Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts

June 25, 2025

Birthday Celebration at Lugang Cafe

June is my husband’s birthday month, so last May, I informed him of all the dining promos that I’ve seen online. The are hotel buffet and restaurant promos, but he said “ayaw daw niya maghotel buffet” so we ended up at Lugang Cafe since hindi pa namin natatry. 


We took advantage of the 11th Feast All You Can promo for PHP688 + Service Charge. This includes unlimited dim sum, noodles, soup, fried rice, and drinks. For PHP888 + Service Charge, you can add one main dish. The promo is already over, so I’m just sharing our experience. 


My husband just called to reserve, and we chose Lugang Cafe at SM Aura. We arrived around 11AM so konti pa lang kumakain. Upon seated, they gave us the Feast All You Can Menu and answer sheet. 


We were a group of six people and ordered 1 Steamed Pork Xiao Long Bao, 1 Pork and Vegetable Dumpling, 1 Vietnamese Egg Roll, 1 Crispy Eggplant with Teriyaki Sauce, 3 Fried Rice, 3 Noodles, and 3 Soup. 







For the main dish, we ordered Taiwanese Fried Pork Chop, Sweet and Sour Pork with Pineapple, Garlic Buttered Shrimp, Steamed Fish Fillet with Tausi, Spicy Clams with Basil, and Steamed Pomfret with Light Soy Sauce. 







After our first order, nag follow-up kami ng 1 Steamed Pork Xiao Long Bao, 1 Steamed Pork Xiao Long Bao with XO Sauce, 1 Tofu with Preserved Egg and Pork Floss, and 1 Steamed Chicken Feet with Black Bean Sauce. 




Among the main dishes, yung Taiwanese Pork Chop ang hindi namin type, walang lasang pork, puro breading yung nalalasahan namin, I was expecting din yung Taiwanese Pork Chop na nakain namin sa Taiwan. But the rest of the main dishes taste good. For dim sum, appetizers, noodles, soup, and fried rice, okay lang for us. 

We were done after an hour, and based on our order, parang hindi namin nasulit yung promo, so parang nagsisisi si hubby. Sana naghotel buffet na lang kami, siguro nag-expect lang kami na baka same experience sa lunch namin sa Din Tai Fung at Taipei 101. Naenjoy kasi namin yung dimsum experience namin doon.

February 24, 2025

Birthday Cake Toppers

I started this year with the goal of finishing my backlogs, but something happened last week and I lost my blogging mojo. Blogversary ko pa naman and I can’t imagine that I’ve been blogging for 14 years already. Well, I hope to overcome my fears and worries para hindi na ko mastress. 


“Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe” - Mark Twain 

So for now, I will just share my birthday cake topper projects. 

Happy Birthday Cake Topper - Bear 


This design is available on Cricut Design Space, easy to cut and assemble. 

I made these two cake toppers using my favorite font Birthday Verygood font. 



These two cake toppers are for Senior Citizens so I used black and gold cardstock. The font is Billion Dreams


October 21, 2024

Birthday Paper Craft

I already shared my birthday craft projects for my son’s birthday, like cake toppers, banner, and mini card album. And now, I’m sharing the remaining craft projects I made for the September and October celebrants. 

90th Birthday Cake Topper 

This cake topper is for my uncle who celebrated his 90th Birthday last month. To design this cake topper, I used two fonts; Aloha Chunky and Muthiara 


86th Birthday Cake Topper 

This cake topper is for my grandmother-in-law. I used two fonts for this cake topper; Balbek, and Muthiara. 


Sweet Sixteen Cake Topper

I made a Superb Sixteen cake topper for my son. And I also made a Sweet Sixteen cake topper even though I don’t have a daughter, gusto ko kasi itry yung design na nasa isip ko. I used two fonts for this cake topper Amazing Teacher and Festive.


After a few days, my aunt messaged me because she likes this cake topper, magpapagawa daw siya. But I told her, na ibibigay ko na lang itong cake topper kasi wala din naman gagamit. 

Abbey is 16 


Ang laki ng age gap namin ng yougest cousin ko, ka-age lang ng anak ko. Naalala ko tuloy yung anak ng eldest cousin ko, ka-age ko naman. Anyway, my aunt only asked for a “Sweet Sixteen” cake topper but I made another one para more choices para sulit na rin yung shipping fee. This was the first time I shipped my cake toppers and I felt relieved that my cake toppers arrived in good condition. I used Samantha Craft font to design this cake topper. 

