Dear Peanut: Baptism

Dear Peanut,

After much preparation, we finally had you baptized last April 28, 2018 at St. Francis Church in Mandaluyong. No doubt about it, we've always wanted to have you baptized there, also called Lourdes Church, because of your Daddy's alma mater - Lourdes School of Mandaluyong.

Here we are, a few weeks before the actual baptism day. We finished submitting all the requirements, but that's for another blog entry.

Anak ka ng Lourdes. When we first brought you there, you and your father walked ahead and I heard him asking, "Gusto mo dito mag-school?" I didn't hear what he said afterward but it was probably, "Mahal na tuition dito, home school tayo." Hahaha.

So April 28th finally arrived and we all prepared to go to church. Nagpanic kami a few days before kasi dapat daw all-white ang suot ng baby. Your Daddy already bought a 1920s-inspired i-don't-know-what-to-call-it outfit but it had gray and black patterns.

Buti nalang may regalo sayo si LolaLuming na plain white shirt at shorts. But we didn't want to buy new pairs of white socks anymore because they're so expensive we just need them for 2 hours anyway. So we recycled your newborn socks instead, hehe.

Yes, nagtipid kami sa aspeto na yan. The newborn socks didn't quite fit anymore. You kept tugging at it and it kept flying off your feet so we had to pick it up from the floor a couple of times.

It was a pretty straightforward and since we attended your cousin Z's baptism 3 months ago, we already knew what to expect. There was a short seminar before the actual baptism rite. Technically, walang misa pero like your LoloDaddy, natulog ka during parts of it, hahaha.

Here we are with some of your mighty godparents!

I double checked if there's a dress code for the parents but I found none so I went for a bright red, lace dress, and suede boots. I told myself that I would still be "me." Also, para kitang kita ako sa crowd, haha.

I thought my mother-of-the-baby ensemble was complete. Hindi pa pala! Kulang ng pamaypay! Buti nalang pinahiram / binigyan ako ng NinangAnnESP mo! Finally, my CRAZY ~~RICH~~ ASIAN outfit is complete. Poof! I became Eleanor Young!

Ang init sa church at irritated ka na siguro kasi nap time mo dapat yun. They say it takes a village to raise a child...well, it took an army of our family members, friends, and relatives to calm you down. Kapag di ka kailangan dun sa gitna, dinadala ka ng mga ninong mo sa tapat ng industrial fan.

Finally, here we are. The one above is the token "baptism" photo. In our generation, ito yung pini-print ng A4 size tapos pinapa-frame tapos naka-display sa taas ng piano or sa antique table sa sala. Ito din yung minsan hinihingi sa school for Christian Living projects. Ididikit mo sya sa bond paper tapos lalagyan mo ng caption: MY BAPTISM.

The key things you need to remember about this photo are:

1. Ang pogi ng daddy mo pero basang-basa kili-kili nyan sa photo kasi ang init-init sa church tapos walang aircon.

2. Naka bright red, lace dress, at suede boots ang nanay mo nung binyag mo. Sya ang pinakamakulay na nanay dun sa church. Kitang kita from far, far away.

3. Puro libag yung leeg mo sa photo na yan. Sa lahat ng mga bininyagan that day, ikaw ang pinaka maitim, pinaka mataba, pinaka maingay, at pinaka sociable sa lahat! And we say that with love.

Here we are with the Eustaquios.

With your proud LolaMommy and LoloDaddy.

With the "big" Eustaquio kids.

xoxo,

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Dear Peanut,

As you know, your Daddy and I started this long-running project of weird and unconventional themed parties. Backstory, we chose to have our church wedding reception at a bar/pub. In the Philippines, weddings are a big deal and people spend hundreds of thousands of pesos just to impress relatives they don't like. I don't know. That just doesn't fly with me.

Anyway, the keyword here is "unconventional." Maybe it's my background in marketing and events management but I do love coming up with not-so-traditional parties. I don't know how quite to explain it.

To keep up with the theme of unconventional parties, your Daddy and I searched for weeks for possible reception venues. We asked for proposals from several restaurants, hotels, and event spaces but as fate would have it, we arrived at a mighty decision.

The first thing that came to our mind was it would have been another top venue for our church wedding reception back in 2014. I loved the typography and the vibe of the restaurant. In fact, we've seen this tall, debonair guy at Mighty Quinn's several times whenever we pass by the restaurant in SM Megamall but we never had the chance to dine in because we're almost always rushing.

So one night, before we went to the supermarket, we indulged in small talk with the guy named Mon and inquired about hosting an event there. He set us a meeting with the Chef Rhea and we immediately scheduled a taste test.

At first, we didn't know how to come up with the set menu for 90 guests. We liked how Chef Rhea came up with a neat suggestion. But we wanted everything, haha. In fact, it took us two taste tests before we were able to finalize the menu and how we would go about the order system for our guests. Instead of a buffet or family-style set-up, we opted for an ala carte, on-the-spot ordering system so that guests can enjoy the meat selections hot and fresh from the oven.

We had personalized placemats for your event. We gave our guests the option to choose their meal between TEAM JET, TEAM KATH, and TEAM PEANUT.

We brought the family to the second taste test to get their inputs (when we celebrated your 5-month birthday there). We then designed the collaterals and two days before our event, I carried 3 boxes filled with giveaways, placemats, order forms, and more so we don't have to haul them on the day of our event. The MQ team was very efficient in handling our requests.

I'd like to share with you the rave review I sent to the company after we partied at MQ to celebrate your baptism day.

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The food was great, the service was exceptional, and the ambiance was perfect.

What we enjoyed most was the slight shock on our guests’ faces when they saw how big the servings were! Our guests even had food for takeout, and this rarely happens in baptism receptions. We set the bar high! We saw them devouring the ribs, brisket, pulled pork, and barbecue chicken and enjoying the selection of sauces on the table. The presentation was quite impressive too!

MQ calls it 2x2. This is what served for "TEAM JET" during #JohnnyBeGood, our party title.

TEAM JET: Spare ribs, chicken, rice, and corn fritters.

TEAM PEANUT: Pulled pork burger with chips.

TEAM KATH: Brisket rice bowl with fried egg and green beans.

But what we appreciate the most was the level of professionalism the MQ team showed to our family. The team was able to address all our concerns and handle all our requests. What’s really surprising was that even before we think we needed something, they already had it under control or had it with them. With my background in events management and marketing, I’m used to handling the back-end work for concerts, beauty pageants, and corporate events, so I can very much say that the MQ Team’s work ethics and professionalism are exceptional.

Here we are with the mighty team of Mighty Quinn's PH.

I would like to give special mention to Mon, Rhea, and EF. Honestly, when we met Mon for the first time, we felt so much at ease with the place. Then we met Chef Rhea and EF and felt even more confident that MQ can help us make our event successful, and they did. Here are the names of the other team members who helped us during your event: Daryl, Jazz, Albert, Engelbert, Rose, Emz, Dadz, April, Jaimie, Philip, Patrick, Onyok, Arjay, Russel, Richard, Mon, Felix, Khim, and Gelo.

When we first met Mon from MQ, we immediately felt how he resembles our NinongRamon. They have the same aura and the same good looks, naks! Here are the two Mons, photo was taken during #JohnnyBeGood.