it's a beautiful world..

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Stay Back!

Ann took this video last night during the lighting of the fireworks which were contributed by my daughter's best friend, Julie Sanders.

Samantha's reaction made way for the title.

That Was Awesome!

This video was taken last night by Ann during the lighting of the fireworks, which were contributed by my daughter, Christina's best friend, Julie Sanders.

"That was awesome!", Samantha's comment at the end, made it easy to think of a title.

Our 4th was Indeed a Lot of Fun

No photos but just memories to remember. For me, that is. Too busy to take pics, but I will ask my children if any of them bothered to take photos of the happy celebration our family had yesterday, July 4th. If any of them did, I will post the photos soon.

My day started when I was awakened after hearing a commotion outside my bedroom, noises coming from heavy footsteps walking in the living room, past the kitchen and out the back door, followed by small scurrying footsteps of a small creature, which I figured was coming from our small chihuahua dog, Marley.

I still wanted to just lay snuggled on my bed, but the thought of all the stores packed with shoppers and maybe the shelves running out of the fresh ingredients I needed to make dinner for July 4th, was enough to make me jump out of bed.

It turned out, the commotion I heard earlier, was Bernard getting ready to leave for his hunting trip with his friends at his best friend Nick's private hunting ground in Fairfield, California. He was dragging his equipments and had them all ready by the door.

We had a brief talk and he requested that I prepare Korean Barbecue Ribs (Kalbi) for dinner. Christina, on the other hand wanted to make pizza without meat. Julie, her best friend, does not eat meat and cheese pizza would be perfect. This time, she and Julie will watch me make the dough so they could learn how to make a pizza.

Off to the the stores we went (with Christina). First, at Ranch 99, an asian store that carries all prime and quality asian meat, fish, and other rare asian ingredients, and then to Lunardi's to get some prosciutto de parma, headcheese from Germany and Italy, and some good quality butter.

Our dinner was a combination of asian and european food. For appetizers, we had the onion foccacia with the prosciutto and the headcheese. Bernard and Ann prepared the marinade and took care of the barbecuing of the korean barbecue, with a side dish of grilled asparagus drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

Christina and Julie made some onion dip for their chips. They had Smirnoff Ice with different flavors, for their drink. It is a very light drink, which to me is like drinking juice. Julie contrinbuted the fireworks. She was worried that I might not approve of her bringing it. I was emphatic earlier in the day that we will not be having fireworks because of recession.

While I was busy in the kitchen making the pizza, they were all outside and enjoying the night and just having fun. My friend Lily W. was over and we were busy catching up on things and eating at the same time.

The night ended early at around 9:30PM. Julie and Christina stayed up to maybe 1:00 AM watching scary movies.

Check out the two videos I posted this morning which Ann took last night while they were lighting the fireworks. The food was not the focal point here. I didn't have time to take shots. But, I too, had a lot of fun.

Nostalgia

A photo of my mom (lady in black with fan) with the then President Ramon Magsaysay ( tall gentleman on right) at the Malacanang Palace with the Delegation to Malacanang, Adult and Vocational Classes, L.W.V.P. - 4th Congressional District, Manila, Philippines, Circa 1956.

The Adult Vocational Classes L.W.V.P. - 4th Congressional District in Manila was one of the administration's programs to help adult women learn a skill to do business.. My Aunt Julie Pobre (on the farthest right with a big smile) and my mom, Cristeta Soriano Abad, were heading the the mission of helping adult women learn home economics, specifically cooking and sewing classes, and other arts and crafts.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

A Wedding of a Lifetime

Last May, I was invited to a wedding of my son's best friend, Nick P. and his then fiancee, Amy D. which was held in Healdsburg, California. The wedding ceremony was held in Asti, California, in a small catholic church in the middle of the vineyards and the reception was at the Simoncini Vineyards, a vineyard owned by the uncle of Nick P., the only living brother of his mom, Linda Simoncini Peruzzaro.