The girl's name Amore \a-mo-re\ is a variant of Amor(French), and the meaning of Amore is "love".
Last Friday, I got the surprise of my life when Niña(we also call her by her second name, Amor) texted me that she was in Davao City and she wanted to hang out with me. Aside from the fact that it's not like her at all to text me and be urgent about meeting, it's also the big bump that have been swelling on her stomach for the last 8 months or so that made me not quite grasp the idea of her out and about in Davao when she's now based in Mati City.
We met at Victoria Plaza and got settled quickly at Basti's Brew, which was our favorite tambayan when we were both nursing students. We used to take advantage of their bottomless iced tea priced affordably at P50/person. We only ordered food when we had more money than what was needed to pay our cab fare home (we were neighbors; conveniently using each one as excuses when one of us wanted to go out and didn't want to tell where to exactly). I looked at Amor and saw that aside from her very obvious pregnancy, she hadn't really changed much.
Amor ordered a strawberry concoction that tasted like medicine. We both didn't like it. We were waiting for Jenny, another nursing classmate so I didn't order any, just lounging there to while away time. Amor had a new i-Phone, which I completely salivated over. I wanted to have it, told her so and we just laughed about it, not having the malice of possessiveness and real jealousy that real friends have.
Jenny was as usual late, having to do a million of errands for her family. When we got out to board her car, we found out that it was lightly dented by a flashy yellow SUV who was backing out the parking lot. Jenny's sister was the one driving. She pushed her horn like crazy but the driver didn't hear it. Fortunely, a guard was standing nearby and ran off after the offending car. It was blocked at the exit and went there. Of course, everyone (walking or in their cars) had to crane their necks to take a look at the commotion. So... Pinoy... like me.
Because of the ensuing process of estimating (the car had to be taken to shop ASAP so that repairs could be estimated and paid off by the driver), Jenny wasn't able to eat with us (supposedly, we were going somewhere for pizza), utterly late for more of her other million errands.
Amor and I decided to do it by ourselves, even if Jenny wasn't able to. We asked to be dropped off at Ems Pasta and Rolls. The first and only time I was there was with Minrose to try their pasta. The resto name after all has the word on it so we thought it could be their specialty. I remembered the baked lasagna to be too soggy and too sweet for my taste but I also remembered that I was full when I left there. So we went inside, Amor and I, wanting to try their other offerings.
I ordered Baked Spaghetti and Chicken and a single roll of Fresh Lumpia while Amor had Carbonara and Chicken. The baked spaghetti was like the baked lasagna I had before and the chicken was too salty. I complained to Amor but of course, I ate it all up. What I really liked was the lumpia though. This one never failed me, especially if an additional serving of the peanut paste is served with it. I noticed that a lot of people eat there, that I really like the vibe of place and looking at their posters, saw that they offer a Party Package Express at P1,450. This includes a pan of baked spaghetti, a bucket of fried chicken and a chocolate cake.
I went out of the place pretty full. As usual, we walked hand in hand. Pretty soon, and all too fast though, it'd be a way different scenario next time- the one clutching Amor's hand her son. At that moment, it was almost like we were holding on to the shreds of memories of our nursing days that we will forever have but is now utterly just a thing of the past. Back then, we were more innocent and carefree. There was really no need to get poignant about all these as the future is progressively more exciting but it must be Ems pasta that did it. We finally found a cab to take us to our neighboring homes.
More pictures here.
***
Ems Pasta and Rolls
Jacinto Ext., F. Torres Street, Davao City
Contact # 0822268268
No comments:
Post a Comment