A Year Older in Old Manila.

It is always a sweet gesture when your honey throws a surprise party for you. I think that the effort to choose the menu, invite all your dearest friends and make sure that no one spills the beans is a tough job.

In this case, my hero is CYT who organized the birthday party for LT last Saturday at Old Manila. It was dark and cozy when I arrived. The lights were dimmed and people were sort of whispering. It was fun and exciting while waiting for the celebrant to arrive.

And when he finally did, how shocked he was that all his close friends were there to celebrate his birthday. He looked so happy and grateful to everyone that was present, especially to his wife who handled it all for him.

The food was taken cared of by Stephanie Chong, events manager of the Peninsula and everyone was very vocal about how good it was. I liked the desserts most. (wink wink)

To LT, thank you for being born and for marrying CYT. If you hadn't, we would have missed a truly great evening of good company, plenty laughs and delicious food.

The real reason to party.

H A P P Y   B I R T H D A Y!!!!!!

Engagement Party at Sala Bistro.

Being a romantic that I am, I was almost in tears when Rose and Eric told us the story about how he proposed to her 2 months ago. First, I had to see her engagement ring and was amazed at the colorless of the diamond, which is a very good thing when you talk about diamonds. A princess cut of 1. 5 carats mounted in a simple solitaire setting. It looked great on Rose's slim fingers. Here's the couple being oh so sweet. As you can see, Eric has an ear fetish. (Bwa Ha ha) To the happy couple, I say, YIPPEEEE!!!!


My Joy Luck Club gets together at least once in two months to try out new restaurants and this engagement was a perfect reason to gather the members and try out Sala Bistro in GB3. After much chit chat, we finally got down to ordering our food. Thank goodness, our waiter was competent and got everything right. That's always a good start of a dining experience.

My dining mates starting with Dr. Jasmin Jamora who is forced to give free consultation about skin irritation, freckles, liposuction and other methods of losing the fat every single dinner we have. With her is Cherry Tan who has the funniest and wittiest smart ass remarks about each topic we have. Without her, dinner would not be as much fun.

Our version of Martha Stewart, Minena Garcia, promised us a truly special dinner. We are holding you to that promise dear! Don't think that a dinner hosted by you is something we are likely to forget. Dr. Chrissy Jamora is another dermatologist who also has to give her medical opinion about all our skin problems.


Christine, the leader of the pact, who just gave birth a month before this photo was taken, already sported a very slim body. As if she never had a 7.8 lb. baby girl! Your bloggerina and the groom to be, Eric who couldn't stop talking about his dining experiences all over the world. This guy loves food like no other. Probably more than his soon to be bride. (hehehe)


The other members of the gang consisted of Pat Garcia, Gary Jamora, John Oliver, otherwise known as Pascual.







The food. Presentation wise, it was very good. All the orders were delicious but I did find the fish and chips to be a bit too salty.









My watermelon and mint shake. Yummy! Just be careful that you don't have any mint leaves stuck between your teeth!


Reservations required
Sala Bistro, Greenbelt 3
Unit 114 Ground Floor, Garden Side, Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center
Makati City, Metro Manila
(02) 729-4888

Xmas Party #2 for 2007!

Event: My Joy Luck Club Xmas Party
Venue: Gary and Jasmin's residence
Date: Dec. 8, 2007
Party people, Jasmin, Gary, Krissy, Candy, Christine, Cherry, Sandy, Minena, Pat, Alex, Mary Anne, Ylaine, Ginny, Pascual, Evan, Peter,

Our local version of Martha Stewart, Minena Garcia, did an amazing job at feeding us all. THAI food has never tasted better and I am not saying this because Minena is my friend. I am telling you people, it was better than some of the most expensive THAI restaurants that I have tried.

Joy Luck in Mamou.

The food, hmmm, the steak seems to be worth going back for. Priced at P3,000 but is good enough for 2 people, or 3 if you eat light. The roast pork and chicken was not attractive to look at but I was told that it was good. I guess it doesn't seem appetizing when the plate has all that black together (black beans and brown rice and grilled chicken). The pasta salad, we had to return and order another because once again, besides the fact that it didn't look good, the combination of the vegetables (green and red pepper) and anchovies need to be improved. But there are still quite a few in the menu that we didn't order so I am not fully decided yet. But because the kitchen is open to the dining area, when dinner is done, you tend to smell like what you ate. I say, I don't think I will be back anytime soon.

But what was good about this night was the combination of good friends, great laughs and exchange of stories. We also took time out to plan the Joy Luck Christmas party. To the absentees, Cherry, Oliver and Lawrence, we missed you.

Alex and Ylaine.


Gary and Krissy.


Peter and Pat. Put them together and you get Peter Pat. Hihihi...


Minena, Christine and Mary Ann


Rose and Minena


My Joy Luck Club. Jasmine and Eric, sorry, I failed to take a close up!