mooncake festival Archives - Between Bites - Bites of Food, Travel and Lifestyle

September 22, 2008 by Janey

Saturday, Bubba spent most of the day attending his medical appointments –one was with his ortho doctor in Cardinal Santos and the other with his allergologist in Makati Med. I spent my afternoon cooking for the potluck dinner with the “berks.” That dinner idea started when we attended Ann and Made’s surprise birthday party for Dru and Eric last September 13. Since Bubba and I have been attending pua tiong chiu dinners lately, we suggested that we do one with friends. They were game with it so the Saturday dice-throwing get-together happened.

I cooked pasta (I’m sure Bubba is so sick of), curry rice and choco crisp. I need to extend my menu list or else I’d be cooking the same stuff over and over again. Ann cooked Buffalo wings, which were delicious and had crispy skin on it. There were a lot of food on the table –Heaven’s pork bbq with a delish sauce, lumpia shanghai, king prawns with cheese and herbs, and Razon’s halo halo.

I asked everyone on the table if they’re interested to play Laser Tag. Eric played the game at Market Market and we are planning a Laser Tag get-together this coming weekend. I cannot wait! Dinner made everyone full. While the table is still being fixed for the dice-throwing game, Eric shared their photo activity at Bohol that we tried to duplicate. It was really fun. Each couple had their idea of the “double” shot.

Around 9pm, the dice-throwing game ensued and this was where everyone was laughing hysterically. From the onset where Made had to call her mom to verify the rules of the game to Eric calling his mom to revalidate. That was so cute. Made, Buch and Marie gathered a lot of ang paos (red money envelope). Buch actually started slow with no wins but came out as the biggest winner of the night. Dru had to check the rules on pc, 2 flights of stairs up, twice. Jim got 4 (fours), which qualified him the top prize. Jim had to go up two deck of stairs to check too. We played a joke on him, faking that Buch actually got 6 (six) thus snatching the top prize from him. Everyone had to act and Buch had to roll one dice to make the sound. Jim believed it. I really doubled over laughing –my mascara making a mess on my face.

The dice-throwing game finished past 10pm. A poker game followed afterwards and boy was I happy! I haven’t played in 2 years!!! With 9 of us playing, with 4 re-buys, we finished around 2am. Eric won first place, with Dru playing the last hour on Eric’s behalf. Placed a few bad calls and folds, but I won second place by a hairline.

Saturday Night with Berks Album:

Mooncake Festival

September 18, 2008 by Janey

It’s that time of the year again where families and friends exchange Mooncake boxes with different mooncake flavors inside. Some are lotus, others are mongo –with seeds, double egg, nuts, dried fruit. This year I got invited to three Mooncake Fest dinners where dice-throwing games were also played. The game can be very simple and purely a game of luck but it’s the joy of a “community” that is the real highlight.

Plain point of the game is to get as much fours as possible. Red after all translates to good luck in Chinese.

I only got to attend two because the one held last night by the Chinese Business Club started at 6pm. With Wednesday traffic and all, I would have seen RED even before I get to the event. True enough, by 9pm the event was long over.

I also missed the Volcom event at Good Earth, Rockwell last night. Too bad, from Fran’s photo, the event looked a lot of fun, with so much creative and artistic display going on. Anyway, the dance class all made up for it somehow.

I tend to be really lucky with these dice-throwing games. But somehow, not this year! I almost won the biggest cash prize last Friday, only to have it snatched away. I got 4 fours and the remaining two die totaled 5. 3 more rounds and a guy got 4 fours with the remaining two die, which totaled to 8… lost by 3 measly points. What transpired between the time I got the 4 fours and the time the guy rolled his set? A high five from Bubba!!! Yep, what a stroke of luck …or otherwise.