Great food+great ambiance + great company = ME HAPPY!!!

had brunch with my folks at a Filipino Restaurant, the food was great... we ordered some sizzling squid, sizzling fish (tanguigue), stir fried water spinach (ginisang kangkong), deep fried pig intestines (chicharon bulaklak), of course some rice and Coconut (Buko Juice) for drinks... yummy!!! :) enjoy the pictures!



on top, sizzling squid, the sauce is super yummy that you'd want to put some on your rice. left side, the infamous buko juice; i'm glad i live in a tropical country, i can actually get one whenever i feel like it without spending too much...(prices range from P8 to P100 $0.17 to $2, depending where you buy it). right side, pig intestines, mostly known as chicharon bulaklak, "bulaklak" in Filipino literally means flower, when you cook the intestines, it curls up and looks like a flower, thus the name.






sizzling tanguigue (fish), i'm not exactly sure what it's english name is, but this is one of my favorite fishes out there...it can be broiled (sinugbang tanguigue), cooked in vinegar -raw (kinilaw na tanguigue), placed in soup (sinigang na tanguigue)... take your pick...

















besides rice, this is a Filipino staple... a table without this, would utterly be incomplete...
the "sawsawan" or dipping sauce? a mixture of vinegar (suka'), soy sauce (patis), and chopped onion, tomatoes, and peppers...
so, what do you dip? practically anything... fish, chicken, vegetables... you can even mix it in rice...












couldn't help taking a picture of the native Christmas Tree... made of abaca, ratan and some other organic materials...
topped with the Filipino parol or star...












Restaurant: Chikaan Sm City Cebu
Photos: by me

A lot of people my age don't hang out with their folks anymore, i don't get it. I'm not getting the part where they actually try to get away from their folks... Some people say it's because they're all grown up, some say they find them embarrassing, others? well, i don't know... There was once a time when i was a bit younger, that i used to find this very surprising, going through days and days without spending a whole day just with Daddy and Mommy (well, papa and mommy for me).

For as long as i could remember, Sunday is Family Day! My dad used to get upset when my sister or i plan something with our friends on Sundays. I remember finding it annoying because i wanted to spend time with my friends a lot. He used to say, "Spend the rest of the week with your friends, but give God and your Family Sundays..."

I'm actually quite happy with this tradition, especially in this world we live in. Some parents spend so little time with their children, and in return, children don't spend time with their folks either. I remember, my father used to tell my sister and i, that though he can't give us a lot of money, he has something more valuable than that... which was TIME...
I love both my parents for this, My sister and i used to think it wasn't so important, but we definitely realized that it has such great significance in our lives.

So, what do we do on Sundays? Why Sundays? well, i'll give you breakdown of a typical Sunday...
In the morning, we usually stay in and wake up late...
1:30 p.m. --- we go to church in our parish (St. Joseph)
at aboout 2:30-3:00 p.m. --- we go to the mall, eat our Lunch (i know it's late but were used to that time for lunch)
4:00 pm --- catch a movie (we've been doing this every single sunday since i was in 1st grade---so yes! i've watched a LOT of movies)
6:00-7:00 p.m. ---we go grocery shopping (for food and all the other needed stuff)
8:00 p.m. --- we go home...

I know it's not much, but the quality time you spend with your family is very worth it... you can talk about anything when you're walking around or when you're eating. it's also a way to keep track of what every ones up to. And the why on Sundays question? Church of course...

" a family that prays together, stays together..."

I may not actually be the very very prayerful one, but i am still a devoted Catholic, i'm still God-fearing... I go to Church on Sundays, First Fridays and Days of obligations (like Christmas, Mary's Birthday, etc.), i still pray before i go to bed and when I'm traveling, and i always have a rosary bead in my bag...

I'm very thankful for all these practices, it shows that my parents actually cares that i grow up to be someone respectable, someone with morals and someone who knows the importance of family.