Amici 2

Last Saturday, my husband and I hied off to Amici after dropping of our son at Pier 1. I was so looking forward to having risotto osso buco which I thoroughly enjoyed the first time we went to Amici and thought our getting a good parking slot was an indication of better things to come.

The place wasn't at all full and I was truly excited. My husband ordered and paid for a pasta dish and my osso buco and as we looked forward to partaking of these, a waitress came to say they had run out of osso buco. I was dismayed to say the least. Had I known earlier that osso buco was unavailable, we could have transferred to a different restaurant. Oh well, I opted to order a pasta dish as well. It had cubes of ham and chicken, green pasta and a light orange sauce -- possibly tomato sauce with some cream. there were parmesan slices and grated portions as well. It was not bad but I felt so let down.

Ironicallly that night, my cousin who first introduced me to Amici called. When I told him of my sorry experience, he said that it had changed owners. It was now owned by the former owners of Red Ribbon.

On another note, our table in Amici was close to the entrance of Amici from either Pasay Road or Pasong Tamo. Regardless, beside the foot of the stairs stood an old woman, hair neatly tucked in a bun, legs as thin as bamboo poles. She clutched several strands of sampaguita in one hand and drew my attention.

As I looked at her and smiled, she too looked at me and smiled back. If only I could walk, I would have gone down to her to chat. As my husband was ordering stuff at the counter, I talked to the security guard by the door, instead. I asked, "How much is she selling those sampaguitas?" Actually, what I really wanted to determine was whether the guard was compassionate toward the old woman or was annoyed by her presence. He immediately asked me if I wanted him to find out, but i restrained him. I said I'd ask my husband to do so later. I was happy to see that the guard was a compassionate person, not only to the old woman down there but also to me, a disabled customer.

At any rate, after paying our bill, I asked my husband to buy me a hundred pesos worth of what the old woman was selling. I wanted to help her go home soonest (by buying not just one strand but more) because at her age, she shouldn't have been standing there for hours, trying to earn money, i thought. Instead, she should have been at home, warmed by the embrace of her grandchildren and by a bowl of hot soup.

But perhaps her being there wasn't such a bad deal after all, as between intervals, people approached her. At least I saw one couple buying sampaguita from her, as well as a group of young men giving her a plastic bag of food. Seeing those gestures of kindness brought tears to my eyes as they reassured me that there remain several big-hearted people around.