For the longest time, I would religiously buy a copy of Cosmo Philippines every month.  I never missed an issue.  Well, that changed when I became a mom.  I’ve now given up Cosmo and traded it for Good Housekeeping and Smart Parenting.  That’s something I didn’t think I’d ever do.  Ha ha!

Last April, SP (Smart Parenting) called on stage moms and dads to send in photos of daddy with kid to be published in their Father’s Day issue in June.  I thought that would be a nice surprise for Dondi for his first Father’s Day!  So, every bit the stage mom that I am, I sent by email, my favorite photo of Dondi and Abby. 

June came and I hurriedly bought a copy of SP when I found out that it was already out.  I immediately got the magazine out of the bag it came with and flipped through the pages looking for the family album page.  I could swear I got nervous!  I was so disappointed when I saw a bunch of unfamiliar photos.  The photo I sent didn’t get published.  I told myself I’ll never buy SP again!  (nagtampo pa!)

Saturday last week, the day before my birthday, my mom, Abby and I made a quick stop at Robinson’s East before going to Eastwood.  We went to the Do It Best Store to buy something.  While waiting for my mom, I found myself standing in front of the store’s magazine rack.  And there were several copies of the July issue of SP, the magazine I said I’d never buy again.  Like the mag addict I’ve become, I just couldn’t resist not buying so I grabbed a copy and paid for it.

Inside the car on our way to Eastwood, I decided to finally take a look at the mag.  Ever so hopeful, I went straight to the family album page.  I smiled my broadest smile when I saw the photo I sent was finally there.  Apparently, they had a part II of the daddy and kid photo thing.  I was just too happy!  I immediately phoned Dondi to tell him about his and Abby’s magazine  debut. I also sent text  messages to my mom-in-law and brother-in-law (who is Abby’s ninong).  It was timely that my brother gave me a call almost at the same time I was texting, so I got the chance to inform him as well (he and his wife are also Abby’s godparents!).  I can’t help but post it on the friendster bulletin board and blog about it.  Surely, you all understand. :) 

p.s.  Abby was only 6 months old when the photo was taken.  She has more and longer hair now, a few days away from her 11th month.  And oh, We bought 2 more copies the very next chance we got! Shhhhh!

Yesterday was a big day for me…I turned 30! :)  I set the alarm for 7am to give myself a headstart because I planned to hear the 10am mass with Dondi (my hubby), Abby (my baby) and my Mom at Christ the King Church in Greenmeadows to make it to my “birthday luncheon” at 12nn.  Since it was my birthday, I thought giving thanks to God should be the first order of the day.

But Abby didn’t wake up as early as I hoped she would.  It was already 9am when she woke up and there’s still a bunch of “rituals” we had to go through.  As luck would have it, we were still home by 10:30am.  So we decided to go to the 4:30pm mass at Sanctuario de San Antonio instead.

We all left the house at 11am to head for the Westin’s Cafe Plaza where I made reservations for 12nn.  Birthdays are a good excuse to pig-out and since it’s the big three-oh for me, buffet was the only way to go. Ha!  It’s very timely that for the month of July, crabs are the Cafe Plaza’s special buffet feature.  They’ll gladly cook the crabs anyway you like.  My family, I have to say, is a sucker for seafood, specially crabs, prawns and oysters. 

3 very efficient and helpful servers took good care of us, Adrian, Romil and Vener.  They practically wanted us to stay seated and just get the food for us from the buffet.  But that’s just not right!  Eating buffet is like shopping.  You have to take a look for yourself and see which from the selection attracts you most and would suit your tastebuds.  Well, everything looked attractive to me!  Now, that’s a problem.  Ha ha!  I carefully chose what I would have.  Being a big fan of dessert, I have to make plenty of room for that.  I don’t really care about the carving station (which I tried anyway!).  What’s important to me are my cake and ice cream! :)  That’s how serious I am about dessert!

