Kirin: a time for celebration

The night before our mother was laid to rest, a mass was held and the priest's homily that a death is not a time to be sad but to celebrate because the dead had already joined her Creator and that in our mother's case, all her pain had finally ceased. He may be right but still, it is sometimes hard losing a loved one.

Today, we finally brought her to her final resting place right beside our father who died a few years earlier. After the burial, we went to the Bonifacio High Street to have our lunch, where my sister-in-law had reserved a private room for us. 

Together with the immediate family, we had some close relatives and household help who had in one way or another helped our mother ease the pain she suffered.

Unfortunately, as I am have a kidney problem and undergoing dialysis, I had to refrain from eating all the food that was served. Just seeing my family in one room is enough for me although I must admit that I had cheated by tasting each dish a spoonful each.

A small private room had been reserved where there were three tables each good for 10.

First to be served was the century egg with jelly fish. I had one strip of jelly fish. This was the second time I've had it and it was not really my thing. Didn't try the century egg though it was all consumed before lunch was over. Only a small portion of the jelly fish had been consumed.

The crab and corn cream soup was next to be served. I had few spoonfuls and it was ok although my wife was unlucky to have some crab shells in her soup.

The birthday noodles was served next. The kids enjoyed the orange colored quail eggs. The noodles were saucy with a lot of meat and veggies mixed into it.

A Filipino meal won't be complete without rice and yang chow was served. The rice alone can be eaten without any other courses as it is filled with lots of meat.

My nephew claimed he liked the sauteed broccoli with garlic. It was half eaten since our table had lots of kids who do not like to eat veggies.

I tried the deep fried lapu-lapu - shanghai style but chose the white meat and avoided the skin. Poured some of the sauce though for some flavor. If only I could, I would love to have more of this, tsk tsk tsk. The fish sauce was still boiling when the foil was finally opened.

The Chinese beef steak was really tender that it was easy to cut with a spoon or fork. The sauce was tasty. Again, I had to limit into just a small portion.

The steamed fish seemed promising but with some oil and soy sauce, I had to limit my intake as well. Only the flesh part was consumed by me.

I would have loved to try the crispy skin of this Kirin fried chicken but again had to force myself to only have a small portion of the white meat. It was tasteless without the skin or gravy, ha ha ha

For dessert, we had the almond and mango panna cotta. It was too sweet but I had a few spoonfuls of it as it was addicting, he he he

Believe it or not, this is the first time I had a meal outside since I was first hospitalized in January. My wife and daughter had suffered enough due to my restricted diet. Besides, the company was enough to make the whole meal complete.