Juliana is 15 

The last cake topper I made is "Juliana is 15" using the Amazing Teacher Font. This font is a combination of Sans Serif and Script Font. 


Fishing You a Happy Birthday 


A birthday easel card for the October celebrant. The fish design is from Craft with Sarah’s website.

Gift Tags 


I only need a few gift tags but I want to maximize my paper sheets so I made a lot. I used the following fonts.

October 11, 2024

16th Birthday Celebration

16th birthday is special in any child’s life because it is considered a transition from childhood to adulthood. It is a milestone so it is worth celebrating. We are not really into birthday parties so we had a mini celebration only. 

This is the reason why I had limited time to blog because I was preparing for my son’s birthday. I made a banner, cake topper, and birthday mini album. 

Cake Topper 

For girls, they always say “Sweet Sixteen” but I had no idea about boys. While browsing Pinterest, I stumbled on “Superb Sixteen” so I used it for my cake topper. I made two cake toppers using Thinker and Bright fonts.  



Giant Happy Birthday Banner 

This Happy Birthday Banner has been on my list for a long time. I told myself that I would make it for my husband’s birthday and then for my birthday but it didn’t happen. Finally, I made it just in time for my son’s birthday. 


This is the biggest project that I have done so far. It took me 2 hours of cutting and 3 hours of assembling the project. I was tired but happy. I plan to use this banner for our future birthdays. 

Birthday Mini Album Card 

Last June, I joined Card Making Countdown and there are two projects that I did not do because of limited time. But I knew that I would make the mini album card for my son’s birthday. I finished the mini album card in 3 days. Installment ko ginawa, first day yung card template, then yung box and last yung mga pictures and message na ilalagay ko. 

Natagalan ako sa pictures because my son has thousands of pictures so imagine, I browsed his pictures since day one of his existence. I chose pictures, edited and printed them. I attached them to my card template. Buong araw ko talaga ginawa. 


Even though it took me 3 days to finish the album, I felt satisfied after finishing my project and enjoyed looking at his pictures since birth. Kita ko talaga yung transition from babyhood to teenager. I miss those childhood days, iba na kasi kapag teenager na at may sarili na buhay. 

Lunch at Seasonal Tastes of The Westin Manila 

For the birthday celebration, we can really travel because my son has two days of asynchronous class but unfortunately, my husband has a business trip so we decided to have lunch buffet na lang. We looked for different credit card promotions but when we checked the date, hindi na naman aabot. 


Good thing, I saw The Westin Manila promo of “50% off Lunch Buffet and Weekend Dinner Buffet from October 1 to 31, 2024” so I told my husband about it. My husband already ate there so he warned me na maliit lang daw restaurant ng The Westin Manila. But I said, okay lang kasi 50% off naman. Mas okay na yan kaysa sa Yurakuen natin last year. Hehehe! 


Birthday at Home 

After our lunch buffet, I invited my husband’s family to go to our house for merienda. I bought cake and my husband ordered pizza. My husband ordered the Triple Cheesy Pizza Craze for PHP1549. This package includes 12 inches of Pepperoni Pan Pizza, Triple Cheesy Burger Mega Crunch Pizza, and Hawaiian Supreme Stuffed Crust Pizza. 


I did not eat kasi busog ako sa buffet pero naubos agad yung Triple Cheesy Burger Mega Crunch Pizza kasi masarap daw so nacurious tuloy ako so next time, bibili ulit ako para matry. I don't have picture of the pizzas, late kasi nadeliver.

That's our 16th birthday mini-celebration. 

October 10, 2024

Birthday Lunch at Yurakuen Japanese Restaurant

We just celebrated my son’s 16th birthday last week and I realized that I hadn’t shared his birthday celebration last year so let me reminisce about his 15th birthday. My son wanted to eat Japanese Cuisine so I suggested to my husband na sa Yurakuen na lang since hindi pa niya natry and I knew they have a promotion.

So off we went to the Diamond Hotel for his advanced birthday celebration. We arrived 30 minutes before the opening time so we just waited at the lobby. Before we went to Yurakuen, I checked their menu online and saved it on my phone so I already knew what to order. 

A few minutes before 11AM, the staff allowed us to enter and on our way to our table, my husband asked about the ongoing credit card promotion but the staff said, wala na daw yung promo, kakatapos lang last week. Toink. We were already there so we had no choice but to eat. 