Between Dondi, my Mom, Abby and me, we had molo soup, crabs cooked 2 ways (1 with sweet chili sauce and 1 with oyster sayce); fresh oysters, steamed prawns, prime rib, juicy ham, sushi, pasta, fried rice, rolls and frog legs.  Come to think of it, none of us had vegetables except for the strips of carrots in the molo soup!  Talk about proper diet and nutrition!

Then came dessert time.  I have to say, the Cafe Plaza’s selection is quite impressive.  They have a chocolate fountain where you can “dip” the marshmallow and cookie kebabs.  You can also spoon some chocolate from the fountain to use as topping or sauce for the other desserts.  That’s exactly what I did!  I had the dessert chef make me a banana caramel crepe.  Then I put coffee and strawberry ice cream on the side and poured chocolate sauce on top of everything!  Yummy!  I also had tiny squares of cheesecake, strawberry mousse, tiramisu  and of course, the marshmallow and cookie kebabs dipped in chocolate.  There’s still a whole bunch of sweets I was  not able to try.  But that’s ok, I’m still very much a happy camper.

Upon my Mom’s request, Vener, one of our servers, made me a birthday cake of sorts by putting together three small squares of chocolate cake and placed a little yellow candle at the center.  The servers were also so sweet and sang “Happy Birthday” before I made my wish and blew the candle.  That’s something I don’t get to do every year!

To our delight, the buffet also included a selection of wine and champagne.  I only had a sip of champagne, or else, I’ll have a drunk little Abby.

End of party number 1.

After hearing the 4:30pm mass at Sanctuario de San Antonio, we were off to the Powerplant Mall to meet my brother, Edward, his wife Claire, and their kids Jad, Kylah, Macy and Sophie. Our dinner reservation was at 7pm at Burgoo and we still had plenty of time to go around the mall and buy some cd’s and school supplies.  My Mom bought me a new pair of Fila sneakers, her birthday gift.  Yipee!

Dinner time came and we were off to my 2nd party for the day.  In contrast to the efficiency of our servers at lunch, the service at Burgoo was just terrible.  First, there was confusion with the drinks.  Second, we had to request for a teaspoon (for Abby) four freakin’ times! Hay!  I could swear smoke was already coming out of my ears!

We ordered chicken tenders, nachos, margheritta pizzas, 2 kinds of pasta and a   large platter of shrimp and ribs.  In fairness, the food wasn’t bad at all!  In spite of our initial disappointment with the service, we managed to gobble up almost everything we ordered.  The kids loved the pizza and the chicken tenders.  The rest of us savored every bite of the ribs and the pasta.

Like every other American restaurant in the Philippines, Burgoo has a little something for birthday celebrants, an ice cream sundae with a birthday candle.  They usually make a lot of fuss in giving this treat to the celebrant by singing a birthday song and another song which, for the life of me, I could not understand.  We told them ahead of time that we’d like to forego the funfare that went with the dessert. They obliged.  They were probably just as relieved they didn’t have to sing to the sungit celebrant.

I asked for the bill after I made my wish and blew the candle.  The bill came and I gave my Amex card to the server.  In front of the restaurant, there’s a big streamer which announces to the world that diners who use their Amex card will get a 15% discount (same thing at the Westin’s Cafe Plaza).  I was surprised  that the discount was not deducted from the total bill when the server came for my signature.  When I asked about the discount, the server said, “Ah, iaavail nyo po ba?” Hello?  Ok ka lang?  I had to keep myself from asking.  I simply said yes and she rushed back to the cashier.  The Burgoo staff was really on a roll that day!

We’ve decided we’ll never go back to that restaurant, at least not the one in Powerplant.  We’re hoping the Podium branch has better service.  The food is good, the portions hefty and the price is reasonable so we’ll have to keep the restaurant in our list, but definitely not this branch!

End of party number 2.

Before calling it a night, we all went to the Power Station for some games.  I used up all my load playing the giant bongo drums.  That’s a major stress reliever.  Felt better afterwards.

I had a great day and everything I want, need and love were with me…from sunrise to sunset.  As I have said so many times before, I must be doing something right in this life to deserve such wonderful blessings!  Thank you, God!  I couldn’t ask for more. 

p.s. You can click this link My 30th Birthday to view my complete album.