I Missed You, Carpaccio!

Before Italianis and all other commercial Italian restaurants became popular, there was Carpaccio. It's a small restaurant along Yakal in Makati that serves authentic Italian food. I vividly remember the paintings on the wall. They were reminiscent of the gondolas in Venice and cobblestones in Paris. It was such a lovely little nook in Makati.

We would have some lunch meetings with our foreign guests there some fifteen years ago. Dens and i would also frequent the place during our anniversaries and other special occassion. It was my favorite Italian restaurant then. Years later, new restaurants popped up in Makati and i forgot about Carpaccio. Once in a while i would remember it but thought it must be pretty run-down by now.

Last Friday, Dens and i were on our way home and was stuck in flood and traffic along Yakal Street.  Fate has it that we were pretty much stranded in front of the old Carpaccio. We wondered about the place and decided to check it out for old times' sake. What greeted us was such a surprise.

The place has moved to the 2nd floor of the same building.  It has been renovated with much modern interiors. They kept the wine rack to retain its vintage feel but everything else was sleek and stylish. Though i have fond memories of the old place, I really liked the new vibe that they've injected to the renovated restaurant.

The second thought that came to mind when i saw the place was 'uh-oh, prices must have also sky-rocketed with the upgraded interiors.  But then again, i was happy to see that they have remained reasonable considering the service and the good food.

We decided to split a pizza and a pasta between the two of us. Our bill came up to P800+ which is not bad for the fine dining experience. To start our meal, they served us warm bread and different spreads.

This was followed by a complimentary lamb patty as an appetizer. I am not a lamb person but it was very tasty. I guess i was more floored by the fact that this was free! #ilovefreebies

And then our main course came. All pasta dish come in two serving sizes. You can order it in appetizer portion or the main course. We decided to just get the appetizer portion since we were already splitting an entire pizza between the two of us. It was a good decision since it turned out that the appetizer portion was plenty enough already. The size is similar to a single-serving pasta dish in other established restaurants.

Marinara Pasta

Al Frutti di Mare Pizza (Seafood)

After our meal, my old love for Carpaccio has returned.  i told Dens that Carpaccio is still my favorite Italian restaurant of all time. I am sure we will be back. Maybe we'll see you there too?

Here is the entire MENU for your reference.

 

CARPACCIO RISTORANTE ITALIANO

7431 Yakal Street, San Antonio Village,
Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel: (63) 843-7286 / 867-3164
F: (63) 892-9271
E-mail: dining_at_yakal@werdenberg.com

Website: http://www.werdenberg.com/carpaccio/index.html

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What Does Familiarity Breed?

I love my husband and i know he has a lot of strong attributes. I know this because i wouldn't have married him in the first place if he didn't.  But after knowing him for more than 13 years, sometimes i forget what these good qualities are.

A few months ago, one of our very good friends told us that they think Dens is one of the smartest people they know. When i heard this, I laughed out loud. Then i realized that they were serious. So it got me thinking.

When i first met Dens thirteen years ago, i could not stop gushing about all his wonderful traits. He was indeed very smart (great problem-solving skills especially in Math), he was our resident MacGyver who knew how to fix practically anything, he was always very generous - not just with money but also with his time, and more importantly, he had such a good heart. He always saw the good in people and avoids thinking ill of anyone. So what happened?  Did dens change through the years?  As i thought about it more, i realized that he didn't change at all. He is still very smart and handy, he still thinks of others before himself, and he is still very generous with his time and resources. So what has changed? I realized then that i was the one who changed. I have been so used to being around Dens that i became too comfortable with all of his good traits. Before i knew it, i was looking past them and was simply nit-picking everything he does that annoys me. I failed to appreciate him as much as i should and only called his attention every time he does something wrong.

Where is the love in that? My thoughts opened my eyes to once again see the beautiful gift that God has given me. A husband who loves me unconditionally and a bestfriend i can always count on. Dens has been nothing less than wonderful through the years and i have failed to see that. I saw the 1 day that he was late and failed to see the 6 other ones when he was on time. I criticized his growing belly and failed to appreciate the many midnight snacks he prepared for me and the kids. Familiarity blinds us sometimes, doesn't it? We are always so gracious to our acquaintances but we sometimes fail to extend the same grace to the people we love the most.

Familiarity should breed contentment and not contempt.  Dens will continue to have his faults as i would mine. Nobody is perfect. But i will promise to try my very best to always to see the goodness in him.


ps. Love, please do not use this post as an excuse to be late.  But if you do become late at times, i love you anyway :)

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Kidnapped by the Kids

How well do you communicate with your family?

During our church's couples camp, Dens and i realized that we need to improve on communication. I honestly never really thought we had a problem in that area. We always talk anyway.  We talk about the kids, our daily activities, business ideas, and a whole lot of other things. But i realized that we never really take time to talk about how to improve our relationship. We go by the mentality of 'Why fix what's not broken?' But when we started evaluating our relationship during the camp, we realized that there are things that i like Dens to improve on and vise versa. On the flip side, it was also nice for us to hear how we appreciate the things that the other person has been doing but we never took time to say it out loud.

Last week, Patty talked about this new TV show entitled Kidnapped by the Kids. It sounded interesting so i looked it up. The episode that i watched talked about a mom who lost the connection with her eldest son because she avoided communicating with him and didn't want to deal with the issue. Each time she sensed there is a problem, she would use her job as a way to keep herself busy so that she doesn't have to face the music. I'd like to share the entire episode with you (cut into 4 parts). I feel that it's a good insight to how our children feel when we don't spend enough quality time with them. Communication is key in all relationships within the family. It's not only important to communicate better with your children but also with our spouse. Each day is another chance for us to do better.

Rick Warren, the pastor of saddleback church, illustrated this nicely. He said that some of us tend to always sweep family issues under the carpet. We know it's there but we hide it because we don't want to deal with it. The problem is that we keep sweeping all of these issues under the rug and before you know it, there's already a big pile of mess underneath.  Until one day, you find yourself tripping over the carpet and hurting yourself or your love ones even more.

Spend time communicating with each other. It's a great investment for your family.

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