NEW YORK WEEKEND

Wow - nakakainggit!!! Looks like a great time was had by all, and GREAT FOOD!!!! So remind me why was Etic in new York again? And did he give each one of you free consultancies? Ano ang guinpabalon ninyo sa iya on the trip home - New York cheesecake????

Andie Had the Serendipity Chef Salad

The specialty of the house is frozen hot chocolate. I do not have a picture of it because it took me a long time to finish my food. The FHC was so big that we only ordered one and while Etic and Pinky were sipping/spooning it, I was still wrestling with my salad. Then they started complaining of being cold. It was cold outside and the chocolate was cold. I managed 2 spoonfuls after my salad.

The whole weekend was a lot of fun and we were just acting silly. And Meyen, I just forgot or ignored my knees.  

Pinky Had Steak

 

Etic and His Mixed Grill

We have to show you pictures of our food because they looked too good to eat. 

Etic and Pinky Perusing the Menu

 

Etic and Andie in front of Serendipity

Etic wanted to walk in Central Park but we had no place to park so we decided to proceed to Serendipity where we planned to have dinner. This is the restaurant in the movie of the same name starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. There was a line and we were told that the waiting time was from 45 minutes to an hour and a half. We stayed in line and since other people left, we did not have to wait very long to be seated.

Mind you, while we were in the car we were mentioning everybody we can remember from UP Iloilo while we were still there just because we could not figure out who Manang Rhode's BF was then. Anyway, as we were being seated, a familiar figure passed as as he was exiting the restaurant. Pinky recognized him as Eisen Espina, one of the names that cropped out earlier. Pinky said,"Si Eisen Espina," and wanted to talk to him but he was gone. After a while, as we were about to order, he came back and talked to us. He said that one of his children told him that someone had called out his name. His wife was with him and it turned out to be Naty Arandela,who was one year ahead of me at CPU Elementary. He was a practicing physician in Texas and was in NYC to visit their child who is working at ABC (TV Network). Speaking about SERENDIPITY! 

Etic and Andie

 

Pinky and Andie

 

Etic and Pinky and the SMH Mural

After looking at all the artwork in the museum at least twice (We watched Philippe's video 5 times.), we left. We saw this mural across the street and saw the initials of SMH (Studio Museum of Harlem) on it. Since there was not much else to see in the area, we just decided to pose right there.  

Parking

We returned to New York the next day, Sunday. Our first stop was the Studio Museum of Harlem where my son, Philippe had a video on display. We really did not know what to expect. The video was one of 2 shorts that was shot last July. We got a little startled because there Philippe was on a big screen repeating an obscenity with different facial expressions for maybe 3 minutes. Anyway, it is all for art.  

October 15-16 2006

October 15-16 2006

Andie has pictures of our Sunday outing as well. Hopefully she'll put them up on the blog when she gets home from work tonight. We had some other interesting adventures.

Meyen, my hair is actually dark brown, but shows up as black in pictures. I would like to say that this is all natural, but only my hairdresser knows for sure!

NYC ADVENTURE

Can't believe you guys did all that!!! Kind of reminds me of the Jaro fiesta when a bunch of us nagakalasandad sang sunod sa float with Aurora Pijuan in it. We were already in college then - Meloy was with us!!!

Etic probably missed his fresh lumpia when you went to a sandwich place?

Poor Andie - what about your knees?

I must say, Pinky - I really like how black your hair is! What's the secret!!!

Meyen

Alls Well that Ends Weeelll?

Dido is still at large getting the car and Bambi took this picture. Hey, this is a clear picture of the 3 youngones66 with the POSTER of C.

We went home. I was dropped off first. I IMed Pinky with last minute messages while she was giving her niece a blow by blow account of our encounter with the American Idol. I was tired so this I posted when I woke up. I missed church but I had to get this out of the way before my memory fades. Bye ya al! 

Pinky and ...

Believe it or not, Pinky is actually talking to C. That is my playbill she is holding to obtain his autograph. I told her, "Get the autograph and I take the pictures." I guess, she knows now that I did not get the whole picture. 

Bambi and her Camera

You get the picture?

 

More Stagedoor Pictures

A closer look at C and the back of Pinky's head. 

Piny and Constantine

Most appropriately, this is Constantine and Pinky's back. It was hard to get a good view. I most firmly believe that Bambi had a better view from the other side. 

The Wedding Singer

I must tell you, guys, the show was such a pleasant surprise to all of us, considering the fact, that we were indifferent and had a Que Sera Sera attitude in the beginning. We all knew that Constantine, an American Idol, was in it but we thought, I thought, the whole concept was blah. Pinky and Bambi knew more about Constantine than I did. You would not have known this bit of information when you could have seen me with the both of them at the stage door acting like teeny boppers with a group of fans of Constantine's waiting for him to come out and asking autographs from the actors and taking pics. Etic was right behind us carrying packages I had thrust on him and batteries I discarded in my panic that Constantine was coming close to us and my camera batteries chose to die that very moment. He even loaded the batteries for me because I could not tell positive from negative at that critical moment. This is from a person who does all the complicated Computer, Stereo, Cable, and DVD attachments at home.

In one Vegas scene, one of the characters was a fake Imelda Marcos in her signature hairdo and Philippine Dress carrying a box of Designer Shoes, the name of which eludes me at the moment. The girl in the picture whose autograph I am obtaining is J. Elaine Marcos who played Imelda. She sure looks like Imee. 

Andie and Etic in line for Tickets

Finally, we got to the end and we were able to get the last five tickets for The Wedding Singer with none of the seats together. We did not have much of an idea about the show except that it was based on the movie starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.

We finished there around 4:10 PM and had around 4 hours to kill till the show which was for 8:00PM. We walked to the Rockefeller Center in 5th Avenue. We walked and walked and walked and I just gritted my teeth and continued, since, other than painful legs, knees and tired feet, it was all in the fun. What do you do in NYC, but walk?

When we got to the Rockefeller Center, we went inside the NBC building and sat down where they had tables and chairs in the lower level. So we rested and chatted. I forgot to take pictures there.

Around 6:00 PM, we started walking back to the Theater and to have dinner at a Chinese Restaurant called Ollie's. Not very Chinese-sounding, but it was Chinese all right. We ordered Vegetable Wonton soup, Steamed Bass in Ginger Sauce, Sizzling Beef sauteed with vegetables, and Fried Rice. The latter came to us via China, I presume, since we almost ate everything else before it was served. It did not affect me much because I had my 2 tablespoons of white rice. Anyway, the food was good and generally healthy.

After dinner we proceeded to the Al Hirschfield Theatre to see The Wedding Singer. 

Pinky and Etic Standing in line for Broadway Tickets

After many trials and errors, mostly errors, we finally arrived in Manhattan. There were five of us, so we went to TKTS, where you can purchase Broadway tickets for half price. We really did not have any passionate choice for a show and was just going with the flow and with anything available. It was a long snaking line and they all left me there for a while to look for tickets elsewhere. The line was moving fast so I got a little apprehensive that I might get to the end without them. Anyway, they finally rejoined me and thus the pictures. 

Dido and Pinky at Panera

 

A Gathering of Friends Saturday October 14, 2006

I had to work in the morning so we really started our outing around 1 PM. Dido, Pinky and Bambi picked Etic up from his cousin's place in Milford, New Jersey and proceeded to my place in Maplewood. I had just arrived home when they got there at about 1 PM. Everybody was hungry so we proceeded to look for a place to eat and we actually took the scenic route and finally got to Panera where we ate healthy gourmet sandwiches, soups and salads. I, Andie, was the photographer and so did not get into the pictures there.