Thursday, September 4, 2008

Another Reason to Visit San Antonio!

Yes...we found another reason to go to San Antonio. And that is...


Mekeni is a Filipino restaurant in Universal City, 18 miles northeast from San Antonio and very accessible from the highway I-35. It is owned by a Filipina lady married to a Korean man. The restaurant used to be in the same building as their grocery store - MY Chock Dee - near the Randolph Air Force Base. The restaurant just recently opened in their current bigger location.

We arrived at the restaurant on Friday 6pm and we were the only party in there. The restaurant looks okay, nothing fancy. It smelled good, actually too good. I prefer the smell of food rather than the perfumy. Maybe we arrived
(Although I think they were cleaning it too extremely because the interior smelled too nicely.)

The food was still hot and freshly cooked (we came at the right time!). They were delicious - uhmm, uhmm!!! Specially the sinigang and the shrimp halabos and the laing...everything!

Everyone working there were Filipinos. Based on the way they spoke Tagalog, they seem to be first generation here in the US. So the cooking and the hospitality was genuinely Filipino. They even had pan-de-sal for taking out - $2 for 12 pieces!

When we were finished at 6:30, there was a group of Filipina elderly ladies in one table, a Caucasian family of about 10 in another table and a group of 4 young military-looking folks (just basing on their haircut) in another table.

The place gets packed on Saturday and Sunday with the peak on Sunday lunch. The variety of food is also wider on the weekends, so we heard, and as yummy as ever. So... we just found another reason to visit San Antonio!


Our main reason, however, was to attend Beth Moore's Living Proof Live event for the ladies at Alamodome. Beth Moore talked about us being heiresses of God. We forget that easily when we are enmeshed with the daily challenges of life. We got reminded that it is God who assigns our portion, that our lot is secure, and that we have a beautiful inheritance. We were urged then to go fight the beautiful fight!

Travis Cottrel led the singing. I closed my eyes and I thought this must be how it sounds in heaven when everyone praises the Lord! Wow! And here is the sound of 10,000 voices singing.


It was our first time for us in-laws (MIL, 2 SILs, moi) and a good friend Marisa to go to such an event together. It was fun inasmuch as it was refreshing.


Meanwhile, what is a trip to San Antonio without going to Sea World? The men and the boys were there since it opened at 10am. We just joined them at noontime after the event.

I got to see Shamu again but missed the Beluga whale because it just gave birth. So I finally went and saw the world famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses and got to see Busch, Bud and Diamond who were in the front stalls while the rest were behind the cordoned area. They are biiig and beautiful!!!


There was heavy rains for about 20 minutes in the middle of the afternoon. Other than that, the day was perfect - not too hot because of the cloudy skies.

Then it was time go home.

11 ADD YOUR COMMENT!:

lub September 4, 2008 at 8:37 AM  

Yum! I want to eat all that food now.

pracso September 4, 2008 at 11:43 AM  

The signage is also a marriage of Philippine and Korean elements: language is Capampangan while the font style looks Korean to me. What do you think?idogq

pracso September 4, 2008 at 11:45 AM  

Ooopsie... "idogq" are the letters in the captcha. Did not notice I typed these inside the comment box! I better preview next time befroe publishing my comments. Hehehe...

pracso September 4, 2008 at 11:46 AM  

Waaah!!! "befroe" should be "before"!!!

B. September 4, 2008 at 12:03 PM  

I LOVE San Antonio- we went on vacation this summer. My favorite part was visiting the missions- all five of them- and the mexican food was so good!

Becky W September 4, 2008 at 6:11 PM  

Thanks for returning the visit!! I was born in San Antonio - we lived in Universal City. My dad was stationed at Randolph Air Force Base. Glad you liked the other blog, too!! Come back anytime!

Lula! September 4, 2008 at 8:41 PM  

Oh, how I love San Antonio. Oh, how I love Beth Moore. I want to be her friend...either here or in heaven...doesn't matter where. I saw her in Lexington, KY, 3 years ago and was blessed...I also learned a lot. Good times...

We were in Austin the first of August for a boring medical convention. My husband had to attend meetings and speak. Meanwhile I sat by the pool and read the final book in the Twilight series. So it was a real vacation for me!

Julie September 5, 2008 at 1:28 AM  

thanks for stopping by Hungary... and yes missionaries LOVE care packages. It is so fun to get stuff in the mail from America... And I love the pics of the food dishes! Yum

Ruta M. September 5, 2008 at 2:59 AM  

Gosh that food looks so exotic. I haven't even heard of any (apart from sushi) of it, let alone tasted it. Here in N. Devon it's very parochial with very few people from other cultures,(unlike London where we used to live). Foreign restraunts in my local town are confined to Chinese, Indian and Turkish cuisine ,but as a family of 5 it's always been too expensive to eat out anyway.
I love the Christian links and will be following some of them up.
Re our names, both Pete and I were born in the UK but our parents were refugees from Lithuania after the war and I wanted to give the boys a reminder of their heritage. Romas, Linas and Vytas are all very common names in Lithuania, like Joe and Jim but don't have an english equivalent so they all have a middle name which has an english equivalent, but they seem quite happy with their first names.

Joy September 5, 2008 at 8:04 PM  

I can't believe you went to San Antonio and saw Beth Moore. Good for you!!! I've been reading her blog for the last month and getting excited for all you who who were going. I live in Houston, but I've never been able to see her in person. One of these days.

Rela Pantaleon September 7, 2008 at 12:47 AM  

Thanks for your comments!

Come visit TX soon - Austin and San Antonio are just an hour away from each other. There's plenty more to see and do in San Antonio specially if you have kids.

And those food? It is yummy (of course by my tastes!). So far though, a lot of non-Filipinos like our food. So if you have have a chance, get thee to a Filipino restaurant or get thee a Filipino friend :)

Meanwhile, I am going to Mekeni again next weekend!!! Just 7 more days...

As for Beth Moore... what a great lady, isn't she? She's got a new study coming out I think this fall about Esther!

Lula and Ruta (it almost rhymed! :) ) - Thanks for responding to my curious questions!

Manong, don't worry about those. You are cool!

A Few of My Favorite Songs


  © Blogger template The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP