Going out on a Sunday “paseo” with Dad at the wheel of the car was considered a huge treat for us as kids. Maybe we would drive down Dewey Boulevard and end up eating lunch in Chinatown, or up “Highway 54” and watch with fascination as chefs prepared pizza dough at the Village Inn, in Makati. My dad was a huge car buff, so “paseo” also meant we got to ride in whatever his current pride and joy might have been, which typically meant we were sitting on real leather seats (I can still remember the smell of those seats)… On one of those drives, Dad spotted a Ford Cortina and suddenly we were on this cloak and dagger chase, following this unsuspecting driver and his Cortina home to a residential village somewhere, taking us 60+ minutes out of our way. Turns out it was the exact same Ford Cortina stolen from us just three years before, now repainted, and Dad had noticed a dent or marking on one of the wheels, and hours later, with police in tow, and engine number confirmed, he was able to reclaim his stolen property… Today, the Sunday excursion with Mrs. MM and The Kid is more likely to end up at a mall or a nearby restaurant or bookstore… we don’t wander as far (don’t waste gas driving aimlessly around), but we do still get those several hours together as a family on a Sunday on first gear…
We started off yesterday with brunch at Mamou at Serendra. Mrs. MM had some eggs benedict, The Kid some french toast, and I had to have some shredded duck adobo with red rice and a fried egg from their regular menu. It’s so nice to have a place to go to late on Sunday morning for a limited but well executed menu of classic brunch dishes. But what really put me in a nostalgic mood was the song playing on the restaurant’s music system, it certainly sounded familiar, very 50’s in fact, but I just couldn’t hear it well enough to place it. Oye Fores pointed out, after turning up the volume, that it was by Nat King Cole, my favorite Christmas carol singer, so no wonder it sounded familiar… but the song, bizarrely enough, was “Dahil Sa Iyo”! Turns out Nat King Cole had come to Manila in the 1950’s, and to win the hearts of his audience, he sang “Dahil Sa Iyo” during his concert… Now, that, is stylish cool indeed. :)
After we finished brunch, I was introduced to one of the owners of C2, a clothing store related to the Collezione brand of shirts/clothing that must go back 20+ years. Back when buying foreign brands was impossible or prohibitive, and China was still firmly communist and not producing 16 gajillion t-shirts per annum, the shirt to have then had a little key as a logo where a crocodile or polo player might otherwise be located. I had recently received several “Filipinas” shirts from that same store for my birthday. A close friend had sent them over with a note that said “For the Nationalist in You…” and I realized that the plain t-shirts also had a map of the Philippines very proudly printed onto the chest of the shirt. In my case, the shirts and map are of the same color so they are rather subtle, but other shirts have contrasting colors. The photo up top is of one of The Kid’s shirts, while Mrs. MM has a few of them as well. It doesn’t scream anything, it just shows a sense of national pride… a smart idea, if you ask me. I am told they are available from C2 stores, one of which is on the second floor of the Market!Market! Mall next door to Serendra.
From brunch we were driving home and took a wrong turn and ended up in front of The Tent at Fort Bonifacio. We decided to check out the bazaar at the Tent, and now remember why I haven’t gone to a bazaar in over a year… it seemed like the same old stuff without anything exciting or interesting to see or buy. That will probably be the last Fort bazaar I will go to for at least another year… We didn’t have our free bazaar tickets on hand, so we had to pay PHP150 for three of us to enter, and all I bought were ten packs of thin sampalok candy for a total of PHP200. Duh, entrance and parking cost more than what I bought! But I do love these thinly rolled sampalok candies…
On the way back to the car, I spied these “Up to 70% Off” banners outside the Gourdo’s shop nearby. I haven’t been to Gourdo’s for a long time, particularly since Chef Chris decided to move on to bigger and better things, but I decided to have a peek and scored two gallon sized glass cookie jars for less than PHP200 each. These are the exact same jars I use for flour, sugar, etc. and I have been looking for a few to keep some cooking utensils in. These didn’t include their covers (they probably broke) but I didn’t need the covers. At up to PHP700+ at other stores, these sturdy cookie jars at more than 70% off were a steal, in my opinion. :) They will replace much smaller containers that were bursting with ladles, tongs, etc. that sit on the kitchen counter. There was a lot of “close out” stuff on sale, practically worthless to most, I would think, but there was an occasional find or two. From Gourdo’s we drove home to bake some chocolate crinkles and chocolate chip cookies and take the dog for a walk… That was our lazy Sunday for you. I hope you all had a restful weekend!
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Our lazy Sunday started with homemade pancakes and bacon with wild honey from the mountains of Cebu and hibernating in the room with the wife, kids and dog.
