Ziya Turns 11

Last January 2, Ziya turned 11. Gosh! It’s honestly so overwhelming. Zoe only turned 12 two months ago and now Ziya is 11. Obviously, my girls are growing up and I’m having a hard time accepting that. Soon they’ll be teenagers. Yikes! Scared. But because my One Word for the year is Zen, I’m trying my hardest to stay calm about it and not worry too much. So, let me just share with you what we did to celebrate Ziya’s special day.

Because we’ve had an overload of family gatherings during the holiday season, I was really craving for some time with just the five of us. So, I decided for us to just eat out for lunch that day. Besides, hubby had to work that night too and needed some time to sleep in the afternoon. So, off we went to Banapple at Alabang Town Center.

Banapple is one of Ziya’s favorite places to eat. I like it there too because of the cute decor and the really yummy desserts. The main courses are not bad too. They’re reasonably priced and have huge servings too.

Here’s Ziya with her Baked Creamy Cheesy Penne. It doesn’t look like it but the serving size is enough to share. Ziya didn’t get to finish it so we had to take it home. This is one of my favorites at Banapple.

I haven’t tried any of their savory pies though so I ordered the Creamy Chicken Pie. The pie was so big that I had to take it home too. I was only able to finish half of it plus the potato salad on the side.

Too bad I wasn’t able to take photos of the other stuff we ordered because everybody were so hungry already. But the hubby ordered the Asian Salad, Zoe had the Cheesy Mushroom Pie and Ziggy had the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pancakes. I was hoping to sample each of those but my food was already too filling.

Anyway, I was able to take photos of us at Banapple though.

I just wasn’t able to take a decent photo of Ziggy and the hubby. Ziggy is in a stage right now where he refuses to have his picture taken most of the time. So, I have to make do with candid shots, which are actually better sometimes.

We didn’t have any room left for dessert so we just decided to take some home. In lieu of a birthday cake, Ziya opted for J.Co Donuts, which none of us have tried before. So, hubby ordered a dozen. Luckily there were no lines yet that day at J.Co. Surprisingly! Now, we know what the fuss is all about. The donuts we ordered were actually not as sweet compared to the other brands out there.

That was the end of our celebration that day. But last Sunday, we sort of celebrated again. We spend our Sundays at my SIL’s place. I planned on buying a birthday cake, which Ziya can share with the cousins. But hubby suggested we just use the butterscotch mix we had here at home and let Ziya bake it, since she loves baking and wants to be a baker one day. So, that’s what we did.

And here’s the final product. Voila! The butterscotch mix tasted pretty good but we also added some chocolate to it to make it even yummier.

It was a really simple birthday celebration but I think Ziya appreciated it nonetheless. Maybe we can make her 12th birthday next year to be a grander one. Happy birthday to our not-so-little girl, Ziya! We love you!!!