Carmina informed Mom Violy that she would visit her home on Saturday, November 8, 2025. She asked if Mom Violy wanted to go out for lunch and mentioned needing to do some grocery shopping due to an upcoming big storm. Mom Violy suggested trying Crisostomo, a Filipino restaurant inside Robinsons Magnolia. Carmina forwarded the menu for her to choose what she wanted to eat, while Carmina already knew her order. I chose pork barbeque served in a set of three pieces with a vinegar dipping sauce. I skipped rice and opted for lumpiang hubad, fresh lumpia without a wrapper, topped with peanut sauce. Mom Violy initially craved the classic Pinoy paella, but when it wasn’t available, she decided on sinigang na baboy with an extra serving of rice. A family member chose sisig with garlic rice. Carmina enjoyed her meal with Mom Violy and particularly liked the lumpiang hubad , though she kept wondering why it had no wrapper. I explained that it’s called "naked" because it’s served witho...
While on the last few days before Mom Violy and Carmina are set to leave the United States just out of curiousty I wanted to know how someone not being in the Philippines can make an appointment at the DFA located in your home town. Carmina went to Passport appointment to schedule Mom Violy while filling her application online having her Filipino Passport and birth certificate with me. I was able to schedule her the month of August. The only problem is the payment became an issue not having access to pay through credit card the one used in the Philippines. Since we're consider roaming the OTP couldn't be retrieve since we put our international phone on flight mode to prevent excess charges on our trip. Mom Violy didn't want to use the credit card in the United States there will be a foreign exchange rate charge. I decided to go on off the counter payment and paying it when returning back to the Philippines since it gave me enough time until my deadline was due on July 14 ...