September Surprises

Those last weeks of September just flew by, and I was kept busy by the remaining workouts of the Manila Throwdown, trying out Mystery Manila for the first time, and spending time with family and friends. Some of my best friends' birthdays are in September, as well as my dad's. For my dad's birthday, we hosted a small dinner at home for his high school buddies. Mom, Yaya V, Yaya Rose, and I started cooking as soon as I woke up. On the menu, we had steak, eggplant parmigiana, sardine puttanesca, sweet and sour butterflied tilapia, and mom and I experimented on deep fried apple pies. I was so excited for dessert that night, and was happy to hear that Macy enjoyed it! It went really well with this Silverlake Riesling that my mom brought home from Washington. 

I'm actually not a big fan of apple pie, but this fried apple pie one with kesong puti ice cream was sooo good! 😍 pic.twitter.com/RNmB2d0U8v

— Macy Alcaraz (@macysfields) September 27, 2015

My friend, Anna, had been so busy with her multiple jobs, that her husband wanted to get us involved in planning an early birthday surprise for her. Her post below sums up how it went, and seeing how happy that made her was more than I could ask for.

I HAVE THE BEST HUSBAND AND FRIENDS EVER!!! 😭💕🎉😍 Was feeling bummed that I wouldn't be able to watch the Maroon 5 concert because of work, but then I come home to this amazing surprise that Chris planned with my best friends! I was in tears!!! IT WAS AWESOME AND CRAZY AND BEAUTIFUL AND JUST SUPER SUPER LOVE!!! BEST EARLY BIRTHDAY SURPRISE EVER!! I have the sweetest husband and friends ever. I love you guys so much ❤️ Thank you Chris, my girlies, Ryan, Chuck and Marty for the memorable night! Thank you for capturing the whole thing on video, Marty! Watch the full video and read the full story on my Facebook. I mean, just if you want to. Hahaha! The complete video is super sweet!!

A video posted by Anna Graham (@missusgraham) on Sep 18, 2015 at 3:54am PDT

On her actually birthday salubong, she wanted to host a Mexican night. Chris, her husband, said that Anna had wanted a piñata, and was wondering where he could get an inexpensive one. I volunteered to attempt one,... and got a little ambitious with a macaron peg for Mrs. Graham. 

The finished product: a macaron piñata in the colors of her Salted Caramel flavour

Mini-piñatas for each of my Girlies, represented by their favorite colors. 

Strung on a doorway, with Anna's Mexican table setting in the background.

I made the mini-piñatas with cups, based off a sample I saw on this Brit + Co article. As for the macaron, I had to wing it! If you want to see how I did it, keep reading below, and I uploaded photos, too. Unfortunately, I might've made them too sturdily (for fear of it not holding up) that when we started hitting and pulling them respectively, they didn't break! Overall, it was all such good fun, with very little help from the spiked punch and Bacardi. Anna served chili con carne, quesadillas, tacos, this new Jalapeño-flavored Nova (I love Nova!) with Anapet's salsa. So grateful for these friends of mine.

A Part Apart

Getting tipsy at a wine fair, Christmases, graduation,
family trips, and the long-distance runs we joined last year

For the past weeks, since she'd finalised paperwork and itinerary, my sister has been out with friends having mini-despedidas for her #CountdownToSydney. The latter half of this week was spent at home, packing and arranging last minute details for her trip. During this time, I was priming myself for her departure, reminding myself that she'll be back sooner than I think. One year might seem irrelevant to some, but this is the longest I'll be apart from my "twin." While it may sound like a Sweet Valley High cliché, no one else can finish my sentences, understand a look, and know what to say when I'm sad as well as she can.

It'll be her first night in Sydney, and while it saddens me that I didn't get to watch Masterchef on her bed like we do on Sundays, and that Bruce came up and sniffed outside her bedroom door, I'm excited for her new adventure. I'm sure this short migration will change her in many ways (hello domestication,) but I hope she comes back as the sister I've always known her to be.

Family Friends

Is the concept of a "family friend" one of those Filipino-isms? I don't think I've ever heard any other nationality use this exact phrase as we do, oftentimes as modifiers instead of nouns. Others say, "she's a friend of the family," but we say, "she's a family friend." There is also a connotation that the relationship is much deeper than others: a family friend is someone you roll deep with, possibly spent endless summers with when you were younger; and no matter how far life has stretched your band of friendship, across years and miles, you just snap back together so easily and naturally. 

I have a small handful of family friends that fit that description, but one particular girl is top of mind when I think of someone who is not technically related to me (not neighbour, not carpool, but godsister -- a private joke of ours) but feels like family.

Ryan, my sister, and I had lunch with Lora and her husband for the first time since they got married and moved back to the Philippines. I had not spent more than our traditional New Year's Eves with them, and had only met Jason once before, but everything flowed like we had not aged or changed. Even if we all had aged and changed drastically. Nothing was taboo, as the conversation started off with religion, and we covered healthcare, education, parenting, travel, interspersed with very little gossip, over chicken wings, nachos, fries, and beers.