lunch in paradise

We were invited for a lunch by my favorite cousin while we were still in Surigao del Norte, Philippines. My cousin is Mrs. Andrea  Yangzon we fondly call her “mana  anding” she is  the Barrio Captain of their place, Ipil ,Surigao city and her  husband is the head of marine engineering  one of the college in here.  We arrive at exactly 12:00 noon. The concrete blue house is visible from the main road with the same color of the ten feet high entrance gate which is twenty  meters from the highway.

As we enter we were  amazed by  the big front lawn covered with medium pebbles stones  evenly  distributed. The house is one story, color blue with a big veranda, the interior is  with basic furnishing but elagantly decorated.The surrounding of the house is plus factor, with a big lawn and a rice field at the back ,the side  near the fence is full beautiful orchids of different colors and varieties, together with some exotic flowers and palm trees, beneath is carpeted with  bright color green Bermuda grass. But the most exotic beautiful orchids are found on the porch of the house.  And on the left side a big nepa hut for relaxing and across the fence are full of citrus fruits, mango’s  together with full grown coconut trees and into the valley covered with lush green shrubs up to the top, wow a beautiful scenery, you could feel the wonders of nature, it’s almost paradise.  And to top it all its just a walking distance to “Mabua  Beach”a  two to three kilometers  strip of pebbled  sand beach  …

We were greeted by our  amiable host and directly brought us to the dining room, the food was plenty from bouillabaisse soup,  large shrimps, grilled Kitong(fish), crispy pata(fried pork leg), kinilaw(fresh raw fish mix with vinegar and  condiments)fried chicken legs, Camote, different fruits and the dessert  is buko fruit salad. Oh my God what a sumptuous meal the food was beyond our expectation, after a short prayer we start our feast to all the delicious food while talking the latest news of the clan.

I could hardly stand after the dessert, I was a little bit guilty for having sinful eating… but I guess this is a rare occasion and hard to come, the sea food was really tempting. 

I took a nap for an hour and the rest of the company are playing the old time favorite, Mahjong.  We left at 4:00pm happy and satisfied , thanking the host for the delicious food,  hoping for another   invitation to come… he he he