Grecia, Costa Rica, has 5 mountain ridges that lead up several thousand feet in elevation to the top of the Poas Volcano, all while enjoying million-dollar views of the lights of San Jose and the Central Valley. Tonight, we are celebrating a friend’s birthday on one of those ridges in El Cajon. Today is a gorgeous day on the ridge, and it only rained a bit during the afternoon. Going into the late evening, the skies were magnificent—clear with a spectacular view of San Jose and the Central Valley below.
It is Saturday, October 17. Tezzy went up earlier to assist Gie with the preparations. In one of my earlier blogs, I mentioned that, when Filipinos get together, there is always lots of food. Tonight will not be an exception. Gie just happens to be Filipina while the birthday boy, Ed, is a gringo like me. They have invited about 25 to 30 guests to party it up with them at their casa, including some long-term expat friends, some locals from the area, and an entourage of Gie’s Filipino friends from San Jose and Heredia.
The Filipino buffet spread out on the patio was amazing. The menu consisted of seafood broccoli, teriyaki chicken, aglio olio spaghetti with bacon, sweet and sour fish fillet, potato salad, boiled potatoes with herbs, and lumpia. There was also a cake-baking contest among the guests, but I’m not exactly sure who won. I do know that Ed ate lots of delicious cakes, including almond and walnut with raisin, peach, Biko-glutinous rice cake, ube, raspberry cheesecake, and Black Forest cake, just to name a few.
The ladies participated in some line dancing on the patio, and of course karaoke took center stage most of the evening. I must say there were some great vocalists (and some not so great—but I’m not naming any names). It was an awesome night to party on the ridge!
