The celebration started on the eve of my birthday, with me treating my parents, siblings and Mamang to dinner at one of my go-to restos, Rub. We usually dine out on the actual birthday but because Rub doesn't accept reservations on Fridays (and I do not want to take a chance and just walk in), we chose to move the dinner to Jan 3. And good thing I made a reservation, there was a queue when we arrived! And the place was packed, which actually surprised me since it was a Thursday.
I really made sure to have my birthday dinner at Rub because I love their food and I wanted to share my discovery with my family. I actually found out about Rub through Patty Laurel's blog (dapattylaurel.com). If you love the ribs at Rack's, you'll love Rub. They serve yummy and tender ribs with Wendy's-like iced tea. Their prices are cheaper than Rack's too. A slab of ribs good for 2-3 pax is under Php400 and that already includes 3 side dishes. Such a great deal! My one beef with Rub is that they don't have hot and spicy sauce for the ribs; they only have Tabasco, which I don't care much for.
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| Top (L-R): shrimps, baked mussels Bottom: Family-sized ribs with side dishes |
For my birthday dinner, we ordered and feasted on ribs, baked mussels, lemon salad, gambas-like shrimps , and side dishes of corn, mashed potatoes, and garlic spinach and had several pitchers of iced tea. Super busog! And what was the damage? Under Php3000 for 8 adults and 1 toddler! Well, Php3400 actually but we had 3 senior citizen card holders in our group so it came out to Php2900. Not bad, right?
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| Rub's walls were decorated with inspirational posters like these |
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| I love my family! |
Anyway, since everyone was so full, nobody wanted dessert or even milk tea from Serenitea next door. Such killjoys! But Ally and I didn't want to end the night just yet so we went and had dessert and coffee at McDonald's before going home. The sugar and caffeine helped a lot in keeping us all up for my birthday salubong so I was able to start my day with lots of kisses and hugs! Plus, my super sweet Ally made me a virtual cake on her iPad. It was her own idea and it was the sweetest and best surprise ever!
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| I'm lovin' it! |
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| Ally's mini pictorial at McDo |
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| Ally and my virtual cake! So adorable! |
As you probably know, I spent practically the entire morning of my birthday at LTO in SM City renewing my driver's license. It was such a bummer! I was there as soon as the drug testing site opened at 830am, but I was only called for urine sampling shortly before 1030am. Crazy! I guess it was because those who work there were still in holiday mode. They came in late and were so sluggish! It didn't help that there were so many people too. Thankfully, I got my license just before the LTO took their lunch break. Whew!
The rest of the day went smoothly, with a nice merienda visit by my mom and brother, mass at UP and a quiet dinner at home.
Normally, I'd be a bit sad that my day was so unspectacular, but the good thing about my birthday falling on a Friday was that I got to extend the celebration over the weekend! Woohoo! We continued to celebrate my birthday on the 5th with a yummy lunch at Lugang Cafe at SM City and then a bit of shopping at Eastwood Mall. The lunch at Lugang Cafe was necesary because our gift certificate there was expiring on the 7th. We got it from my sister who had quite a few extras from when she held Lila's baptism at the Wilson branch back in January 2012. Shopping was at Eastwood Mall because the shirt I want from Regatta was unavailable in the SM branch but available in Eastwood.
Anyway, I am not a big fan of Chinese food, but it was clear to me that Lugang was a cut above the rest. Their service was amazing. As soon as they saw me with Ally and Sofia, the waiters rushed to change two of the seats to high chairs. And they had the kids's tableware set even before we got to settle into our seats. Galing diba? And I really like that the table had bag hooks already. Such a great idea! The food was good too. We ordered chicken with scallions, xiao long bao, wanton noodle soup and steamed clams with silk melon. Ally and I shared a glass of their strawberry yoghurt shake, which was so yummy. If I need to nitpick, I'd say that their food is a tad more expensive given the serving portion but the service made up for it. Our bill was over Php1500, in case you're wondering.
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| All restaurants should have this! |
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| Purple Ikea plastic utensils for Princess Ally |
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| Sofia loved her yellow plastic "toys" |
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| Ally loved the clams! |
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| Happy birthday to me! |
We went straight to my grandmother's house for dinner, but we were all so tired that we didn't stay long, which is why we just spent Sunday at home and heard mass in the afternoon. There was just too much excitement the past few days that our little family needed to rest and recuperate!
So that was my long birthday celebration! Thank you Jojo, Ally, Sofia, my family, and everyone who have been a part of my day (including the doctor at the drug testing site who said I looked very good for my age, naks!). If this is an indication of how 2013 will be, I am excited and grateful!
*Rub Ribs & BBQ
*Rub Ribs & BBQ
QC: 64 Scout Rallos, QC
11am-12mn
Tel: 5012799
Facebook: Rub Ribs & BBQ
Twitter: @RUB_RibsBBQ
*Lugang Cafe
www.lugangcafe.com.ph
Facebook: Lugang Cafe
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