husband is Chinese and I am part Chinese. His parents wished for a Chinese wedding reception so its a no brainer that we will have a Chinese reception. Our choices were Century Park Hotel and Mandarin Oriental Hotel. His dad's first choice is the Century Park Hotel because this is where most Chinese wedding receptions are held. Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way you want to look at it, Century was already booked on our wedding date. Upon calling Mandarin Oriental, the March 6 slot for the ballroom was still open. Turned out that it was the perfect place. The Malaysian Chinese chef was very accommodating, not to mention extremely good. All the people who came to our reception said that the food was very very good. One such guest even said that she was so stuffed but that she wanted to eat more. One of the surprises that we got during the reception was the Parade of Food from the serving staff. They paraded food to the tune of "Be My Guest" from the Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast." I was so happy when they started to play the song then all the waiting staff came out parading with dishes in silver platters.

Wedding Coordinator: Jody Liwanag
Rating: Satisfied
http://events-experts.com/
Our first meeting with her was nice. She had a pleasant face and demeanor that will somehow make you feel at ease. She had a checklist of all the things that we would need in order to pull off what we wanted. She seemed very organized and detail oriented. I would say that I was satisfied with her services. Although the wedding did go very smoothly there were a couple of glitches in the church wherein the bible bearer brought the coins and the coin bearer carried the bible to the altar. The only thing that prevents me from saying I am ecstatic with her service was that there were times during the preparations when we were meeting with her that I had to repeat the stuff I wanted. Now I know nobody is perfect, but I noticed that she did jot down notes of things I wanted, but then on the next meeting I had to sort of repeat it again. However, overall, I would say that her services are very professional and competent.

Video: Jason Magbanua
Rating: Ecstatic
http://jasonmagbanua.com/
When in comes to wedding videography, Jason's name is top of mind. We really wanted him but knew that you had to book him at least one year(!!!) if not more in advance. As fate would have it, Jason was our destined videographer because miraculously enough, he was free on our wedding date. Jason proved true all that was raved about him. His team consisted of very professional and nice people who happen to be from my province of Quezon, not to mention my hometown of Lucena City. The SDE shown at the reception is probably the best fit for the song choice we had and it showcased our personalities of being happy people. Here is a link to the SDE of our wedding:


Kenneth and Katherine: My Love is 3d


Photography: Erron Ocampo
Rating: Happy
http://www.erronocampo.com/
We wanted our photos to be more on the candid side. We didn't want pictures that are too posey and after looking at a lot of photographs from various photographers, we felt that Erron is the best fit for us. We were quite happy with a lot of the photographs. Erron and his crew (him plus two more photographers) were all very nice and we had a lot of fun shooting with them. Only downside is it has been over a year and we still have not gotten our albums yet.

Bridal Gown and wedding entourage ensemble: Sunshine and Vanessa Lim
Rating: Ecstatic
Probably my most favorite of all suppliers is the sister team of Sunshine and Vanessa. They are the most pleasant and understanding people in this world! They understood what I wanted from the start and they knew the hassles and demands of dealing with various personalities under the stress of a wedding preparation. I have to say that if I were to get married again, there is no question, Sunshine and Van all the way.

Make Up Artist: Jesy Alto 
Rating: Ecstatic
http://www.jesyalto.com/
Jesy is very easy going and laid back. I found out about her through Erron. Erron asked me if I already have a make up artist and at the time didn't have a single idea on who to get yet. I am not what you would call a girly-girl so I know next to nothing about make up. As it turned out, Erron's wife is a make up artist. He gave me her website, had a look-see, and knew at that moment that she is the one. She made ugly duckling me a swan for my special day.

Florist: 2171 Flower Creations by Joyce Aguilar
Rating: Happy
http://www.2171floralcreations.com.ph/
I found Joyce through various forums and all the comments about her were positive. Jody also recommended her so I went with Joyce. I told her what I wanted and she gave me a variety of choices all of which embodied the ideas in my head in terms of the flowers. She gave me her creative input and simply put, I was quite happy with the floral arrangements and bouquets. She also threw in boutonniers for the men as freebies.

Wedding Cake: Penk Ching
Rating: Happy
http://www.pastrybin.com/
Penk has no parallel in the cake business. She has done so many celebrity bridal cakes and has been featured in numerous magazines. When we met with her, you know that she knows her cakes. She asked us what we have in mind generally about the cake we wanted. Then she made us look through various samples, go through them again and again until we have narrowed our choices to about three. Then she will start to conceptualize your cake by asking about your personalities and if you like such and such. In the end, you get a cake that you ask for. Talk about having your cake and eating it too.

Invitations: Unifair Printing
Rating: Happy
http://unifairprinting.wordpress.com/
More than half of our guests are Chinese so it makes sense to send invitations in both English and Chinese. There is nowhere else to go but Binondo. After much research and phone calls, Unifair gave the best quotation. I was very happy with their service, they gave us lots of freebies and didn't charge for rework.

Wedding Rings: New Life Jewelry, Binondo
Rating: Happy
I love our rings. We gave them our idea of what we wanted and they delivered. Their prices are also very reasonable.