The special treat for the day was having Osang’s Broas from Bohol together with ice cream for our lunch dessert.
sunday lunch today was a quick trip to Whole Foods for a cup of fisherman style ciopino (very tasty) and a side of fettucini with parsley. nothing fancy just great wholesome food. I used to hop on the freeway after work on fridays and go where the road leads me with my overnight bag in tow. These days it is inevitable to keep off the road with gas prices on the constant rise (just filled up @ $4.05/gallon). Weekends are now mostly spent at home with lots of reading and trip planning for future vacations. I have taken notes on your Istanbul trip.
MM,
When you referenced “Village Inn”, did you mean “Italian Village” which was on Highway 54 in Makati (Edsa today) ?
I remember as a child the sesame grissini (breadsticks), the candles placed on top of straw-covered chianti bottles, and “sour” spaghetti.
i rarely get a sunday off… today I was stand by for half day…. but I kicked my morning with some poached eggs, yoghurts… and reading the Sunday paper.
Went to see some kababayan for lunch and slow leisurely shopping at Macy’s.
Back to the boat on my day off I decided to set dinner for the crew, read my book, blog.
If I were in Athens… surely its a different lazy Sunday…
Danny, YOU ARE SO RIGHT, it was ITALIAN VILLAGE… This is what happens when your grey matter is leaking out the side of one’s head! :)
I was wondering about Italian Village as well when I read Danny’s comment. That was our family’s fallback Italian resto and one of my super favorites when I was a young chile, more than 20+ years ago hehe.
I make Sunday special for my family. Have been pretty disappointed with eating out especially so that prices of food ingredients are so high…many restaurants scrimp. So, home cooking is what I do…homemade pancakes usually on Sundays. Although last Sunday, I made scones from Ina Garten’s recipe and my kids love them…just so rich in butter…so Ina! It’s so much appreciated by the kids. Then it dawned on me that what we do on Sundays for our family is not just spending Sundays…we are actually making memories for them…the sights, the sounds, the tastes… enough for them to remember and do to their own family.
oooppss…should read “enough for them to remember and do to their own family when their time comes”. :)
Perhaps you should mention that you were a little boy when that Ford was carnapped. Mom went to Kamuning to buy buttons and you decided to enter the store after her for the airconditioning. Driver was taken over at gunpoint and you and Mom couldn’t find him so you both took a cab home (Pre-cell phone). Driver returned 6 hours later in his underwear, he had been taken to a place in Paranaque and stripped then released, and walked all the way to QC! The Ford had a Mercedes horn installed by Dad so he recognized the horn and gave chase some 3 years later and actually recovered his car (it was then surrendered to the insurance since the claim had already been paid). Pretty exciting!
sister, somehow I doubt mom and dad would pay ransom for my return… I now realize why I consider airconditioning (along with 747’s) to be two of the greatest inventions of the 20th century…
We would go to Italian Village too! I remember my sister used to always order the fettucine alfredo. There was also a Japanese restaurant we used to frequent. Can’t remember the name of the place.
MM, this post about leisurely sunday drives brought back a lot of memories of weekend drives with my dad and family. Talk about aimlessly driving for miles, we’d usually end up as far away as nueva ecija or tarlac! But those were days when traffic congestion was still unknown. Odd but I particularly enjoyed the “typhoon trips.” He was still with the agri dep’t. then and we’d tag along for the typhoon damage inspections. To this day I still enjoy a roadtrips or just a leisurely drive on a rainy day, with flooded streets to boot(!), when most people probably hate it- a throwback to those typhoon trips, I guess…
My favorite in Italian Village was Calzone which was where I tasted it for the first time for 16 pesos. Weren’t they sister company with Monk’s Inn where they were famous for their Surf and Turf?
Yes, those were the day when spending the Sunday was a Paseo sa Dewey Boulevard. Gas was 33 centavos then.
My daughter now cannot imagine our lives without Malls and 100 channels, vidoe games, etc. Kids still often complain they are bored. Go figure!!!!!!!
my husband has like half a dozen of those shirts and wears them all the time. they’re also a great pasalubong for those relatives overseas.
nice read today, as usual.
How I miss Italian Village (Makati Ave) and their frito misto de mare, drown with lots of ice cold SMB. Made good friends with the pianist cum singer coz our group were the only ones on a drinking spree at 2pm on a weekday! syempre takas lang lahat kami from the office.
Almost forgot… Years ago, whenever we passed by Roxas Blvd., my mom would tell us about how it used to be called Dewey Blvd. and that as kids, they went there to stroll around and get some fresh air. Since I had asthma when I was younger and sea breeze was, as she assured me, good for asthma, I was coaxed into opening my window on one evening drive down the blvd. Yikes! I almost threw up from the smell of the supposedly “fresh” Manila Bay air! It was the grossest smell, ever. This was back in the late 80’s/early 90’s. Somehow, Manila Bay smells a bit better nowadays. I am often in that part of town lately and I’ve never gotten a whiff of anything close to revolting.
