I've been 39 for a week and honestly, it feels fabulous... Hahaha, in preparation for my Fabulous at Forty milestone!
Given the 2.18.18 date, my best friend Jem insisted that I absolutely MUST HAVE a party, which we used to do every year, and haven't done much AS (after Sofia). If you know me from many years ago, you will remember that our parties always have a theme, so this year, I decided to get everyone to celebrate with me... The Vegetarian Way!
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| Yes! I seriously told people to snack before. Hahaha. |
We checked out Lucy in the Sky Cafe a few weeks before the party. I loved the cozy ambiance, the food that was yummy... in a way that is not forced. (I totally hate vegetarian restaurants that serve tofu in every dish pretending to be something else).
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My sister in law checked out the place with me (and Pumbaa was still in her
tummy). |
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| I also dragged Sam and convinced her to work from here one day. |
We ordered the dishes they recommended and surprisingly, 2 our of 3 were really good. Good enough for me to decide to have my birthday party here.
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| The Shiitake Tempura was great!!! |
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The Vegetarian BBQ was yummy too. If you didn't know it wasn't pork,
you may get fooled for a bit as the look and texture is quite similar. |
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They recommended the sisig, but this one I wouldn't
recommend. Very far from the original. |
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| They had Vegan Chocolate Cake |
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They gave us a small one to try (for free) and we absolutely loved it,
so we ordered one for the party. |
Lucy in the Sky Cafe is actually an offshoot of the Art Studio where they have art workshops for kids. They are closed on weekends, but for important events like my party, they agree to open for a guaranteed minimum consumable amount. I pre-ordered some best sellers, but I also wanted to give my guests the freedom to order anything they wanted off the menu.
Birthday Salubong
In our younger days, we used to welcome our birthday by staying up the night before, and finishing a big cake... because it was "matter of pride!!!" We haven't done the birthday salubong thing in ages, but because of the
Big Bad Wolf 24 hour book sale which we visited at 10PM at night, we decided we could do birthday salubong this year. The original plan to go to Sofitel was a bit derailed by the impatient
little miss Maria Pumbaa Nicole Therese (you can go directly to last part of this post if you want to meet her) who was impatient to come out, so we ended up at
Old Swiss Inn instead, to satisfy Sofia's good-bread craving at 1AM (unfortunately, they ran out of butter, so we had to buy Star Margarine from 7-11).
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| I swear, we looked fresher in person! The camera was sleepy! |
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| Dark Chocolate Toblerone Fondue is the BOMB!!! |
Coley's 39th Vegetarian Birthday Party
02.18.18
Lucy in the Sky Cafe
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| These are party giveaways. Not for sale. Hahaha. |
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| Thank you barkada early birds. |
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| Yes, toned arms and nice collar bone cleavage Chipsy!!! |
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| Because Ampaw-Giving-Age na si Tim!!! Hahaha. |
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| My other family. |
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Only Karl was polite enough to spend time to make small talk with
the parentals. |
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| Selfie by Fi, photobombed by Sam. |
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| Another photo by Fi. This is me, Fabulous at almost Forty. |
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I had to invite the gang who was always present whenever we had a
birthday party!!! Miss you Alf and Jerome!!! Let's meet kahit walang party! |
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| Unilever loves. |
Thank you to the two game masters for the most entertaining game ever!!!
Name as many commercial jingles as you can, sing it to get a point, or cancel out the score if another team has it too.
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I'm still not convinced that this team had no
inside information. BEAM, YC Bikini Briefs... Benta!!! |
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| The ICAn team didn't even put up a fight. |
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| In fairness to the millenials... |
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Vegan Chocolate Cake from Lucy in The Sky Cafe,
and White Chocolate Sans Rival from Jem and Ivan. |
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| Thank you to all my family and friends who came to celebrate with me. |
Thank you so much Sam for singing. You can watch Sam's rendition of Adele's Make You Feel My Love
here.
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| First to arrive, last to leave. High School friends are the best. |
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Hi Atch and Ed, See you nalang sa wedding.
Aabangan ko tong photo na to sa video! |
Lucy in the Sky Cafe asked if I wanted a buffet set-up or to pre-order everything. I said no, because I wanted to give my guests the freedom to order what they wanted. I promised not to complain if the service took a while. Ate was a one man front of house team and she was wonderful.
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| Thank you so much Ate for taking care of all my friends. |
After the vegetarian party, we had our usual Sunday dinner... but I got to choose where we'd eat since it was my birthday, so Minamisaki it was!!!
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Aburi Sushi craving satisfied! I swear, they have the best Aburi Sushi in
Manila!!! |
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My other favorite dish is Chicken terriyaki, but I gave away most of the
chicken since I ordered it for the veggies. Note to self, ask for sauce on the side. |
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| Thank you Auntie Lilian for my beautiful birthday cake. |
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| More cakes = More wishes! May they all come true. |
After dinner, we went to visit Reen and Timmy at the hospital because my beautiful lucky niece wanted to come out and share my birthday.
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So nice to meet you Maria Pumbaa Nicole Therese!!!
The world is so lucky to have the 2 of us in it!!! |
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| Trivia, I was also born on a Sunday Night 39 years ago. |
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| Happy Birthday it was indeed!!! |
Thank you Lord for all the blessings, and to my family and friends for spending time to celebrate with me. 2.18.18 was epic. just saying.
