Time flies by so fast.
That is my biggest realization last Thursday, when I had two meet-ups with two different friends from High School on the same day that this blog turned thirteen.
Seriously, how is this blog a teenager? How did that even happen?
Publico Ristorante
The first meet-up was supposed to be a reunion dinner with Anne, a hometown friend who used to be based in Singapore but who is now in Perth. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond her control, she couldn’t make it, so in the end, it was just me and Elma and her family, the usual suspects of the Cafe Discoveries sessions. This wasn’t a cafe, but it was a new restaurant, so that still counts!
Brian discovered this beautiful Italian restaurant called Publico. I first entered their deli, but it turns out the restaurant was a few steps away. It is much prettier than the deli, with music and lights and the atmosphere perfect for an upscale casual Friday or weekend night out.
We ordered some arancini alla bolognese, calamari, bistecca beef steak, and Tartufata pizza with sangria for the ladies and beer for Brian.
Everything was good but my favourite was the pizza. It had a wonderful smoky taste, and the flavour is not common, so something definitely worth trying!
I also loved the service. The waiters were all very friendly. Even though we initially reserved a huge table but our actual party was cut to half, they did not kick up a fuss about it and just reseated us at a smaller table, no problem.
While Bryce was busy tearing into his Kinder eggs, the adults had an interesting conversation about how different people have different goals in life and how sometimes, unhappiness stems from other people forcing you to achieve their goals, and not yours.
This is a high school reunion because even though Elma and I are both celebrating our ten years anniversary of moving to Singapore sometime this year, we originally met in high school back in our hometown in the Philippines.
Ten years?!?
Like I said – time flies.
Capri Hotel
My high school friend Rey, who is a pilot, happened to have a layover in Singapore on the same night, so when he called me, I said I could meet him and his wife Yasmien after dinner. Since it was already late and he had a flight the next morning, we decided to just meet up at their hotel room.
The last time I had met up with Rey was in 2011, which was so long ago – he wasn’t even married yet. As for Yasmien, the last time I had met her was way before that, when I was not yet living in Singapore, around the time when they had just started dating.
If memory serves me right, we had met up for dinner in a sports grill, watched a movie in Greenbelt 3 cinema, then ended the night in Starbucks. But it was so long ago that who knows if I’m even remembering it correctly. That is why I have a teenager blog – so it can remember for me. 😝
Anyway, I taught them how to use the Nespresso machine in their hotel room. My boss had recently brought hers to the office, so I knew how to operate it.
Yasmien brought out some cookies that they had brought from Manila, and we had coffee and tea and cookies while watching the last part of La La Land on cable TV. We all love the movie. I was pleased when Yasmien confessed that she bawled during the movie, because I had done the exact same thing! It’s always nice to know that you’re not the only one who does something so you’re probably not crazy. 😅
After La La Land ended, we just continued talking about different things. When Yasmien saw my Samyang Spicy Noodles Challenge, she showed me a funny video of their five year old daughter doing the challenge with their maids. But don’t worry – she didn’t actually feed her kid spicy noodles, she just gave her noodles with soy sauce.
It was a very casual catch up, which was nice to experience because Yasmien is actually a popular actress back in the Philippines, yet she is down to earth and nice.
Time flies by so fast, and before you knew it, it was midnight, and I had to say goodbye because we all needed sleep. But Rey said maybe next time we could have a longer conversation – just like we used to back when we were teenagers, like my blog. 😂
I hope that next time isn’t when their daughter is a teenager already.
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