About nine months ago, I didn’t think that the quarantine would extend until my next birthday. I was feeling kind of lucky that I spent my birthday last year dining out with my former coworkers. The coronavirus was already a bubbling issue then, but it was still mostly at the back of our collective minds, what with the major issues being the Taal Volcano eruption and Kobe Bryant’s unfortunate death.

But nine months later and here we are, still very much in the middle of the pandemic, with the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel still a wee point in the distance. The prolonged General Community Quarantine in Metro Manila has been extended at least until the end of February, and vaccines aren’t expected to roll out until mid-2021 at the earliest. Furthermore, two of my friends got COVID-19 earlier this month and had to spend around two weeks in a quarantine facility. Worse, the mother of one of those friends died because of COVID-19. This disease really sucks, to say the least.

Anyway, my birthday, as with last year, is just me spending time with people I care about, bonding over food. After lunch with my family and some cousins (my sister prepared some Japanese dishes… yum!), my brother and I, along with friend Kenneth C, go to Makati to participate in the Street Meet. It’s a monthly event where restaurants along Rada Street in Legazpi Village hold an outdoor dining event.

It’s been held for a few years now, but I actually just learned of it a few weeks earlier, when an ad for it popped up in my Facebook newsfeed. The fact that this month’s event falls on my birthday and that I’m always missing Makati made me want to attend immediately.

After walking around the area looking and trying to decide where we’ll eat, we finally pick Wildflour, mainly because I’ve never tried this even if there’s a branch near where I used to work (as is the case with many restaurants in Makati).

We have a plate of salad, some pastries, milkshakes, and a blueberry smoothie for a relatively healthy meal. It’s a really cozy way to spend the day, especially with the crisp weather and the relaxed vibe of Makati on a weekend afternoon. Makati is really nice if you don’t associate it with rush hour traffic and work deadlines.

After our meal in Wildflour, we explore the area a bit more and find ourselves in a couple of stalls courtesy of Mercato Centrale (which organizes the popular Mercato Weekend Market in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig). We order takeouts of baked macaroni, Hungarian sausages, and chicken isaw.

And finally, I have sushi cake delivered at our home, courtesy of Sushi Nori – UP Town Center branch. It’s an amusing twist to the usual birthday cake and a really nice way to cap off a very filling day.

Now, I can only hope that my tummy will be fine after a tablet of antacid.