an afternoon at st.john's wood

one sunday after church (2nd of January) , Adrian and i had a business meeting in St.John's wood, a nice residential area in London.

after the meeting, it was mini date for Adrian and i to kill time in the area.


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a coffee after the meeting..

he loves to enunciate.

Carluccio's..Adrian and i love taking friends there. Because they have lovely pasta and wine. and the deli is just absolutely a treasure of yummy treats.

Sundays is a lovely day to have a quiet dinner in the city. Its not too crowded with people. And no queues more or less.

We wanted to eat at Richoux but when we got in, there were 2 couples (4 people) before us waiting for a table. We couldnt wait. So we looked for a different place. When in St.John's place, variety of food is not a problem.

and then dinner:-) eventually

we went to Greek restaurant called Sofra.

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photos from the digicam and the phone..

coffee pics

L:a pic of me..i sat beside a mirrored wall..R: mixed meze starter

chicken dish...it tasted like chicken afritada

L: my chicken dish..R: Adrian's moussaka

Adrian liked his meal

L: my creme brulee..R: his lemon sorbet

this was too rich..ive tasted better creme brulees than this.

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tomorrow, Adrian is taking me to lunch. he's trying to cheer up my homesickness.

wherever it may be, i really dont mind, because cliche as it may sound, its not the destination that matters, its who you're in the journey with.

Happy Sinulog, everyone!

having him close

my father loved radio, since i could remember (among many other things, he was virtually a man of many interests from reading, movies and other hobbies). but radio was our bond. we were the ones in the family who hovered and made use of the radio for various reasons.


he listens to the news,he listens to music and has his radio turned on every waking hour of his day, (esp in the last few years of his life) from morning til early hours in the next morning. the first thing you could hear in the wee hours of the morning, is the music on his radio which he keeps close to him, which signals normally he was already awake, or he and my mama would be talking.

i still long for my father, until now. i miss talking to him, and making him laugh over the phone. i miss that.

but i am thankful i have so many memories to relive about him. and because of these memories we have our secret language from here to wherever he is.


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whenever i hear this song, i am always reminded of early mornings woken up by this particular song softly blaring from papa's radio.





whenever i hear this song from Debbie Reynolds, it reminds me of memories of papa listening to some AM station autoplaying pre-programmed repetitive playlist.

it holds many memories of being close to him, even if he was in another part of the house (in the kitchen) but knowing we were in one roof, safe and we will be sharing later on a day together.


this time,i woke up in the middle of a disturbed sleep, i accidentally listened to "Tammy's in love" from a classics channel, it brought some wonderful feelings. i miss him so much. and although it saddens me knowing that in the daybreak, i wont get to chat to him and share breakfast with him, we are still connected.

this is him and i, communicating.


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if your fathers are still alive, hug them, make a point to try to be close to them. build alot of memories with him so that they could still be close even if when they're far.

his birthday last year

the man of the house is going to celebrate his birthday soon.

i thought of things to do for his birthday, and then i remembered i have not posted photos from last year. i could not find the dinner photos, but i did find the breakfast photos (because he worked on his birthday).

presents on the table

he woke up to a hurriedly done menu for his breakfast..you got to give a man a choice on his birthday,haha:-)

opening his birthday gifts

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i was up late last night, thinking of other creative ways of celebrating his birthday and other gifts i could give him. (i suppose, the lesser money you have to blow on gifts, the more difficult it is,which is the case,hehehe)..

but, knowing him, he cares less about his birthday, unlike me,who have been the most excited.

plus, he thought he already got his birthday present.

{ recent photo of him on Monday night, 10th Jan, picking a book for his birthday. he loves making bread, i love eating them}

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old photos,still new memories

..because i miss all the people in it:-) (bar myself and adrian for obvious reasons,hehe)

(not in photos: cousins Joan,Sean,Genoy,etc)

and i'm excited because i will be spending time with them again this year.

im excited that even before then, we have plans laid out for the reunion.


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in one of our impromptu-"hey where are you,lets meet up"-phonecall-and meet-up:



food is a big gathering for us..





me and the ever-loyal-ever-efficient-ever reliable bestfriend of all seasons.





this photo will always remind me of a funny story why Ana arrived late...a big laughter ensued after Kharla translated the story to Adrian..some things get lost (or altered) in translation.

riske.

i do miss them and the constant chatter around food.

{photos: early 2007 }

that among many other things, i am looking forward to, this year.

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are you excited about something this year?

windswept

..and taken.

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{excuse the bin bag beside me, lol}