The staff informed us about their promo meals, there are 3 choices which are Saga Beef Taitaki PHP950, Beef Sukiyaki (Solo) PHP333 and Gyu Tan Oden PHP255. Unfortunately, wala doon yung gusto ko kainin. My husband said, just order what we wanted to eat so we ordered Guresu Set PHP2,390, Shinju Set PHP1,750 and Beef Sukiyaki PHP333.

My husband ordered the cheapest meal because he said, for sure hindi namin mauubos yung order namin. Well, in our mind kasi, since the price is not cheap baka malaki naman serving but we were shocked when our food arrived after 25 minutes. Malayo siya sa experience ni hubby kapag nag aala carte order sa mga Japanese restaurant ng hotel like Kogetsu of The Saujana Hotel and Resort and Edo Japanese Restaurant of Hanoi Daewoo Hotel. Dito kasi isang tray lang talaga and nandoon na lahat ng food except sa fruits.

As of this writing, I can no longer see their menu online, good thing that I still have the photo of the set menu. 

Guresu Set PHP2390 + Service Charge 


Guresu Set Menu includes appetizer, stewed dish, grilled gindara teriyaki, beef shogayaki, shrimp tempura, chawan mushi, steamed rice, pickles and miso soup and fresh fruit slices. 

Shinju Set PHP1750 + Service Charge 


Shinju Set Menu includes appetizer, maguro tosazukuri, grilled salmon, mentaiko mayonnaise, slice grilled beef teriyaki, salad, steamed rice, pickles and miso soup, fresh fruit slices. 

Beef Sukiyaki PHP333 + Service Charge 


Individual Sukiyaki hot pot. 


My husband said, sulit daw yung order niya for PHP333. Kung may ongoing promotion sana, pwede na yung price sa kinain namin pero dahil regular price siya, naisip namin sana nagbuffet na lang kami. My son even said, sana sa Teppanya na lang. Anyway, charged to experience na lang. Lesson learned, icheck yung date ng promotion.

It was weekend pero 2 tables lang occupied or baka mas gusto din nila sa buffet or teppanyaki. And because of this experience, for my son’s 16th birthday nagbuffet lunch na talaga kami para sulit sa gastos. 

Yurakuen Japanese Restaurant 
11AM to 10PM

September 30, 2024

Birthday Celebration at Cabalen Plus

We recently attended my Uncle’s 90th Birthday Celebration at Cabalen Plus. Wow, 90 years, 9 decades old, 1,080 months old, 4,692 weeks old, 32,850 days old, 788,400 hours old, 47,304,000 minutes old, and 2,838,240,000 seconds old. It is indeed a milestone kasi sa panahon ngayon, parang ang ikli na lang ng buhay. Yung Papa ko nga hindi man lang umabot ng 70 years old.

It was funny because when I posted this on my Facebook Story, some people thought that it was my grandfather’s birthday. Hehehe! We had a huge age gap kasi. Actually, his first grandchild was my classmate when I was in Kinder. Oh di ba, ka-age ko lang pamangkin ko sa pinsan.

The invitation said 12 to 12:30PM yung waiting time but we arrived past 11AM so nag-ikot ikot muna kami sa mall before we went to the restaurant. We just went to the restaurant past 12NN na and konti pa lang visitors. 


I also heard that my one of my uncles was there at 11:30AM pero hindi pa daw pwede kumain. So I don't know kung same sa Cabalen na may time limit yung buffet. Yung difference ng Cabalen and Cabalen Plus is, that there are additional Asian cuisines on their menu. 

We started eating around 12:30PM nung dumating na yung pinsan ko na nagpareserve. As expected, konti na lang servings ng food so hindi ko na kinunan ng picture yung iba. Nagkakaubusan nga sa dessert station. Buti na lang birthday party ito at hindi ako nagbayad kasi hindi ko talaga nasulit yung buffet.








But I am happy naman sa nakain ko, I am satisfied naman sa lechon kawali, kare-kare, dinuguan, bopis, biko and sweet saba. Pero yung iba na food na nakita ko sa vlogs, hindi ko nakita sa buffet spread or naubusan ako. My husband likes the sisig meal. Anyway, if ever we will eat here again, aagahan namin ang punta.



I brought cake and a birthday cake topper for my uncle. Unfortunately, wala akong picture nung cake + cake topper during the celebration but here is the 90th birthday cake topper that I made.


Cabalen Plus Buffet Rate 

Adult

Monday to Thursday: PHP598.00
Friday to Sunday & Holiday: PHP628.00 

Kids 

Below 3ft: FREE 
Below 4ft: 50% 
Above 4ft: Regular Rate 

Cabalen Plus 
Ayala Malls Manila Bay
Klook.com