Good restaurants here in Cavite (excluding the Tagaytay area) are few and far in between. When supermarkets and malls started popping up everywhere in the last ten years, a number of local and international food chains followed and before we know it, we had Starbucks and Yellow Cab a jeepney ride away (background: I have lived in this province all my life, where for a good 15 years or so, Max’s Restaurant was where everything took place – birthdays, baptisms, wedding receptions, graduation celebrations, you name it). Finding somewhere to eat is now an easy feat, but discovering gems still took so much time and effort.

One day, while C and I were driving around Cavite, I went on the internet and searched for ‘places to eat near me’ and used my location. Google returned Casa de Celo as its first search result so off we go (thank you Waze!).

The restaurant had a relaxed ambiance, which is perfect for casual dining. The prices were affordable (I could not find a menu online but prices may be Php 150-300/person which is not bad), and chicken boy has mentioned the other day how he wants to go back for their Oriental Chicken. Enough said!

We’re always looking for places to eat in Cavite. Any recommendations? 🙂

(Dear mom, it’s Day 21. I am relatively fine, but there are times where I get so torn. If some magical being grants me a chance to be able to talk to you one last time, I’m not quite sure about the choice I will make. Where do I start? What do I say? I’m afraid there are so many things I wish I could tell you, and so many questions I wish I could ask, but you’re in peace now and I do not want to take that away from you. I know you, you would never haunt us or our house – and if you do, it’s probably to prank us which is something you enjoy doing to your children (remember the tomato juice prank? Happy times.). But that’s not the point of this story.

I worked from home last night since I was on mid-shift and the weather was so bad. I was getting testy because I couldn’t figure something out, and C who worked from here as well approached me to calm me down. He noticed the tension emanating from my siblings when my mood started to go all over the place. Later that night, as I start to pack up my work stuff and go through all my mental notes in case I forgot something, I stumble upon that moment and was surprised that I ‘marked’ it as something I would tell you when I get home. Yes, I was technically already home, and by packing I meant shutting down my work laptop and putting it back inside my work bag. But my day usually ends after our daily talks where I tell you about my day once I get home. You would have laughed and told me to be nice to C, ‘isipin mo yun, kinakaya nya yang nga sumpong mo’, and gently remind me to keep my temper in check.

Only to realize that I will never get those moments back. No more text messages in the middle of the day to ask me about dinner. There will never be a time where I get home from vacation in the wee hours of the morning, to you waiting up and helping me unpack my things while I tell you all about it. No more Viber messages with photos of my dogs’ latest shenanigans, advice about traffic, or when the . We will never have long bus rides to wherever you planned our next destination to ever again, where I will take embarrassing photos of you sleeping with your mouth open. I will never get to tell you all the memorable moments I encounter during the day, the latest gossip, or something C told me that made me really think. Our last conversation will always be “mom, may kailangan ka pa ba?”, “wala na”, “alis na ako ha, papasok na ako sa office”, “okay”, after tucking you in bed and kissing your cheek goodbye. And you will forever close your eyes and I will never get to talk to you again.)