Food and Family (Ulog #14)

Busy chasing dreams to the point that you missed a lot of other important things in life? Family? People that matter the most?

My sister was not even able to finish her college degree although she had been a consistent honor student prior to that, even graduated valedictorian once. She was one of the greatest influencer I met.

She was not able to receive her first pay check. She was not able to meet the love of her life, but I know she is happiest now in the arms of the Creator. But when she was still alive, I have seen her very happy. It was evident on the letters she wrote to the people close to her weeks before she died.

Weeks before she was on her death bed, with two tubes on her left and right lung, I have seen the impact she made in the lives on others. Friends of hers visited her everyday at the hospital despite their busy schedules.

A night before she died, she could not clearly see, or she just acted. She told me to sit beside her on her bed and spoke to me her final words for me. At that moment, I did not take it seriously because I was so positive that she would overcome cancer.

Her final words for me is not to become successful in life but to give more importance to the people who matter to me the most.

Death might have taken her from me, but it will never break the great bond we had and the lessons I learned from her particularly this last one.

Relationships! They matter a lot. You leave a good legacy.

I have shared these words on my facebook account few hours ago.

Truthfully, I really had been missing my sister for the past few days. The rain might have caused this drastic change of mood of mine, or maybe something else.

Her death has caused a huge change in my life. Before, I was known to be very selfish and someone who would love to isolate herself from her family. But the moment death took her, my outlook towards in life has changed.

Just like what I mentioned, she made the biggest impact in my life as of the moment. Her leadership and how she values relationships has caused me to put emphasis the well-being of others as well.

I have thought that it is not everyday that we could make others feel our love to them. But, I have also thought that if we value some things in life, we can be able to showcase our affection through focused attention.

So awhile ago, I decided to hang out with my brother downtown. Despite the approaching heavy rain, we travelled at the city proper to have a taste of ramen at the Taki House.

My brother and I are not really huge fans of Japanese cuisine, but we do love to share our time together venturing to different restaurants and trying out their meals.

I was told one time that no one can stop a person who has a grumbling stomach. And indeed it was true.

We were both literally wet from the strong heavy rain despite the fact that we brought my umbrella and unfortunately it is not with me now because my left it at my aunt's house.

The Taki House which serves great tasting ramen is located at CenterPoint. My brother is visibly wet on this photo.

This restaurant also offers free Japanese Tea which is Macha flavor!

My brother and I agreed to both have ramen. Their original ramen tastes so good and we added "katsu" which means pork in english.

I must say, I only eat vegetables when it is mixes with noodles and takoyaki only.

And this is their takoyaki with bonito flakes which I found that from my brother that it is made up of fish.

And for dessert(s), we had Vanilla Ice Cream and macha latte! It was only then that I also found that it is just milk tea. Macha which is green tea and latté which is another term for milk.

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My Aunt's 61st Birthday

After eating at our new favorite restaurant, my brother and I headed to our ancestral house to celebrate Aunt Ruth's 61st birthday.

It was a night full of blast with my relatives. We had so much fun reminiscing the past while eating our dinner.

I love nights like this one. I really do.

^{@gailbelga or Johanna Gail is a free-spirited freelance artist. She took up Bachelor of Arts in International Studies in one of the Ateneo universities in the Philippines. She is currently a candidate for Masters in Public Administrations. She volunteers in various non-profit/nongovernmental organization which aims for human rights through political education. She draws and writes about the country to provide awareness and promote the Philippines to foreign tourists.}