We all carry other dreams inside us. You know the ones I mean – those quiet wishes that live alongside our everyday lives. The ones we think about when we're stuck in traffic, or right before falling asleep. The "somedays" we tuck away for when the timing is right.
For me, that dream has always been clear: a small Filipino restaurant by the sea.
A Taste of Home
It would be nothing fancy – just a humble place with wooden tables and chairs, open walls to let in the ocean breeze, and strings of colorful lights that glow softly as the sun sets. The menu would celebrate the food I grew up with, the flavors that taste like home.
I'd serve traditional Cebuano dishes, of course. Lechon with skin so perfectly crisp it crackles between your teeth. Puso (hanging rice) wrapped in woven coconut leaves – nature's own takeout container. Tinolang manok with ginger so fresh you can smell it from the kitchen. Balbacua, that rich beef stew that needs to simmer for hours until it becomes something magical.
The menu would feature all the classic Cebuano flavors – sweet, salty, sour, and that perfect hint of spice. Chorizo de Cebu for breakfast with garlic rice. Sutukil for lunch, where diners could choose how they want their fresh-caught fish prepared – sugba (grilled), tuwa (in soup), or kinilaw (ceviche-style).
And yes, I would absolutely draw the line at balut. (Look, I'm a proud Filipina, but there are limits to what I'm willing to cook for others – a partially developed duck embryo is where I personally draw the line. Though I might reconsider if you ask very nicely and promise not to make a face while eating it!)
Simple Pleasures
The restaurant would be small – just ten tables or so. Nothing overwhelming, just enough to fill with laughter and conversation. I'd know the regulars by name, remember their favorite dishes, ask about their families.
The location would be everything. Right by the water, where the sound of waves provides the soundtrack to every meal. Where diners can wiggle their toes in the sand while waiting for their food. Where the salt air seasons everything just a little bit more.
I imagine mornings spent at the local market, selecting the freshest ingredients. Afternoons in the kitchen, cooking alongside a small team who becomes like family. Evenings moving between tables, making sure everyone has what they need, sharing stories, creating a place that feels like coming home even for first-time visitors.
The Dream That Waits
For now, this restaurant exists only in my daydreams and late-night Pinterest boards. My reality is filled with other responsibilities and commitments that take priority. But I still practice my recipes whenever I can. I still scan Facebook listings for beachfront properties that might someday be the perfect location. I still collect mental notes whenever I eat at a restaurant that gets something exactly right – or terribly wrong.
The dream waits patiently. It doesn't demand to be fulfilled immediately. It simply exists as a possibility, a someday, a what-if that brings me joy just by imagining it.
What Dreams Are Waiting for You?
We all have these other dreams – the ones that may not be our main focus but add color and possibility to our lives. Maybe yours is opening a bookstore, or learning to sail, or writing a novel, or moving to a little town where nobody knows your name.
Whatever your dream is, I want to ask you: What are you doing to keep it alive? You don't have to pursue it full-force right now. But are you taking those small steps that keep the possibility open? Are you collecting ideas, practicing skills, making connections that might someday lead you closer to it?
Dreams don't have expiration dates. They can wait while we take care of our current priorities. But they also shouldn't be packed away so completely that we forget they exist.
So I'll keep perfecting my lechon recipe. I'll keep imagining the exact shade of blue I want to paint the restaurant walls. I'll keep believing that someday, I'll serve you a meal by the sea, with the sound of waves mixing with laughter and the taste of home on every plate.
What about you? What dream are you keeping warm while you go about your daily life? And what small thing could you do today to move just a tiny bit closer to it?
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