Lunch with a Childhood Friend

My family used to live in Quezon City. We lived in a small apartment on a hilly portion of the city. I remember it quite clearly. We rented the corner unit just beside the garden with Camias, Avocado and Chesa trees. The house at the corner across the street was occupied by a family with three little girls. The oldest, Michelle, was a very close friend at that time (I was four, maybe five years old). We lived there for five years. In those five years, everyday was spent with my childhood friend Michelle.

My family later moved to BF Homes and contact with Michelle, was limited to occassional visits to the area (we didn't have a landline then, cellphones and internet were yet to be invented). Until finally when we settled in our new lives (high school, college, work and then married life)we lost contact. Well, there's a little social networking site called Facebook, and she tracked me down about a week ago. We decided to immediately meet at Trinoma after over ten years of not seeing each other.

While waiting for Michelle to arrive, hubby got busy eating an ice cream "burger" at Sebastian's. Vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies and then rolled into more chocolate chips and nuts. Yeah, that was hubby's breakfast together with a piece of apple pie from the drive through on our way there.






I am simply posing with the product, not eating it :-)





Anyway, I digress. Michelle, hubby and I had lunch at Abe. Abe being a Campangan word for "friend" or "companion". Very fitting wouldn't you say? We had very nice selection from the menu. Mangga't bagoong, Crispy Tadyang. Sinigang na Hipon and Chicharon Bulaklak. Yeah, our cholesterol probably shot up as we finished our meal, he he he.







After our meal, hubby was gracious enough to Michelle and I alone to talk in Starbucks, and he went his merry way to surf the net somewhere else.



I had so much fun talking to Michelle reminiscing about our childhood, talking about our families and friends, jobs, our spouses, our marriages and the stuff that we did for the past two decades! Yikes, I keep forgetting I'm in my 30s. Sometimes I feel like I just got out of college. Anyway, I found out Michelle and I still have so many things in common, it's quite freaky in a fun way :-)

It was such a happy afternoon. I should have more afternoons like that.

As hubby and I were about to leave, we chanced upon Red Mango. A youghurt shop that I've heard about that's been getting quite a buzz. We checked it out as well, but mostly because hubby can't turn down ice cream (or frozen youghurt) even if his life depended on it, he he he ;-) Hubby had the regular kind in medium size with three fruit toppings of mango, banana and water melon.





I had the small green tea youghurt with almonds and muesli. I loved it!



What a perfect way to end such a happy afternoon :-)

Dining at Abe Restaurant

Last night, our family dined at Abe restaurant in Serendra. I've heard so much about this restaurant and their place is always full. We assumed that the food is stupendous.

Hubby and Tito Boy were assigned to wait for a table while we, the ladies, are out shopping in Market!Market!

Abe is a Campampangan (from Pampanga) restaurant that got it's name from a Capampangan term for friend, companion and getting together. The place is a combination of old and new interiors. The walls are covered with black & white photographs, the swiveling chairs are comfy and modern. The tables are packed close together so it's a little tight to move around.

After an hour of power shopping, the men called us to say the table and the food were ready. Here's the lowdown on the food:



Crispy Tadyang (P425) is marinated beef ribs and then fried. The tadyang is tender inside and crispy outside. We all liked it. However, the crispy tadyang from Guava is still the best.

Asado Lengua (Ox tongue). For non-adventurous eaters and non-Filipinos, don't worry this is not the Fear-Factor quality tongue. Unlike the Asado of South America, the Capampangan version is not grilled but stewed in sugar and soy sauce. Abe's version had the right sweetness and saltiness. The tongue itself is very tender and is pleasant to eat. It's quite good but, my mom was quick to say "Mas masarap ako magluto". True. The lengua was good nonetheless.


Gule Magalang (P195)is stewed vegetables of kang-kong (swamp cabbages), string beans and pumpkin. It didn't look too appetizing but we tried it anyway. It's nice, but not too special.



Kare-Kare is also not bad. The meat is tender and the bagoong is home made and not too salty.


The Fried Baby Hito is fried young catfish served with balo-balo, or fermented rice. This dish was disliked by everyone. The fish had a muddy taste and the balo-balu is plain yucky...eeewww. When I saw my mom's face squirm when she tasted it, I knew it was really bad.


Steamed rice is bottomless. Sulit for the men dining there.

As we ate our meal my mom and uncle couldn't help but reminisce about the food of their childhood and how good it was. I know what they mean, I grew up too with my lola making special meals for us every Sunday.

Overall verdict?
Tito Boy: "We had much better food in our table growing up"
Mom: "Mas masarap ako magluto! Ang mahal, hindi naman ganun kasarap."

These are the comments coming from the children of Crispina Manalo, the greatest cook of all time. It's no wonder no restaurant could ever pass their discerning palates.