Wedding Host: Felix Sia
Rating: Happy
If you're having a Chinese wedding, the usual names associated with Emcee or Host are Michael Lim and Eva Poon. However, my husband didn't want to get them anymore because he said that all the weddings he had attended were hosted by Michael Lim and there were some bad reviews about Eva Poon. Luckily, his dad happened to attend a wedding where Felix Sia hosted and told us that this guy is very good. So we searched for his contact numbers and initiated a meeting with him. I can say that during the initial meetings with him, he came across as shy so we kind of doubtful about his abilities. It was a pleasant surprise to have our doubts proven wrong during the reception. Felix was very fluent and eloquent both in English and Mandarin. He was appropriate and sophisticated in his words and he had a very good voice. Another plus factor for Felix was that he was accompanied by a female singer who sang Mandarin songs. Now you might think that the songs they sang were the typical high pitched traditional Chinese songs but no, they sang really nice modern songs. Both Felix and the female singer had very good voices.

All in all, because of the love, support and care of both of our families and friends, and the professionalism and competence of our suppliers, we were able to have a fun wedding that we will always remember and cherish.

Ge Lai

So I married a Chinese guy with obviously Chinese parents. Nothing to it. I am also part Chinese. They are great people and I love them to death. When you marry someone, you accept them for who they are, if you're Asian, family included.

No worries.

Until I got pregnant.

Then I found out about the Chinese tradition of the Ge Lai. Yikes!!!

What is Ge Lai? For those who do not know, Ge Lai is the one month ritual women who give birth undergo right after the delivery. It is a month long way of life that includes bathing (or lack thereof) and food. What is the purpose of the Ge Lai? Well as explained to me by my mama-in-law, when a woman gives birth, the process takes out all the heat or warmth in the body. The Ge Lai is done in order to bring back the warmth to the body, to bring back the balance of cold and heat in the body after childbirth.

Lets tackle the no bathing ritual first. No Bathing. Literally no baths or showers allowed!! What you are allowed to do is a minimalist sponge bath. Depending on your regular bathing habit, this can either be easy or very difficult. For me, it was the most difficult part of the Ge Lai. I was used to bathing at a minimum of twice a day. I could not sleep comfortable at night if I did not have my evening bath. So imagine going from daily bathing to no bathing. It was excruciating. If you are going to undergo this as well, I suggest arming yourself with lots of alcohol. Ethyl and isopropyl are about the same with some differences. Ethyl is more natural but when used on the skin, I find that it gives a more warm feeling. Isopropyl, on the other hand, has a more cooling effect when applied on the skin.On the nitty gritty side, the alcohol will also minimize if not remove any body odor you might have. Simply apply on the underarm. Apparently the alcohol will kill whatever bacteria that is causing the odor in your armpits. This is really useful for those who will undergo their Ge Lai during the summer.

I tried some dry shampoo also. I used the Oscar Blandi Pronto Dry Shampoo. I don't recommend it. The dry shampoo is essentially powder that you put on your hair. So if you don't wash the hair, build up occurs. I suggest just getting a face towel, rinse it in water, and just wipe your scalp with it. What I actually did was I got a toothbrush, made a water and shampoo solution, dipped the toothbrush in the solution, then applied it to my scalp. Same principle as when you are coloring your hair. Then rinse it off with the wet face towel. Truth be told I don't know if this was allowed, but what can I do, my hair and scalp were beginning to be an oil mine.

One of the better things with Ge Lai is the diet. You must eat only foods that are "warm." This includes hot chocolate drinks, chocolate (YUM), lapu-lapu fish, black chicken soup, fried rice, and  fried everything. I didn't mind the food, except in my third week of Ge Lai, I got really fed up with having lapu-lapu in every meal.

After the month is done, you must undergo the Chinese massage then take a bath using some boiled leaves. The leaves actually smelled sort of nice. Like you are taking a bath with brewed tea.

At the beginning of the month, I was full of trepidation and could not see how I could survive the whole month without taking a bath. However, after the month is done, you get a sense of superwoman feeling for having survived and passed it. In any case, taking care of the baby and just watching your baby grow and develop each day help pass the time more quickly. Before you know it, the month is over before you can even say Ge Lai.

It has been quite a while since I visited this blog and wrote anything. The fact is I have been very busy. The fates have decided that being a mother is the next task on my to do list. I gave birth in November and have been a full time mom ever since. Everyone I know, including myself, did not really see me as a mother figure type of person. My family will say that I have a very snooty temperament at the very least. But lo and behold, I have become patience personified to my infant daughter.

For people who undergo c-sections, it is advised that there should be no heavy lifting, lots of rest, and more rest so that the wound caused by the operation will heal faster. Aside from this, it hurt the heck a lot after the painkillers wore off. Despite these advises and pain, I had to buck up and do a lot of carrying for my 8.5lb baby as we couldn't get a nanny to help me. So thanks to good genes for a relatively strong constitution, I was able to care for my baby all by myself with the occasional help of my in-laws and one of their salesladies.

So this is the reason why I have been missing in action all this time.