Okay Yung Birthday Ko

My birthday turned out to be a decent one. It was more than I expected actually. There was no urge to look for a vampire to bite me and make me an immortal 30 year old vampire. It was painless. Except for the fact that my good old period that always comes at a right timing (days when I have shoots, a lot of outdoor activities etc.) said hello to me the night before my birthday. Hubby thought I was over-reacting over this becoming old stuff when he can't even find fine lines or wrinkles on my face. You're too blind to see, I grumbled.

I left the office early (is 730pm early?) because hubby wanted to take me out on a birthday dinner date. We settled on going to Pepper Lunch but at the last minute I got lazy and said that I really wanted to try Joey Pepperoni. Pareho naman may Pepper. Hehehe. I've been casting longing looks whenever I pass by the pizza place. Their restaurants are not located in malls so it was hard for me to convince hubby to eat there on a whim. Before I left the office I searched the net for the nearest Joey Pepperoni restaurant in Makati.

I found hubby dying of hunger inside Powerbooks at Greenbelt. We scoured the mall for Joey Pepperoni before I gave him the neon pink post it where I wrote the address of the restaurant in Perea. Like boyfriend and girlfriend (uuuyy) we walked to the sidestreets of Makati in search of the restaurant. I didn't want to eat at any other restaurant. I don't know but lately I'm not okay with the Friday gimik crowd. Must be old age. We went to the car park first to look at the city map.
Hello, Joey! Finally, we've met.

We ordered half of Joey Pepperoni and half of The Works 12 inch pizza. I guess I can say that there's really nothing very special about Joey Pepperoni but if you eat there, you won't go home regretting the fact that you've eaten there. The pizza does taste awfully good but I've tasted better pizzas and I thought the crust was a little bit too white. I'm looking for that little toasted edge to the crust to make it crispy. But maybe it's just the Perea branch that does theirs like that. I'd better try the other Joeys. I was a little bit creeped out by the large picture of Italian children on the wall. They looked like they were glaring at me while I munched on the pizza.
The Pasta Salsiccia that we ordered was very delicious. It's actually different kinds of sausages sauteed on olive oil and bellpeppers tossed on spaghetti noodles. It was so tasty I only remembered to take a picture of it when I asked hubby to finish the pasta for me.

The day of my birthday, I was very grumpy. I didn't want to wake up early and I've been hearing people greeting the half-conscious me and I thought I was dreaming when I heard Zoie's sweet voice saying happy birthday, mama and handing me a bunch of gerbera daisies (my favorite!).
I said to myself, I'm really getting old. My mom is giving me flowers for my birthday. I woke up to an empty house. Hubby went to the gym and Mama and Zoie went to attend Zoie's makeup class. I found Calet doing some chores.

I made two kinds of pasta: olive-oil based and cream based. Tinamad na but I was going to make a tomato-based pasta or the traditional spaghetti and also bring out the pesto sauce that I got from the grocery. I settled for a penne rigate pasta for both my tomato cream sauce and aglio e olio. I cooked spaghetti noodles for the left over sauces. Hubby was raving about my pasta recipes that he made me bring some to my MIL and SIL.
The tomato cream sauce that my family love so much.
Aglio e olio. Don't judge the book by its cover. Or if it looks too bland, try some bacon on top.
In the afternoon, we went to watch Madagascar 2 at the Mall of Asia. I bought tickets for the six of us and MIL treated us to a round of halo-halo while waiting for the movie. Razon's is the best in Manila but wait till you try DJC in Bicol.
My mom enjoying her halo-halo.
Again, don't judge anything by its appearance alone.

After Razon's, Zoie and Calet went off to ride the "balloon" ferris wheel.
Zoie was waving at us from the ferris wheel.

After entering the cinema, I went off to buy buckets of popcorn for all of us. I don't like the popcorn at Perfect Pop so I went running down the escalator looking for Popperoo. Ayun, I missed the trailer of Twilight. Groowwwlll!!!
You got to move it, move it! Zoie was singing "you got to moo it moo it" all the way to the parking area. When I asked which animal she liked best, she said, "I like the mermaid..." I'm really not sure but I think she meant Melman, the giraffe (?).

For dinner, we went to Seaside in Macapagal. A gay waitress or waiter or what is he? was able to convince me to try Sharmila Paluto. She said it's sikat in Dampa Parañaque. Well, I thought it was time for something new. For years, we've been eating at Sis Dang. I wasn't disappointed. I liked the restaurant at Sis Dang because it's a little bit more sosyal but Sharmila provided a very "paluto" atmosphere. Whatever that is...
The sinigang sa miso ulo ng fish (si Mama lang may alam what type of fish) was very delicious. Hindi masyadong maasim.
Zoie loved the Calamares!

Me love Baked Tahong!
Buttered Shrimps. We were going to get Tempura but the man there said that it may be special but it's just like Calamares. Prito lang. I'm glad I believed him. I couldn't resist but taste these and I ended up with Angelina Jolie lips and a few pantals on the skin after eating two pieces minus the head. Quite a sacrifice. But I didn't buy crabs. I might not live to see the dawn of my 32nd birthday.

After, we lingered around the area to buy DVDs and Zoie made her lola buy her a butterfly toy.
Zoie was fast asleep when we arrived home. Mama and I stayed up late to talk. I missed her. She's been at the house for a week and I've been at the office before she wakes up and I get to come home and she's already asleep... kinda like Zoie.

I was also happy because a lot of people remembered my birthday. I received text messages from friends from here, the province and abroad. It was all unexpected for this chuva because I really thought I'd spend the day doing nothing or reading Twilight and hating the lousy Bella character.

I like to move it! Move it! I like to... MOVE IT!