Pampanga roadtrip part 1: recession depression

my dad, mom, brother, and i went to Pampanga yesterday.  it's been a while since we went out of town--excluding the biannual trips to Cauayan--perhaps because the three of them have been quite focused on Charlie's education the last few years.  anyway, we were supposed to have lunch at C, which is this authentic Italian restaurant that foodies and socialites galore like to visit.  if you're asking me whether my family and i can be categorized into either, well, i wouldn't know myself.  now, here's a note to all of you planning to have lunch at a specific place--make sure you find out what the operating hours are! as luck would have it, the restaurant opens at 5pm on Mondays.  we had to settle for lunch at the nearby Marquee mall instead. 

 

before we went to Marquee, we dropped by the Mimosa Golf Club in Clark, which my dad has shares of.  it had been a long time since we last stayed there; i still remember how my siblings and i eagerly anticipated summer, if only so we could stay for a night or two at one of the villas in Mimosa.  well, when we got there, i realized that the place had changed drastically since our last visit a decade ago.  gone are the pristine white walls of the villas, some of which are now left in various states of dilapidation and disrepair.  and find out later that the various pools near the villas have also been removed and the only swimming facility left is the one in the main hotel.  no more sight of the kids' playhouse where the best UFO catcher in the country was either (you get as many chances as you need to claim a prize).  my dad says that when Erap took over the reigns, blinded by greed, he mandated that the government take over the estate's casinos.  naturally, like everything else the government handles, the management of the casino went awry (probably thanks to the leeches) and shares plummeted from P1.8 M to P300,000 in a span of a year.  it wasn't even a year since my old man bought his share for P1.2 before this happened.  now, he's stuck paying dues every month, hoping that the stock will go up so he can sell it to someone else with, if not a profit or at cost then, at the least, minimal loss.  here's another note: unless you have tons of cash, don't invest in luxury stocks. (sorry, i don't know the exact term).  it's safer to invest in shares of companies supplying basic needs, although less risk also means less profit. it's really up to you though.

after the detour, we went to Marquee where we had lunch at the foodcourt, of all places! Lucia's sisig or something, which apparently is the specialty sisig in the place.  we had sisig, chicharong bulaklak (yumyum), adobong kangkong, ang liempong manok (the last one is from Bacolod Chicken Inasal though).  my mom kept teasing that my dad saved a huge amount at lunch today, so we pigged out all day to compensate for it.

dessert at FIC Summer Cafe: my mom had raspberry rapture, i had the chocolate mint chip ice cream with, weirdly enough, berries

 

Charlie and dad both had yogurt

before we went home, we ate at Cinnabon.  my parents had coffe mocha with the tiny tiny cinnamon rolls.  charlie and i had pecanbons--mine in caramel, his was chocolate.

later that day, ate cla treated us to dinner at Italianni's in the relatively new hangout place, Centris.  we also had yogurt at Tutti Frutti where, once again, my dad cooked up one of his many business intentions--this time, to open a self-serve yogurt place somewhere in Ateneo.  my sister and i are game for it (we'll quit our jobs), although i want more plain flavors i.e. greek, french vanilla, while they all want the fruity, outlandish ones.  i swear, my business idea will click better. hahahahaha.