The Road to 40 Day 65/365: Family Day Sunday

Sunday was going to be all about family especially since we are back in Cainta.

I woke up pretty early but decidedt go back to sleep as the sun wasn’t up yet. I got up again at around 9:30am, and I decided it was enough sleep already. I was in the toilet when I heard Vino moving on the bed. I told him I was in the toilet, but I went out shortly after.

When I got back, Vino cuddled to he can sleep again. As such, i was not able to write the blog at this time because my arm was held hostage as a pillow.

I don’t mind mornings like this. It’s probably also one of the main reasons why I’m still ok with Vino sleeping on our bed even to this day. He falls asleep easier when he has someone beside him. We have proven that my arm is his last resort when he can’t find the right position to sleep.

He got up at past 11am, which is fine since he slept at almost 3am. I told him he doesn’t have breakfast anymore because it’s already afternoon. We went down for some pancit for him, and pancit dinuguan for me.

My combination may seem weird, but in our province, it’s a real delicacy. My dad also took home some kandingga as requested. These are food that I don’t bother trying to learn to cook, because for one, I’d probably be the only one who will eat it between Che, Vino, and me. Also, the effort to create such a dish needs to yield a serving good for about 20 people to make it worth it.

Che called to say that she got to her hotel safely. She had to pay to take an earlier connecting flight, and she almost missed it. Good thing the people at the airport assisted her and she was led safely to her flight.

Vino and I caught the 4pm mass in the village. The church has had a lot of changes as well over the years. We heard mass there when there was no paint yet, and now it had a big ass overhead fan and nice paint all around.

Unfortunately, the mass was in Tagalog, so I had to translate stuff for Vino, especially the readings, responses, and the gospel. My dude powered through though.

We went back home to pick up my mom, my dad, my sister, and my nephew. Kathreen has never been to Priv since she lived elsewhere, so I told her we can go visit Velada. I asked the Marcaida fam to join in, and took my family with me as well.

Vino asked to sit with me, so I didn’t drive this time around and was a passenger again. He said he gets dizzy in the middle, so I had to be in the middle seat when I sat in the back.

Privilegio has been my go-to bar everytime I’m in the PH, but they had to close down earlier this year. Velada, on the second floor, opened as a different concept – a speakeasy whiskey bar.

I went here last time we were here, but I can’t remember much of my time because I was loaded by the time I arrived. So this was technically my first time trying it out sober.

I asked them to order whatever they thought was interesting for them, and they were not disappointed. The tomahawk steak was a favorite – it was fall-off the bones soft, and you didn’t need the knife to cut it. It was like an elevated caldereta.

The kimchi-tapa sliders were also a hit, but sadly, they only had enough for one last serving. Tapa might be too salty, but the kimchi balances it out.
The kids loved the chicken poppers so much, we had four servings of it. They had a fried cauliflower dish that I enjoyed and might try to replicate later. The baby squid was soft and not chewy at all.

I still find it kinda weird that a whiskey bar had several big food offerings, but my family was fed well and complimented the food, so I’m proud that Christian, Charles, and the rest of the team was able to pull this off.

Vino and the kids had their fun while the adults talked. There was only a couple of people when we went in, and no one was around midway through our meal so at least the kids were not disturbing anyone.

I tried several cocktails with the gang. I ordered almost one by one and had everyone share it with at least a sip. We had the old fashioned, the whiskey sour, the amaretto sour, the negroni, this month’s cocktail (Pearl of the Orient), Golden Bloom, Pom Punch, and a couple more I forgot.

Overall, it was well-balanced and mostly enjoyed by non-cocktail drinkers. It helped that they had cocktails the night before and immediately realized the difference of what they had last night and the elevated drinks we had at Velada.

Before we adjourned, Verge had an idea of playing a round of Pinoy Henyo. Vino saw people having fun and asked to try it himself. Amazingly, he guessed “Malaysia” with 51 seconds left on the clock.

I failed to guess “kamatis.” I asked if it was in “Bahay Kubo” and while they said yes, I blanked out after the first round of vegetables.

Even my dad got into the action, but he also failed to guess “eraser.”

We said our goodbyes and went straight home. It was a work day tomorrow, after all.

I saw that Che sent me a message earlier saying she is off to bed already, so hopefully, she got some much needed rest before the activities for the week.

We were home by 10pm, but Vino still asked for some snacks around 11pm so he slept around 12 midnight already. He’s also enjoying the best he can during the vacation. The hope is that he still gets to wake up early when school starts on our return to Singapore. 

Related Content