Gelato, cappuccino, bento and udon

A story I almost forgot to tell. It was in December between Christmas and New Year and my mother wanted to go out to buy her Christmas gifts for the girls. The gift-buying part took a very short time. It was the eating — from noon ‘till evening — that took up much of our time.

It started with a late lunch at Asian Twist…

From there we proceeded to SM Megamall and started going in and out of clothes stores. But then we passed by Stick House, a stall that sells gelato on sticks, popsicle style.

For people like me who rarely leave the suburb to venture to city malls, I couldn’t resist. I was still full from our heavy lunch but I couldn’t resist. Speedy couldn’t either. My mother and the girls didn’t want any. But Speedy and me…?? Okay, so we were full. But there was a solution. We ordered just one gelato on a stick and shared it. That satisfied our craving. And we loved it.

More walking, more jostling with the crowd, Speedy got bored and said he’d sit down somewhere and we could meet later. We found him at Gonuts Donuts where he has had a cup of coffee. Me and the girls wanted coffee too but there weren’t good seats at Gonuts Donuts. Although it entailed more walking, we decided to go to our favorite coffee spot at SM Megamall — Figaro.

We ordered our coffee. But Figaro has some good pastries and… why not? My mother wanted only tea, no pastries. Speedy has had coffee already and didn’t want another. He said he didn’t want pastries either. He couldn’t anymore, he said.

But, you know, teenagers are always hungry. Sam and Alex wanted cakes, I ordered cakes. And, to be on the safe side, I ordered three different cakes and told the waiter we’d need five dessert forks. Guess who ate the most? It wasn’t my mother, it wasn’t me and it wasn’t the girls.

More walking, more shopping… by 7.00 o’clock, Sam was already worried that we’d never get to eat at Jipan which was the original plan. She never tires of Jipan. So, although it would have been kinder to our tummies to have dinner much later, we went to Jipan. My mother couldn’t stay up all that late anyway, it was a long drive to her house, so we might as well.

Speedy said he was still full and ordered a small piece of bread. I forget now what kind. But it was a small one. More appropriate for a quick snack. He said it was all he could eat.

Alex ordered salmon teriyaki.

Sam had her usual — ebi tempura udon.

My mother (it was her first time at Jipan) ordered what sounded good not knowing she was getting a whole bento box.

I had udon with chicken and vegetable tempura.

My mother couldn’t finish all the food in her bento box. She insisted that Speedy take half considering he didn’t really order anything substantial. I don’t know if it was because he hates wasting food or he didn’t want to hurt my mother’s feelings but Speedy took what my mother gave him (more than half, actually) and finished everything.

By the time we got home, we were still feeling so full that we swore we wouldn’t eat anything for an entire day. But the following day was New Year’s Eve, there was a family reunion in the morning and, later, there was tres leches cupcakes, and grilled pork and chicken. So, we didn’t keep our word about not eating for an entire day. And there was no guilty feeling whatsoever. Just good food and lots of fun. Family fun.