Bittersweet day

First and foremost I want to greet you all a Happy Valentine's Day. Mahal ko kayo. Je t'aime. Te quiero. Saranghae. I love you. No matter how we say it, do know that all of you has a special place in my heart.

So how did you spend this day? I hope that you were able to make this day a little special with your loved ones or your special someone. As for me, I treated my parents with a pizza. I was craving for samgyupsal since last week because of the Korean dramas that I have watched but there was no lettuce when our helper went out to buy vegetables yesterday. I have decided that we will just have pizza for snack. Since my dad has not yet tasted Papa John's pizza, I chose that.

It was probably more than a decade ago when I first tried Papa John's pizza and 7 years ago when I last ate it. The people who brought Papa John's here in the Philippines was one of the clients of my brother when he started working at a law firm so he would always bring home a box before. Cannot remember how many slices my brother brought home that night but that box of pizza was divided into 3, for me, my mom and my cousin who was staying here with us that time. All 3 of us were just waiting who will get the last slice and because their pizza was so good, we all have decided to slice it into 3. LOL. It was really funny because no one was willing to give it up. Usually if it is the last slice, either one or 2 people would say that you can have the last slice but in our case, we didn't.

For this day, I tried ordering both their thin and thick crust pizza because my dad likes thin crusts. He actually had a lot of negative comments about the pizza. It was too thin, it was dry, it does not taste good, it was over baked as you will notice right away that the sides were burnt and a lot more comments. Instead of me enjoying the pizza, I only had a few slices. I wanted to stand up and walk out because I honestly lost my appetite because of him. It may only cost $20 but it was still my hard earned money as I wanted to treat them as how my dad would treat us every Valentine's day before. Though I still find it sweet because he still said thank you when he was done eating.

It all looks good but the thick crust that I have tasted before looks even more delicious. I know I have a photo of it and I will compare it next time. Though I must say that there is really a difference with the taste and quality.

My dad was saying a few months ago that he wanted to taste different pizza brands and now that I let him taste one, he had a lot of comments. This is the reason why I sometimes do not like to treat my parents for a food trip because of my dad's negative comments. I have no problem with my mom because she enjoys eating whether it is unhealthy or not and expensive or not. As long as it is free, she will really enjoy it. Good thing that my dad did not say cholesterol, heart attack, diabetes or high blood pressure when we were eating the pizzas as this are usually his favorite words whenever we are going to eat store bought foods. He would not criticize a food when he is the one who bought it or if it was cooked or given by his acquaintances. There was a time when he ordered a lechon kawali from his acquaintance and the fat was too thick that the meat was abiut half an inch. We were crticizing it that he bought a food that we cannot eat but he said that it was ok and that we can just give the fat to our dogs.

Even if today was a bittersweet day, I am just thankful that I got to treat my parents again. I think this is the first time that I bought something for them for Valentine's day. The last time that my parents and I together with my brother, sister-in-law and her mother ate out during Valentine's day was 3 or 4 years ago. My brother treated us that day and the foods were really delicious. A bit pricey but it was really good. Today may be a special day but I hope we should remember to always express our love to everyone everday. Let us not wait for Valentine's day just so we can have a date with our parents or special someone. Treat each day as Valentine's and Christmas. Give love. Share love. Spread love.

@Judith1969, I forgot to take a photo of me while taking a bite of these pizzas but do know that I thought of you today.

February 14, 2022

P.S. lead image is a photo with my dad during Valentine's day 2018 (or 2019).