I previously shared about the despedida party that my family surprised us with on our last night in my hometown. The following day, we flew to Manila and spent five days with my husband’s best friend, Lewis and his wife, Cora, in Batangas, a province just outside Manila, roughly a 2-hour drive south of Manila. They picked us up at NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) around noon and we stopped for lunch in Laguna on our way.

We’ve stayed at their place in our past travels to my home country. This time Lewis requested that we spend more time there than we used to so we stayed for five days instead of just two.

Lewis is a good cook and he usually prepares a good meal for us. And this linguini with red clam sauce is just one of them. Aside from clams, it also had mushrooms and black olives in it. And he always serves a meal with a glass of wine. I totally forgot to take a picture of the wine but you can see parts of the wine glasses above the plate on this picture.

One thing that we all have in common is the love for seafood. We actually have a favorite seafood restaurant here in the city that we almost always go to whenever he visits here in his North Carolina hometown.

It’s hard to tell in the picture, but this plate is huge; for me, at least. And as you can see, the serving that Lewis gave each and everyone of us was so generous. I thought it would be too much for me, but I think I was so hungry and the linguini with red clam sauce was so good that I almost cleaned my plate. 🙂

This was just the beginning of the many fun things that we all enjoyed while in Batangas. We did more and I’m going to share more in the coming days…one story at a time.

Happy Foodie Friday, friends!

More From the Trip:

• It Feels Good To Be Back
• Welcome Back Get-Together
• Showering Our Beautiful Bride-to-be
• A Milestone Day-His 20th Birthday
• A Good Friend’s Delicious Surprise
• The Wedding
• Dinner On A Hill with A View
• My Great-niece’s 2nd Birthday Party
• Sea You at the Beach
• It’s Buko Halo Time
• Kakanin: A Delightful Filipino Delicacy
• Cheers to Good Friends and Good Food!
• Korean Bun and Purple Yam Cake
• Cousins’ Day Out
• Savor the Flavor
• Korean Dinner Vibes
• A Surprise Despedida Party