Birthday treat

I was treated by Mama and Papa to lunch at Joe's, a small local restaurant specializing in Italian pasta dishes. This was their birthday treat for me but since Mama was going on a trip to CLSU on my birthday (tomorrow 14 March), she decided to have the celebration early.

Now about that pasta restaurant. I had already eaten their pasta before when Mama would order some to go after eating lunch there a few times. We've also planned a few times to eat there but always found the place closed (because it was Sunday--we didn't know then it was closed on Sundays--or else closed for the holiday break). So this was really a good chance for me to finally see the place.

Anyways, I was supposed to be picked up from the office around 11:30am but I received text from Mama well before that asking that we postpone lunch until she finishes watching Rafael Nadal play his tennis match against Verdasco. (It was being aired live over Star Sports on cable tv.) As soon as Nadal won the match 6-4 6-4, I received text again from Mama saying that they were on their way to pick me up already. It was around 12:20pm.

By the time we arrived at Joe's, it was well past 12:30pm and there was quite a "crowd" there already. I'm saying "crowd" because the place was really tiny--perhaps only five to six tables were set up in the place--and all but two tables were occupied. A true case of three is a crowd. He-he. As soon as we placed our orders at the front counter (I ordered a spaghetti alla amitriciana while Mama and Papa ordered their usual pollo pasta thingy), we took a table in the back room to await our order. As the place was "crowded", we expected to be served after a long time. In fact, it took probably half and hour before we were served our drinks, and still another half hour before we finally got our pasta dishes. The pasta I ordered had pancetta in pomodori sauce. Yum-yum. It was definitely a trillion times better than Filipino spaghetti with its sweet sauce, bright red coloring and topped with hotdogs (ugh!) served by local restaurants/cafeteria as well as by--heaven help us!--McDonald's, KFC and Jollibee here in the Philippines. The freshly squeezed lemonade juice was good as well. I haven't had fresh juice for a long long time.

We were done eating just before 2pm, by which time was I supposed to get back to work. So I got dropped off at PhySci before Mama and Papa went on their way home.