Dinner with Arnel Pineda

I had to be the one to get the crabs and prawns. One time I asked our cook (not Cherry) to buy the prawns for Edmund’s birthday dinner, she bought the tiniest ones at the price of the giant ones. Baka ipinadala na sa probinsya yung pamalengke ko. The guests did not touch the crabs because they were so tiny. They probably thought they were talangka kasi ang liliit.

Panahon na ba ng talangka ngayon? Favorite ko yan. I can eat one
palanggana in one seating kaya my cholesterol shot up.

Giant tuna good for 1,000 guests

Korean tour group

Arnel told me he preferred fruits so I bought kaimito, mangosteen, etc.

P120/kilo

I asked the tindera “Miss tinitinda mo pa ba yan? di ba bulok na yan?
Tindera gave me a dagger look. But that did not deter me from continuing with my interpolation (parang sa Senate impeachment trial),
“Diba bulok na yan? Magkano isang kilo?”

Tindera- “sisenta”
Hah?? Dapat pinamimigay na lang yan. Pero pag tinanggap, where is your dignity?

Musclemen to carry stuff. Those are pandan leaves.

Before

After.
I placed the pandan in the powder room. Ang bango.

Can you see that one chair without kalapit? That’s reserved for Arnel Pineda.

I chose this particular blue table cloth and I matched with these antique glasses, made in the US around 1970s. But I only have 6 pieces.

Food was ready by 6 pm. Actually I wasn’t really sure of what to serve, kaya chopsuey nilabasan.

Grilled herbed chicken salad with croutons

Grilled butterfly jumbo prawns (not with lemon butter sauce but our sawsawan was suka)

There’s Arnel and Cherry after dinner, his son was playing on the floor.

Cherub accompanied his dad to his recent world tour with Journey covering 91 cities. With that kind of exposure, I bet he has memorized every Journey song. And I was told he has a very good voice too like his dad.

Marvin (who came from school) and Julienne

This boy is smart. Parang matanda kung magsalita. He told me
“dapat magpa picture tayo para ma – remember mo ako”.

White wine and cheese plate.

Their crossbred labrador/rottweiler puppy died a week ago. We gave them this puppy and they named her Chiqui, after their deceased labrador.
This 2-month old puppy is Twinkle’s daughter by her boyfriend Tyler.

Our family felt so blessed last night dining with one extremely talented guy who makes our country proud and, right in our very own kitchen.

It was indeed a very relaxed dinner, kwentuhan lang while we ate crabs with our bare hands.

I first met Arnel at the San Francisco Airport and he struck me as someone who’s so grounded. I did not feel that his worldwide fame has gone up to his head. This’ the reason why I thought of inviting him over to our house. and I was right. My family loved him, he’s so genuinely humble and nice. It was a delight watching him asikaso his son Cherub, he’s also so sweet to his wife Cherry.

I purposely did not invite other guests for this evening because I wanted it to be as relaxed and casual as possible. Kain-kin lang kami and kwentuhan.

It was a joy dining with him and his family. They’re very simple people, they ate whatever we had, hindi sila mapili. And perfect timing pa. My sister in law brought me a big fresh tilapia from Binangonan, manggang hilaw and alamang. Ang sarap.

(LEFT TO RIGHT) My son Marvin, Cherry de Guzman (Arnel’s Philippine agent), that’s me, Cherry (the pretty and preggy wife of Arnel), Arnel Pineda, Edmund, Julienne and Justice the step-daughter of Arnel (in blue dress)

It was a truly enjoyable evening. Thanks Arnel, we’ll see you on February 14.