Actually, our weekend stay last week isn’t by the busy boardwalk of Ocean City. Rather, we were in a quiet but beautiful community in Berlin, MD – a 15-minute drive east to Ocean City, MD. But hey, our place was so cool, I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
We, all 19 of us, were invited by the gracious Ms. Eleonor as her guests to her townhome inside the gated golf community of Glen Riddle. And thankful to our host and her congeniality, we had the most relaxed, very laid-back, stomach-filling weekend! The kind where all one does is cook and eat in between fishing, crabbing, walking, shopping and just plain talking. It was a much-needed bonding time with friends. There we talked non-stop about just anything, laughed our bellies out till we teared up, walked back and forth to the pier, literally, at the back of the house, checked on our fishermen and fisherboy if they caught some fish (none) or crabs (a lot!), belted out karaoke in the middle of the afternoon, sang “happy birthday” to 4 people in the group and then ate… and ate… and ate.
This beautiful home away from home where if one wants to walk by the boardwalk of Ocean City or stay by its wavy beach, which we did, one would just get up and go. Nevermind if it rained on our way back to the parking lot and we had to take turns using our umbrellas back to our cars. It was still fun. At least I enjoyed the walk in the rain. It’s been about 10 years since the last time hubbie and I set foot here and altho I wasn’t impressed then, for some reason during this visit, I enjoyed the stalls and what it had to offer. It felt like a different boardwalk. Like a different Ocean City feeling. I think I enjoyed it more now because maybe I reveled in the company of friends.
The Tanger outlet mall is also just nearby from where we stayed. We had a quick trip where I was able to buy a “vegan” jacket. Yes, vegan – because no cows where harmed nor killed in the making of the product 😉 In other words, it isn’t animal leather. (Ha, gotcha!) Don’t blame me, Guess said it. I also bought one of those folding board contraptions for $5.00! Yes, I do need one of those. (Remember the Reloving the Crib project?)
Have I talked about food yet?
What is it with Filipinos and food? They have this fear of going hungry that they bring and cook so much provisions. We all collectively brought all kinds of food for a 2-day stay which lead to leftovers to last a week. Mind you, that wasn’t a complaint. Just an observation. We had 3 kinds of adobo. We also had beefsteak, salted eggs, fish both grilled and dried, pork hock stew, chicken in more ways than one, spring rolls of different varieties. Not to mention a lot of fruits, boiled peanuts, sweets and even the favorite “halo-halo”. Of course, there were crabs – both caught and bought and the harvested mussels by the water by Mommy Caring. Yes, food is our bestfriend. Food is comfort. Food is love.
Alas, one shouldn’t be surprised – food is what we Filipinos bond over with. The common greeting of “Kumain ka na?” or “Anong kinain mo?” to ask how one is doing. How about enticing someone for a chat, by saying “halika, kain tayo”. Have you ever announced that you’ve come home with “anong ulam?” Yes, we Pinoys connect via our stomachs. We show our love thru food. And I will always feel at home with that.
So thank you, Ate Eleonor, for having us for the weekend. Thank you for your generosity and hospitality. We will surely be having so many more times together, somewhere else, sometime soon. God bless your kind heart :). And to the rest of the group, as always, we never fail to keep each other happy, loved and fed.
I know you want to see pictures of our happy weekend at Ocean City and Berlin and I’ve collected all the photos that my friends and I took and came up with this. Just click on the video below to watch it.
Till next time, my lovies…
The once named “godmother of the Philippine Blogosphere”, Gigi Manaloto-Refugia, known by her pen name “Ate Sienna” has been blogging since 2002 in her old pansitan.net community where she housed famous bloggers. She now writes about being 50-something and shares her tips on fashion, makeup, skincare, travel, food and thrift-store diving.
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