Lola Sally's BON VOYAGE Food Trip Continues.....

Day 3 of my Lola Sally's Wake:

Lola had 7 children.
Around 50 years ago, this was considered average,
I guess!

Four of her kids and their families are in the Philippines,
while the other three are abroad.

Tito Raffy, Child #4,
who is my future Ninong sa Kasal,
(whenever, wherever, whoever)
flew in from Seattle today.
He used to be a regional manager of the Jack in the Box
hamburger restaurant chain in California.

When he moved his family to Washington state,
he took on the challenge of managing Krispy Kreme stores.
Naturally, he brought home dozens of boxes
of these magnificent donuts for his foodie family!




Ma Vedus is Child #3.
She has 6 kids and a multitude of grandchildren.
Aside from cornering the market on C2 distribution in Bataan,
she's a great cook just like her mom, Lola Sally.
The best TAPA you will ever taste will come from her kitchen.
And most likely, the best homemade CHICHARON too!!!




Tita Roselle is Child #5.
She's the glamorous one, a former PAL flight attendant.
Eventually, she made San Francisco, Ca. her home....
and when she arrived very early this morning
(via PAL, of course!),
she brought us the Best Chocolates of the Bay Area!




Elsie is Child #1, and she's my mom.
Luckily, she inherited Lola Sally's culinary talent.
and as we all know, to paraphrase Spider-Man,
With Great Talent Comes Great Ingredients.

For over 25 years,
our family has been buying all our meat
from Garcia's Supermarket on E.Rod.
And all this time,
we've only trusted one particular butcher to supply us
with the Best Cuts of lengua, liempo, steaks, etc.

Just this afternoon,
I met with this kind gentleman, every carnivore's idol,
and went home with 20 Kilos of Prime Sirloin
for my Mom and Ma Vedus to turn into something special
for Friday dinner, the last night of Lola's wake.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
meet Arturo The Great!!!




Obviously,
we all take after our Lola's love of good food.
Very Obviously!!!

It's pleasant to note that
all the priests who have celebrated Holy Mass for her
these past 3 days have said one thing in common:

That Lola Sally was one of the most memorable characters
that they had ever met,
and that this week-long party we're having is the perfect way
to celebrate a person who made the lives of everyone she loved,
so much more colorful.