Hi Marketman,
Italian Village had a Sister restaurant called Monk’s Inn. That’s probably why you remember it as Village Inn. My family and I had many good memories of these restaurants. I understand that these were owned by the clan of Gene Gonzalez and that he learned a lot of techniques from the restaurant’s cooks.
great post today MM! you and sis are so funny! thanks for making my day.
i love Sundays because it is market day for us.
i asked my yaya to buy tahong, shrimps, liempo, talong and okra.
we grilled the liempo, baked half of the tahong (w/lots of garlic, butter and cheese) and turned the other half into soup, stir fried the shrimps in butter, garlic and chili sauce, and steamed the veggies. then we bought a large bottle of coke zero. yummy Sunday lunch =D
nice to reminisce,MM. building memories is what we’re doing at present.
the weekend was a very rainy one, so apple-picking was a washout. a small 16th birthday party was great–the lechon was so-so…again, that shows almost 90% of the time, lechons in the US is a hit-or-miss thing…
sunday was spent baby-sitting for apo. fun….
your post just reminded me..nat king coles daughters are friends from LA and i gifted mom with the cd of the dahil sa iyo, gosh a long time ago. and i recall drives on dewey & H54 too!
Very nice, refreshing post! It brought back happy childhood memories! Thank you.
Nice nostalgic Sunday memories!!! Yes Nat King Cole sang Dahil Sa Yo at the Coliseum around 50 years ago….and the recording is PRICELESS! How I wish they could have preserved more of the songs he sang then…the Paul Anka, Harry Belafonte, Eartha Kitt, Fabian, Everly Brothers, Trini Lopez,even Bob Hope and more performances were on reel tape recordings and how we all wish they could be found and re-released from 50 years of memorable shows at the Coliseum. Brunch could be more memorable listening to all of them. Together with Team Manila shirts, the C2 Philippine map shirts
are truly amazing ….for Mrs. MM and The Kid, they may appreciate the ones with a smaller scale Philippine map for better girl proportions.
Anyone remember the pink Selecta on Dewey Boulevard, or Milky Way off Shaw with the ox tongue sandwiches? Automat and Rizal Theater? Erehwon Bookstore and the Plaza Restaurant? Cubao memories for Sunday eating were Chinese lauriat at Ming’s or merienda at Kup n Saucer plus school supply shopping at Vasquez Bros. or ice skating at New Frontier, shopping at Matsuzakaya Dept. Store and chicken katsu balls at Matsuzaka House.Good memories….
Wow, somebody mentioned Monk’s Inn. My dad and I had lunch there when I was a boy. Had a fantastic starter that scalded my tongue, I think it was spinach souffle or something. A little boy eating greens and loving it, go figure. We both had steak and lobster. I really think this is the reason why I love eating steak so much. It always reminds me of that day with my dad. I was so small then I didnt even realize it was in Makati. Come to think of it, I would not have known it was in Makati if I didnt stumble on this thread, lol.
Can you pls tell the owner of Collezione how I love their product. My husband has a ton of them. A million washing and drying (in the washer&dryer) has not dulled the color or skewed the hems. He has shirts that go back 20 years that still look like new. The quality is superb. They are even much better than the ones with the crocodile logo (and I mean real ones, not the fake ones). They should market this worldwide then we don’t have to order them from relatives in the Phil. We were in LA recently and saw a similar shirt with the map of the PI embossed and that was really something. I thought it was a smudge of paint but on closer scrutiny realized it was a map of the PI.
Great post MM. Nostalgic.
Corrine…yes we’re creating memories and “good” family values. Talking at mealtime. Bonding.When my kids(5) were growing up (boyfriends and all) we used to have “themed” lunches e.g. Japanese,Chinese,Mexican,Italian, even shabu-shabu dinners on Sundays. Now that they live in different places,we blog (family blog)and share these memories. Am sure their families will inherit these “fun” memories.While it was happening,the moments were incomparable.
I was laughing at all the nostalgia.Hahaha..our ages are showing.My daughter and I have been guessing that MM is late 30’s or early 40’s. (dont block my comments if I’m wrong MM)…hahaha..but for people like me…I now know I have a lot of mga kabababata. Hahaha…
ON Sundays, my parents used to drive all of us 7 kids from Cubao to my Uncle’s house in Parang, Marikina on Sundays and would spend the whole day talking, eating, and playing games with my cousins and their friends.
Those were the days from the late 60’s to the early 70’s,
now with my last parent having died last September 2008, and my uncle already passed away years ago, I am eternally grateful for all their efforts and memories.