Dinner with the Yee family

November 25, 2015

What was initially intended to be an exclusive dinner for my mother in law and her seven children became a family dinner with the grandchildren also invited. The notice of change of plan came in too late in the afternoon of that day. Oyen received the text quite late.  My husband was competing in an out of town golf tournament, and my children had their own schedules already. I was at the nearby Dusit Thani attending the Women’s Business Council of the  Philippines conference, so I volunteered to be the one to attend although I wasn’t sure if the daughter in laws were also included. Makapal naman ako kaya I invited myself. I was in a relaxed mood that day and I still had some energy left even after listening to the speeches at the Women Rising gathering organized by the Women’s Business Council of the Philippines.   Needless to say,  the invited guest speakers were all women: VP candidate Leni Robredo, Senatorial candidate Lorna Kapunan, Risa Hontiveros, the daughter of Blas Ople.  Sorry I forgot the names of the other women leaders.

Dinner was at the Chinese restaurant inside Shangri-la Hotel in Makati, a stone’s throw away from where I was but it took me an hour to get there because of some vehicular congestion aka traffic.

I bought some pastries at Dusit’s bakeshop while waiting for my car.

Edmund’s sister, Nenet was at the top of the hotel’s grand staircase and was surprised to see me.  Nagulat sya,  she was very nice.  She said she missed me. I haven’t attended any of my inlaws’ gathering for the past two or three years,  missing in action ako.  I was the last person they would expect to show up.  Hahaha,  I invited myself to be my dear husband’s representative.  Basta kainan,  go ako.

They haven’t ordered. Shang Palace does not have a set menu per table. They compute the price on a per person basis. The prices start at P1,488 ++ / person up to I think P6,800 + per person. Because of the disparity in pricing, she asked us which one we would go for, low, middle or high. Before my in-laws could decide, I answered “Huwag yung mahal, baka hindi tayo matunawan”. After two minutes, I volunteered “‘kina, ako ang pipili”.

Edmund’s mom is 83 years old and still very strong.  She just came back from a two week holiday in Vancouver to visit one of her sons.

Get ready, eating time

Hot prawn salad

For healthy eaters: Braised mushrooms, tofu and broccoli

A Chinese lauriat is never complete without Steamed Fish with ginger and soy sauce

Wow, I kept on eating pala I forgot to take pictures of the other dishes. We had birthday noodles which was brought home kasi hindi na kayang ubusin. I ordered extra Yang Chow Fried Rice because it was not included in the set menu package. We had soup, huge scallops, and mango sago for dessert. There were more dishes, I forgot na.

My inlaws were happy to see me but I still felt like an outsider because my husband was not with me.

Nico and Eizel with their Lola Soling.